Man's cell calls family after his death

SAWYER

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
16,742
42
91
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/deadcall.asp
His fiance heard about the crash from a news report on the radio as she was driving to the train station to pick up her intended. Peck's parents and siblings (who live in the Los Angeles area) joined her.

Peck's body was recovered from the wreckage 12 hours after the accident. Yet for the first eleven of those hours, his cell phone placed call after call to his loved ones, calling his son, his brother, his stepmother, his sister, and his fiance. In all, his various family members received 35 calls from his cell phone through that long night. When they answered, all they heard was static; when they called back, their calls went straight to voice mail. But the calls gave them hope that the man they loved was still alive, just trapped somewhere in the wreckage.

The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck's body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

Charles Peck had died on impact. Yet long past his death, his cell phone had continued to reach out to many of those he cared most about, and ultimately led rescuers to his mortal remains. (As far as investigators revealed, they never found Peck's cell phone.)

Ironically (and tragically), another cell phone may have played a pivotal role in causing the Chatsworth crash, the deadliest in Metrolink's history. Preliminary investigation revealed the engineer running the commuter train had failed to heed a red signal light, instead impelling his train onto a single track where a Union Pacific freight train coming the opposite direction had been given the right of way. According to teens cooperating with the investigation, they had been exchanging text messages with that engineer as the train left the station and received a final text message from him just before the collision (22 seconds before impact, according to the preliminary timeline worked out by the National Transportation Safety Board).
 

NaOH

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2006
5,015
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Originally posted by: Sawyer
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/deadcall.asp
His fiance heard about the crash from a news report on the radio as she was driving to the train station to pick up her intended. Peck's parents and siblings (who live in the Los Angeles area) joined her.

Peck's body was recovered from the wreckage 12 hours after the accident. Yet for the first eleven of those hours, his cell phone placed call after call to his loved ones, calling his son, his brother, his stepmother, his sister, and his fiance. In all, his various family members received 35 calls from his cell phone through that long night. When they answered, all they heard was static; when they called back, their calls went straight to voice mail. But the calls gave them hope that the man they loved was still alive, just trapped somewhere in the wreckage.

The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck's body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

Charles Peck had died on impact. Yet long past his death, his cell phone had continued to reach out to many of those he cared most about, and ultimately led rescuers to his mortal remains. (As far as investigators revealed, they never found Peck's cell phone.)

Ironically (and tragically), another cell phone may have played a pivotal role in causing the Chatsworth crash, the deadliest in Metrolink's history. Preliminary investigation revealed the engineer running the commuter train had failed to heed a red signal light, instead impelling his train onto a single track where a Union Pacific freight train coming the opposite direction had been given the right of way. According to teens cooperating with the investigation, they had been exchanging text messages with that engineer as the train left the station and received a final text message from him just before the collision (22 seconds before impact, according to the preliminary timeline worked out by the National Transportation Safety Board).

ghosts!
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
According to teens cooperating with the investigation, they had been exchanging text messages with that engineer as the train left the station and received a final text message from him just before the collision (22 seconds before impact, according to the preliminary timeline worked out by the National Transportation Safety Board).

WTF
 

Pheran

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2001
5,740
35
91
Interesting and kind of creepy. I'd guess one of the following:

1. They are wrong about him dying on impact and he was trying to call for help, but the signal wasn't good enough to get voice through.
2. He was lying on the cell phone such that buttons were depressed, causing it to call out. I've certainly been dialed this way before by friends (not dead ones!), though it's a little harder to explain how it was calling different numbers.
 

randay

Lifer
May 30, 2006
11,018
216
106
someone else had his phone and was calling contacts from the address book while stuck in wreckage, duh.
 

Pheran

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2001
5,740
35
91
Originally posted by: randay
someone else had his phone and was calling contacts from the address book while stuck in wreckage, duh.

Also possible, given that the phone was not recovered.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
Am I the only one who read the title of this thread and thought the guy was a member of a terrorist cell?
 

Epic Fail

Diamond Member
May 10, 2005
6,252
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The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck's body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

you can pinpoint where cell signal originate between different sections of a train??
 

Alone

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2006
7,490
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0
Originally posted by: Epic Fail
The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck's body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

you can pinpoint where cell signal originate between different sections of a train??

You can pinpoint any telecommunications device.
 

cHeeZeFacTory

Golden Member
Apr 23, 2001
1,658
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Originally posted by: Alone
Originally posted by: Epic Fail
The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck's body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

you can pinpoint where cell signal originate between different sections of a train??

You can pinpoint any telecommunications device.

If it's the same type of cell towers we have here in the US, then I believe you can only locate the "cell" from which the call was made.
 

jtvang125

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 2004
5,399
51
91
Originally posted by: randay
someone else had his phone and was calling contacts from the address book while stuck in wreckage, duh.

Why not just call 911 instead of going through all those contacts?
 

darkxshade

Lifer
Mar 31, 2001
13,749
6
81
Originally posted by: jtvang125
Originally posted by: randay
someone else had his phone and was calling contacts from the address book while stuck in wreckage, duh.

Why not just call 911 instead of going through all those contacts?

Becaue it wouldn't make for a creepy ghost story, duh!
 

Joemonkey

Diamond Member
Mar 3, 2001
8,859
4
0
Originally posted by: cHeeZeFacTory
Originally posted by: Alone
Originally posted by: Epic Fail
The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck's body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

you can pinpoint where cell signal originate between different sections of a train??

You can pinpoint any telecommunications device.

If it's the same type of cell towers we have here in the US, then I believe you can only locate the "cell" from which the call was made.

and if the phone has GPS you should be able to get within 3 meters of it
 

randay

Lifer
May 30, 2006
11,018
216
106
Originally posted by: jtvang125
Originally posted by: randay
someone else had his phone and was calling contacts from the address book while stuck in wreckage, duh.

Why not just call 911 instead of going through all those contacts?

how do you know that didnt happen?
 

jonks

Lifer
Feb 7, 2005
13,918
20
81
Originally posted by: randay
someone else had his phone and was calling contacts from the address book while stuck in wreckage, duh.

no, it's ghosts goddamnit and you can't convince me otherwise with your little 'theories'

SHOO!!!
 

bsobel

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Dec 9, 2001
13,346
0
0
If it's the same type of cell towers we have here in the US, then I believe you can only locate the "cell" from which the call was made.

a) That is incorrect, and can triangulate to within a pretty reasonable distance.
b) In a rescue operation they'd be using equipment to find the local transmitter (e.g. his phone) not using tower triangulation
 

StinkyPinky

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2002
6,956
1,268
126
Let's see. Badly damaged cell phone behaving oddly.

Yep. Must be GHOSTS. Can't be a malfunction.
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
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Originally posted by: cHeeZeFacTory
Originally posted by: Alone
Originally posted by: Epic Fail
The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck's body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

you can pinpoint where cell signal originate between different sections of a train??

You can pinpoint any telecommunications device.

If it's the same type of cell towers we have here in the US, then I believe you can only locate the "cell" from which the call was made.

except for the new gps built into all phones, which is available to 911 in emergency whether youo have the gps service activated or not. i know you can find a phone within a meter on the system we use at work.