Strange message that played automatically when the telephone receiver was lifted at the home of an elderly woman in Greeley, Colorado. The message would only broadcast from 0700 to 0715 pm.

The person who recorded this message described the event as follows:

"A couple of years ago my mother called me from a neighbor's house in a hysterical state because someone had 'taken over' her home phone. She's very independent but elderly, has failing vision and lives alone in Greeley, Colorado. Her neighbor checked out the phone, and it seemed OK, so my mom eventually calmed down and went home.

Then, a few days later, it happened again. My mom was inconsolable and refused to go back into her house - her neighbor told me she couldn't stop shaking. I urgently took time off work and traveled to Colorado the next day to help her. I tested her phone and couldn't find anything wrong, but I said I'd stay with her for the next week to make sure she was OK. (I thought she was going a little mad and was desperately trying to work out how I could move to Colorado permanently to live closer to her!)
I was horrified when I discovered what was really going on.
When she had lifted the receiver, rather than the dial tone, she'd heard a creepy message. I'm not surprised it terrified her - it freaked me out too!

Over the next few days I figured out that the message only came between 7 PM to 7:15 PM. Any other time of day, there was a normal dial tone and the phone worked normally. The phone didn't ring at 7 PM or anything - it was just that if you lifted the receiver to make a call between 7 to 7:15 PM you'd get the sinister message rather than the dial tone.

My mom's phone has a connector for a headset so I managed to record the message on my laptop.

The day after I recorded the message the phone was dead for most of the day. I called the phone company but they said they couldn't find a fault and wouldn't do anything. In the evening I tried to take another recording so see whether the message had changed, but it was gone and there was just a normal dial tone.

The message has never come back, but my mom is still frightened about using her phone.

Ever since I've tried to discreetly figure out what it was all about, and what it's got to do with my mom, but I got nowhere. So I've decided to post my recording on the Internet to see if anyone can help.

I'm not sure what the male voice says at the start of the message, but I think he says 'NORAD' - the nuclear defense agency - so I'm posting this anonymously. I don't want any trouble if I'm posting something secret I'm not supposed to have heard. I've cut short the tone at the end - it was ear-splitting and would go on until you replaced the receiver.

This recording was taken on June 29th 2012."

Transcript of message:

[Female voice]
Connecting you. Please hold the line.
(Beeps)
[Male voice]
NORAD EWS
Station ZF77, ZF77
Status alert con 4, status alert con 4
Security tracing in progress
Attention, attention, attention
(Beep)
WW09 ready, NP44 danger, HP87 ready, HQ39 ready, PK58 ready, FC23 ready, NN18 trigger, VY92 ready, LC56 secure
(Beep)
Attention, attention, attention
(Beep)
(Distorted noise)
(Continuous tone until receiver is replaced)

Strange, intercepted telephone message, possible NORAD communication

A collection of interesting oddities and mysteries related to sound and communications, including radio, telephone, television, and the Internet.  

Licensed ham radio operator, call sign W9SPY

Strange, intercepted telephone message, possible NORAD communication

Strange Beacons