Haunted: What Would You Do If Your Phone Repeatedly Called 911 on Its Own?

Trish and Mac (who has since passed away) Byce had each been in Historic Brookhaven in different houses in Historic Brookhaven for many years. But it wasn’t until 2003 when they married and combined households into 4261 Club Drive that odd things started happening and they feared the house was haunted.
 
The home was built in 1915, and the first owner lived there until age 95. The next owners added the front porch and large columns, then sold to the family from whom the Byces bought the property. They majorly renovated. They also brought over several telephone lines including more than one home and business phone as well as fax numbers.
 
When in the Highlands for the weekends, their Historic Brookhaven glass breakage alarm started going off. Mac’s son checked on the house but nothing was wrong -- no intruder, nothing disturbed. Yet the alarm kept going off on the weekends they were out of town.
 
Then 911 calls started emanating from the house when they were in town. “The police would come at 3 a.m. and get everyone out of bed and make sure everyone was safe,” Trish says. “We were fast asleep and had no idea what was going on.”
 
Trish and Mac decided to start setting their alarm when in town. One night, the glass breakage sensor went off. They discovered a possum eating out of the dog bowl on the backyard patio. The bowl was banging against the door and causing the glass sensor to activate. Mystery No. 1 solved.
 
But the 911 calls endured and the police continued to come and investigate. The Byces eventually called AT&T to figure out which of their phone lines was sending the emergency messages.
 
“The calls were coming from a number that had originally been with me at 77 East Andrews Drive and then when I was at 2710 Mabry Road, and then at 4261 Club became a fax line,” Trish says. They disconnected the fax machine yet the 911 calls continued.
 
“It was hysterical because Mac and I thought we were living in a haunted house,” Trish notes. “We thought someone was trapped in the house. We couldn’t sleep at night.”
 
Eventually, AT&T suggested that the Byces drop the number. The phone company had figured out that their number was crossed with another unidentifiable line at a service center and somehow the two lines were causing the early morning 911 calls.
 
The Byces never had another incident, nor have the current owners.