Telephone woke me up with screeching noise

Sorry if this is the wrong category, haven't a clue where this should go.Years ago I woke up one night to this wierd screeching noise coming from near the bedroom door then I realised it was coming from my phone. The reciever was down but the power of whatever it was, was actually vibrating the phone and allowing the sound to escape. When I lifted the telephone the noise was so unbearably loud it filled the entire room and I actually thought the whole street could hear it, so I replaced the reciever and it went back to the original noise.At that time I had a normal BT telephone in my living room and an extra telephone wired up with it, and the cable extending under the door, along the hall, and into my bedroom. The bedroom phone was a modern (at that time) flip up phone, i.e. the keypad was on the part you held to your ear and a bit flipped out when you were talking. It was a light-weight thing but how does that explain the noise escaping? I went through to the living room and lifted that phone and there again was the terrible screeching. It sounded like an extremely loud fax, (you know when you phone a fax number instead of a phone number)Now, what can make a telephone wake you up, without ringing and with the reciever down and make such a terrible racket?

Very odd... maybe the government was listening in on you and they messed up or something. ... Don't really understand how it could make a noise 'hung up'. maybe someone was listening in and got feedback or something, I have no idea because I have never heard of such a thing.... Maybe even a ghost or something?

That is creepy weird. I've never had that happen. Though I have answered the phone to a screeching noise before. It was definatley not as loud as the one you had. And mine, I actually answered the phone...it didn't happen by itself.

It could be just a fax machine, someone probably had typed in the wrong number. It would not be a wire tap, if it was you would not notice it.
Technology now days won't let you hear anything during a tap.

i always thought the "hook" switch disconnected the speaker and mic circuits. did the phone work properly after this? it could have been a capacitor squeeling or something? (sometimes this happens with failing computer components)

I had a similar thing happened with my landline a few years back. It was a kind of siren sound.

At the time, I was told that it was caused by leaving the phone off the hook for long periods. It was something setup in my local exchange to let you know the phone was unable to accept calls...BT can't make money if you can't answer calls.

I must admit, I have not had it since and my phone has certainly been off the hook a few times.....but there again I have moved!!

Wish I could remember the sound properly, to see if you were getting the same one.

My phone definitely wasn't left off the hook. This has puzzled me for years. I'm guessing it happened around 1990. It was the middle of the night and the noise woke me up but it was when I lifted the phone I got the real fright. It was horrendously loud. I put it down then went through and lifted the other phone and it was the same sound. It lasted for ages too because I remember sitting for a while hitting every button and actually trying to phone out to my mum, the police, anyone, but I couldn't. It was fine in the morning and nothing like it has happened since.It could be described as a squealing noise I suppose, like a million hellish bats. Maybe the whole area's telephones were the same that night but it was only me that noticed because of the light-weight phone I had in my room, and maybe the power of the noise was lifting the reciever up?? Bizarre! If this kind of thing can happen I imagine you could be seriously injured via a telephone.

Another old thread I'm shaking the dust off. Still searching for answers to this mystery. Any ideas?

About two years ago I also experienced this, expect my phone is a cordless digital one and a part of my BT home hub. It woke me up around 7am one morning screeching. I turned the entire system off and the phone wouldn't shut down, so I ended up having to take out the batteries. I put them back in later that afternoon and I haven't had a problem since. Saying that, I upgraded a couple of months ago, and now we get intermittent line crackling and the main house phone (not connected to the hub) will half ring and hang up even though no one is calling.

All I can do is put this down to electrical interference.

Sounds freaky! It's not happened to me, the only bizarre thing regarding a BT landline was back in the 90's where for a good few months you could clearly hear conversations behind the dial tone, whether wires were crossed or what I don't know! But good luck finding out why your phone screeched

It could just have been a ghost present. Its quite normal.

reply to post by markymint


Speaking of crossed wires, I'm sure our main landline had one a few months ago. I was talking to someone, and I heard a laugh followed by the distinctive click of a line being hung up, but it wasn't the person I was talking to as they were still there. They heard it as well, and this was a good twenty minutes into the conversation. I can only wonder how much of my private life they now know.