If you’ve ever watched TV, you’ll know that pretty much every phone number in any given TV show includes the local block code “555”-- for instance, an episode of Law and Order: SVU might display a New York City phone number as 212-555-XXXX. ‘212’ is New York’s area code, but ‘555’ as a phone code is restricted in North America, and is basically only used for fictional works, so that actual phone numbers aren’t dialed. 867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone caused issues by using a valid telephone number in its chorus, resulting in several people in the 1980s having to, ironically enough, change their number.
With that being said, here’s a question for you: why has the phone number “424-555-0177” been appearing in real-world advertisements since 1985? And what happens when you call it?
‘424’ is the area code for a large portion of Los Angeles. That much I can attest to, having blocked dozens of phone numbers from that area. The 424-555-0177 number is not registered to any Los Angeles business or home, but nonetheless has appeared several times over the years.
It first appeared as a toll number, 1-900-555-0177, in an advertisement for… let’s not sugarcoat it, for a phone sex hotline. It appeared on late night television commercials in the LA area, but sadly (or thankfully) there are no reports of what happened to people who called this number; however, in August 1985, when this number was used, there was reportedly a strong smell of ozone in residential districts of LA, even on smog-free days.
It next appears in an infomercial for the Magik Oven, by Magik Technologies, an oddly-named start-up from the early 90’s. It was one of the first convection ovens that was small and light enough for home usage; basically an early air fryer. They had the toll-free number 1-800-555-0177, but they never sold a single unit through their infomercial; the following is a transcript of a phone call attempted by a member of the Institute in 1992.
Caller: Hello? Is this the Magik Oven order service?
Operator: Thank you for calling the Algernon Board of Tourism, this is Laverne, how may I help you?
Caller: I’m… I want to order a Magik Oven.
Operator: I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong number, ma’am.
Caller: No… this was the number on the infomercial, I swear.
Operator: This has been happening a lot, they put the wrong number in the damn commercial. Have you tried dialing 455 instead of 555?
Caller: I’ll try it, thank you.
Operator: You’re welcome. Happy False Saints Day, ma’am.
Caller: …you as well.
1-800-455-0177 did connect with the ordering service used for the Magik Oven, but sales were low due to this error. Magik Technologies eventually went out of business due to this blunder, as has been recounted on the product review and history podcast Disinfomercial.
(There’s a podcast for goddamn everything, isn’t there?)
The first instance of the 424 area code preceding the phone number was recorded in 1997, where it appeared on a commercial for the law firm of Schuyler, Baumer and Walker in Los Angeles. The law firm still exists there, so clearly the number didn’t affect their business too much. The number’s even been seen in the background of a couple of LA-based television shows.
Its most recent, and most troubling, manifestation occurred only three weeks ago.
Marc Koch was a YouTuber based out of Antwerp, Belgium, whose channel was, to be frank, predatory. It was a genre of channel that created content based on making phone calls to fictional characters and pretending to hold conversations with them; Marvel heroes and villains, Disney princesses, Freddy Fazbear, Fortnite characters, that kind of thing. Cheap and easy to produce, brings in ad money like gangbusters.
Koch’s body was found in his bathtub, sans left kidney; he had a rare blood type, so it was assumed the organ was harvested and he was left to die. However, this does not explain the footage that was found on his video camera.
In the footage, Koch sets up his camera and announces he is going to call the Madrigal family, from the Disney film Encanto. He holds up the phone to the screen, dialing the 424-555-0177 number, and calls. “Hello, is this--”
“Thank you for calling the Algernon Board of Tourism, Happy Windelsmith’s Day. How may I direct your call?”
Koch looks alarmed. “Uh, no, I have the wrong number. I’m trying to do this thing for a Youtube video where I call, uh…”
“Oh, I know exactly who you’re looking for! Just have to route you through the Ol Coman(?) exchange…”
“The what?”
The line dies, briefly, and then a woman’s voice talks to him from the other end. “Hola?”
“Uh… wrong number.” He tries hanging up, but the phone is unresponsive. He turns the camera to show the phone number, mouthing something that I’m told is essentially the German equivalent of ‘what the fuck?’
“No, Marc,” the woman says, “I think this is exactly the right number. You have a few things we need. What you need to do is--”
He manages to shut off the camera. When it’s turned back on, it’s on the floor next to him, and he’s piling something up by his feet. A pair of tweezers will enter the frame, deposit an object, and then go back up. After a while, the female voice says, “That’s enough.”
“I think I have one more--” Marc says, before there’s a sickening squelch. “And that was one of his arteries. God dammit.”
“Do they have those in their mouths?”
“They bleed so much so I just assumed--”
“You idiot. Extract, now.”
There’s a sound of falling viscera as Marc Koch’s body hits the floor, scattering the pile of teeth. “Oh come on!” a distorted voice says. “Took me five hours to do that. Fucking tax.”
Marc Koch’s only injury was the removed kidney; he was found with a fully intact set of teeth, but they did not match dental records taken antemortem.
Koch was the first confirmed death caused by the 555-0177 number in almost thirty years. Others had been suspected in the interim, but this was the closest we’ve gotten to video footage.
Do not call this number. If you’re lucky, you’re wasting minutes calling a fictional number. If not… at least leave a record for us.
For some reason this is unreadable to me? The text is too dim.
ReplyDeleteQuirk of trying to copy from Google Docs to blogger. Should be fixed now.
DeleteIt is indeed -.wonderful. Also rather terrifying!
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