History Main / PhoneCallFromTheDead

* ''Series/Friends subverts this in that he gets a phone call from what he thinks is dead agent but is actually Phoebe impersonating her (it's complicated).[[/folder]]

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** In "Night Call" an invalid starts receiving mysterious phone calls. The calls are eventually traced to a cemetery, where a fallen phone line is in contact with the grave of her deceased husband.
** "Long Distance Call" has a grandmother calling from beyond the grave and urging her beloved grandchild toward acts of suicide so they can be together again.

* In the American film adaptation of ''Film/TheRing'', the announcement of Samara's curse comes through a phone call received by the tape's watcher, in which Samara whispers "SEVEN DAYS!".

May involve a SupernaturalPhone. Contrast DisconnectedByDeath.

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* ''Film/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'' features a drug, only known as "Soy Sauce", that causes a number of unusual "side effects" to the user. Contrary to the movie's title, John dies about half way through, but through the power of Soy Sauce he is able to contact his friend David, first by calling him on his (broken) cell phone, then through a Bratwurst that David is instructed to hold to his ear like a cell phone.

* This is the premise of ''[[Literature/JustAfterSunset The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates]]'', a surprisingly upbeat short story by Creator/StephenKing, of all people. A husband who died in a plane crash was trying to call his wife just before impact; she gets the call two days later, and gets to talk to him in the afterlife (which, apparently, is a bus station). She gets to say goodbye, and he warns her about a future disaster, which she manages to avoid.

* ''Literature/FightClub'' : When Marla receives phone calls with no one on the line, she believes they're from the departed. It's left out of the film, except for the "Prepare to evacuate soul" phone call scene, which has a different context.

* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'': It is implied in the Christmas Special that Lavinia's spirit "talks" to Anna and Daisy through a OuijaBoard and writes the words "May they be happy. With my love" in reference to Matthew and Mary.

* ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria 2}}'': Throughout the game Curtis will receive various post-mortem messages (phone calls, letters, e-mails) from both his dead mother and his various murdered coworkers, who call him a monster for causing their deaths. [[spoiler:The ending reveals them all to be hallucinations send by the Hecatomb in an attempt to drive Curtis insane.]]
* About halfway through ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'', protagonist Capt. Walker starts getting harshly critical radio messages from [[BigBad Colonel Konrad]], and engages him in arguments about choice and morality. At the end of the game Walker follows these messages to their source, and discovers Konrad's long-dead body - the transmissions were nothing but a product of Walker's SanitySlippage, as he needed to invent someone to blame for the things he'd done in Dubai. Sharp-eyed players will notice that the walkie-talkie Walker picked up was broken to begin with.

* In ''Achewood'', Roast Beef sees a pay phone while in Hell and attempts to call home. Unfortunately because this is hell, the person on the other end can only hear an extremely pushy telemarketer.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'' begins with one of these, which is actually justified with an implanted DeadManSwitch.

* OctoberDaye gets her CallToAdventure in ''Rosemary and Rue'' by receiving a phone call from the murder victim, [[spoiler: who happens to be a fae, and who ''geases'' Toby into solving the case]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone:''

* The plot of ''Film/{{Frequency}}'' involves the main character being able to communicate through time with his long-dead father, albiet through a ham radio rather than a telephone.

* A {{creepypasta}} lampoons the trope thusly: So ur with ur honey and yur making out wen the phone rigns. U anser it n the vioce is �wut r u doing wit my daughter?� U tell ur girl n she say �my dad is ded�. THEN WHO WAS PHONE?

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* ''ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean''. Les Moore's deceased wife Lisa calls him in the airport to warn him not to take a flight that's destined to crash. He takes the flight anyway, but she saves him by arranging for the plane's mechanical problem to be discovered.

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* In ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' a guy makes a car phone call and starts talking into the answering machine, then gets killed. Just later his ghost tries to communicate by talking through the phone, which is recorded on the answering machine as well.

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* In a Myth Arc episode of the ''Series/TheXFiles'', Scully gets a phone call from her dead sister. This ends up leading her to a girl who is her biological daughter, created using the ovum extracted from her body.

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* A {{creepypasta}} lampoons the trope thusly: So ur with ur honey and yur making out wen the phone rigns. U anser it n the vioce is “wut r u doing wit my daughter?” U tell ur girl n she say “my dad is ded”. THEN WHO WAS PHONE?

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* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'': Rather fancifully, it is implied in the Christmas Special that her spirit "talks" to Anna and Daisy through a OuijaBoard and writes the words "May they be happy. With my love" in reference to Matthew and Mary.

May involve a SupernaturalPhone.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'': Oberon sends a (prerecorded) magical message to his offspring after he dies trying to repair the Pattern.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[spoiler: Eleven]] contacts the of the future Clara using the TARDIS phone.

* In ''TheMothmanProphecies'', the main character gets a phone call from what appears to be his wife.

* ''TraumaTeam'' has Naomi Kimishima, the forensic investigator. When she gets in contact with a deceased's body (or its remains) she can perceive their final words through a call to her cellphone. It isn't made clear if this is either a power of hers or of the cellphone.

* This is the premise of ''[[Literature/JustAfterSunset The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates]]'', a surprisingly upbeat short story by StephenKing, of all people. A husband who died in a plane crash was trying to call his wife just before impact; she gets the call two days later, and gets to talk to him in the afterlife (which, apparently, is a bus station). She gets to say goodbye, and he warns her about a future disaster, which she manages to avoid.
** Also the premise of ''[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes Sorry, Right Number]]''.
*** ''Sort of'' -- [[spoiler:the voice she hears is not dead; she is [[TalkingToHimself talking to herself]] five years in the future. However, her first husband ''does'' die, and her future self could have saved him had she stopped crying long enough to get the message through.]]

* "VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys": The Phone Guy ends up getting killed by the animatronics. The night after his death, you'll get another phone call…however, you'll hear a [[BlackSpeech demonic voice from the other end saying something in a backwards message of sorts]], rather than the optimistic voice that you're used to.

* A {{Creepypasta}} lampoons the trope thusly: So ur with ur honey and yur making out wen the phone rigns. U anser it n the vioce is “wut r u doing wit my daughter?” U tell ur girl n she say “my dad is ded”. THEN WHO WAS PHONE?

* PlayedForLaughs in CourageTheCowardlyDog. One episode involves the medium Shirley [[SpookySeance holding a seance]] to contact Eustace's dead brother, and the process is that Shirley herself acts as a telephone that the brothers speak through.

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Long Distance Call" several people, including Dean, seem to get this kind of call from deceased loved ones.