Forwarded message: >From vanhoose Sat Oct 16 19:05:10 1993 Date: Sat, 16 Oct 93 19:05:09 -0400 From: Todd E. Van Hoosear <vanhoose> To: todd Subject: Phones and Psychic Dogs?Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 10:56:50 -0400 From: Todd E. Van Hoosear <todd> To: jenkins, todd, jansen, penney Subject: Phones and Psychic Dogs?
This story was related by Pat Routledge of Winnepeg, Ontario, about an unusual telephone service call he handled while living in England.
It is common practice in England to signal a telephone subscriber by signaling with 90 volts across one side of the two wire circuit and ground (earth in England). When the subscriber answers the phone, it switches to the two wire circuit for the conversation. This method allows two parties on the same line to be signalled without disturbing each other.
This particular subscriber, an elderly lady with several pets, called to say that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called and that on the few occasions when it did manage to ring her dog always barked first. Torn between curiosity to see this psychic dog and a realization that standard service techniques might not suffice in this case, Pat proceeded to the scene. Climbing a nearby telephone pole and hooking in his test set, he dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring. He tried again. The dog barked loudly, followed by a ringing telephone. Climbing down from the pole, Pat found:
a. Dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron chain and collar b. Dog was receiving 90 volts of signalling current c. After several jolts, the dog was urinating on ground and barking d. Wet ground now conducted and phone rang.
--XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx........................ Todd E. Van Hoosear todd@cl-next4.cl.msu.edu "You only live once, so live under as many false names as possible." ---Dana McManus ..........................xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX