He Died on Impact… Then His Phone Started Calling Everyone

Daily Motivation & Life Advice

In 2013, Charles Peck died instantly in a horrific train crash. But hours after the accident, his family started receiving calls from his phone.  Thirty-five calls. Static on the other end. And when they found him — he had been dead the entire time.  The phone was never found.  #PhoneFromTheDead #CreepyTrueStory #CharlesPeckCase

Transcript

00:00Hi, this is your host, and this is Unexplained.

00:03In April 2013, a man named Charles Peck boarded Metrolink commuter train number 111 in San Bernardino, California, headed for Los Angeles.

00:13He settled into a seat just before 4.30 p.m., eager to start his weekend in L.A.

00:18Little did he know that by 5.22 p.m., he would be dead.

00:22By 5.22 p.m., his train had plowed into a freight train, stopped on the tracks in the city of Colton, California.

00:30It was one of the deadliest collisions in California history, taking the lives of three crew members and 28 passengers.

00:37Among the deceased was Charles Peck.

00:39When first responders arrived at the scene, they found his body slumped over in his seat.

00:45At 5.52 p.m., he was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple traumatic injuries.

00:49His family was soon notified of the crash and the fact that he didn't make it.

00:55Hours later, though, the phone calls started coming in.

00:57Charles' fiancée, Mary Lou, was at her daughter's house when the first call came in on her cell phone.

01:04It was from Charles' number.

01:05She let it go to voicemail.

01:07Shortly after, another call came in, and then another.

01:11All were from Charles.

01:12Confused and scared, she called him back, but it went straight to voicemail.

01:17Mary Lou immediately got in her car and raced to the scene of the accident.

01:21She spent hours looking for Charles, holding on to the hope that those calls weren't from beyond the grave.

01:27At the same time, Charles' son, Michael, was making the drive up from San Diego when he, too, got a series of frantic calls from his dad.

01:36He tried calling back, but the only sound he heard on the other end was static.

01:41Like his father's fiancée, Michael rushed to the scene of the accident.

01:44In all, Charles' family and friends received 35 calls from his phone.

01:49His brother, David, got a call.

01:52His stepmother, Cheryl, got a call.

01:54His friend, Robert, got not one but three calls from the dead man.

01:58To this day, no one has any idea why.

02:01As night fell and the hours passed, rescue workers combed through the wreckage looking for survivors.

02:07Every so often, a new pile of twisted metal was carefully peeled away to reveal a human form underneath,

02:14and with each discovery, hope flickered that Charles might be found alive.

02:19But, as the hours ticked by, hope began to dwindle.

02:23Finally, at around 11 p.m., over six hours after the collision, Charles' body was found.

02:29A piece of debris was blocking access to where he sat, preventing rescuers from reaching him.

02:34But now that they finally knew where he was, they could recover his remains.

02:39They did, and they did it quickly, bringing the body bag out of the wreckage just before midnight.

02:44And that's when the full horror of what had happened to Charles' phone sank in.

02:49It wasn't with his body.

02:50It was nowhere to be found.

02:51It wasn't in the passenger compartment.

02:53It wasn't outside the train.

02:55It wasn't anywhere.

02:56To this day, there is no logical explanation for the calls.

03:00Charles died instantly on impact.

03:01There was no way he could have survived the crash and made phone calls afterward.

03:06Why the train conductor didn't report hearing anyone on the radio after the crash is also a mystery.

03:11If the call had come in over the radio, they may have been able to get to Charles sooner.

03:16Some have speculated that perhaps Charles was somehow still alive after the crash.

03:20That he managed to get his phone out of his pocket and call his loved ones one last time

03:25before slipping into unconsciousness.

03:27But if that were the case, why was his phone not recovered?

03:30The train was badly damaged, sure, but it was hardly obliterated.

03:35And wreckage is usually pretty thoroughly searched, especially when there are survivors.

03:40Others have suggested that perhaps someone else made the calls.

03:43That a living person somehow caused the collision and then took Charles' phone.

03:48That theory doesn't sit well with the family, who believe that the calls really were from Charles,

03:53even if he didn't actually make them.

03:55So why, 35 years later, do they keep coming?

03:59Was it Charles' way of saying goodbye?

04:01Of reaching out one last time to let his loved ones know he loved them?

04:04Or was it something more sinister?

04:06Something on the other side of the veil trying to get their attention?

04:09Now, it's time to hear from you.

04:11Do you have an unexplained story you'd like to share?

04:14Be sure to follow us for more amazing stories.

04:17And thanks for watching.

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