The Mojave phone booth is a perfect example of how people become obsessed with the strangest things. In this case, it was a lonely phone booth in the Mojave Desert. Over a period of 3 years, he gathered a cult following, eventually falling victim to his own popularity.
There are all kinds of theories about what it all means, but we’ll leave the philosophical and anthropological reflections to someone else. These are the facts of the story.
Is there a phone booth in the middle of nowhere?
In May 1997, Godfrey Daniels of Arizona read a magazine story that reported that a “Mr. N “noticed a small dot with the word” phone “15 miles from anywhere on a map of the Mojave Desert. Consumed by curiosity, “N” went out to see the phone booth and published his number.
“N” ended up with the phone booth after he found it, but Godfrey became obsessed. I called him every day. He logged all his calls, although no one answered. He tortured his friends when they visited him, making them call the phone booth as well. Finally, after about a month, her persistence paid off. He called and got a busy signal.
After countless redials, a woman named Lorene answered. Lorene had a cement mine nearby and was in the phone booth to make a call. Godfrey’s obsession didn’t end with talking to Lorene. After that, he made five pilgrimages to the little phone in Mojave, which he wrote about on his website.
Mojave phone booth becomes famous
In July 1999, Godfrey and a group of friends visited the phone booth. In four hours they answered 72 phone calls. They came from all over the United States and Canada, and as far away as Germany and Australia. Most of the callers had seen Godfrey’s website.
Chuck found out about the cabin from Steve, who found out about Godfrey. He called the phone and found it busy at 2:00 am. He decided he should be off the hook, so he did what anyone in his right mind would do.
He asked Steve, a complete stranger, to join him on a hanging trip. Because, after all, what good is a phone booth in the middle of the desert if you can’t call and hear it ringing? They faced ominous trucks carrying coffins, a Denny’s full of seniors, and fifteen miles of rough road to get to the cabin.
When they arrived, they found that it was not off the hook, it was out of order! The phone was later repaired.
The Los Angeles Times writer John Glionna, met Rick Karr, 51, in the phone booth. Karr claimed that the Holy Spirit told him to answer the phone. Over 32 days, he answered more than 500 phone calls. One of the strangest: repeated calls from someone who identified himself as “Sergeant Zeno of the Pentagon.”
The Mojave phone booth (and Godfrey) became lesser celebrities. They received coverage in The New York Times , The Los Angeles Times , through CNN and in newspapers around the world.
The end of the Mojave phone booth
Then it happened: three years after his first brush with fame, the phone booth came to an end.
On May 23, 2000, the San Jose Mercury News reported that Pacific Bell and the National Park Service had removed the booth because it was attracting too many onlookers.
