good evening everyone I'm the Storyteller and I'm here to help you fall asleep with these stories of terrifying calls to 9911 so before we get started be sure to subscribe to the channel and like the video I'd love to know where you're from and what time you're watching this so leave it in the comments when you're ready get comfortable and [Music] relax for almost 12 years I worked as a 911 dispatcher 12 long years receiving all kinds of calls from people who think they are important to those who are really scared and asking for help
for extreme situations in all that time I learned to keep the toughest calls in a corner of my mind to put aside the pain I absorbed like a sponge I have spent many sleepless nights and there is one call that has never been erased from my mind among all of them there is one that will always be there present in my thoughts I remember every detail because I have a copy of the transcript of that call so I'm going to use it to tell you what happened this is the story of a girl named Asha
a Jane Doe who like so many others was on the front lines in a desperate situation we 911 dispatchers are the crucial link between people in danger and the emergency responders who arrive to help our job is to reduce response time and save lives and that was the reason I decided to get into this I was never very athletic so a career in the police or military wasn't my thing it's always bothered me a little bit because ever since I was little I dreamed of making the world a better place so when I found out
I could be a 911 dispatcher I didn't hesitate I was told it wasn't a job for just anyone that it was something that could seriously affect the mental health of those who did it sounds crazy right but that only made it more appealing in the end it was a public service and even though I knew it would be difficult and sometimes depressing I would be helping my fellow Americans in their darkest moments in addition being a police dispatcher requires specific training it's not easy being a call Operator or an emergency medical services dispatcher but being
a police dispatcher is even more complicated we all knew that only the smartest and determined could do it so I was over the moon when I passed the exam and was accepted into the training course I was a seasoned dispatcher when I got the call from Ashland just a few hours into my shift he had returned from the breakroom with a cup of black coffee that promised to keep me up all night I always said a little prayer to myself before I took each call hoping it was nothing serious nothing that would leave me scarred
but as soon as I heard the girl's voice I knew something bad was coming the screams are horrible because you can barely understand them you spend the first few minutes trying to get them to breathe enough to talk but the worst are the Whispers when someone calls out Whispering it's because they are in imminent danger they whisper because they know that whatever is threatening them is very close 911 what is your emergency address I asked the call had been transferred from a general operator and as soon as I knew I needed the police I got
ready I was right in front of a laundromat on Fourth Street there was silence before the girl told me she didn't know exactly where I was and that answer gave me a chill this is going to be complicated what's going on I tried to sound calm because young people usually respond better if you stay relaxed but her voice was shaking and I knew something horrible was happening the tension in the air was palpable and I could only hope he could give me more details before everything got even scarier the girl's voice sounded calm almost too
natural and that terrified me there wasn't a hint of Hope in her tone she was so close in the laundry room but it didn't sound like there was going to be a rescue no I'm in the bedroom with him she blurted out and those words echoed in my head like an echo I was trapped and the worst part was that it wasn't an isolated place but a commercial and residential neighborhood for a moment I tried to calm myself thinking that this could be resolved without complications do you know what color the house is I asked
trying to divert the topic a bit to get more details and keep her focused but she just answered me with a no that simple word gave me a bad feeling things were really bad the police can't just go kicking in the door of every apartment near the Fourth Street laundromat without a good reason but before I could press her further she spoke again please hurry I I felt my heart racing I knew I was in a desperate situation perhaps in extreme danger but I had to continue to keep my composure and assess what was going
on does he have a gun I asked as I was already thinking of a warning to gather the necessary officers for a possible rescue he has a taser she said speaking quieter and quieter but she seemed strangely calm despite the gravity of the situation it made me think that maybe they had her sedated or under the effects of something are you hurt I asked worrying about her condition a little I think she replied in a voice that sounded like she was about to break and that broke my soul is there any way you can get
out of the house without him seeing you I inquired I don't know without waking him up I'm scared she told me and I could tell she was shaking with terror is there a bathroom in the house I asked again and his voice cracked as he replied my bedroom door is closed and he made it so I would make noise if he came out will he do something to you I had never felt so much tension on a call yes he tied me up she said are you tied up now I asked although I expected her
to say no a little but I got loose I think she replied and at that moment I thought she was truly brave but suddenly she said I think I woke him up oh my God I think I woke him up my heart stopped when I heard that the silence on the line was terrifying and it was what seemed like whole minutes before I finally got up the nerve to say something are you still there I don't know how long I can hold on he muttered it was heartbreaking to hear her like this I know but
I have to keep you in line I said trying to reassure her as I immediately called the officers to come to the laundromat fortunately there were only a couple of houses right across the street from the laundromat and I really can't describe the feeling of relief I experienced when I finally heard the cops arrive hands up right now they shouted as they entered the place I held back tears of joy to know that this girl was finally safe but Joy Soon turned to sadness as we learned that while searching the house they found the bodies
of two other missing women the kidnapper a guy named Paul great was arrested and later convicted of sexually abusing the three girls including Asha and murdering the other two during the trial I heard him say that although he had killed before he had no intention of killing his last victim supposedly he planned to marry her someday that line chilled me to the Bone to think of what she would have gone through trapped as The Unwanted bride of a killer as cold and callous as that was just heartbreaking what haunts me is where this girl would
be if she hadn't broken free of her bonds if she hadn't found a phone and made that call for her own rescue on that fatal night her bravery was the only reason she managed to escape that horror and survive that monster 911 please State your emergency my voice was shaking and I could barely speak my parents were in the same old same old and this time I was convinced the situation was going to end very badly I could hear my mom screaming in the background and my dad threatening her the day had started out normal
enough but I wasn't expecting what was to come I had been hiding in my closet because my dad came home drunk very early that morning my mom went to open the door for him as usual but all he got back was a slap in the face at that moment I was on the stairs my heart and my fist this horrible cycle of violence and abuse had been my life for as long as I could remember things had been this way it wasn't until I went to asleep over at a friend's house that I realized that
what I was experiencing at home was not normal that not all families were like that I was 7 years old and an only child at the time so when I saw what life was like at my friend's house I began to realize how bad things were at home by the time I turned 18 I had already planned to run away I felt my mom was weak always trembling at my dad's every whim always helpless and scared I hated that and what's worse is that sometimes I look too much like him I hated seeing my brown
hair and eyes because they reminded me so much of him and my freckles irritated me even more I remember one time my dad beat up my mom and she felt to the ground at that moment her eyes full of fear met mine and she said Alice come here she had beer stains on her shirt and her pants were untucked at that instant I turned and ran downstairs I still have scars from those times when I didn't manage to escape in time or didn't see the blow coming no one wondered why I wore long- sleeved clothes
and a scarf even in summer they probably thought it was a weird fashion choice but the truth is it was because I had taken criticism more than once because that was another thing it never occurred to me to ask for help I just felt embarrassed and tried to hide it in front of others pretending I was just an ordinary girl with a normal family but this time I had some money saved up enough to live on my own for a while and I thought about finding a job or something to do to make a living
I was finally of age and that meant only one thing to me Freedom that morning I heard my dad's footsteps staggering behind me after slapping my mom in the door I knew things were going to get ugly now for me so I ran looking to get to my room for shelter wait my mom yelled and as I looked back I saw she was on the floor trying to grab his leg as he dragged her with every step she was always trying to stop him bearing the brunt of the abuse but never getting anywhere I remember
once asking her why she didn't just leave but she tearfully told me she had nowhere to go her parents were dead and we were her only family the image of my dad kicking my mom in the face trying to get her to let let go of his leg while I ran haunts me to this day I couldn't stop to look again I just went up to my room closed the door and hid in the closet her screams were clearly audible even if I tried to sneak into a dark corner I felt I could do nothing
but stay there however this time I felt it was enough with shaking hands I grabbed my phone and dialed 911 please what is your emergency the operator repeated I choked up as I sobbed and could see through my tears the closet felt like a prison and for an instant I thought anxiety and fear were going to win me over he's going to kill us I managed to say with my voice cracking and shaking it was a desperate moment at that moment my mom screamed again for help and I whispered please hurry then I hung up
and walked out of the closet with my knees shaking I took a second to calm down took a deep breath and went downstairs but when I got to the living room the scene was horrible my mom had blood on her face and her blonde hair looked like a mess my dad was standing over her kicking her hard I froze unable to form coherent sentences and at that moment our eyes met she shook her head trying to tell me I needed to run away but despite the panic I felt I held my dad's gaze I already
called 911 I said trying to control the trembling in my voice the police are on their way in that instant his dark eyes filled with rage and I knew I had no choice but to run but I froze in my tracks in retrospect I should have but I couldn't you did it again I yelled at him trying to Stand My Ground despite how scared I was I could smell the stench of beer on his breath but I tried not to be intimidated my voice was shaking but I kept repeating what I had said earlier the
police are on their way I blurted out I took a step back and even though my instincts told me I should run I couldn't leave my mom with that monster so I stayed but my heart was pounding like crazy suddenly I saw him grab something and before I could calculate the situation he raised his arm so quickly that I couldn't react in time then I felt something sharp scratch my face and a scream came out of my throat as I felt the blood dripping down he was holding a spiked belt the kind that hurt on
contact without giving me time to do anything he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me towards where my mom was he pushed me really hard and we collided I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget he said and his voice full of fury made my skin crawl I looked down at his hand still holding that belt then thought this can't end well but I realized he was so drunk that maybe that would give us a chance to escape Mom we have to get out of here I said as I pushed her to
stand up she let out a groan and slowly stood up holding on to her side as if she was having trouble moving at that moment the belt lifted again and I pushed my mom out of the way just in time she fell on top of me and I cried out in pain as her weight made me stagger run I shouted his eyes were full of desperation and we both felt the urgency to get out of that room my dad threw a punch with the belt again but I managed to dodge it then he stumbled and
fell face first to the floor at which time I took the opportunity to launch myself toward the door by that time my mom had already reached the exit and I was following close behind at that instant I heard sirens approaching and the police car pulled up right in front of us the officers quickly got out noting our bruised and bloody appearance and instantly called an an reporting that our condition was critical while my mom was being treated for bruised ribs I got some stitches on my face and ice for the swelling my dad didn't even
put up a fight when they took him away the testimony we gave against him was so strong that I knew they would put him away for a long time and deep down I wished I would never see him again after this nightmare my mom joined a group that supported people who had suffered abuse little by little she got better and I supported her with the money I had until I got my first job as a waitress I had not imagined that my future could be like this but now that I was free of my father
and all his violence now the future looked bright and everything seemed possible I looked forward knowing that all of this was thanks to that small Act of Courage that led me to make the 911 call if you ask a police officer what time of year they're most afraid to work chances are some will mention Christmas or Super Bowl day which I understand but I assure you most will give you that tired look before saying Halloween for us that date is a real challenge in the small New England town where I work the number of emergency
calls spikes about six or seven times higher on Halloween night it's as if that day unleashes the worst in people sure there are things we know are going to happen houses getting covered in eggs trees decorated with toilet paper by board teenagers looking for trouble reports of drunken weird running around anyway those calls are manageable but what really complicates everything is that in the midst of all this fuss we get sent to fewer officers which means we're in serious trouble if something serious breaks out what I've faced over the years with Halloween nonsense pales in
comparison to what happened at the house at the end of Madison Street that night stuck in my mind forever and not for a positive reason it all started when I responded to a call about a group of teenagers who were trick-or-treating in a very aggressive Manner and what's worse they weren't wearing costumes that's precisely what bothers me about Halloween it wasn't technically illegal but I don't need a group of troubled youths walking around on a night like that especially with hundreds of excited kids roaming around looking for treats I made my attempt to lecture them
receiving looks of disdain in return but decided to let it go as an officer I've been involved in car chases with criminals shootouts and all kinds of crazy situations so arguing with a bunch of of kids who just want to cause trouble isn't exactly what I want to deal with as I was walking back to my patrol car the radio immediately came on my dispatcher with his usual sense of humor mentioned something about that dilapidated house in Madison he told me they had received another call about the Halloween decorations there which looked too scary this
was the third call of the day on that subject so he suggested I take a look at it if I had a little time to spare we both had a bit of a laugh about it you know it's common for us to get absurd calls on Halloween besides the kids there are also bitter old men who just can't stand to see others having fun for example there's a Christian woman who calls us every year about the same thing the kids are trespassing on her property while trick-or-treating I really don't understand why she takes it so
seriously still I go about my duties responding to the calls and staying alert a couple of hours passed the evening turned dark and the young children accompanied by their dads began to return home only a few groups of teenagers were left heading to parties or to some nightclub then the dispatcher mentioned the house in Madison to me again she told me that she had had several more calls about these decorations that were scaring children and parents alike at that location and asked me to go around and check it out the idea of confronting some hermit
who is obsessed with horror movies and is about to lecture me about Halloween and his right to decorate however he wants didn't thrill me at all nor did having to lecture him about morality and respecting neighbors and blah blah blah it was just what I needed to make me feel like the protector of Innocence as the cold Halloween wind blew sometimes I feel like I'm the world's grumpy stepdad I really do so I get in my patrol car and head to that part of town that's a little more rundown when I got to Madison I
saw the house right away I couldn't miss it it was an Old Colonial that was covered in Halloween decorations there were vampire and zombie cardboards everywhere fake cobwebs decorating the porch and and I counted a couple dozen carved pumpkins scattered around the lawn with some pretty elaborate designs but what really gave me the creeps was something hanging from a large Oak Tree on the side of the house that was the most disturbing Halloween decoration I had ever seen it wasn't disturbing because it looked too real the limbs were too stiff and the hair looked super
fake however how things were positioned made my hair stand on end as I watched from my patrol car the figure was hanging by its neck on one of the thick branches of the tree swaying gently in the Autumn Breeze look I'm a cop and I've seen weird things in my job so I don't scare easily on the contrary I'm quite logical and rational but that figure sent a shiver down my spine it really looked like a real hanged man I got out of the car keeping my eyes fixed on the decoration as I walked towards
it the leaves crunched under my feet with every step I took and I reached for the flashlight on my belt to focus the light on the tree then I realized the reason people were so alarmed the texture of the thing's skin was very graphic blotchy in a shade of purple almost as if it were a real corpse I felt a little silly for feeling so disturbed by a simple well-crafted Halloween decoration but then a metallic nauseating smell hit me mingling with what I had assumed was a gudy decoration at that moment I knew it wasn't
a joke this was a real corpse it had been hanging there all day and dozens of kids had walked by it without noticing my stomach churned horribly and I ran back to my patrol car radioing for the coroner to be sent out as quickly as possible my dispatcher nearly fainted when I told her what I had found horrified that people had been staring at a dead body all day it turned out that the hanging guy was one Ernest Brown a retired teacher who investigators told me had been duped by disreputable people posing as an underage
girl they had threatened him with going public with some of the more disgusting things he said online and he decided to take the easy way out he hung himself from a tree without thinking about what might happen to his body people make me feel bad for not enjoying Halloween and laugh at me when I am skeptical about this holiday they usually talk about how much fun they're going to have or what costume they are going to wear but they have no idea about the dark things that sometimes happen on that night the things that are
hiding in plain sight sometimes I think that if they knew what was really going on in the streets on that night they wouldn't be so quick to go out and celebrate I was about 18 years old when it all happened it's a weird story and to be honest I don't really know how to explain it I just know that the world is a lot Stranger Than it seems at the time I was living with my parents but at this specific time they were on vacation for a month so for a few days I had the
house all to myself and like any other teenager alone at home I called some friends and we got together to play pingpong in the basement or video games in the living room one night after one of those sessions with my friends I received a call the number was not saved in my contact list but I decided to answer at first all I could hear was static and I thought it was a prank by the guys and they were trying to pull one of their pranks on me so I put the call on speaker phone so
the others could hear it and then all you could hear was this deafening noise after a couple of minutes I hung up but then again the phone rang I answered again and guess what same story just static although this time I thought I heard a woman's voice mumbling something I couldn't catch what it said so I hung up again that was the last time I was called that night the next day I went through my usual routine but my friends were busy so I spent the day alone and didn't feel like going out when evening
came I made myself some dinner and suddenly my phone rang once again the number was not on my list so I answered it and again the same static tortured my ears suddenly I heard a woman's voice clearly help I think he's dead help and then it it cut off I was stunned it was kind of weird but I thought maybe it was another joke so I decided not to make a big deal out of it however that became a kind of daily routine I would get the call and little by little the woman would say
more things every day her words became more disturbing on the last day before my parents returned home I received another call this time I was really intrigued I was curious about what the teaser would say this time and that last call was the longest of all the woman was shouting help I think he's dead help the floor is covered with blood I didn't mean to do it you know he hit me so I hit him back that's when he pulled out a knife and stuck it in my arm she said I shuttered just remembering then
she continued he was drunk and lost his balance slipped in a puddle of soapy water on the floor because he was washing dishes when he fell the knife went into his stomach help was that a 911 call the woman began to cry and just before the call cut off I heard the pain in her voice I didn't know if it was real or not but at the time it seemed too strange to ignore I recorded the conversation because I found it interesting then I kept thinking about what the woman was saying maybe it was some
kind of Horror Story I could find online but it seemed too concrete to be just a fabrication so I sat down at my laptop and started searching for keywords like knife wielding Killer Woman or death in the kitchen I found a bunch of articles about women killing their husbands with knives and that shocked me I kept reading until I found one that mentioned a woman right in my hometown it turns out that this woman used to live on the same block as me about 20 years ago my family moved into this neighborhood right around the
time I was born and after doing a little more research I found out that she had been in the house my parents bought the girl her name was Anna Simpson and she had murdered her husband In Cold Blood that was what the neighbors whispered although she always said said it wasn't her fault but no one believed her she was sentenced to life imprisonment just outside the city every time I read more about his case I realized that he had made a statement that exactly matched what I heard on the phone recording he was drunk and
fell down that night but of course the cop didn't believe him and thought he was just trying to save his own skin he tried to get the authorities to retrieve the recording of his 911 call but was told it didn't exist as far as the police were concerned she had never called Mary insisted that she had and that her call had been answered but that no one answered that story intrigued me so much that I decided to go to the prison to talk to her I needed to tell her what I had heard and the
similarities to her statement maybe I could help her in some way I know it sounds weird but I've always been interested in theories about parallel realities and crossed paths and stuff besides I had the recording and maybe she could use it to prove her innocence I arrived at the prison and told a guard that I wanted to see Anna Simpson before I could explain further I was interrupted by the guard who asked do you know Anna I replied that no I just wanted to talk to her but then he looked up from his file and
told me that Anna had died the night before I froze what happened I asked crossing my arms so my nervousness wouldn't show she told me that she had been screaming all night claiming she was innocent and threatening suicide on several occasions at first they checked her out but when they saw she was fine they ignored her she mentioned a 911 call and how she was going to prove her innocence the guard simply Shrugged and said sorry Anna as he walked away eventually she made good on her threat and took her own life I froze paralyzed
for a few minutes but as I turned to leave a woman approached me I'm sorry did you say you knew Anna Simpson she asked me her eyes filled with tears I then began to tell her about the call with the recording and everything I had found the woman confirmed Med yes that's her voice and burst into tears she asked me she wanted to be heard she didn't want to be remembered as a murderer the craziest thing about all this is that I received those calls by mistake it turned out that the inmate had the wrong
number I don't know how they came across the recording but all I can say is that I regretted not having arrived a day earlier my name is name is Susanna and I have worked as a 911 dispatcher for 20 long years and believe me it's been a roller coaster the pay is pretty good about $22 an hour which is not bad at all for someone like me who started practically from scratch I needed nothing more than my high school diploma and to be ready to hear some of the most disturbing things you can imagine the
first two parts were easy but the third part that is dealing with extreme situations that was a whole different story at first I thought there were a lot of trivial calls sometimes it was just someone wanting to report a barking dog or a group of teenagers fooling around but other times it was serious imagine getting a call saying a guy is robbing a house with an axe those experiences created kind of a mix of emotions in me you'd never want to get an emergency call about a real attack but sometimes the reality was even stranger
a kid getting electrocuted from sticking a fork in an electrical socket there were several of those too so in the midst of the craziness of the calls I learned to differentiate the serious from the trivial more than half of the calls were legitimate accidents medical emergencies some real crime then there was another segment maybe 40% that were just misunderstandings confused people or what they would say today people with diminished capacity and less than 10% were those things that truly kept me awake at night even if I tried to anesthetize myself with vodka and sleeping pills
I don't want to bore you with the horrendous things I heard sometimes they seemed more more like horror comedies than anything else but there is one case in particular that I keep to myself whenever someone asks me about the worst call I've ever received and here it goes one cloudy Saturday I received a call that popped up on my screen I answered it with my classic 911 phrase what's your emergency but this time on the other end there was only silence we typically receive more accidental calls than one might imagine before smartphones came along we
had those phones that dialed 911 accidentally so there I was repeating my usual greeting hoping it wasn't another dumb call but before I could hang up I heard a little voice on the other end of the line I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl but it sounded very small maybe four or 5 years old hello he whispered in a voice so sweet it made me change my tone immediately hello little one I'm Susanna is everything okay the voice was shaking with fright but the child seemed to be trying to calm down
did I make a call to 911 she asked timidly yes you did very well little one can you give me the phone to Mom or Dad please as the conversation progressed I tried to remain calm then the child's voice changed a little and he said Mommy fell down I paused hoping I had misunderstood she fell is she okay but then the child repeated she can't get up at that moment I didn't want to imagine what was happening but I knew I had to do it to help I began to form a picture in my mind
of what might be happening and I have to admit I felt sick that innocent voice was describing something terrible the child continued talking about mommy's eye that had fallen out the innocence in his voice contrasted with the horror of the situation and it hit me like a brick although I have received more violent calls and heard life snuffed out on the line nothing affected me as much as that little being traumatized and lost in his own real ity talking about what could be his deceased mother honey do you know where you live I asked the
little guy it was a long one to have a chance to trace the call and get her street name so I started dialing the police without wasting any time we had to get her out of what she was seeing as soon as possible yes she replied I live at home tracing the call took only a few seconds while keeping the child on the line I directed the nearest patrol car to her location do you know what happened to your mommy I asked each word a struggle against the the terror that swept over me my biggest
fear was that there was someone there in the house ready to hurt the little boy the child's shaky voice continued mommy and daddy were screaming okay sweetie I need you to stop looking at mommy can you do that for me I tried to sound calm yes she replied I want to look at Olaf she mentioned and I knew she was talking about the Snowman from Frozen perfect I want you to stay on the phone and look at Olaf I told her as I tried to keep her mind busy and off the horrifying situation describe Olaf
for me what does he do so I continued asking question after question about what I was seeing I was talking to him until I finally heard the policeman arrive on the scene they rushed in because apparently the door was open it turned out that it was a girl and she was only 4 years old her name was Rebecca and she was taken to Children's Services and would now enter the adoption system I hoped she would find a family that would love her and give her the stability she needed later I learned that the father had
never been present in the girl's life the reality was that the guy who had beaten her mother to death with a baseball bat was her current boyfriend a guy with a history of drug problems and violence it all happened over a petty claim and after murdering her he tried to flee the state to evade justice but as is often the case luck was not on his side a broken tail light led him to a routine traffic stop the officer noticed the guy was too nervous so upon checking his car he found the bloody bat in
the trunk I'm not going to lie this one doesn't rank as the worst call I've ever received in my job there are some that still give me nightmares at night years later but this is the only one I feel a little comfortable talking about maybe because there's a glimmer of hope at the end the little girl was adopted by a loving couple who were looking for someone like her at least that part of the story has a happy ending and that comforts me being an emergency dispatcher was my life for 11 years right up until
Hurricane Katrina hit it all started one summer before my junior year of high school I had decided to get into law enforcement after shadowing the police department a couple of times I imagined things would be like in the movies full of high-speed chases and Sirens blaring everywhere but seeing what they actually did during patrols changed my perspective dramatically it wasn't just about being the cool kid with a badge and a gun it was about connecting with the community cops knew people by name helped the elderly carry groceries and kept kids out of trouble they were
making a real difference they weren't just two guys shooting for fun so on weekends and some Summers I started working part-time on the radio eventually I got a full-time position after graduating high school even though it was not illegal for a minor under 18 to be in a Dispatch Center I could not take 911 calls without an APCO certified operator with me for those who don't know APCO stands for Association of Public Safety Communications officials and is the standard in the United States where everyone must get their certification to work in dispatch centers I could
run the fire and medical emergency console but it was absolutely illegal for me to handle information from the National ncic Crime system without the certification that was just one of the many rules I couldn't get around until I turned 18 so I spent my days helping out at Mobile County Fire and medical dispatch while I waited to turn of age to receive my certification plus I was a volunteer firefighter in my spare time which is a bit risky and not entirely common around here but that's another story on that fateful day the same day Katrina
hit the Gulf Coast I was on duty as a 911 operator in Mobile Alabama I received a flood of calls from New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast I guess we started getting them because the 911 centers to the West were collapsing one of the calls I distinctly remember was a woman screaming that she was trapped in her home on Gordon Street between Florida and law I had a hard time understanding it at first because we also have a street called Florida here but after checking and not finding it I asked her what city she was
calling from and she replied that she was calling from New Orleans hearing that made my heart sink of course the water had completely flooded the first floor of his house and was still Rising I asked her if she could find a way out if there were windows on the the second floor through which she could Escape but no she told me she only had a small one-story house with an attic I tried to contact 911 and the New Orleans fire department but the lines were jammed it was total chaos calls from New Orleans and the
coastal areas were flooding dispatch centers across the country every time I managed to make my way through to reach some unit I heard silence lines down from the ferocity of the hurricane I tried to stay calm as I talked to her focused on her friends her family the life she had before the storm washed everything away she seemed to be a well-liked woman but she was distraught for her older relatives especially because she knew they were even more helpless than she was at that moment her concern and vulnerability came through on the phone and I
wondered if there was anything I could do to help her I will never forget the generosity that woman showed even in such a desperate situation when she told me that the water was up to her waist I suggested that she go up to the attic and take some food and water to hold her over she joked that she could empty the fridge and take everything up to the attic even finish the leftovers from the night before she was an incredibly strong woman it amazed me how the human Spirit can shine through even in the darkest
of times however over time I noticed that her voice was beginning to tremble her breathing was getting faster and suddenly she told me that water was starting to seep into the attic through the floor I couldn't believe it I never thought water would rise that high my heart heart sank as I realized that the situation was much more serious than I had imagined with no way out and the Water Rising I asked her if there was a window in the Attic through which I could get out she replied that there was not and at that
moment Panic began to take hold of me I was trapped in an enclosed space and the water was still rising in desperation I told her to find something heavy something she could use to break the ceiling or a fan to escape I heard her cursing and moaning as she tried to use an object I couldn't identify to get out the knocking became weaker and less frequent each time finally she returned to the phone in a voice full of Terror I can't do it I can't get through the vent either what am I going to do
she screamed the Panic palpable the water was already up to her waist and still Rising my heart was breaking to hear her voice crack as tears began to well up in her eyes I'm going to stay on the line with you as long as you need I told her trying to calm her down so I stayed that way listening as she cried prayed and cursed then I began to hear her struggle to keep her head in the phone out of the water suddenly the call was cut off to this day I don't know if she
survived or not but judging by the situation she was in almost certainly not and the thought of that breaks my heart I quit my job at the Dispatch Center about 4 months after Katrina I signed up for therapy sessions at an office in Downtown Mobile seeking help dealing with the most traumatic calls I had ever handled to my surprise the therapist who specialized in police officers and dispatchers told me he thought I should quit my job he explained to me that people have a limited capacity to withstand trauma maybe I had reached my limit but
I don't regret being on the phone with that poor woman in New Orleans if I had it to do over again I would do it in a heartbeat the human connection I felt though tragic was worth it and I'm sure my accompaniment made her last moments less painful and heartbreaking sometimes just being there for someone at their worst can mean everything and that is something I will never forget I can't forget how altruistic that girl turned out to be especially working on the medical side of a 911 dispatch Center since smartphones became more advanced I've
heard that locating someone is much easier there's a new system in the UK that uses three words to locate EMTs right where you are which would be amazing in emergency situations rumor has it that they will implement something like this in several States but back in 2005 when there were only flip phones finding the precise location of an injured person was a real challenge as I understand it today you can get your location from just a few feet away but in the early 2000s you had to deal with whole square mile areas maybe a county
but nothing like the technology they have now so with that little bit of context I count this was without a doubt the worst 911 call I've ever received I received a call from a cell phone presumably one of those flip phones and it was a girl younger than me telling me that her mom had fallen and wouldn't wake up as I asked her questions it became clear that her mother had not only Fallen but had passed out on a flight of wooden stairs from her tone it sounded like there were no Vital Signs although I
knew it was possible that the girl didn't know what to look for what really scared me was that the little girl couldn't give us a clear Direction so I asked all sorts of things like if there was any male nearby that she could read but nothing she was panicking and in a situation where every second counted we were running out of time the only information he would give me was that they lived on a farm since almost all of my district was rural this did not get us any closer to saving his mom through a
series of basic questions I asked him how long it had been since his mom fell and he told me it had happened right after his favorite TV show started as I did the math I realized that his mother had been unconscious for at least 30 minutes in those situations we are taught to stay calm and be as professional as possible a trainer had told me that being as robotic as possible helped save lives by keeping emotional distance but hearing that mom had been like this for half an hour made me feel like a block of
ice was gripping my chest it was an incredible challenge to stay focused so I took a deep breath and tried to apply the techniques I had been taught so I asked him the name of the street if there were any landmarks or what I could see from the entrance but all he could tell me was that his family walked to church every Sunday that didn't help much a few minutes later my supervisor was taking a look at a map of our area where we marked all the churches near the farm after narrowing it down to
about five possibilities we sent a unit to each church I instructed them all to turn on their lights and Sirens so this girl could hear the vehicles approaching this would be key to better coordinate the response but you have to think that there we only had three fir trucks two ambulances and four police cruisers to cover the entire area so finding this girl's location meant we were risking the lives of others just to save one the tension became unbearable but good news came when some sheriff's deputies and some Highway Patrol officers offered their assistance in
just 15 minutes from the call I had never witnessed such a quick and large response in our area I remember noticing the timing because that's when I discovered that the phone she was using was cordless and that her family had left the phone right at the bottom of the stairs near the the front door that meant she could go outside look for lights and listen for Sirens it was a crucial breakthrough in finding her the suspense grew even more when it seemed that the little girl could not open the front door but in a moment
of true Joy I heard her shout that's it I opened it then I just had to cross my fingers and hope I heard the sirens in time I know that sounds cliche but in life and death situations those little hopes feel like big Miracles the minutes seemed like an eternity and I never really understood OD the concept of elastic time until that moment when the girl finally heard our Sirens it felt like hours had passed but there was no time to celebrate because now we had to figure out which of the emergency vehicles could arrive
first thinking quickly a colleague asked me to tell each of them to turn off their Sirens one by one we asked them to turn them back on to find out which one was closest it turned out to be one of the fire trucks so we sent them all back to their positions and then they dispersed Sirens blaring again finally a estate officer pulled into her street and the little girl could see him coming Run for the firetruck honey I shouted to her as we happily broke into silent Applause knowing they were on their way the
tension eased a bit there was a sense of relief in the air and most of us expressed our happiness by simply punching the air or burying our heads in our hands when the girl finally met the truck the driver was able to communicate with us and confirm her location his job was essentially done I stayed on the line while the paramedics head to the house then we said our goodbyes and all that was left was the moment of waiting hoping Mom was okay by that time mom had been out for almost an hour and the
anguish was palpable but we learned later that she woke up and was incredibly disoriented we knew there was something very wrong but at least she was alive it turns out she suffered a broken back a truly horrific injury that would require more than a year of recovery the police decided to give the girl a small reward as recognition for her bravery during the call for staying calm and doing what we asked her to do I don't know if that meant much but what else could we do in the end this event had a positive outcome
although the mother went through a complicated and painful recovery process she suffered no brain or nerve damage the reason I'm sharing all of this is to highlight something I consider super important as an emergency dispatcher I can say firsthand that parents need to teach their children a few essentials first they need to know their first and last name second memorize their home phone number Third how to make a 911 call and most importantly fourth they need to learn their complete home address and zip code I've lost count how many times this basic information could have
saved lives or at least prevented serious harm so please don't just think about saving 911 operators some stress this really is a key element in Saving Lives find creative ways to teach them make it a game sing a song together whatever works for you teach your children how to call the police or an ambulance it's critical and could make the difference between life and death
