A late call, written by Smokey Bone Apart.

9-1-1-1-SPatch her reporting in.

One time I received a call from an elderly lady who had trouble breathing.

I had taken several calls from her and her husband in the past, so I recognized her voice.

I dispatched an ambulance to her residence. I held her on the line trying to keep

her calm while the ambulance was responding. The ambulance advised is that they have a 15-minute

ETA. She lived in a very rural part of West Virginia. I'm talking to her, asking her about her husband, how he was doing, just making small talk with her. The ambulance calls in. They advise they are on the scene.

I let them know that she is in severe respiratory distress. I still had her on the line.

I let her know the ambulance is coming to the door and I told her go answer the door.

She says okay and hangs up the phone.

The EMT and paramedic on the scene call back about a minute later.

They advised no one is answering the door.

We have a sheriff unit who was in the area pulling on the scene about that time.

The sheriff unit confirmed the address. He advised that he is breaching the door to make access to the PT.

Five minutes go by, the paramedic on the scene radios in asking who the caller was.

I advise it was the elderly female who lived at the residence.

He tells me that he's going to call in and needs to speak with a supervisor on shift.

We get him over to a supervisor. The supervisor confirms the information that I give him and asks what's going on.

Apparently, the elderly female had been dead for a while and was in already full rigamortis.

They thought I was wrong on the caller. The other dispatchers played

it back and confirmed that it was the female who called. The ambulance transferred the hospital.

We got the same calls and disbelief from the doctors. So I took a call from a ghost.

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