To be a bit creeped out by this phone call in the middle of the night?

[ReginaFalangeee]

Sorry bit of a long story-

My mum received a phone call on the landline in the dead of night, around 3am.

She rushed downstairs to answer thinking one of the family had been in an accident.

When she answered there was a child
on the line (she thinks older primary school age boy) saying they were lost in a popular local wooded area, could she come and pick them up?

Apparently they didn’t sound scared and were very matter of fact about it but my mum was really worried about a child being lost and alone in the middle of the night and says against her better judgment she would have left to look for them had her car not been in for repairs.

According to my mum, this is a transcript of the call, from what she can remember.

Child- I’m lost down local wooded area, can you come and pick me up?

Mum- thinking this was grandson, (Grandson’s name) is that you, are you ok? How did you get down there? Where are your mum and dad?

Child -I don’t know, I’m lost. Can you pick me up?

Mum- realising it’s not grandson. What’s your name? Are you hurt? What’s happened? Where are your mum and dad?

Child- repeats I’m lost and stuck down local wooded area. Can you come and get me.

Mum- why didn’t you phone your mum and dad or the police? How did you get my number? I think I’d be better to call the police to come and help look for you.

Child- hangs up.

She phoned the police immediately who came round within 30mins and they took a statement the went and had a good look round the woods. No one was there.

The police came back to my mums after checking and asked if anyone would play a prank on her. If she’d fallen out with my one recently or if anyone would have a reason to make a phone call like that. My mum couldn’t think of anyone/or any reason.

They tried to call 1471 and trace the number but it was withheld. Also the weird thing is my mums number is ex-directory so unless they dialled a random number they would have had to know it.

My mum doesn’t seemed to phased by it and has written it off as a prank call but I can’t help being very creeped out by it. I think someone was either trying to lure her down the woods or was checking if she was home.

What do you think?

YABU - just a prank call, no need to be alarmed.

YANBU- definitely sinister

Wow, so many replies.

My mum lives in Scotland so the schools have already gone back. It was a weekday night so doubt it would have been a sleepover dare type thing.

The person on the phone used the local name for the the woods which I doubt anyone out with the town would use.

It could very well have been an older teen or adult faking a child’s voice.

I doubt my mum would actually have gone to fine the child. It’s about a 25 min drive away and very remote so i think she would have seen sense.

to the people who think I’m over reacting. Had it been at an earlier time in the night I would maybe have brushed it off but a call at 3am is odd. Also it wasn’t just a standard prank call and hang up type situation. The person stayed on the line and tried to get my mum to leave. They seemed calm and held their nerve when questioned. so
ok maybe just someone being silly but still I think it’s right to be a bit alarmed by it. Like the PP said. At best it’s a nasty call.

@ReginaFalangeee you say your mum thought it sounded like a boy who was late primary aged. Some 13-14yo boys still sound like babies because their voice hasn’t dropped yet. They could’ve added a few random digits to the end of the local area code.

Or it could be that the grandson was at a sleepover and volunteered his grandma as the recipient of a creepy prank call.

I think it’s more worrying that your mum would’ve gone into the woods alone at night in search of this mystery child had her car not be in for repairs.

I think a prank but also sinister and it would creep me out too. Does she have “local woods”?
i can imagine someone well meaning trying to help.
if a scam I can’t work out the purpose other than robbery.
good the police came so if it happens to someone else there is a record

Bored kid, prank call. I wouldn't give it a second thought

I'm very ashamed to say that back in the 70's as a pre teen, if my friends and I managed to get hold of a phone without parents being around, we'd spend hours making prank calls. We'd just dial random numbers and say the most bizarre things when someone answered. I'm happy to report I grew out of it by secondary school! This sounds like a prank and nothing more sinister. I'm pretty sure the kids involved would have no inkling that someone would actually leave their house in the middle of the night to collect a strange child from woods!

I'd have made out like I was coming but phoned the police. Probably a kid messing around from home, not particularly preying on your mum but making up a number.

Some pretty vivid imaginations here.

Didn’t anyone here do prank calls as a child? I thought that was pretty much a right of passage. Maybe not dramatic 3 AM calls, but definitely random numbers.

As to how they knew the name of the local woods, if they’re ringing from the same area code then of course they would know. Most area codes don’t stretch that far, a few miles at best, and assuming you’re not living in the middle of the forest there aren’t generally several woods in one area.

And frankly anyone who would drive out in the middle of the night to find a random child with no name lost in the middle of the woods while the pranksters burgle their house is pretty stupid.

ha ha ha I can assure you it’s not “balderdash”. Although I’d use any excuse to use that word 😂

I’ve spoke to my mum again this morning and she says that she admits she probably wouldn’t have gone and it was just the initial panic of a missing child.

She’s a very lovely lady and and would do anything to help anyone.

The police gave her a bit of a fright by explaining how to keep safe etc. So I think I’m future she’ll be a bit more sensible.

It definitely feels quite sinister to me, and what is worrying is if they are trying it on other people as well. To what end? Maybe to get the person out of their house and then attempt a burglary whilst they are out.

“Pretty stupid”

bit harsh! She didn’t actually go.

This sounds like a likely explanation imo.

It didn't occur to her to wonder how a child she does not know had her phone number, & rang her instead of 999 or their own folks?

It didn't occur to you a child could quite easily put in the wrong phone number when most children don't need to remember their landlines anymore and could be scared shitless of the police?

i think it is a prank
a horrible one as well. - but not to get her out of the house - that sounds too far fetched.
luckily she is unfazed op

Also my mum has a different area code to
the area code the woods are actually in

Older than primary school age is not a child, its a teen and as someone with a teen boy they do not could like kids at all.

Its hard to say could be sinister (but how would they have her number) or could be a prank (but how do they know she lives near 'woods' unless it was coincidental which it could be if no location identifiers where given, 'woods' is pretty generic).

Its more worrying that you think your mother would have rushed off alone in to a dark wooded area at night if not for not having a car, regardless of sinister, prank or real thats just plain stupidity.

to the people who think I’m over reacting. Had it been at an earlier time in the night I would maybe have brushed it off but a call at 3am is odd. Also it wasn’t just a standard prank call and hang up type situation. The person stayed on the line and tried to get my mum to leave. They seemed calm and held their nerve when questioned. so they stayed on the line because she kept engaging with them. Not every prank call is about ringing a number and then hanging up. It’s all the better if you can get your “victim” to engage, which she merrily did.

• do not talk like

I can’t get passed reading the script in a scary British ghost child voice. 😬

No, because I am not dedicating any time to inventing hyperbolic fictitious scenarios @girlmom21, when Occam's Razor tells me this was a standard prank call, especially given the current 3am TikTok craze.

Definitely a prank call, kids can be really stupid!
Think about it. The child is lost in a wooded area, so how are they calling? They must have a mobile, which would have numbers stored it it. Yet instead of calling any of their own contacts they call this woman who they don't know.
If they wanted to lure her out of the house it would have been far easier to make up a story in the evening, when she is likely to go out, rather than 3am when no one is likely to leave their house.
Kids, on a sleepover, probably watched a horror film that's rated too old for them, doing stupid things.

My old number growing up was something like 68008 and local taxi was 68000. The amount of calls we got, especially at ungodly hours was a nightmare.

I think this was a prank and they either meant to call someone else, or just changed a random number.

Or vague possibility it could it have been a friend of your nephew's. I would speak to nephew too.

Sorry maybe I didn’t phrase that well. I meant older end of primary school. So
preteen but not very little

The police are actually able to trace a call even if the caller dialled 141 first. I know this for a fact as someone kept calling my friend in the night/ early hours and doing the whole silent call thing. They had done 141 first so my friend couldn't track them but the police could. Turns out it was one of my friends neighbours who was doing it and the police paid her a visit and she initially denied it until the police showed her proof of a log of all the calls she had done to my friend with the times etc and she admitted it and was given a warning. The neighbour was shocked as she had thought doing 141 first before dialling my friends number had meant she was completely anonymous- she wasn't.

@KettrickenSmiled and the OP's mom, who was on edge because she was awoken at 3am assuming there was a family emergency, is supposed to be thinking completely reasonably and rationally and know all about the latest Tik Tok trends?

😂