The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Misc
 tank calling




From: ptomblin@compass.canoe.com (Paul Tomblin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: New Scientist and out-of-date folklore
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 1995 15:20:53 GMT

In a previous article, iayork@panix.com (Ian A. York) said: [oil tank phones home]

Here is what I found in the comp.risks (RISKS-17.37) archive:

>Date: Tue, 26 Sep 95 15:59:58 EDT
>From: Scott Drown <drown@xylogics.com>
>Subject: Re: Abandoned oil tank phones... (Reifschneider, RISKS-17.36)

The woman being haunted by the mystery calls lives near me. The local newspaper had a much more thorough coverage of the story. Here are the facts:

The "oil tank" was a home heating oil tank in a private residence. It was not a million-gallon monster owned by an oil company.

The tank had an auto-dialer attached, and was programmed to call the heating oil service company when the oil level fell. They would then dispatch a truck to top the tank off.

Years ago the heating oil service company went out of business. The phone company reclaimed the 800-service telephone number that the auto-dialers used. (Do you see where this is going?)

The 800 number was assigned to a _business_ in Massachusetts. It was set up for nation-wide availability, and connected to a FAX machine. The business is quite small, and is run by its owner from her home office.

An electrical storm happened in Maryland. Apparently a nearby strike somehow woke up the auto-dialer. The business in Massachusetts starts to get late night "hang-up" calls.

The calls were finally traced. The retiree that owned the tank knew nothing about the auto-dialer, and said she was very sorry that her oil tank was making crank calls.

The real risk seems to be assuming that the public news organizations understand anything technological. A secondary risk, as Sean pointed out, is that no one was responsible for making sure that _all_ the auto-dialers were disconnected, when the oil company went bankrupt. I wonder how many more of them, still programmed to that 800-number, are still waiting for their "wakeup" call?

Scott Drown, Annex Software Quality Assurance, Xylogics Inc, 53 Third Ave. Burlington, MA 01803 <drown@xylogics.com> +1-617-272-8140X390 +1-800-225-3317 [The previous article in Risks 17.036 wasn't as informative]

--
Paul Tomblin (ptomblin@canoe.com or ptomblin@compass.roc.servtech.com) <a href="http://www.servtech.com/public/ptomblin/">My home page</a>
"Pilots are requested to ensure that all surly bonds are slipped before attempting taxi or take-off" - FAA annotated `High Flight'


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