X-Files doesn't have anything on a spooky voicemail one Twitter user received earlier this year.
Ty, or @strayedaway, took to the social media platform in mid-March to share with his followers the message left on his cell phone by an unknown number. In it, an automated voice recites words from the NATO phonetic alphabet, a code used by the military. Some quick deciphering by Ty and other users uncovered the caller's secret message: "It is dire for you to evacuate… They are not human." YIKES.
After Ty's hair-raising post about the voicemail went viral, racking up tens of thousands of likes, he found himself at the center of multiple conspiracy theories and received countless messages over the course of the next few days — some from people who wanted to help him get to the root of the voicemail, others from mysterious entities that only added fuel to the fire.
Listen at your own discretion…
Ty deleted his original tweet containing the voicemail, but you can listen to the audio here (if you dare). It's basically just a creepy robot voice saying random words from the phonetic alphabet. But what does it mean?
OH. Well then!
It's probably just a prank call, right? Unfortunately, Ty had some other info to share: Just a few days earlier, a stranger had taken pictures of his house — flash on — at 3 a.m.
Then, right on time, Ty received a foreboding DM from a user he'd never interacted with before.
"End the post you just shared about the recording on your phone," the message read in Indonesian. UMMM.
Ty's posts received a lot of attention. Some users immediately regretted reading them.
Can clicking a tweet be dangerous? You know what? Turn on the lights, and grab a baseball bat just in case.
Some people were so scared of even listening to the voicemail that they had other users explain it to them.
Others figured they should just get rid of their phones as a safety precaution.
Meanwhile, the braver half of Twitter got to work on figuring out WHAT ON EARTH THE VOICEMAIL MEANT.
User @jvstinfox pointed out a few intriguing details. First off, the voicemail was clearly on repeat.
Secondly, there are coordinates after the phonetic alphabet code, and they match up to a rather important location.
A lot of users were on board with this theory about Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 — after all, the missing plane is one of the most infamous unsolved mysteries of modern time. Maybe the voicemail explained something related to its disappearance?
But other users squashed that theory, pointing out a few glaring errors with it — like the fact that an airplane would have identified itself at the beginning of the audio.
OK, so what else could it be, then? People offered up a few other theories, like the idea that the message came from a — wait for it — time traveler.
Or wait — maybe it was some sort of nonhuman life force. An alien attempting to communicate with mankind, perhaps?
(It doesn't seem likely, but hey, you never know!)
The tweets and messages continued to pour in. Eventually, some bizarre, since-deactivated accounts began writing cryptic messages to Ty.
Which is probably why Ty eventually deleted the original tweets.
Do you have an explanation for this creepy voicemail? If so, email me. Don't call, because I've already thrown my phone away.
