Party Line Stories

spent a couple of my childhood years in Columbia, N.C. If you’ve ever been to Nags Head, down 64 east, you know where it is, although if you blink, you might just miss it. It is or at least it used to be, one of the most isolated towns in the state. It will come as no surprise, then, that back in the middle ‘60's we used to be on a “party line.” We lived sort of out in the country and they didn’t have private telephone lines for everyone but we, and several other folks who lived down our country road, were on the same telephone line. I know, some of you are out there going, “What! That’s unbelievable. How could you tell whom the phone was for when it rang?” Well, each person on the line had their own certain “ring.” Your’s might be three short rings, while your neighbor’s might be 2 long ones. Of course, hearing your neighbor’s ring might actually attract you to pick up the phone. You see, if you wanted to know your neighbor’s business, you just picked up the phone, and eavesdropped on their conversation. When you wanted to make a phone call, you had to pick up the receiver and make sure that no one was already on the line. I’m sure I’m not the only oldtimer in here. How many of you remember “party lines?”

As you can imagine, this led to many hilarious incidents. People who liked to listen in would often give themselves a way, and, let’s be honest: Party lines had a way of bringing out the “nosy” in all of us. Ruth Irwin, who grew up in Mississippi, was on her party line one day describing what had happened in a ballgame when a male voice suddenly cut in on the conversation and said: “No, you got it all wrong. That’s not what happened!”

Another woman told the story of attending a 4-H meeting at the home of another family on the same party line. Now she suspected that someone in that family had been listening in on her conversations, but she had no proof. While the meeting was going on, however, the phone rang her family’s ring. When it did one of the neighbor’s boys jumped up and headed for the phone to answer. In midstride, he froze, realizing he had just given himself away. The look on his face was priceless! He’d been caught!