Getting your name called by a disembodied voice can be as disturbing as it is puzzling. It can make you question your hearing and sometimes, your sanity. The voices can sound male, female, soft or harsh. It may sound like your own voice, someone who you know, or like no one you have heard before.
I remember the first time I heard a soft, lilting voice call my name. It called my name twice. This happened when I was 15 years old and was in my sister’s bedroom with her and a friend of mine. The bedroom was at the back of the house, which backed onto the garden.
It was a hot & sunny day, so the sash window was pulled down to let in a breeze. We were just chatting when we all heard my name being called. The voice sounded as though it came through the opened window and we all heard it. We stopped chatting, looked towards the window and again, the voice called my name.
I remember saying “Who is that calling me?”, only to see puzzled faces in answer to my question. Taking the logical route, I shouted downstairs to my mother. “Mum, did you call me?” No was the answer I got.
We agreed it was an odd thing to happen and shrugged it off as just ‘one of those things.’
Another time I heard my name being called was when I was at work. It was a retail store. I usually worked in the office area but was on the shop floor, looking for an item for an online order. I did not know the shop floor too well so asked a colleague to assist me in finding the section where I would find the item.
The shop was on a ground floor area as well as a mezzanine area that has see through safety panels. We went to a particular section on the ground floor, and it was then my name was called. It was a soft sounding voice. My colleague also heard it and she said it must be another colleague who knows exactly where this item is and as it sounded like my name had been called from the mezzanine, we went up there. No one was there, not even a customer, let alone a colleague. Again, we agreed this was odd but just got on with the task in hand.
It was several months later, again, at work, I had a different voice call my name. This voice was different and there were no witnesses to it. It was in the warehouse part of the building. No one but myself was in this area. I was checking some orders, so my head was bent forward. This almost distorted deep voice, right in my left ear, said my name. It actually hurt my ear; like when you put earbuds in and you don’t realise the volume is too high. I reacted the same way to this voice as I would to having the volume too loud. It was almost like I could feel the hairs in my ear canal react to the rough, deep sound of the voice.
I exclaimed out loud in response to this. I looked around me, but no one was there. This voice sounded electronically filtered compared to the other 2 voices I have written about. It was quite shocking to hear as it felt as though it was right in my ear.
To what ends did these voices calling my name have? I wasn’t lured into danger nor did it lead to anything positive (apart from writing about it). Was it just to get my attention (whatever ‘it’ was)?
There have been several other occasions my name has been called since then, but these 3 experiences are more profound to me as 2 of these had witnesses and the third one was just very odd.
I found this piece that I had written several years ago and coincidentally (or not), I had another disembodied voice call my name on the 9th March 2023. I was upstairs at work, just finishing off some admin, when I heard my name being called by what I thought was my female co-worker, I shouted down the stairs that I would be down in a minute. No response so I went to where the staircase is and shouted a bit louder “I’ll be down in a minute”, Again, no response so I finished up the admin and went downstairs to find my co-worker at the furthest point on the open plan floor, chatting with 2 other co-workers. I said “What did you want?” only for her to look confused and I told her I had heard her call my name and she replied that she hadn’t.
Have you ever had your name called by a disembodied voice? Not on a recording but heard in real time. What were the circumstances? Did it make you feel afraid or just puzzled?
Was the voice recognisable to you, sound like you or was it an unknown voice?
I am hoping to get enough experiences to write a book about this subject so if you would like to share your experiences with this, please contact me at here
