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‘Whisperer’ spooks students in Olney Hall

Mills College Weekly

Residential Mills students are being harassed by unidentified
callers. At one point, the “Whisperer” was the token prankster, but
joining his ranks is the “Vile Dialer”-another man utilizing the
Mills phone system for his own entertainment.

In the event that you don’t know who the Whisperer is, he can be
identified by his trademark-whispering into the phone. This
includes, but is not limited to, imitating a woman’s voice. One
student, when interviewed, said that she thought the whisperer was
her sick suitemate, and responded with her friend’s name asking,
“Christina? Are you sick? Should I come over?” to which his
response was “yes.” When she went to check on her suitemate, she
found her fast asleep.

Another student thought that the Whisperer was a friend, and
upon reflection realized that if he had said, “I’m down at my car
and I need help,” she would have gone.

According to students, the Whisperer calls Warren Olney hall
around October and November, and all of the calls tend to happen on
the same night. One student speculated that the Whisperer had a
list of Olney extensions, since the Whisperer seems to plague that
particular building.

The Vile Dialer’s pattern is to ask Mills students when they
pick up the phone, “Who is this?” waiting for a name, and later for
more personal information. His other tactic is to call, telling a
female student that she has won a prize- a fantasy vacation- but
will only receive the trip if she discloses a sexual fantasy over
the phone. One student realized this and hung up, then disclosed
that she had heard about this kind of “prank,” but with more
serious consequences, that the other party will record the
description and sell it.

Vala Burnett received a call from the Vile Dialer, who claimed
to know a friend of hers. “You know, your friend from your
hometown…” he tried to convince her, while asking the name of her
best friend and where her hometown was.

“It made me feel annoyed because he was so obvious,” said
Burnett. “The scary thing about it was if I had answered those
[his] questions, he could have waited a month or so and called
back… And then, maybe, I would have gone for whatever else he
wanted, because he ‘knew’ my best friend from high school.”

Although it seems benign, telephone harassment is a crime, and
tips on how to deal with prank callers are listed at .