The Urban Legend of the ‘Jesus Phone Number’ 888-888-8888
There is a phone number that is either blessed or cursed by coincidentally misfortunate i.e. deadly, that the phone company decided not to issue it as an option for any new potential customers. As the stories go, anyone who has had this phone number and was otherwise perfectly healthy was either shot to death or diagnosed with some sort of disease and died shortly thereafter. What is this number that is behind this urban legend, you ask?
It’s 888-888-8888, mysteriously referred to as the DIGITS OF DOOM.
The Cursed Number
One example, there was this 48yr old guy, able-bodied & physically fit, who thought the number ‘8’ would bring him luck because, in China, the number ‘8’ is thought to be the number of good fortune. After receiving this phone number, he was all of a sudden diagnosed with cancer and died only months later.
The next person to receive the phone number 888-888-8888 was shot to death by an unknown assailant while dining with his girlfriend. The third obliviously unfortunate person to receive the “ominous 8’s” phone number was shot dead while he was casually standing outside of a restaurant.
The Blessed 'Jesus Number'
There are numerous YouTube videos of people calling the 8s and thinking they'll be connected with 'Jesus.'
The biblical connection involves a bit of the numerology around the number 888 which represents Christ.
The Legit 888-8888
There is a law firm in Buffalo, New York, with the phone number 888-8888, or toll-free 800-888-8888. Their advertising revolves around this unique number: "hurt in an accident? Don't wait, call 8."
So a Blessing or a Curse, what's the real story behind 888-888-8888?
Chalk it up to another curious and unbelievable urban legend, but to tempt fate is foolish. Obviously, there's no such thing as Bloody Mary, but as it's a story told to most of us as kids, there's no way I'd stand there and conjure here in a dark bathroom. While still just a tale of legend, there's always some bit of truth where the story begins. We'll cover that bloody story another day.