Have you ever wanted to make a phone call to someone who died? Brookfield cemetery provides Milwaukee area’s first ‘Wind Phone’

BROOKFIELD, Wis. (CBS 58) – At Wisconsin Memorial Park, there’s a new way an old phone booth is being repurposed. You can now make a phone call to a loved one who has passed on.

Garrett Rose, the President & General Manager at Wisconsin Memorial Park, says the phone booth is inside of the park’s Family Reception Center. Inside is a phone with no dial tone. However, Rose says people use it as an opportunity to try to connect with loved ones. I

“There are lots of times in people’s lives where things are left unsaid and people just want someone to talk to,” Rose said. “Go in there, close the door, and say what you want to your loved one.”

Bridgette Kidd, the Assistant Manager of Family Service at Wisconsin Memorial Park, said had heard about the idea of ‘a phone booth to heaven.’ Rose had an old phone booth from his childhood home that fit the concept.

“I think it’s really cathartic for people,” Kidd said. “If you just got married, or got a promotion, you can go into the booth and tell your loved one and say that which is kinda amazing.”

Amy Dawson is the founder of ‘My Wind Phone.’ Her website tracks these devices across the world. She says she developed her passion for sharing the idea of the wind phones after using one when her daughter passed away.

“When my daughter passed away, I read everything I could read about grief, and I heard about wind phones before she died.” As I was trying to cope with my own grief, I remembered the wind phones because she was tied to her phone. So if anyone is answering a wind phone, my daughter is,” Dawson said.

According to Dawson’s website, the ‘Phone of the Wind’ was created in Japan by its creator, Itaru Sasaki, while grieving his cousin who died of cancer. He purchased an old-fashioned phone booth and set it up in his garden and found comfort and healing amid his grief.

“Japanese believe in the transfer of a relationship when someone dies. It’s not that they're just gone, they believe in continuing the bond.” Dawson said.

Dawson said wind phones exist across the world in all different sizes and shapes.

If you have interest in using the work phone at Wisconsin Memorial Park, you can call their number at 262-781-7474