A family in South Shields, England, received texts from their deceased grandmother's phone number, but the incident proved to be a cruel joke and not some sort of supernatural phenomenon. With Halloween on the horizon, an English prankster concocted one of the meanest trick-or-treat type jokes I’ve ever come across. The odd story begins with the funeral of Lesley Emerson, a 59-year-old grandmother from South Shields, a community on the east coast of England. Emerson was a prolific texter, and her saddened family decided to bury her smartphone with her. As part of the grieving process, Emerson’s granddaughter, Sheri, and other relatives would occasionally text her. “Obviously we know that Nan wasn’t going to ever reply, it was just something we did as a comfort for ourselves because she loved to text,” Sheri Emerson told DailyMail.co.uk. Three years later, Emerson did receive a reply: “I’m watching over you, you’ll get through this, you’ll be alright”, the text read. “When the reply came through at lunchtime the following day I felt sick. Crazy stuff was flashing through my mind like ‘Is she still alive?'” Emerson said.”I started getting horrible visions that someone might have dug up her grave and taken her phone, my mind was full of all sorts of really unpleasant possibilities.” Her uncle called the phone and found that a wireless provider had issued the number to a new customer. The man said he thought that the texts to the dead woman were just a prank, so he replied in kind. Reassigning a number is routine, but doing something so insensitive is not. As newscaster Keith Olberman would say, he is “today’s worst person in the world.” Related content brandpost Zero-trust: Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Your Print Environment By Canon Business Solutions Jun 07, 2023 5 mins Zero Trust news Salesforce CEO Benioff shakes up executive team with new hires Six months after the company lost its co-CEO and announced it was laying off 10% of its global workforce, Salesforce’s top team is undergoing a major personnel change. By Charlotte Trueman Jun 07, 2023 3 mins Technology Industry Enterprise Applications opinion Cisco debuts bold portfolio of network, security, and observability solutions and previews generative AI capabilities for Webex and Security Cloud Cisco’s innovative technologies help connect the dots of its network- and cloud-based ecosystem. By Pete Bartolik Jun 07, 2023 4 mins Cloud Security brandpost Help wanted: IT tools and talent for building a multicloud estate Like all trade workers, IT leaders need the right tools and skills to succeed in a multicloud world characterized by application and data sprawl. By Chad Dunn, Vice President, Product Management, Dell APEX Jun 07, 2023 6 mins Multi Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe