The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - The Disturbing Mystery of the Sudbrink Phone Calls

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

In the 1990s, Gary Sudbrink received a series of cryptic phone calls that have continued to haunt and intrigue those who hear them. The calls were unnervingly precise and left Gary feeling trapped in a mystery that has yet to be solved. Was he the target of a psychological experiment, alien interference, or an elaborate hoax? This video explores the case from all angles, bringing you one step closer to the truth behind the calls. Support the channel with Patreon - www.patreon.com/thetapelibrary Do you have a supernatural story to share? Drop me an email at [e-mail] You can check out The Tape Library in audio form on all of your favourite podcast providers. Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Tape-Library/100094332411836/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime. Additional footage and audio from Evanto, Singularity, Midjourney and Pexels. Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio and the youtube audio library.  All other footage used under fair use. CHAPTERS 00:00 You Are Being Impersonated By The Other Voice 03:21 Welcome to The Tape Library 04:12 Departure 11:49 The Calls 16:36 Call 2 20:41 Call 3 25:14 Call 4 31:56 What Really Happened? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was early in 1992 and Stephen Subbrick was driving alone on his way to Long Island, New York. Today was a big day and Stephen was lost in his own thoughts. This was a life-changing morning. He was driving to his wedding. A mixture of excitement and nerves surged through his body as he got closer and closer to the venue. He was snapped out of his pleasant daydreaming state though, when he noticed a car in his rearview mirror. A twinge of recognition spread across his face. Suddenly the car behind sped up, pulling alongside Stephen. He was sure of it now.

It was his older brother Gary's car. He was a little surprised to see him driving. Gary lived in Texas and Stephen had assumed he would be flying in for the wedding. But this was the first of his family he had seen that day and the excitement hit him yet again. Stephen smiled and waved at his brother as he kept speed alongside. him. He could see his brother sitting alone in the driver seat. He wasn't even looking at the road, just staring at Stephen. This made Stephen feel a little uneasy. And then Gary just started pulling strange faces. Stephen would never really

explain what he meant by this, just strange. But regardless, he'd just assumed his brother was goofing around. Suddenly Gary sped up and disappeared off into the distance at an alarming rate, Stephen put it out of his mind. It was strange behaviour for his brother, but the excitement of the day had likely got to him too. Stephen enjoyed his wedding day, celebrating with friends and family alike. Later, he was alone with Gary and decided to ask him about earlier, questioning why he was messing around on the road like that, pulling stupid faces at him. Gary looked perplexed. He asked Stephen what he meant.

Stephen repeated it, telling Gary that he had pulled up alongside him on the road, and had been staring at him from his car. Gary just laughed, thinking Stephen was messing with him. This frustrated Stephen, and he asked Gary again. What was he playing at? Was he trying to pull some sort of prank on him? It wasn't something that either of the brothers would normally do. That's when Gary told him he never saw him before the wedding.

Gary had arrived a day prior. In fact, he had flown. The car in question was sitting in his garage in San Antonio, Texas. Both brothers left a conversation with differing views about what had taken place. Gary simply assumed Stephen had seen a similar car and been mistaken. Stephen was 100% convinced he saw Gary in the car, and that his brother was just playing a strange joke on him. Neither one of them gave it much thought. until one year later when a strange man would approach Gary at the airport. Welcome to the tape library. And if you're watching this on release day, then a happy Halloween to you all.

I'm really excited to bring you this strange little story tonight. You may have heard some of the phone calls that Gary's sub-rink would go on to receive. They've been doing the rounds on the internet for a few years now. But I think it's all the little details surrounding the calls that make them so damn unsettling. A simple prank? An attempt to getting attention? Or is something else going on here? If your phone rings during this episode, maybe think twice about answering it.

Okay, let's get into this. Get yourself a warm drink, dim the lights and get comfortable. It's time to delve into the disturbing mystery of the Subbrink phone calls. Gary Subrink was a member of the Air Force in the early 1990s, working as a pharmacist at a base in San Antonio, Texas. He looked at his rota for the month of February and realised the first weekend of the month he would actually have three days off in a row. He was supposed to let his superiors know if he was planning to leave the area

and would be forced to use it as leave. But knowing that he was unlikely to be called in at the last minute, Gary decided to keep quiet, take the three days off and head to New York to visit his family. He hadn't had the chance to get back there often since he had. his brother's wedding and was keen to catch up with his friends as well as talk to his father about a strange experience that he had recently had. That afternoon Gary was alone in his home packing his bags when he suddenly heard a loud noise from outside his apartment. Gary walked

through the sliding doors out onto the balcony. He saw, just past the fence of his apartment, a helicopter hovering just 20 feet off the ground, facing Gary's property. This was unusual. Gary rushed back inside to grab his glasses so he could see the details of the helicopter better. But before he could get back, the helicopter had quickly increased its altitude. Gary made it back to his balcony just in time to see it speeding off into the distance. Gary wondered why it was there. Had it landed in the field opposite his home? He simply shrugged it off and went back to packing.

Later that day, he was stood at the airport. terminal. His flight to New York was beginning to board, waiting for his road to be called out. When he was approached by a slim man with brown hair and wearing an overcoat, the man said hello to Gary, and Gary politely responded. He began asking Gary where he was going, and he told him he was heading off to see friends and family in New York for a few days. He informed the man that he worked at the nearby airfall space. Gary then noticed that the man had a small notebook in his hand. The man asked Gary's name. Gary told him.

But then the man started pressing for Gary's full name. This obviously weirded him out a little. Gary was in uniform and was wearing his name badge, but his surname was covered by his jacket. It was at this point that Gary realised this wasn't just some sort of polite conversation from a man trying to pass the time. He was noting down information. about Gary as they spoke. The man claimed to be starting up some sort of small business,

and seemingly was conducting a survey in the airport. But Gary hadn't noticed him talking to any of the other passengers. The man then seemed to really start to push for Gary's full name. When Gary asked why he needed it, the man simply told Gary, don't worry, you won't get into trouble. This was enough for Gary. He wanted out of this strange interaction, and luckily he his row was called at that moment. Gary grabbed his things and said goodbye to the stranger, pleased to be finally boarding his flight. Gary took his seat on the flight and a man with long hair and glasses sat down next to him. This man also struck up a conversation with Gary. It seemed totally normal and the pair engaged in small talk for a while. That was until another

passenger came to their row, ticket in hand, telling this man that he was in the wrong seat. The man stood up to allow the other passenger to take his seat. The man then moved across the aisle and sat next to Gary on the other side. He continued asking Gary questions. Where was he going? When would he be returning to Texas? Sooner stewardess approached and told the man that he was in the wrong seat. The man stood up again.

This time, instead of taking his seat, he stood by the emergency exit just one row away. The man suddenly realizing, that he wouldn't be able to stay there for long, began bombarding Gary with questions. How did he spell his last name? How long would he be away? Gary refused to answer,

and eventually the stewardess forced a man to take his actual seat, which was much further back on the plane. Gary didn't see the man again after that, but understandably these two interactions creeped him out. As soon as he landed, Gary made a phone call to his landlady. He was really concerned by these two interactions, and over the course of the flight, he had gone. and he got paranoid and believed that these men were trying to get information out of him

because they were planning to rob his property. He asked the landlady to keep an eye on it, before hopping into a cab and head into his parents' place. Now, I found conflicting stories on the events that took place upon Gary's arrival in New York. We will stick with the more widely reported account first, but I will get into the apparent trip Gary initially took with his father later. There is one detail that is important to mention that. as it plays a significant part in the calls that you'll hear. Gary's father and uncle had both claimed to have seen a UFO several weeks prior during a trip to West Virginia.

In fact, the pair were heavily interested in the topic of UFOs, although Gary himself says that he has never seen anything. In either version of the story, the end events were much the same. During a conversation with his father that evening, Gary told him about the helicopter that he'd been hovering hovering around outside his property. His father noted that it was a strange coincidence. Earlier that day a helicopter had been hovering just over their home. Gary had decided that he would also try to catch up with his old friend Mike that weekend.

So once he was settled in, he gave Mike a quick call. Mike answered the phone and sounded surprised that it was Gary calling him. Hey, you sound better already, Mike said to Gary. A comment that confused Gary a little, but he ignored it, telling his friend he was in town. Mike chuckled, saying he knows. They had just spoken on the phone 20 minutes prior. Gary was very confused at this point. He hadn't called Mike.

In fact, prior to him turning up at his parent's door, literally no one knew Gary was planning to come to New York that weekend. Mike explained to Gary that he had received a call. called just 20 minutes ago, from someone who sounded exactly like Gary, telling him he was in town and wanted to meet up. Mike said it sounded a little weird and like Gary had a cold and the line was crackly, but it was definitely him. There was one strange detail though. The initial call that Mike had received had told him that Gary had flown into a different airport than the one he had actually arrived in. Gary had no idea what was going All these strange events were taking place but none of them seemed to make any sense.

What was happening here? It was then that he heard a beeping on the phone, signalling that there was another call coming in. It was 10.30 at night that Gary assumed it was something important. He told Mikey would call him back and answered the call. It didn't take more than a minute before Gary realised. He needed to record what was happening on the phone. He hit record on the answering machine.

answering machine and captured what would be the first of a series of strange phone calls to the subbrink home that night. This, Stephen, are you playing games with me or what? Huh? If you're playing games, they're going to kick your ass. I'll get you on... Out of the area. Is Stephen out of the area? Wait, hold on.

Is Stephen out of the calling area or what? What do you mean you don't know? He's in Queens. I don't know who to fuck. Hello? Who is this? Hello? What is that again, sir?

No, be quiet. Sorry, would you see that again? Being impersonated by what voice? Yeah. Yeah, hold on a second. Yeah, what is your question? How long? Right.

When am I coming back? Is that your question? Did it was a break? Hold on. You want to know when I'm coming back to Texas. Oh, is that your question? To be back. How long am I going to be back to Texas?

That question doesn't make any sense? Okay. I'll be coming back eventually. I can't tell you when. You should know that answer to the question because you seem to know more about me than I do. You know what I'm saying? Are you an intergalactic person? Are you a space alien?

Sounds like he hung up. I can't believe this. He hung up, Gary. See if he comes back. All right, I'll hang up. Initially it's clear that Gary believes this is his brother Stephen messing with him. But as the call goes on with a strange voice, it seems he grows more. more concerned. The phrasing of the words is strange. The voice seems to slow at times,

almost like it's running out of steam. It's hard not to notice that the voice sounds like a recording. Phrases are repeated over and over, like someone is using a soundboard to produce the lines. It keeps asking him, so how long are you going to be back from Texas? And more disturbingly, you are being impersonated by the other voice. Gary said years later that while it felt like at times the voice was just being played to him, not responding to his words, other times it seemed more interactive, as though it actually were a person and not a recording. He quickly called Mike back, seemingly to tell him what had just happened, and to try and get more information about the call that Mike had received earlier that evening. But just,

Just 40 minutes later, the phone rang again. Speaking. Yes. Can I answer you any questions for you? Not back yet, no. First, you tell me where are you calling from. Yeah, why don't you tell me where you're calling from? What do you mean, who is this?

You should know who it is. It's me, Gary. Wait, let me, let me ask you this question. Where are you calling from? Okay, I'll be back. Excuse me? I can't hear too well. Yeah, there's a full moon out.

That's true. Could you identify yourself? Identify yourself. Why are you calling me? Excuse me? I cannot hear too well. Hold on. Let me switch phones. Okay.

Okay, hold on. Now, who are you? Keep an eye in the sky, he said. Yeah. Okay, hold on. Repeat that again? Please repeat. Okay.

Near Orion. Holy macro. Tonight or just a win. The full moon? Okay. Repeat. Repeat last word. I'm hearing static.

He hung up. This time the voice seemed even less clear. It makes references to watching the skies, and specifically Orion. This obviously sparks the interest of Gary's UFO-obsessed father, who seems to quickly become convinced this isn't actually about Gary at all, and is maybe linked to his prior experience with seeing something in the skies above West Virginia. at 11.38 p.m. A third phone call was received.

It's taken time from the talk. Who is this? This is not funny, you know. Brian, it's not Stephen. What to be, Brian? I mean, Gary. How do I know it's not Stephen? It's not Stephen.

Hello? I had a UFO experience in West Virginia, which you probably know. And I know that you're into an intergalactic person. Can you speak a little louder? Sir, can you speak a little louder? Let me speak to him, Dad. I guess, I don't know. All right, I'll hang up so you can talk to me.

He wants to talk to you. Okay. Hello, can I help you? Yes. Yes, that's me. Yes, could you please identify yourself? Identify. Yeah, I'm back.

I'm in Texas right now. He asked me a question. No, I'm in New York right now. You know that. Why do you ask me such a question? Yes. Stephen, if this is you, I swear to God, I'm going to be pissed. I'm trying to listen to him.

Excuse me? Eventually I'll be back from Texas. Could you speak more? Please speak more. It's not Stephen, I believe it, because I'm getting static. Let me go on this phone, because I can never hear on this phone. Okay. Okay, please speak. Okay.

Should I go out right now? Right now? Okay, see, I'm not sure where Orion is now, but we'll go outside. That we show double from me. Repeat that again? Gary still seems to be running with the thought that this is Stephen messing with him, Although at this point I think he is merely saying this to save face, if it does turn out to be a prank. I think he sounds more audibly shaken as each call comes in.

By this point, parts of the voice are barely audible. The family were using two phones with Gary's dad listening in on the other line. This would be the last contact the family would have that night. Gary went to bed, confused and a little scared, unsure who it was that was calling him, and what connection it had. if any, to the men at the airport. He also questioned, would this person have even contacted him if Mike hadn't revealed to him about the fake gallery phoning him?

The call came right after discovering this information, almost as though the person was listening to his conversation with Mike. The following day passed without a vent until 10.21 p.m. The quiet night was punctuated by the shrill ringing of the phone once again. Yes, this is me. Can I ask why you're calling? Can I please ask? Yes, this is.

Yes, that is me. Say that again? I'm staying right here. Is this a joke or what? I have to think about that. I'd like to see you. Hey, let me tell you something. I've been listening to you,

and I've had contacts with you. Government interference? You have? Please explain what type of interference? I'll rise from the dark side of the Okay, what branch of the government? What should I do? Good for me or bad? Yeah. With the exception of the now familiar question of Is Gary Subrink there?

The rest of the comments made by the voice on this call seem to be different from the previous ones. It talks about government interference, about the fact that it came to be within the planet, as well as more references to the moon. None of the comments fully make sense on own, but it seems impossible not to connect them to Gary's family strong belief in UFOs. If this is a person pranking them, that person knew a lot about them and knew how to play on their fears extremely well. This would be the last time the voice would contact any of the Subrink family. Gary would never see the men he met at the airport again, and seemingly nothing had happened to his apartment while he was away. Gary would only ever speak about the events

to a handful of other people, but his interest in subject to his own. like UFOs, only grew after the events of February 1993. Gary has said that while he has not had an experience like that again, he has experienced other strange events, some that he would describe as poltergeist-like activity, although to my knowledge he has never spoken about this at length. I mentioned early on that there are two different versions of the story out there about what Gary did after arriving in New York. The most commonly reported version is he got to his parents' place, and phoned Mike almost straight away after arriving. But another version seems to exist that suggests that Gary had arrived in New York,

and then gone with his father to meet a prominent expert in the UFO field about the experience he had in West Virginia. The call had happened just a couple of hours after arriving back home from that conversation, which, if true, maybe give us more reason why Gary's father jumped straight into the thought that the voice he was speaking to wasn't human, although I am unsure which version of events is the real one. Several weeks before, Gary's father and uncle had decided to travel to West Virginia to visit the Green Bank Telescope.

The giant telescope had collapsed back in 1988 and rumours at the time had spread that he had been attacked by a UFO. Ever since, the telescope has been a favourite haunt for UFO hunters. The older subrinks had gone there one evening and claimed that they did in fact see an unidentified flying object hovering over the observatory. Interestingly, the observatory would later become a key part of the Breakthrough Listen project and has been used to try and scan for radio signals that may suggest the existence of alien life.

It also has been instrumental in a number of discoveries, including a large coil-shaped magnetic field and a gas bubble. Both around Orion. So what really happened? happened. Let's talk about the obvious first. The voice is almost certainly a tape recording, not some kind of robot. It appears someone is playing their voice through a tape recorder and slowing it down during the phone call. It's worth noting that just months prior, Home Alone 2 had come out. And with it came the release of the most popular Christmas gift of the time,

the Talk Boy. In the movie, the device is used to fake voices numerous times by slowing down recorded voices. It even has speed control. Hi kids, we're home early. And many have pointed out that the talk boy could be being used here. In recent years, people have sped up the recordings, and sure enough, you get what sounds like a regular person's voice. Some have suggested that the voice sounds a lot like Gary, but I personally don't think they

sound that like myself. Obviously it is difficult to be 100% sure though with the recording quality, and there is a whirring sound that can be heard at times on the calls, that could be the tape being rewound and fast forwarded. This has led many people to call the entire thing either a hoax on the part of the subrinks, or a simple prank call. Both of those are very likely outcomes here. But Gary takes issue with the talkboy theory. He states that while interesting, it completely ignores all the other strange events around his visit, the peculiar men at the airport and on the plane, the fake Gary calling Mike, and even Stephen spotting someone who resembled Gary

on route to the wedding the year prior. It's hard not to connect that event when you hear the words. You are being impersonated by the other voice. No one knew Gary was coming to New York, so who could have planned out this strange prank? And if the men at the airport were not connected at all, it was a weird event that unexpectedly gave the prankster, that Gary's a that was already on edge. Seemingly, no one has come forward to Gary to claim responsibility for the prank Eva. There is of course the idea that Gary just faked the conversations

and made the whole story up. You have to question why he would do this. Gary does not appear to have contacted many people to talk about the topic. He never wrote a book or did interviews. For the most part, no one knew about this incident until Gary approached a woman named Sue Swaitek, who had given a talk about the Men in Black as a UFO conference Gary attended.

Gary handed Sue a CD and told her to listen to it. On the CD was the recordings he had made back in 1993. She would later tell Gary's story at another conference in 2006, which as far as I could tell was the main source for Gary's story, even being present on the internet, along with an article for the website, Normal Paranormal, meaning for over a decade he had just sat on those recordings without going public. Gary certainly isn't the first person to have received calls like this. Plenty of stories exist, such as the accounts of Preston Dennett, who claimed to receive phone calls like this back in the 1950s. And as Gary himself points out, John Keel claims to have received similar calls during his investigation into the Mothman case, although in our

At that event, some claim that the calls kill received were actually just drunken phone calls from fellow investigator, Gray Barker. The reason for Gary approaching Sue Swayatech all those years later, seemingly was due to her sharing stories of encounters with the fabled men in black. Some theorised that the men in black are government agents used to discourage people from speaking about encounters with UFOs, but others believe they are something else. Those who have spoken about them have often stated they talk with a weird syntax, and at time sound almost like they are running out of energy to communicate, normally leading to them abruptly leaving as their speech becomes slow and slurred, much like those phone calls the subrinks received at night. While it seems they never experienced anything like it again, There is a brief account that Gary has mentioned in an interview he gave to the podcast,

Mysterious Bruse, just a few years ago. He says that in 2001 his mother was receiving cancer treatment. While speaking with the doctors at the hospital one day, they mentioned that Gary's sister had called up to ask about her mother's results. What was strange about that? Is that Gary only had two brothers? A simple mistake, right? The doctor has simply mixed up his patients.

But, what if it wasn't just a coincidence? And there is someone or something still out there pretending to be a subbrink. That's all for this entry into the tape library. I've wanted to do this one for a few months now, and I just thought those phone calls had such a creepy uncanniness to them that they made for some perfect Halloween listening. As always, please do let me. Let me know what you think of this case.

Was it just a prank and a series of strange coincidences? A totally made up story by Gary and his family? Or is there something more to it? Let me know in the comments below. We're on the home stretch for 2024. A year which has seen the tape library go from getting a couple of thousand views each month to well over a million of you crazy people tuning in every month. Which just continues to be mind-boggling to me.

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