There is a phone in Wickenburg, Arizona, that will never ring.  

It is a payphone that requires no payment — no number of nickels or dimes will ever make it work again — but people still use it.

It has been inside the Hassayampa River Preserve for a few years now.  

Some people who come to the preserve off US 60 seek out the disconnected phone — to say what they need to get off their chest. Sometimes, it is what they waited too long to say. Sometimes, it's simply to let their loved one know how their life has panned out.

The metal box in the woods is not connected to any earthly lines — it has no dial tone — because it is a wind phone.

Grievers can “call” a person who has passed away and continue their relationship by sending their words out into the wind.

Park Supervisor Chris Matthews bought the old payphone near the end of the COVID pandemic. It was in 2022 or ‘23, but the wind phone was only supposed to be up for the month of May, which is mental health awareness month.  

He "took it down and more people came in asking questions, asked where it was."

The phone went back up and Matthews got to know more of the “regulars” at the preserve, as well as their losses.

“One of our regulars came in two weeks ago, her husband passed away, she came in and said ‘I need to talk to my husband'". An hour or so later, she came walking back with sunglasses covering her red, puffy eyes, but she had a spring in her step. She said ‘Hey, Chris, I’ll see you later. My husband says hi.’”

Matthews has a lot of these stories.