In 2010, garden designer Itaru Sasaki of Japan installed a telephone booth in his garden that he called a “phone of the wind.” The rotary phone line was not connected to anything, but the booth gave Sasaki a meaningful place to have a one-way conversation with his cousin, who had died of cancer.

The following year, an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, killing nearly 20,000 people. Sasaki opened up his booth to the public, and thousands have visited since to “call” their loved ones on the other side. Although the phone is nonoperational, callers believe their words are carried on the wind to the spirit world.

"Wind phones" have caught on around the world, including in Vermont. In Hyde Park, Lanpher Memorial Library director Amy Olsen was inspired to propose adding a wind phone outside the library after reading a children’s book called The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden. It was installed in fall 2022, with grant funding from the Vermont Department of Libraries and the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. The cozy space contains a rotary phone with a heart in the center of the dial.

In her latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger visited the wind phone and spoke to organizers and community members about it. Kate Donnally of Hyde Park — a therapist and former state rep — was one of the early users of the phone, at times visiting daily to help work through a mental health crisis. Emily Neilsen of Johnson has also spent time in the booth, processing anxieties related to last summer's flood and calling two late loved ones: her dog Klauss and her grandmother.

Filming date: 4/23/24

Music: Loopop, “Subharmonic Bliss”

This episode of Stuck in Vermont was supported by New England Federal Credit Union.