Photo of the Week: Telephone of the Wind

Overlooking Nankin Lake in Westland, Michigan, on a hill west of the trail entrance, I found something unusual for Wayne County Parks.

Installed sometime in 2023 during the Covid pandemic, a wind phone dedicated to a young Dearborn Heights, Michigan man nestles between the sturdy trunks of two hardwood trees.

It’s the first wind phone I’ve seen in the county park, though it’s possible there are others.

When I searched the county website, I couldn’t find any info about the phone.

About Wind Phones

A wind phone is a rotary or push button phone, often located in a nature setting in a phone booth or with a bench nearby. People can “make a call” and have a conversation with deceased loved ones.

Created by Itaru Sasaki in 2010 to help him grieve the death of his cousin from cancer, the first wind phone was an unconnected telephone booth in Ōtsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

The idea caught on and now there are hundreds of wind phones around the world.

Nankin Lake Wind Phone

The wind phone, often called “phone of the wind” at Nankin Lake, is dedicated to Bailey Austin Rose, who sadly died in 2022.

Here’s the inscription by the phone:

This phone is for everyone who has lost a loved one.

The phone is an outlet for those who have a message they wish to share with their lost friends and family.

It is a phone for memories and saying goodbyes you never got to say.

Dedicated to the Memory of Bailey Austin Rose 04/22/1996 – 06/04/2022

If you’re interested, the Smithsonian Magazine has an excellent article about wind phones and how they can help with grief.

Thanks to Femy Preseth for commenting about the best-selling fiction book, The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World, inspired by Sasaki’s phone booth.