French phone booth becomes unlikely tourist sensation

This phone booth is located in Murbach, in the Upper Rhine department. Until recently, the town was primarily known for its magnificent landmark—the 18th-century Benedictine abbey. Now, tourists have become captivated by something else.

AFP reports that the functioning public phone has gained unexpected popularity in recent weeks. The booth stands next to the city parking lot. In Murbach, it is impossible to install cell phone transmitters due to the terrain, although there is the Internet. Booth number 468 is used for emergency calls. It has no slot for coins or cards, which were once used in such machines.

However, Esmeralda Mura said that booth number 468 has its phone number, which can be called. The phone has kept ringing since the media published it, a representative of the Murbach mayor's office, to AFP. The official left paper and a pen in the booth so someone who answered the call could jot down the conversation.

As AFP reports, the sound of the ring is heard regularly, though sometimes to no avail. Occasionally, someone picks up the receiver out of curiosity.

One person who happened to answer the phone in the booth was Jean-Paul Grasser from Strasbourg, who had a brief phone conversation with a stranger calling from Amiens. The 80-year-old Grasser tells AFP that such a conversation brings back good memories for him. Without going into details, he recalls that 30 to 40 years ago, when he had to conduct some secret phone conversations, he did so from just such a phone booth.

Alex Thibaud, a 46-year-old entrepreneur, also calls booth 468. He was heard by an AFP journalist who picked up the receiver. The businessman argues that relationships between people used to be better, but today, technology has attached people to smartphones. Tour guide Thomas Studer says that the town tours previously ended in the medieval garden area. Now, the last stop is the phone booth.