(and people worry about living in a surveilled society today)
My grandparents had a party line back in the day.
Lol... We had a gal down the street who just had to nose in on everyone’s call. One time they set her up by sharing very excitedly that one of her friends house was on fire. They were all waiting there for her when she showed up to a non-fire. Kind of slowed her down for a couple weeks but then she was back at it... :)
Our number was one long one short. lol
MY PARENTS had a crank telephone & that is ALL we had.