Allison Young is easing the pain for people grieving the lost connections when a loved one dies by providing a place for words left unspoken and milestones that can no longer be shared. 

It’s a small phone booth without utility wires or cellular connections nestled along her driveway in East Nashville. The messages are carried by love vibes. Since Young erected the booth two years ago, it has become a sanctuary of solace and garnered attention from local and international media. 

She learned about a “wind phone” while she was working on the thesis for her master’s degree, researching alternative grieving methods, and delving into the continuing bonds theory — a concept that it’s okay for people in mourning to maintain connections to loved ones who have died instead of just having to let them go. 

The first wind phone was erected in 2010 in northern Japan by Itaru Sasaki, who wanted to talk with his cousin who had died from gastric cancer.  

“Since he couldn’t talk to him in person on a regular phone line, he wanted his words to be carried on the wind,” said Young, MS, BSN, RN, a research nurse specialist for clinical trials at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. “He lived at the top of a hill right next to the ocean, so there was lots of wind. It was a perfect concept for him. Then unfortunately, four or five months later was when the tsunami hit Japan, the one that killed tens of thousands of people along the northern Japanese coast.” 

The tsunami devastated Ōtsuchi, the town where Sasaki lived, with about 10% of its population of 16,000 perishing. Sasaki’s wind phone became the place where grieving survivors went to connect with lost loved ones. 

 “Now, thousands of people from around the world have made the trek to northern Japan to see the original wind phone,” Young said. “The idea has spread across the entire world. There are wind phones in other places in Asia, in Australia, all over North America, and a ton in Europe as well.” 

Young put up her wind phone booth in September 2022, then unveiled it to the wider community in February 2023. 

“It is dedicated to my paternal grandparents,” she said. “We opened it on the 24th anniversary of my grandfather’s death, and it is dedicated to my grandma who died in 2016. She is the only person I have ever called on it, and I called her the day I defended my thesis.”  

Young has received notes from more than 200 people who have visited it. The structure is a circa 1940s actual phone booth. Her father, who is a contractor, helped her set it up by putting a slanted roof over its flat top and weatherproofing it with exterior paint. The booth is soundproof with a privacy curtain. 

“There’s a light so that people can use it overnight as well,” she said. “Since I am a nurse, I know what health care hours are like, so I made it available 24 hours a day.” 

The door has a sensor to help her keep records of visitors, but there are no cameras or privacy infringements. Visitors are encouraged to park in her driveway because Rosebank is a two-lane road with a narrow shoulder. 

The wind phone has been featured in news stories and documentaries, including coverage by NHK, Japan’s public media organization, and by “This American Life,” a public radio program in the United States. 

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