MADISON COUNTY, N.C. — A phone booth in Marshall is attracting visitors not only from around the state but across the country.

It’s called a windphone, and it’s designed to connect people with their lost loved ones, through the wind.

The creator of the phone booth, located on Madison Heights, says the goal is to provide comfort to those dealing with grief.

It looks like your average London phone booth only white, instead of red.

When you first look at it, you wonder what it's connected to. There's no phone lines in it or even a source of electricity nearby.

Heather Hawkins visits the booth and its memorial garden often. She lives nearby in Mars Hill.

"I always just walk around and look and see what people have left, and really and truly just keep them on my heart and pray for them because I know that people are experiencing loss," visitor Heather Hawkins says. "That's the one thing about life is you will face death at some time.”

She recently lost her uncle in October. He loved to paint rocks, so she says she's going to bring one of his rocks down to the windphone site. There's several painted rocks around the garden.

The booth and memorial garden around it serve to keep those living connected to the ones they’ve lost.

"I think it's just like a real special place to reflect on the person you've lost," Hawkins says.

The idea is to pick up the phone, dial the phone number of someone no longer with you and have a conversation through the wind.

"Some people have a hard time getting out what they need to say to people, or maybe someone passed they just couldn't get it out and maybe just the idea of having a phone in their hand to kind of get it out," Hawkins says. "To help them get started or something, you know, maybe just be a therapeutic thing.”

When she visits, she notices something new has been left behind. There's been windchimes, memorial items like rocks, plaques, flowers, and flags. Someone has even left ashes of their loved one behind.

There's a guest book there people can sign after their visit.

There's even disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer to keep the booth safe and clean.

The windphone is a replica of one in Japan built to provide comfort after a huge earthquake and tsunami killed thousands.

Creator Susan Vetrone says when she heard about that one, she felt called to create her own after experiencing losses.

"I really thought 'oh my goodness, what a great way to release all those emotions that you have associated with grief,' " Vetrone says. "I didn't know if anybody would come, but I really knew that it would help me.”

And it did help her after losing her father and grandmother. A week before construction on the phone booth began, her mom died.

"My brother leaned into her on her deathbed and said, listen for a phone call and of course, it was very, very touching," Vetrone says. "But I called my childhood phone number, you know, what you would have thought I would have called my parents' phone number from their last home, but I called my phone number, and I just assumed that my father, my mother, my grandmother, all my loved ones were going to answer that particular phone.”

It helped her so much, and she hoped it would help others, too. The booth has had dozens of visitors, maybe even hundreds, since it was created in October.

It provided comfort to many who've lost their loved ones in the pandemic due to COVID-19.

"You can think about someone, or even if you haven't lost someone, just say a prayer and remember the ones who have and pray, they get through what they're going through," Hawkins says.

There’s also a windphone Facebook page for visitors to post their experience if they'd like. Over 10,000 people follow the page.