article_detail

The Simpsons is one of the longest-running and best-loved TV shows ever created and its writers have often been linked with eerie abilities, like predicting future events and broadcasting topical stories right before they hit the press.

 

Among the cartoon’s claims to fame are mentioning the presidency of Donald Trump a full six years before he was elected and a reference to the tragic Titanic submersible disaster earlier this summer.

 

While the creators of The Simpsons might appear to be time travellers, they are also well-known for taking inspiration from all over the globe, and viewers in Murcia were stunned last year when Homer himself not only described his favourite paella recipe, but specified that aspiring cooks should only use the world-famous Calasparra rice.

 

Believe it or not, that’s not the Region’s only claim to fame as one Alcantarilla business was transported over the airwaves from central Murcia to Springfield.

 

In an unlikely coincidence, the phone number for telecommunications company InnaTic appeared on screen in an episode filmed 21 years ago, and the business has been receiving joke calls and texts ever since.

 

InnaTic was immortalised in ‘Poppa’s Got a Brand New Badge’, the 22nd and final episode of the 13th season of America’s favourite animated series. Aired in the US on May 22, 2002, the episode takes place in the middle of an unseasonable heatwave (another link with the Region, perhaps?). Springfield dissolves into chaos as a surge in air-conditioning units results in two blackouts and, with the police department unable to cope with the resulting riots, Homer decides to set up his own private security firm, ‘SpringShield’.

 

The phone number 636 555 347 2 pops up during one of the TV commercials, a number that is identical, with the exception of the 2 at the end, to the Murcia business.

 

InnaTic employee Alicia Manzanares explained that when the first messages asking for ‘SpringShield’ began flooding in, she had no idea what they meant and simply ignored them.

 

In fact, it wasn’t until January 2022 that the penny dropped, when an unknown caller let the Alcantarilla company know that it shared its digits with a famous fictional firm.

 

This same caller wisely advised the business to hold on to the number “as if it were gold because it appears in the best television series in history.”

 

Image: IMDb