An abandoned house in Plainfield, Illinois, is flashing what appears to be an SOS signal. And no one seems to know why.
In a video with over 431,000 views, TikTok user Jake Owens (@jake.l..owens) shows a Plainfield property that he says is abandoned.
Over the course of the video, a light shines in a repeating pattern. It’s three short pulses, followed by three longer pulses, then three short pulses once more. This is commonly known as the Morse code for SOS.
What’s Going On With This Abandoned Building?
“With further investigation—including other witnesses, it appears these SOS lights have been happening at this property at least for a few months across 1-3 lights on the house: front porch to the right, side, and back porch,” Owens writes in the video’s caption.
“Some people have seen packages delivered there and disappeared. Some people have heard Plainfield Police and Fire Departments use the house for training (but why wouldn’t they say that when contacted?),” the caption continues. “Others said the property is under renovations (hense the boarded up windows and doors from the inside) and the light is to scare trespassers (but why would a property currently up for COMMERCIAL sale for 6.7 million be under house renovation?).”
BroBible was unable to confirm this alleged commercial sale price.
Owens says that he has contacted the police, but that they seemed uninterested.
“At the minimum, it is creepy… at the worst, something horrific is happening… and at the very least, we would hope the authorities would investigate and/or communicate what is going on,” he adds in the caption. “If nothing is going on, please don’t use an SOS setting for your lights.”
Is There Any Update?
Owens says in the caption that he hopes that he’s simply getting “concerned over nothing.” That said, he adds that he just wants to “make sure people are safe.”
To that end, it seems that authorities have begun to investigate the issue. In a follow-up video, Owens states that the Will County Sheriff’s Office appears to have checked out the property.
“At the very least, authorities are taking this seriously and are checking the house out,” Owens writes. “I’m sincerely hopeful there is nothing to worry about; maybe the property’s security lighs are autoset to SOS? But if something worse is going on, this will be solved!”
The house is visible on Google Maps and Google Street View here.
What Could Be Going On Here?
In the comments of both this video and other videos of the property, users offered their theories about what was happening.
“I drive past this house every day. The lights have been flashing forever. All the windows have been boarded up, never seen a car there. It’s clearly abandoned!” reads one comment. “I believe they are smart bulbs that have been disconnected from wifi.”
This isn’t as far-fetched as it might initially sound. Many abandoned buildings still have electricity despite not being in use. As noted in a discussion on Reddit, this can be the case for multiple reasons; for example, there may be limited power supplied to the building for security equipment like cameras or lights. The building may also be on a dedicated power grid, such as one used for emergency services. Finally, this light could also be solar-powered.
In other Reddit discussions of similarly curious SOS displays, several users noted that smart bulbs can have SOS patterns. This can either be due to WiFi disconnecting, or an intentional setting on the part of the owner who simply never turned it off.
Just because these are reasonable explanations, that doesn’t mean they definitely explain what’s happening. If one sees an SOS signal and is concerned, they can simply call their local police’s non-emergency line. From there, officials can investigate the source of the light and see if there is any genuine cause for concern.
In this specific case, the Will County Sheriff’s Department said in an email that they visited the house and found nothing of concern.
“The Will County Sheriff’s Office has been contacted about this, and deputies have visited the home twice, but observed nothing suspicious,” a spokesperson wrote. “Everything is locked up/boarded up with no signs of anyone living there.”
@jake.l..owens SOS in Morse code! An abandoned property in Plainfield, IL flashes SOS. This property appears abandoned with boarded up windows and doors… from the inside. It’s surprising it would even have electricity… let alone flash SOS Concerned, we contacted the police. They went to a parking lot across the busy street, said they didn’t see anything, didn’t know Morse code, and would not investigate the property. With further investigation—including other witnesses, it appears these SOS lights have been happening at this property at least for a few months across 1-3 lights on the house: front porch to the right, side, and back porch. Some people have seen packages delivered there and disappeared. Some people have heard Plainfield Police and Fire Departments use the house for training (but why wouldn’t they say that when contacted?). Others said the property is under renovations (hense the boarded up windows and doors from the inside) and the light is to scare trespassers (but why would a property currently up for COMMERCIAL sale for 6.7 million be under house renovation?) At the minimum, it is creepy… at the worst, something horrific is happening… and at the very least, we would hope the authorities would investigate and/or communicate what is going on. If nothing is going on, please don’t use an SOS setting for your lights… HOPEFULLY we got concerned over nothing, but just want to make sure people are safe
Commenters Are Freaked Out
In the comments section, users were scared of what they saw in the video.
“Call the FBI and tell them your local law enforcement isn’t taking it seriously,” said a user.
Others sided with the theory that the true explanation could be more innocent. Some even offered their own stories.
“The police showed up to my old home years ago because my neighbor saw my porch light flashing and called them. We were fine we didn’t know the bulb was going out lol,” wrote a commenter. “But being this is abandoned that’s pretty scary.”
“That’s not abnormal I’ve seen porch lights do EXACTLY this on multiple houses when I used to do Uber Eats,” stated another.
BroBible reached out to the Will County Sheriff’s Department via website contact form and to Owens via TikTok direct message and comment.