Creepy Abandoned Home in Plainfield, Illinois Sent Community Into a Frenzy After Lights Flashing "S.O.S" Made Them Think Somebody Was Locked in The Basement

Plainfield is a city in Illinois with a population of roughly 45,000. It's a 45-minute drive to Chicago. I'm sure plenty of people living there make that commute to work every day. So it's a small city (some might even consider it a town) but it's not like there's nothing going on there. 

But last week in Plainfield, Illinois, the locals were taken (figuratively, possibly literally) by an abandoned house. A spooky ass abandoned house that looks straight out of a horror movie. (Google Maps: 25725 W 143rd Street, Plainfield, IL 60544)

It's the type of house you drive by and don't even consider. You know nobody lives there. You assume it's beyond repair, and that anybody who ever buys the property would surely tear down the house and built something new.

However, as the woman in that video states, a couple weeks back a random light on the outside of the house began to flash. Which is pretty strange, considering you would never guess there was electricity running to that thing. But it was flashing nonetheless. Specifically, people noticed the light was flashing in a pattern. 3-times in quick succession + 3 longer drawn out blinks + 3-times in quick succession again. At least that's what people claimed. And at the time some of the videos were taken, that does appear to be the pattern. If you recognize morse code (which I don't, but I can look it up), the lights seemed to be spelling out "S.O.S".

It happened multiple nights. Multiple people saw it. Some even claimed to hear a person inside crying for help. So police got on the scene. Except they never went inside. They repeatedly went out to the property, checked the perimeter, and concluded that the house was secure. There was nothing happening inside. 

Seems a little weird to me that the police wouldn't just go inside. I'm sure it's because they didn't have a warrant. But clearly it's a house that nobody is living in. The whole town is freaking out about it. If the police go in there and find nothing, or if they find anything illegal (like drugs or something), then they leave like nothing happened. But if they find somebody locked up in the basement, then clearly it was worth checking. I suppose they have to follow the law. But in that specific situation, it would be nice if we could let common sense prevail. Even if it's just to get the townsfolk off the cops back so they can get back to work. 

After a week of the police telling people there's nobody inside (and nobody believing them because they refused to go inside)... 

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The owners of the home finally came forward. They went on the news to explain themselves. It's a long segment, but long explanation short – it was nothing more than a case of malfunctioning solar powered house lights.

Malfunctioning solar powered lights on the side of a creepy abandoned house that spelled out S.O.S. when it was too cold outside and started to malfunction. Which makes some sense. But at the same time, spelling out S.O.S. seems a little dangerous. When people from the outside see lights signaling "S.O.S.", their minds clearly go to something more nefarious than "Oh, their house lights must need attention". They assume somebody is locked in the basement. And that's how you wind up with millions of people on TikTok thinking your creepy abandoned property is some sort of torture chamber.

Anyways, the owners called the authorities. They took video of the property inside and out. They changed their lights. They went on TV. It was all a big silly misunderstanding.

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Or was it? Can we 100% rule out the possibility that somebody (either the property owners, or someone else) didn't sneak their trafficked human out of the house before the police/the owners got a chance to inspect the inside? Again, Plainfield is only 45 minutes away from Chicago. It's directly off I-55. Easy access on and off the interstate. There's a lot of crime in Chicago. Could this house have been used as a safe house to stash an uncooperative "business associate"? 

No. Definitely not. Because the owner brought his lights on the news to show that the lights were still flashing S.O.S. long after they had been removed from the house. It was some nice little drama for the city of Plainfield. But hopefully citizens can now rest easy knowing that the creepiest looking house in town does not have a morse code knowing hostage locked up in the basement next to a working light switch.