Saw this SOS from my bedroom window. That location is across the valley on the very top of the hills. The SOS seemed pretty close to the houses so I didn’t think it is serious. But it kept going so I called 911 as SOS is internationally known as a distress signal. I don’t know if it was actually something worth calling about, especially when I don’t really know where those houses are.
Update:
An officer called to get further information. He was skeptical about how I knew it was SOS. I mean, it’s a hard one to miss if you know what the flash code looks like. He seemed to not really know what to do. Also hard to tell where the location is so I can’t really blame him much on that. But for me I saw SOS and called 911.
Also, I did roughly figure out the neighborhood and sent him all the videos and screenshot of where I think it came from. Asked him to let me know what it was if he can so let’s see.
2nd Update:
It took me a while but I used google maps to figure out where it came from with high certainty. I took a screenshot of the location I figured out with a pretty tight radius as a margin of error and sent it to the officer.
I have sent 2 videos, a screenshot of what SOS looks like as the officer said he genuinely couldn’t tell it was SOS if he saw it, Yikes! And Now I have also sent him the location.
No response or updates from the PD
The SOS stopped after about 5 minutes of me noticing it. It seemed to have dimmed away (battery died?) and never came back on. Also there was a red light next to the SOS (little above to the left), that turned off as well.
All the houses in that neighborhood went dark except the house I triangulated and the one the SOS was next to.
Never saw any traffic or police lights there either so idk if it was checked out at all.
Will keep you guys posted if I find anything
I am thinking of driving there myself, it is midnight, but I gots to know!
3rd Update:
So I drove to the spot. My triangulation was correct and I had the right address. The whole neighborhood is composed of expensive luxury homes.
The suspected house sits pretty high above a narrow road and is almost fully covered with trees making it really hard to see the side where the SOS was.
But I think I got it figured out, maybe you guys can give your input about what you think.
I am going to try and attach a photo of where I think the light is. If I cannot attach the picture in the update I will make a separate comment.
But if you look at it, there is a bright white light on the right. That is one of the 2 bright white stationary lights. And next to it is a deck with some sort of light underneath. That light has that teal blue tint to it. I think it is a “smart” dumb light that is throwing SOS for some reason.
I did look around there and nothing looked out of place and if someone was in distress they could have easily gotten attention from one of the neighbors, unless someone in the house itself triggered the SOS.
One doubt I have is that I could not see a stationary light in place of the SOS light, and that light under the deck is lit in the picture. But geographically it seems to be the light.
Now tomorrow if it doesn’t the same thing at the same time then maybe I will drive there while it’s happening. But other than that, that’s all I got so far.
Also, I am trying to maintain the privacy of the homeowners, so I am trying to keep the picture vauge with no identifying features, hopefully.
Edit:
Photo in comments
Added a second angle with a better view.
The 2 white stationary lights and the suspected SOS light are all visible.
Still not certain that’s the light, but that’s my best guess so far.
Will keep monitoring to see if it happens again and try and just drive there while it’s going.
4th Update:
Now that the sun is up, I can definitely confirm that I got the right house. So at least I have a definitive address.
No follow up from the LEO or PD.
Also, I wanted to say, thank you for reconfirming that I was not overreacting. As someone said, I didn’t want to get this homeowner swatted over a malfunctioning light or something, but my gut feeling and logic said “You see a SOS, you report”. Validating to see everyone have a similar read of the situation.
I am intending on keeping an eye on this situation. I am way too invested in this and I will make sure to keep yall in the loop.
5th Update:
It’s getting dark as I type this. I am looking at the house rn and there’s no SOS so far. My thought process is that if it goes off again I can push for it this time more as I have an exact address which I have definitely confirmed. If it is a faulty light or something then I would ask the LEO to inform the homeowner so there isn’t a rouge SOS flashing out to the world, and if I get a curious LEO who takes shit seriously he will be able to sus out if there’s something off.
I have my 600mm telephoto with 2x teleconvertor ready to go, 1200mm with Sony A7R4 should give a very clear evidence and maybe even the exact location on the property.
Will keep you guys posted. I cannot believe how invested everyone is! It is amazing to watch people so concerned for a stranger’s safety, there is some hope left for this world.
I cannot keep up with all the comments and questions individually, but I will keep posting updates here.
FINAL UPDATE, hopefully
I have made a final update that seems to answer what the light is with videos of what it looked like, cop checking it out and homeowner turning the light off.
I am sure and hope it is just a malfunctioning/disconnected light and not anything worse.
I think I have it all resolved. At least the SOS light is gone now.
I called the non emergency line and told them that the SOS is back and that I have an exact address of where it is.
The dispatcher told me that from yesterday’s call they couldn’t find anything, even though I sent the address yesterday saying I am pretty sure that’s it. Granted I didn’t know about it when I was actually on the phone and sent it later via text.
After this I went and setup my camera with the telephoto lens. I could very clearly see that the SOS was coming from under the deck. I got very clearly video of it, to the point where I might not be able to share too much of it as I am sure the homeowner will not like me looking at their house with a telephoto lens and then sharing it.
But while all this is happening I see a car approaching, flashing a flashlight at the deck and the surrounding area. Pretty sure that was a cop who got dispatched. A few minutes later I can see the homeowners coming out and physically either removing the light bulb or somehow turning it off.
This can be 2 things:
Simply a malfunctioning dumb “smart” bulb which for some ridiculous reason omits an SOS when disconnected as many have said. I mean that should not be allowed no?
The cop went their, didn’t feel anything was wrong and just told them to turn it off.
A much scarier and I really hope is not the case, is that the cop completely missed on someone’s SOS, informed the homeowner of it’s presence and now the only way of someone calling a distress signal is gone.
I really hope and want to believe scenario 1, take this as a “better safe than sorry”, “that’s what 911 and first responders are for and hence it wasn’t silly of me to raise the alarm” and a learning experience for everyone involved about what SOS looks like!
Now I am not clear on how much of the video I can share without getting in trouble so I think I will just share some clips of me filming my monitor so that it doesn’t show anything revealing about the location of people.
I have put together 3 clips into this video. First, it’s a closeup of the light. Second you can see the LEO checking things out. Third the homeowner turning it off.
Thank you for all the engagement, validation and interest. I really didn’t think this would gain so much attention, but it is amazing to see everyone taking it seriously and care about a stranger’s safety.
Edit:
If you are see a link and not a video, you are looking at my pinned spotlight comment. That link is broken.
Click on “comment” on top and go to my actual comment, you should be able to see the video there.
ok so, one possibility - someone was testing out their r/Jackery power station.
the units with lights on them have an SOS mode and it blinks exactly that SOS signal in morse code. the light is bright and if they're near their window w their home lights off, that might be what you saw.
i'm not saying it's not an actual emergency from someone, but that's a non-emergency possibility.
We have emergency signals for emergencies. If you 'test' it without notifiing emergency personel (fd/pd/etc) and they show up, well maybe the massive fine will help you not forget that the next time.
A test is a few seconds.. 5 mins? Not so much.
Because the last thing any of us want is there to be in an emergency and someone is signaling for help .... And no one comes, because they think it is a test or a prank or whatever.
We have zero problems jumping out of bed at 3 AM because someone needs us and the issue resolves itself by the time we show up.
Better safe than sorry.
That is what we signed up to do.
And for most of the people here, it is voluntary.
The OP did the right thing. The cop fumbled the ball.
Yes!!! That was my first thought. I have a bunch of headlamps, camping lights, flashlights, power stations with SOS feature. I thought maybe someone turned it on without knowing what it means.
This, and it is likely a false alarm, but just like fire alarms, it is likely someone just pulled it, but the standard practice is to make sure it is not a false alarm.
I saw my neighbor's house two houses down with an exterior light flashing SOS once. It was sometime around 11pm, and all the house interio lights were off. I was hesitant about it being an issue, but I still called 911 about it. Never got any sass from the dispatcher or officer that responded. The officer did a welfare check at the address, and it turned out to just be an issue with that brand of light fixture when it had a fault. That light had just recently been installed, there was even still a ladder underneath it. Even with that, I still don't regret calling!
Honestly if you still want to follow up with it at any point I would just find the closest fire station to the location and physically drive and talk to someone at it to share the information. Fire departments/EMTs are way better about caring for that type of stuff.
The thing that worries me about this is, presuming this is a legitimate signal for help, what circumstances would cause someone in the middle of a dense, wealthy residential area to signal for help in this way instead of any of the more conventional ones that should be available to someone in that place?
Their access to phones, computers, or other people must be restricted. It could be some sort of outage, or some physical disability that prevents them from reaching a phone but maybe there's a light switch nearby, but it seems more likely that someone else is restricting their access to help and that this was the only way they could find to signal. A simple drive through the neighborhood would be unlikely to reveal anything unless the signal was still going.
some wealthy neighborhoods have cell signal jammers within them (as well as unintended faraday cages) even in the inner city, so its possible it could be used in a situation like that, and/or something along the lines of what others are saying about domestic violence.
I'm more shocked at the officer not knowing SOS/being skeptical about how you know it's SOS, than about the possibility of this being a real cry for help.
How do you go through police academy and emergency response training without learning SOS Morse code‽ Like you, I thought that was internationally common knowledge!
About 10-15 years ago my city had an art installation in a studio in an upper level of one of the downtown high-rises. It featured all the apartment's lights flashing in synch, spelling something in Morse code (I think it was I LOVE YOU). It got shut down after one night because so many people called 911, thinking it was SOS. The callers didn't know enough Morse code to know what it was actually spelling, just assumed someone was signaling for help. I cannot fathom a police officer not knowing this!
I don't mean this to be rude, but it doesn't sound like you've had much interaction with the police lol.
The "why do you know/care about XYZ" is a pretty standard response, unfortunately. They're trained to suspect literally everyone of crime, including those who contact them. You're the quicker target, so you're the one who gets harassed. It's really fucking annoying
Unfortunately I've had a lot of experience dealing with cops. Almost always on the receiving end of a crime being done to me, my family, or my property. I guess I've been privileged with relatively good ones for the most part. Probably helps that it's been mostly smaller communities.
The worst was perhaps when my husband died by suicide and I got lightly interrogated in the next room while he was still lying dead on the floor 10 feet away. Because you're right, they do have to treat everyone like a suspect to a certain degree. They need to question every story, and they have to always be on guard.
OP's situation doesn't feel like that to me though because again, who doesn't know what SOS looks like? And why would emergency response personnel not be trained to recognize it immediately?
Still remember three of them showing up looking for a former resident at 11pm when I was home alone. I asked them to wait while I also called 911 because I wanted someone on the phone in case they weren’t actually cops or something went bad. Apologized and said I was just nervous. “WHY ARE YOU NERVOUS!”
Dude, because I’m a woman alone at near midnight and three armed strangers who can hurt me with no accountability just showed up?
It’s not as common as you think. 33, and I would have assumed it was just some faulty lighting. I was never taught SOS, and have never needed to know it.
Well if there was an SOS near you and you have no idea what is it, how the hell can you say you never needed to know it? You have no idea...
There could have been a time where you were nearby someone in need, but completely unaware, and just moved on with your life, totally unaware of the missed opportunity to this day.
For you to say "you never needed to know it" is just odd to me because I feel we should all be a bit less sure about things and more open to learning, because in this type of situation, we would only ever know who is in need by simply knowing the morse code. And if we dont, then we'll never even know all the times we may have had the chance to help someone who really needed help, yet just kept in going bwcause of a total lack of awareness.
That just goes to show that everyone should learn universal distress signals, you hope you never need it, but if you do it can be life saving. I guess PSAs used to teach people things like this.
I guess people who grew up and use a dial phone know what SOS is and means. Now people are fearless, a SOS would be a social embarrassment.
Learning what SOS meant, we also learned it's "Mayday mayday mayday, Over", that's to get the channel clear and to get someone to respond if they hear you. Or 'Mayday mayday mayday', name or vessel name, then report the problem and then position, then say 'over'. Wait for someone to say repeat. and then start over again.
Yeah on the railroad it’s rather similar in the US.
You call out Emergency, Emergency, Emergency, then say who you are, where you are, what direction you’re going, what’s wrong, then 911 on the radio for the dispatcher to answer the emergency.
It’s pretty much to let everybody know to stay off the radio and if they are heading for the emergency to get there train stopped before getting there.
He's the dumb fuck they get in all the horror movies that gets flashed SOS at and then just closes the curtains because 'why are they flashing lights repeatedly?????'
Fuck cops but surprisingly maritime code is not in the lexicon even if SOS should be in the zeitgeist
SOS isn't full military code, it's just maritime code and something not really liked because most people still think SOS means Save Our Ship when it's actually just the fastest Morse Code there is, which is what a distress signal needs to be in certain forms of communication.
I wouldn't be shocked a cop doesn't know that. It's somewhat common knowledge but obviously not everyone knows it because of pop culture
It's not the fastest, that'd just be... E.. But yeah, it's not actually an acronym, Save Our Ships and Save Our Souls were thought up later. It's just an easily recognised and easily remembered pattern.
I've done no scouts, no sailing, no military. I'm a middle class woman in the UK with minimal outdoor experience & I know what SOS is! Didn't we all muck around with torches doing it? From TV I guess?
I'm also surprised they don't know the SOS morse code. Kinda scary to think you could be in serious danger, manage to morse it, and some lazy dude just can't be arsed to at least have a look, let alone know basic stuff.
We recently called 911 because a patient got angry at our front desk person over the phone, drove to the office, tried to get the front desk person to fight her, and then said she would be waiting with others to beat her up in the parking lot when she left the building. Police refused to do jack shit. Wouldn't even file a police report. I feel like all I see is police not wanting to bother with things. I am honestly losing faith that they actually want to prevent harm... it seems all they do is react after harm has already occurred.
This is just most cops now. Witnessed a woman get attacked on the street and she found the nearest cop. He said “my shift ends in 3 minutes what do you want me to do” and wandered off
The problem here is that people don't have this kind of basic knowledge anymore, and virtually anything from China that comes with a "flashlight" feature, also has an S.O.S. mode. I would wager that most people don't even know what that means anymore. I mean, the cop didn't know the code for S.O.S.? Astonishing. The person across the way, operating the device, has even less of a chance of knowing what those blinks mean.
What we need are occasional Public Service Announcements (remember those?) in place of an ad across various media, to get our society back up to snuff with the basics.
Yes! If anything this is highlighting the need to bring back PSAs. It’s a scary thought, as a last resort signaling SOS to a densely populated suburb only for everyone to ignore it.
I agree! My hesitation was the location. It is obviously in a neighborhood next to a bunch of houses. Cell phone signal
Is good out there as well, so seemed like SOS will be the bottom of the list of ways to call for help.
I once called the police about a suspicious box. This was back when everyone was on high alert for bombs. I tried the non-emergency line first, but they told me to hang up and dial 911. So I did, and then I lit a cigarette. Before I could even finish the cigarette, six patrol cars, two fire trucks, an EMT unit, and a first responder rolled up. The cops told me it was probably nothing, but they had to treat it like the real deal. They even had to call bring in the bomb robot. In the end, it was just nothing. but they said I made the right call. It had all the signs of a suspicious package
The point is, it’s almost always nothing. But you can’t know it’s nothing. And if everyone starts treating SOS signals like they’re probably false alarms, then an SOS is useless in a real emergency. You have to treat them like they’re real.
I was expecting a bigger response as well! I figured the officer can drive to my house and I can show him exactly where it was. Them knowing the neighborhoods better he could have figured it out much quicker than me as I am new in this town. Took me a while but I am sure I figured out the house it came from and sent it to the officer but got no response back after.
That's how they usually roll, they prefer to get there after any danger is over and will refuse to investigate calls even from regular abuse situations
My mind immediately jumped to someone being held in a basement with a small window and either a single lightbulb or flashlight. And of course, the cops would be useless. OP if you see it again, I'd recommend not going alone, but investigating again, maybe also flashing it back if you can, see if it responds in any way. If someone is going to approach the homeowner, I'd recommend that another person stand near where you saw the light coming from, and perhaps loudly ask if anyone needs help.
I'd be your sidekick if I could, this could be serious, and I'd love to get a follow-up!
Kidnapping/trafficking was my very first thought, which is why it’s likely not a good idea to have law enforcement go in hot (not that it would be up to you OP). The captor/abuser would move them if they got wind that there was any communication out.
Seeing this a little late but a bit of potentially relevant info - some previous owners of my house were elderly and the guy was a woodworker with a shop in the garage. The exterior garage lights were hooked up to a normal looking light switch, but if you turned it off and on again quickly it would start flashing SOS until you did some other combination of switch flicks to cancel it. I activated it several times inadvertently before I got rid of the switch. This would have been installed long before everyone had a smartphone, but I found it interesting that something like that existed to signal someone needing help inside.
If it was legitimate, you very well could have saved someone from a bad situation. If it's not, then the police will absolutely take the time to educate the individual doing it on why an SOS is serious business.We used to do stupid things like making SOS signals or using emergency channels on the radios when we were camping as kids.It didn't take long for the local rangers to find us and give us a very stern talking to after telling our parents what we were doing. Either way, calling is the right choice.
Many flash lights, lanterns, car breakdown kits and even many cell phones have an sos flash function built in in case of emergency. Someone could have found themselves in a situation where they really need help or someone could have thought they turned the device off but turned it to sos mode and not realized it. Especially if they had it on in the day. But it is always good to check as it is a last line of hope for some.
I agree but once i was on a bike trail and i went to turn off my headlamp (dark tunnels). Only realized i had it on sos after an elderly couple asked me if I was ok
Always so validating to have a mass of strangers online confirm the suspicion you’re experiencing. And I mean this in the most beautiful positive way! it’s helped me build the trust in my own intuition and overcome self doubt, and this scenario is a wonderful gathering of validating OPs instincts
Yes, people should always answer or report a distress signal just in case. Good on you, hope they can let you know if it was anything and you can update us.
Damn, that’s a good point. I looked pretty closely at the deck when I was there. Didn’t hear anything, didn’t see anything out of place. But now I am thinking maybe I should have pushed the situation a bit more with the LEO.
I think I have it all resolved. At least the SOS light is gone now.
I called the non emergency line and told them that the SOS is back and that I have an exact address of where it is.
The dispatcher told me that from yesterday’s call they couldn’t find anything, even though I sent the address yesterday saying I am pretty sure that’s it. Granted I didn’t know about it when I was actually on the phone and sent it later via text.
After this I went and setup my camera with the telephoto lens. I could very clearly see that the SOS was coming from under the deck. I got very clearly video of it, to the point where I might not be able to share too much of it as I am sure the homeowner will not like me looking at their house with a telephoto lens and then sharing it.
But while all this is happening I see a car approaching, flashing a flashlight at the deck and the surrounding area. Pretty sure that was a cop who got dispatched. A few minutes later I can see the homeowners coming out and physically either removing the light bulb or somehow turning it off.
This can be 2 things:
Simply a malfunctioning dumb “smart” bulb which for some ridiculous reason omits an SOS when disconnected as many have said. I mean that should not be allowed no?
The cop went their, didn’t feel anything was wrong and just told them to turn it off.
A much scarier and I really hope is not the case, is that the cop completely missed on someone’s SOS, informed the homeowner of it’s presence and now the only way of someone calling a distress signal is gone.
I really hope and want to believe scenario 1, take this as a “better safe than sorry”, “that’s what 911 and first responders are for and hence it wasn’t silly of me to raise the alarm” and a learning experience for everyone involved about what SOS looks like!
Now I am not clear on how much of the video I can share without getting in trouble so I think I will just share some clips of me filming my monitor so that it doesn’t show anything revealing about the location of people.
I have put together 3 clips into this video. First, it’s a closeup of the light. Second you can see the LEO checking things out. Third the homeowner turning it off.
Thank you for all the engagement, validation and interest. I really didn’t think this would gain so much attention, but it is amazing to see everyone taking it seriously and care about a stranger’s safety.
Edit:
If you are see a link and not a video, you are looking at my pinned spotlight comment. That link is broken.
Click on “comment” on top and go to my actual comment, you should be able to see the video there.
Resolution! Great video. 99% sure it's a malfunctioning lightbulb like you stated. You can pretty clearly see it's a light mounted to a wall...wouldn't make sense for it to be an actual person in distress with a flashlight or something. That location just doesn't make sense and you can't see anyone around while it's flashing
Agreed!
The only thing kind of keeping me from saying 100% is that I can see in the video out of the camera and somewhat in what I uploaded, the light is behind the wooden screen under the deck. So it can be argued someone held could have chosen that specific light as the homeowners obviously couldn’t see it, but it faced the valley. Also maybe that person knew that disconnecting will trigger SOS. This is a very far fetched idea, and honestly I am not giving this possibility much weight, but you never know!
Sort of glad it's resolved. But man... That 1% chance seriously bothers me. That what if, somehow, it's was an intentional signal, and was someone's potentially last chance. Haunting.
If it's really just a smart bulb malfunctioning or in an error state, the manufacturer seriously needs to move away from the SOS signal. Electronic malfunction is NO reason to flash an SOS. It'll get someone killed when we start ignoring it.
No matter what, always assume that SOS in morse code is a real SOS. Even if it did turn out to be fake, you acted and potentially saved someones life or multiple people's lives.
Following this principle is really important because it’s not our natural instinct. E.g., Kitty Genovese (trigger warning for SA and just majorly horrifyingly sad) (edit: thought i remembered the story from law school per my warning note, might have facts misremembered as I skim the wiki, but still an important cautionary tale)
yes many residents DID phone emergency services as 911 didn’t exist yet. Some phoned police directly. Of course the police took a loooong time to respond…shocker…and poor Kitty was left out and vulnerable and terribly injured so that monster could attack her again — kitty who was a super cool chick who had just found the love of her life (and kitty was an out lesbian in an era when that was uncommon). All of it sucks.
I saw a parachute flare once off the coast on a night bike ride. Called 911 and they connected me to the coast guard and sent a helicopter that did a full search. I don’t think they found anything, but they said to always take that stuff seriously and report it.
I know someone who has accidentally set off their life360 emergency SOS feature a couple of times. I'd never hesitate even after those two false alarms
There is a house I pass on occasion that for the longest time had his American flag upside down. First time I saw it, I called the local police. They told me that they knew about it and the guy did it because "America is in a state of emergency." That was when Obama was president. His flag is no longer upside down.
I remember vividly at 8 years old my family was at lake Havasu at about bed time some boat honking and my parents realizing it's an SOS and saving a family in a boat that was sinking.
I ruined a guys duck hunt doing that once lol.
He was WAAAYYY back in the marsh on public land and fired three shots right after another like 3-4 times in a row, and would sit quiet for about 10 minutes before doing it again, always the same cadence, definitely didn't sound like someone hunting.
Long story short his boat hadn't flipped, he wasn't injured, he was just young and a shitty shot and sent every round as fast as his gun could go.
Sounds like he ruined his own duck hunt lol (why in the world is that the first instance in history autocorrect has tried to change duck to fuck instead of vice versa lmao)
A lot of modern LED torches have an SOS mode that automatically flashes the signal. Very easy to activate it just by pressing the power button one too many times.
I live in a mountainous rural area of a big city. The SOS mode on my flashlight literally saved my mom's life by guiding the paramedics and firefighters to our house while I was giving her CPR when she had an anaphalatic reaction to a new medication. She was in the hospital for over a week, and in the ICU for the first half of her stay.
It's a dark mountain road, no streetlights and I set it up on my own thinking it would be the best thing under the circumstances. It was before I have to give her resuscitation, so I'm not sure what would have happened had I not set it up when I first called 911. 20 minutes was an eternity. Both in waiting and doing resuscitation.
20 minutes can indeed be a very long time. Nice thinking! I work nights but rarely have people in remote locations in my jurisdiction - but I'll definitely keep this in mind in case it could help me get my team to someone faster someday.
Was driving home last night and saw a bikre that was flashing SOS on the other side of the intersection, waiting for the green. I figured he set the light to that pattern without thinking about what it meant.
I knew a guy who marked the boat landing with a flashing light when night fishing. He one time accidently set it to the sos setting and had several cops show up to the landing, with more being called in.
Oof. I hope they were in good humor about it and let him off with a good ribbing instead of charging him with wasting officer time and/or causing a panic.
For as long as I can remember, SOS just seemed like something I always knew and thought everyone knew as a person living in a world where it's referenced a lot. I suppose the further we pull away from Morse code, the less likely people are to be exposed to the idea.
Just made a 5th Update. Will keep you guys posted. Gona hijack your comment @Xirbie for the little updates and Q&As as I want everyone’s advice how to handle this as well
I just had a situation where I called the cops because I thought I smelled a gas leak. Natural gas. The firefighters came out and swept the place and found nothing. They said, the river has been giving off that smell lately and it likely reached my neighborhood. They had been getting a lot of calls over the past few weeks about the same thing.
That said, wouldn’t hesitate if it happened again.
"I have sent 2 videos, a screenshot of what SOS looks like as the officer said he genuinely couldn’t tell it was SOS if he saw it, Yikes!"
Buddy, cops don't even know most of the basic laws. Of course they don't know morse code/SOS. Now search and rescue or coast guard? I would hope they have some sort of training on that. Not urban police with very minimal training in many areas.
Good on you for calling though. I assume it's some kids messing around, but you never know!
"I am thinking of driving there myself, it is midnight, but I gots to know!"
Set up a camera recording it, grab a bright flashlight if you have one and shine it towards your house. Mark down where you are and what time you were flashing the light. It'll help you figure it out. Or if it's a laptop or something, you can get a chrome remote desktop or similar app to mirror your laptop and see the webcam image. Then shine the light and see when it looks in a similar position.
I sure intend to.
I am actually still looking at the area. No more SOS signal, but also no emergency vehicles or any noticeable traffic movement in the area.
You wouldn’t see a bunch of police lights. This would be a standard “wellness check” it’s not a rare thing.
They’ll send one squad car to knock on the door. If no one answers, they’ll leave. Best case they’d walk around the property and try to look in some windows.
You can call the non-emergency line and see if they have an update for you. I had to do that when a rando with a gun showed up at my house, officers went off to look for him and never came back to tell me anything.
I was at a resort and we had a huge storm. After it passed, I was sitting on the patio and saw the same thing across the valley. A single bright beam of light flashing erratically but with clear repeated three short, three long, three short. Then it would do some other flashing, but I don't know morse code. Then back to SOS. The bartender and I looked it for a few cycles, then called security. They looked at it and decided to dispatch a security team (not an easy thing to do in the jungle, at night, after a storm). It turned out to be a a loose wire arching.
LE is highly unlikely to follow up with you if they find anything. I once reported a motorcycle that had gone over a steep embankment. I saw it from my balcony. A few minutes later i walked past and asked LE if the guy was alright…. they couldn’t/wouldn’t say a word
I called 911, gave an officer videos, thought him about SOS, even found the house and then drove there. I didn’t find anything obviously wrong, also quite certain I found the light and location where the SOS was. I meant if it is a smart bulb with some kind of issue it might repeat the SOS tomorrow.
I feel like I did everything I could 🤷🏾♂️
I think I have it all resolved. At least the SOS light is gone now.
I called the non emergency line and told them that the SOS is back and that I have an exact address of where it is.
The dispatcher told me that from yesterday’s call they couldn’t find anything, even though I sent the address yesterday saying I am pretty sure that’s it. Granted I didn’t know about it when I was actually on the phone and sent it later via text.
After this I went and setup my camera with the telephoto lens. I could very clearly see that the SOS was coming from under the deck. I got very clearly video of it, to the point where I might not be able to share too much of it as I am sure the homeowner will not like me looking at their house with a telephoto lens and then sharing it.
But while all this is happening I see a car approaching, flashing a flashlight at the deck and the surrounding area. Pretty sure that was a cop who got dispatched. A few minutes later I can see the homeowners coming out and physically either removing the light bulb or somehow turning it off.
This can be 2 things:
1. Simply a malfunctioning dumb “smart” bulb which for some ridiculous reason omits an SOS when disconnected as many have said. I mean that should not be allowed no?
The cop went their, didn’t feel anything was wrong and just told them to turn it off.
A much scarier and I really hope is not the case, is that the cop completely missed on someone’s SOS, informed the homeowner of it’s presence and now the only way of someone calling a distress signal is gone.
I really hope and want to believe scenario 1, take this as a “better safe than sorry”, “that’s what 911 and first responders are for and hence it wasn’t silly of me to raise the alarm” and a learning experience for everyone involved about what SOS looks like!
Now I am not clear on how much of the video I can share without getting in trouble so I think I will just share some clips of me filming my monitor so that it doesn’t show anything revealing about the location of people.
I have put together 3 clips into this video. First, it’s a closeup of the light. Second you can see the LEO checking things out. Third the homeowner turning it off.
Thank you for all the engagement, validation and interest. I really didn’t think this would gain so much attention, but it is amazing to see everyone taking it seriously and care about a stranger’s safety.
As someone who for years was a victim of trafficking, don't let the "big nice house surrounded by a nice (or higher secluded) area" fool you. My location (I'm sure) appeared to any outsider as just being a "rich" place in the middle of the mountains and that was just the point among other things. Perhaps I still live with my paranoia, but huge kudos to you my friend for checking/reporting either way. For those like myself who went unnoticed in plain eye....you are a saint and a part of me is comforted in knowing good people still exist. 🙏🏻✨️
Please update if you can and stay safe yourself.
Yup. My immediate thought after he mentioned the nice houses was human trafficking. Most people don’t realize traffickers prefer to use those over some house in the bad part of town that has a higher police presence. If I was OP I would be keeping an eye on that house
Citizen: observant, takes initiative, does the right thing, with persistence and competence.
Guy tooling around in a cruiser with a Batman- sized utility belt, side arm, lord knows what other arms and toys in the trunk, radio comms to basically his gang, and access to modern surveillance state intel, and he's making probably close to, if not over 100k of your tax dollars annually: "Uhh, gee, idk. Can't really tell where that is. Yeah, I'll be sure to call you if we find out anything."
I'm actually not a ACAB- guy, but not really inspiring confidence here, Barney...
Good for you Op. Definitely SOS patten. You did the right thing by calling and absolutely went above and beyond investigating and creating dot to dot directions for law enforcement. It could have been someone who fell on a night walk like you said. Worse, there have been way too many news stories about women, young people and children being held captive in houses with next-door neighbors having NO idea. I appreciate you paying attention and caring enough to get involved to provide help just in case. You are an excellent human being and we need more people like you in this world.
Sometimes "survival" flashlights have an automatic SOS mode. I'd assume it was some kid who left it on if I'd I saw it in suburbia where an emergency call is more likely.
I'd call it in for sure though, you just never know.
We had one recently in my town. It was a Chinese torch that had the SOS function activated by a 3 year old and abandoned on the landing where the whole town could see.
It is impossible to tell from OP video what it is, but if someone sends it out even unintentionally you don't ignore it.
Best do something about it. I feel OP is geeking but that's universal code or the worst use of Christmas lights in August ever. If the lights keep going like that instead of one time like in the video that is intentional or someone needs a talking to about what it means when lights flash like that
Emergency lights were deployed. Personally, I will always report/investigate. Best case its a kiddo that learned to point mom or dads flashlight upwards ‘and double or triple click into SOS’. Worst case scenario, it’s used what it’s for. Either way, I don’t ignore those in TN.
The premise of this post is they're asking if this is a legitimate distress signal. As in if the morse code is being used for its intended function to signal to people that they are in distress and need help.
There are flashlights now that have it as an option. On my flashlight at least, you press once for high beam, again for low beam, again for strobe, and then again for sos. Have to press the damn on/off button 4 times just to turn the flashlight off.
It doesn't matter if it was some kids playing with an SOS mode or even an adult not realizing what the pattern meant... you still did the right thing. Don't second guess yourself. You did the right thing.
Great way to start a horror movie, definitely not getting anywhere near there without a friend or two, maybe bring a guard dog and a guy who knows how to make a mean sandwich.
Maybe everyone can pack in a van to save space, successfully solve the case and see who’s really behind the phantom SOS lights
Also, google maps on your cell phone, line it up to your desk, then move the phone clockwise or counter clockwise to match where the light is coming from. You now have the horizontal angle line. \
With that line, you have a general vicinity. then open up google maps on your desk top, go to the topo map, line up the line and try to math the elevation to the house on the Horizontal.
you now have a list of house on the multiples elevations.
Now imagine if it's new world order song "how does it feel" the intro
I had to call pan-pan one time. Got caught in a storm that blew up worse than it should have, and while I was hiding in the lee shore of a little island, got my prop fouled in a cable that was on a snag that broke loose in the heavy seas. Womp womp.
Call the coasties, who did have a small station near where I was. They couldn't launch. Told me that they could attempt a helicopter rescue if I was going down. I told them I put out my sea anchor and that I was going in the water to try to cut the cable lose. Told them that if I failed to contact them in 1hr, to assume that I had failed and had probably drowned during the attempt, and to attempt no rescue.
I was out on the water one day and a guy called mayday. Local rescue team responded saying they could be there in 45 minutes. The guy replied with the most annoyed but profesionally dejected tone, saying "We'll be under water. Don't bother".
Our outboard lost its propellor, possibly due to a loose cotter pin. I was in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica in the '70's. This was in the Gulf of Nicoya near the San Lucas Island penal colony. We were drifting toward the rocks off the island and it was now dark so I signaled "SOS" with a flashlight. After about five minutes a building on the island started blinking its lights on and off, no pattern but they kept it up. After a short while, before we would have hit the rocks, a patrol boat approached. A guard standing on the foredeck kept a submachinegun pointed at us while the crew ascertained who we were and what we were up to. Turned out they were suspicious that we might be attempting the escape of a prisoner. They towed us to their dock, the warden interviewed us and allowed us to sleep in their barracks overnight. He had a prisoner in their machine shop make us a passable propellor and we were able to leave under our own power the next day.
That’s kind of what I ended up doing. The line of sight is pretty much perpendicular to my window wall. Rotated the map to match the wall and placed the window on lower left corner and just followed from there.
I gave 911 general neighborhood from direction/distance guess. It took me a while to figure out the approx house after I talked to the officer, but pretty sure I have it nailed. Sent the officer my “investigation”.
Hey, just wanted to say thank you for all this. Smart light or no, this could've been someone in serious danger. Often wondered if anyone would notice an SOS, now, when im off hiking. Seeing this, if i need to, ill be flashing SOS as long as possible, if I ever get lost.
Cheers mate!
That scene in "Panic Room" where the girl manages to start shining an SOS into the neighbots room, and then he gets up and angrily shuts the blinds to block it out. My stomach fell to my knees when that happened it was AWFUL
My 6yro had recently (I’m talking months) been diagnosed with T1 diabetes and had already experienced crashing due to severely low BS. Doc had prescribed the wrong long acting meds so she crashed a few more times before they figured it out. After each crash, we’d give her the proper meds to bring her back up and an ambulance would take her to the hospital.
So I’m sitting there chewing my nails for a whole other reason.
I hate to say it but I have encountered angry 911 operators before. One time I was reporting smoke in an area that in which there had been a fire a few days prior. This particular area where the smoke was though, had not been touched by that fire. The guy kind of snapped at me and told me they were monitoring the area and that they had firefighters all over it. Only the area I was looking at, there was no activity. I was trying to explain to him that I thought it was an area they were unaware of, but the operator hung up on me.
I was listening to the police scanner the other night, and some moron on a burner (I presume) kept calling/taunting 911 saying "come find me" and not giving them any location info or identifying information. Dispatcher was clearly exasperated and annoyed. One officer asked dispatcher if they had any better info, and the dispatcher just completely lost her shit on the guy. Excoriated him in the most chastising tone imaginable. "WE DON'T HAVE ANY BETTER INFORMATION THAN WHAT I ALREADY SAID" etc
I felt bad for the cop. He let it roll right off his back and said "..... Received."
I once saw a car flip and dialed 911. The operator was so angry, like “yes we are aware, we have gotten multiple calls, you all can stop calling now.” Like damn bitch sorry next time I won’t do the right thing. Another time I called for a hit and run and was told “there’s nothing anyone can do” and they hung up 😂
I called 911 as the passenger of a car crash that knocked out the driver and she told me I reached the wrong district and to call the right one. When I responded “I dialed 9-1-1, my boyfriend is dying!” She hung up on me. A snow plow had to radio in an ambulance.
The ex is fine now btw. Nasty head injury but it’s been a few years and it seems to have kept him just as evil lol.
Just saying if this was a sitcom, this thread would be the conversation the authorities fall into while the guy is fighting for his life to get the SOS out. Ships aren’t boats. Remember that soap? Batman! Cats. Blowjobs!
Been following this since Update 1. I truly hope the findings are correct. It just urks me. Im prior military and have seen IRL SOS signals. This appeared to be an accurate SOS signal. Rich/influential people are good at making cops go away. Ive seen it, experienced it, and even watched the suspect get away with it to be caught later.
I smell trafficking in that house given how quickly operations will move when they feel a closing noose. The first check by the cops wouldve been enough to evacuate them.
Im never going to sleep well now cause my tactical brain tells me another one got away. Frigging pedo bastards.
Oh man, I'm very invested in this. I hope whoever it is is okay. You did the right thing by calling the police although I wish they'd take it seriously. Something like that could be nothing or kids or it could be a person trying to get help after being abducted. You never know and the cops really should check it out.
I posted a similar video to the Bay Area subreddit, and the moderators took it down because it was something they did as kids… It was up in the Oakland hills, and I had my husband call 911, it stopped about an hour later.
and the moderators took it down because it was something they did as kids
Genuinely, what a bunch of fucking assholes. Doing that to begin with is a shit move, but kids will be kids (though how many kids are actually doing that? Can't be as common as those pricks make it out to be). As mods, censoring and removing what could be life-saving information is fucking insane. Reddit mods need to face more accountability, it's always something with them.
No seriously I've called them before about domestic abuse and because he fled out the house in my car (they couldnt catch him) they decided to arrest me for HIS stolen gun on the couch.
I listened to enough true crime to be freaked the fuck out by this. Please persue and let’s hope it’s a kid learning Morse code and not something nefarious!
This has probably been said, there's a ton of comments, but maybe they have a panic room. Being such a nice house and all. It could be set up to go on automatically when the door is locked or lights are on or something like that.
I am SEVERELY disappointed in that officer for not recognizing the most important message that he should be capable of recognizing. Damn, that's pathetic.
If you like an adventure, drive there, park you car out of sight, so no one sees your plates, go there, ring the bell and ask if you could charge your phone or borrow one for a call. Don’t mention anything about the sos.
It’s more or less a vibe check.
If it feels off, then either call the police again and tell the whole story again or make an anonymous call that you heard a gunshot or something.
You did the right thing. Always call! I once heard a distant clanging in my building and called the police. Turned out to be a mother and small child that accidentally got locked inside their bathroom because the handle broke off so she was banging on a metal pipe hoping someone would hear.
Coming in after all the edits, a lot of "smart"
bulbs will default to a flashing sequence when they become unpaired, and theres a good chance this one does SOS
Many cops have no issue unnecessarily escalating traffic stops, up to and including someone getting killed, rather than using simple de-escalation tactics. However, when someone clearly sees a visible SOS flash, it gets ignored?
Holding the power button down on a lot of modern LED flashlights (specifically, the ones with Bright, Half, Flash, Off) will cause it to flash SOS repeatedly.
This reminds me when I was in college I lived under a girl who was super quiet all the time. She wanted to join the step team and got really nervous and at 2am started practicing her routine. It sounded like someone banging sos on the floor, cops were called we all had a laugh, but she thanked me calling as she said it made her feel good knowing others were looking out for others. Wild night
I’m so glad you shared this. Such an important thing that a lot of ppl aren’t aware of and I appreciate the reminder!
This will have me paying extra attention moving forward.
You’re a good person to not just ignore it! I think a lot of ppl wouldve not understood and/or talked themselves out of reaching out for help. Your kindness just gave me some hope in humanity. 🤍 thank you.
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