At first, it sounded like static.
Then it became a whisper.

When 29-year-old single mother Rachel Meyers put her six-month-old daughter Lily to sleep on a quiet Thursday evening in San Bernardino, California, she had no idea her baby monitor would become the center of a terrifying mystery.

Around 1:13 a.m., Rachel was scrolling through her phone when a strange noise crackled through the monitor. She assumed it was just interference—until she heard it clearly:

“Get out. Take the child. Now.”

She froze. The voice was deep, unfamiliar, and urgent. At first, she thought it might be a hacked signal. But her monitor wasn’t Wi-Fi enabled—just a basic audio-only device she’d bought secondhand. Still shaken, Rachel checked on Lily, who was sleeping soundly.

Three hours later, at 4:27 a.m., a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California.

Her apartment building suffered heavy damage. Parts of the structure collapsed. Rachel, who had taken the voice seriously and moved to her car with Lily just after hearing it, was uninjured. Her apartment? Completely destroyed.

When authorities investigated, they found no signs of tampering with the baby monitor. No trace of any transmission source. Technicians were baffled. The model wasn’t even capable of receiving remote audio signals.

Rachel posted her experience on a local mom’s Facebook group, thinking someone else might have had a similar experience. To her shock, three other women from nearby towns claimed they’d also heard strange voices through baby monitors right before the quake. One heard someone whisper “brace yourself.” Another heard what sounded like a countdown.

The story quickly went viral.

Experts from UCLA’s geophysics department have expressed interest in studying the phenomenon, though they admit there’s no known scientific explanation.

As for Rachel?

“I don’t care if people think I’m crazy. That voice saved our lives. I just want to know… who—or what—it was.”