Doorbell cameras were designed as a safety measure to help you identify visitors, ward off unwanted guests, and monitor the outside of your home. But sometimes, the gadgets go a lot further than simply serving as a security device – capturing shocking moments that you really do have to see to believe.
On Tuesday, a doorbell camera in Princeton, Indiana, captured the moment a home across the street went up in flames – seemingly for no reason at all.
Footage from the doorcam shows the horrifying incident unfolding in staggering detail, laying bare the moment that the roof of a home exploded from what is now thought to be a gas leak.
A Princeton house (pictured), seemingly exploded out of nowhere on Tuesday around 11.30am as the roof split in two and fell down the sides of the multi-family home
Two were injured, including the maintenance man who was reportedly working on the heater
Neighbors said they smelled natural gas in the area before and after the explosion. Center Point and Duke Energy were seen digging holes into the ground on the scene
The home, which is split up into apartments, went up in flames at around 11:30 am and saw the roof being split in two and falling down the sides of the Princeton home.
Thanks to the doorbell camera, people were able to see the exact moment the home erupted in flames, but that isn’t the only crazy moment doorcams have captured.
After the Indiana home erupted in flames, FEMAIL has laid bare the wildest and wackiest moments – from child births, singing delivery drivers and home invasions – captured by doorbell cameras.
Ring, ring! Anyone home? Black bear is shown hilariously ringing the doorbell of a South Carolina home
An adult black bear, estimated to be between two and four-years-old, rang the doorbell of South Carolina resident’s Wendy Watson’s home in the early hours of Tuesday morning
A black bear showcased his manners as he was captured ringing the doorbell of a family South Carolina home.
When resident Wendy Watson woke up and noticed the record footage from her Remo+ video doorbell, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
‘The bear kind of ambled up on the porch and was reaching up around the doorbell and there was a little nose print on the window that you can see,’ Watson told local outlet KFVS12.
‘He looked around a little bit and went back down and while he was out here he ate a lot of bird seeds,’ she added.
And it seems like the bear is a frequent visitor at the home, as the owner suggested he had previously knocked down bird feeders.
‘He took out a couple of our bird feeders, one I had just gotten for Mother’s Day with a camera inside it, though the camera was inside charging at the time,’ she told NBC affiliate WYFF.
‘No other damage was done,’ she added.
Debris, debris and more debris! Ring camera captures terrifying moment Evansville homes explode
A Ring doorbell caught the moment a house across the street in Evansville, Indiana Wednesday afternoon. It shows debris flying around North Weinbach Avenue
After the debris cleared up, roof slats could be seen covering Maddie Struble’s front porch, and the home across the street was completely gone
Aerial video shows the scale of devastation caused by an explosion at a house in southern Indiana that killed at least three people and damaged as many as 39 homes
Keeping on theme of explosions, a Ring doorbell camera captured the jaw-dropping moment a home exploded in Evansville, Indiana.
The explosion killed three people and damaged a total of 39 homes in a residential neighborhood.
Maddie Struble posted the video, which shows debris flying before it eventually fades and reveals the front porch of her home.
In the video, viewers could see broken roof slats on the porch as smoke enveloped the area and destroyed homes across the street as well.
‘Luckily, Trevor and I were not home; however our home is unlivable,’ Struble captioned the video.
‘We cannot thank the Evansville Police Department for all of their help with finding our dogs and getting them back to us.
‘Our hearts go out to the people across the street who lost their lives from this tragic event.’
The explosion was reported around 1pm in the 1000 block of North Weinbach Avenue in Evansville and according to officials, had a 100-foot blast radius.
‘All of them’ eerie moment 16-year-old BOY reveals he hacked into ‘ALL’ of homeowner’s cameras
A Ring camera hacker is heard in a shocking video bragging to homeowner, Joshua Koop (right), through the camera system (left) about witnessing intimate acts
Moments later, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy (pictured) is seen arriving to the scene. As she walks up to the homeowner the boy starts taunting her
A Ring camera hacker – who is seemingly 16 years old – was heard in shocking video creepily bragging about watching the homeowner’s intimate moments with his partner before taunting the police officer who was called to the scene.
‘So do you hack into the cameras that are inside the house too?’ homeowner, Joshua Koop, is heard asking the boy.
‘All of them,’ the boy responds.
‘All of them, oh. So do you see like any naked people? Probably all the time right?’ Koop asks the boy, who claims to be 16 years old.
‘Oh yea, I see them too. I’ve seen somebody giving head,’ the boy claimed.
In response Koop asked: ‘You’re not old enough to watch that are ya?
‘Are you sure about that?’ the boy says, before Koop responds: ‘Well you said you’re 16, so…’
The creepy hacker then begins bragging about knowing an other individual who hacked into a Ring camera in an eight-year-old’s room and pretended to be Santa Claus.
‘My friend was on the news,’ he says. ‘Yeah, he was on ABC for spewing racial slurs and telling little kids he was Santa Claus.’
Just a few minutes later, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy arrives to the scene and begins approaching the homeowner as the hacker taunts her.
‘Cops aren’t no scare to me, I’ve seen them billions of times,’ the boy says.
As she walks over, the boy is heard yelling: ‘D**n girl cop. D**n girl.’
At the end of the video, the hack laughers and says: ‘You’re getting hacked by a five-year-old dude.’
Koop has since removed all of the Ring cameras from his home.
Jingle all the way! Delivery driver shows off his singing skills
The deliveryman starts singing as he in delight comes across a basket of treats left out in the front porch of a house in Racine, Wisconsin
He approaches the house to find a series of snacks and drinks left out for delivery drivers. After singing, he gives the camera thumbs up and says ‘thank you’
A singing deliveryman in Wisconsin captured hearts and impressed homeowners with his improvised tune thanking them for laying out a basket of snacks as he dropped off a package.
In a heartwarming and cheerful video captured by doorbell footage and shared by homeowner Cassie Lynn Hilt from Racine, Wisconsin, a UPS worker was shown approaching her porch.
As the unidentified man approaches her porch he notices a selection of snacks and can’t help but to start singing from joy.
He proceeds to sing his way through the different goodies as he helps himself to the snacks.
In the uplifting video, the unnamed man begins by humming ‘delivery drivers help yourselves’, reading the sign aloud.
The delivery driver sings ‘thank you so much’ three times as he shuffles through the various snacks trying to choose the best choice.
He continued to sing out the various snack and drink options as he made his final choices and harmonized as he picked out a Nature Valley bar and a Powerade.
The thankful delivery man gave the camera thumbs up and thanked the owners before leaving.
Surprise! Elk shocks owners as he rings the doorbell with his antler
The elk paid a visit to the porch of James F Jonell at his home in Estes Park, Colorado
The large ruminant enjoyed munching on the floral display on the porch of the house
A doorbell camera caught another shocking moment a wild animal decided to make a surprise visit.
A Colorado homeowner couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a large elk ringing his doorbell with his antler.
The motion-sensor doorbell caught the jaw-dropping moment the wild animal arrived on James F Jonell’s porch.
The elk is seen rummaging around before hitting the doorbell with his antler.
The loud noise seemed to slightly spook the large animal as he soon turned around.
Before leaving he made sure to take a bite out of some flowers and nibble on a Christmas wreath on the side of the porch.
Parents watch in horror as burglars hold their children at gunpoint
Two men broke into the Pasadena home. The homeowners allege that the men used their niece (left, being led out at gun) to gain entry before robbing the home
The home invasion was captured on the homeowners’ Ring home-security camera which was trained on the living room. Their daughter could be heard crying in terror on the Ring feed
A pair of Texas parents witnessed a horrifying scene while they were away through their Ring camera as they saw two men holing their daughter and two friends at gunpoint during a home invasion.
The unidentified couple’s ring camera came to the rescue as they were able to scare off the thieves through the microphone in the home-security camera, but not before the home invaders took bags-filled of items and left the children with a chilling warning: ‘Don’t pick your f****ng head up or I’ll pop your a**!’
The shocking incident occurred in Pasadena, Texas, which is a suburb of Houston.
The harrowing footage shows a suburban living room with three kids – one boy and two girls – laying facedown on the carpet as two men in hoodies pointed a handgun and an assault rifle at them.
One of the looters picks up one of the girls by her hair and drags her out of the room with a weapon at her back while saying, ‘Get up, get up, let’s go.’
‘Where do you want me to go? Where do you want me to go?’ she cries as he leads her out of the room by her ponytail.
As the children are being held at gunpoint, the Ring camera’s microphone turns on and the girl’s father can be heard yelling, ‘Hey, who’s in my house?!’
‘I got you on camera!’ the dad yells over the microphone.
Then a woman’s voice, the girl’s mother, can be heard saying, ‘The cops are on the way!’
‘My neighbors are there, they’re calling the cops right now!’ The man and the woman then both yell over each other at the intruders, ‘Y’all better get out of my house!’
The gunman says, ‘Let’s go’ to his accomplice while the dad on the camera warns, ‘Y’all better get out of my house, now!’
One of the looters returns to the room carrying stolen items and leading the homeowner’s niece back into the living room.
She is then pushed to the ground as he says ‘Stay down, b***h!’
The kids lay in fear on the ground as the thieves make their way off their camera and call back ‘Don’t pick your f****ng head up or I’ll pop your a**!’
‘Totally not in my birth plan!’ California mom shares footage of the moment she gave birth on her front lawn
Emily Johnson, 31, birthed her new baby on her front lawn last Thursday when she just couldn’t make it to the hospital – and the family’s Ring doorbell camera captured the whole birth!
Grandma Kristy Sparks (left), mom Emily Johnson (center) and dad Michael Johnson (right) are pictured with newborn Thomas
At seven pounds and 11 ounces, Thomas (pictured) was born at 10:42pm – evidenced by the timestamp on the Ring camera footage
A Ring doorbell captured the incredible moment a California woman gave birth on her front lawn – which she joked was ‘totally not in my birth plan.’
Emily Johnson, 31, can be seen – and heard – giving birth to her son on the grass outside of her and her husband’s home.
‘I was going to accept those wonderful pain medicines at the hospital,’ Emily told CNN. ‘Having a natural childbirth was not in my birth plan. But given how fast the labor progressed, we knew I was not getting there.’
Emily’s mom, Kristy Sparks, can be seen waiting for Emily to push the baby into her arms and encouraging her daughter to push as the lights of emergency vehicles flash in the background.
At one point she yells ‘we’ve got a head’ to an EMT from the Vacaville Fire Department.
‘It was surreal,’ Sparks told Big 105.9 of the outdoor delivery.
‘I could see lights from the fire truck and the next thing I knew I had the baby’s head right against my hand,’ she said.
When her son, Thomas, let out his first cries, Emily’s wails of pain soon turned to laughter.
‘Hey Thomas! How you doin’, bud?’ she exclaims, joyful and relieved. ‘Hey Tommy!’
At seven pounds and 11 ounces, their baby boy was born at 10:42pm – evidenced by the timestamp on the Ring camera footage.
Germ galore! Doorbell camera catches VILE moment Amazon driver deliberately spits on packages
Ring doorbell video footage caught an Amazon delivery man appearing to spit on a package as he was making a delivery to a home in Los Angeles
The unidentified, older man is also seen in the vile footage smearing the spit on the package
Another delivery driver was caught by doorbell video footage, however this time it wasn’t nearly as cheerful.
A Ring camera captured the moment an Amazon delivery driver appeared to spit on a package as he was making a delivery in Los Angeles, California.
The unnamed, older man is seen in the vile video spitting on the package before smearing it all over the delivery.
An Amazon spokesperson said the incident was not ‘representative of drivers who deliver for Amazon,’ and that an investigation was underway.
The spokesperson confirmed the delivery man worked for a third party contractor and emphasized the fact that he was reported, however it is unclear whether or not the man is still working as a delivery driver today.
Father shares the creepy moment that man hacks into his Ring surveillance camera and speaks to him while his young daughter watches TV
Krcilek says he has removed all his Ring surveillance cameras from his home and spoke to the company following the incident
The hacker verbally taunts Krcilek before he walks over to the Ring system and unplugs the device
A father shared the creepy video footage of the moment his indoor Ring home surveillance camera was hacked by an unidentified man who attempted to speak to the dad’s daughter while he was out of the room.
Adam Krcilek and his daughter were inside their Sarpy County, Nebraska home when the chilling incident occurred.
Unknown to the family, the hacker was watching them via their Amazon Ring surveillance camera, which sat on the kitchen counter.
When Krcilek went to start his car outside, his daughter was left alone watching TV in the living room – which is when the hacker decided to make his presence known.
‘What are you watching?, he asks.
‘Hey, What show is that? I’ve seen that show before. What season are you on? Hello?’
It’s unclear whether the daughter didn’t hear the hacker or chose not to respond to the random voice.
Krcilek reenters the kitchen and goes to the fridge while seemingly unaware of the hacker.
‘What’re you eating?’ that hacker asks, while quietly laughing.
Krcilek appears to begin to approach his daughter when the hacker calls out again, asking ‘are you hungry?’
The father quickly turns around and looks shocked as he begins to put the pieces together.
‘Who is this?’ Krcilek asked as he approached the camera.
Krcilek told Storyful that he disabled the camera after the chilling episode and contacted Ring with his complaint.
They told him that a third, unidentified phone had logged into their Ring account, but they were unable to trace it back to a source, 1011 Now reported.
Cat showdown! Two mountain lions are captured fighting on doorbell footage
Two mountain lions brawled it out on Hastings Drive in Belmont, California. The lone mountain lion (pictured) killed the other before wandering around the community
The mountain lion even entered a backyard before taking off. Many neighbors have said they will be staying on high alert and not letting their children and pets outside alone
A doorbell camera once again picked up wild animals getting a little too close to resident’s homes.
California residents woke up to a frightening scene as two mountain lions fought to the death on a suburban street.
Residents of Belmont, which is just 20 miles outside of San Francisco, were shocked to hear the wild animals battling in the middle of Hastings Drive around 2am.
The doorbell camera picked up part of the wild encounter, as the two large mountain lions can be heard letting out intense growls before the winning big cat walks solely through the suburban area after dragging its battle partner down the street.
The California Department Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) made it clear that the surviving mountain lion was not a threat to residents and added it was unknown where the creature went off to.
Nonetheless, neighbors are on high alert and were advised to not let children or dogs out alone.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk