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Viewer Comments On Illinois Earthquake - Part 4

We asked you to tell us where you were and what you felt when the earthquake hit. Here are your responses. 

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We were asleep and we woke to our bed shaking. You could also hear rattling and jingling in the rest of the house. The bed shook for a few minutes, but since we had been sleeping, we just thought we were imagining it or something. We live in a very windy area so I thought the noise I heard outside was the wind. I joked to my husband that there was an Earthquake and I was flabbergasted this morning when I read the news that there actually *was* an earthquake and now we know what that shaking was. :) --Lori


bed. i was certain that downtown Chicago had been under terrorist attack. The first thing I did was make my way over to our windows, where we have a clear view of the loop. I didn't see any smoke or fire, but I decided if I felt anything else I would tke my pets, get in my car, and drive to my parents home in northern IL. --megan borhart


I was in bed and I thought it was my dog walking around my room. The items on my dresser was shaking and my bed was shaking too. Unaware of what was happening I told my dog to stop, but later realized it was an earthquake. -T. Parker


it was early in the morning i think it was around 4:30 or so i was so sleepy but when the bed started shaking with me and my my husband in it we wake up and he asked me what was that then we relized that might be an earthquake,then we checked on our kids and went back to sleep but it was realy kinda scary for me i did not go back to sleep untell about an hour later .hope it doesnt hapen again thanks for the great news -- elam


Awoke shortly before the earthquake started, just lying in bed with the window partially open, and found it odd that I didn't hear the robins chirping as they had been all week at this time of the day. Then the shaking started. The items on my dresser and bedside table started making a clinking noise. I just laid there thinking at first it was a truck going by, but as it continued, I realized there was no truck sound and that it was an earthquake. It seemed to stop for a second, then started up again. I went downstairs, chattering about "wow, that was really something..that had to be and earthquake, wonder if it was the New Madrid", my boyfriend look at me like I was crazy...said he didn't feel anything...then at 5:00 your newscast came on confirming the earthquake! --Arlene - Near Midway Airport


I woke up from a deep sleep and thought I was having a seizure. It really frightened me as the bed was shaking and hitting the wall. I was relieved to hear it was an earthquake when reports came in. --Rhonda


I was in bed sleeping. I woke up to the sound of the walls creeking and my bed moving back and forth in a rocking motion. I live on the 5th floor of a highrise on Lakeshore Drive. --Wendy


I was in bed around 5:25 am, In Syracuse Indiana, and my whole bedroom started shaking. The bed was shaking like someone was at the foot of it shaking it. Pretty interesting! --Tara Evans


I live in Downers Grove near Highland Ave and 39th St by Good Samaritan Hospital. Something woke me up early. I looked at the clock and it read "4:02 a.m.". I tried going back to sleep but a short time later, my bed started shaking. My husban's in Germany right now on business so I looked at the home security system key pad in our room to make sure there wasn't a breach. There wasn't. As the skaing continued, my next thought was that I was somehow feeling the effects of a frieght train at the nearby Metra tracks because, when we lived closer to the tracks, one could feel the rumbling. But then, the bed was rumbling and shaking to the point where it began to scare me a bit. I'm a huge fan of horror movies so my next thought was "Poltergiest!" ;) It felt like someone was moving it on purpose so I got up to open a window to see if I could hear a train in the distance but I heard nothing. It wasn't until listening to the news this morning that I found out what it was. --Lyn


I felt it all the way in Gallatin, TN. I'm not sure what time it was, but it woke me up. I felt and heard everything in my room shaking. At first I thought I imagined it, but I was wide awake. --Carissa Breton


SE Michigan.... Our cat, Corky woke us up with louder then usual meowing... She freaked out and ran out of our bedroom.... --Gerald Flis


I didn't feel anything, but my parrots woke me up around 4:30am going wild, flapping thier wings, jumping all over the cage, squawking like crazy, then all of sudden they settled down. It was very odd but now I know why they acted the way they did. --Rich


About 4:40 this morning i woke up to my desk slamming into the wall. I had no idea what was going on. When i stood up to see what was going on, the floor was shaking and the earth was rumbling. Pretty exciting! This was my first experience - when did illinois become like california! --Larry


I was in the kitchen and all of a sudden the house started shaking and rumbling. Very scary --Christine


I was in bed and wondered what was going on. I live in a high rise on LSD. The building and the bed trembled. I thought it might be an earthquake, waited for it to stop and went back to sleep. --Ruth Robbins


The Ottawa, Illinois earthquake of 2004 was more exciting. That quake rolled 4.6. This one didn't have any rolling. --Mike


I was in bed and the door started rattling and my bed started shaking. I thought the things on the wall were going to fall off. I just laid there and wondered if it was an earthquake. I have been in earthquakes before and it was about the same feeling. --Sarah Fleming


4:30 AM is when I wake up, but shortly after I did this morning, while I was still laying in bed, my bed was vibrating hard. I thought my daughter who had gotten in bed with me during the night was shaking the bed. I checked & she wasn't moving. And the bed kept moving. I then concluded it was me. I thought maybe I was having a seizure or shaking for some reason. But then it stopped. I still didn't know what had happened I still believed it was me somehow, until my Mother called later this morning and asked if I had felt the earthquake. That's when I learned we'd had one and what the shaking had been. -- Tjuan


I was in the bathroom with one foot halfway in the air just about to get into the shower and my house started rumbling. I grabbed the wall and held on for what seeming like forever, but was probably a whole ten seconds. My son came running down the stairs and he's like, MOM MOM DID YOU FEEL THAT, WE JUST HAD AN EARTHQUAKE? and I'm like yeeeeeessss I felt it and I almost ended up flat on my butt. At first I thought we were getting bombed or something, then I tell my son, I'm naked, get out of here!!! --Toni Adduci


We live in Sawyer, MI and I woke up to our bed shaking. I thought one of the kids was trying to wake us up by shaking the bed. Then the chair our cat sleeps in creaked as she jumped down off the chair. The thought of an earthquake crossed my mind, but I dismissed it thinking...of course it's not a quake-there are no earthquakes in our area! I quickly went back to sleep when I realized none of the kids were in our room. Not until I saw the news reports later this morning did I realize it really was an earthquake. So, add Southwest Michigan to the list! --Cynthia Helmuth


Good Morning from St. Joseph, Michigan! My husband and I were awakened at 5:40am eastern to our bed shaking and the globes dinging on our ceiling fan. We live near Cook Nuclear Plant so were realived to find out it was an earthquake. The shaking lasted about one minute. --Margie Morphey


I woke up to my house and bed shaking, and heard rattlings from the kitchen. In my groggy state I at first thought it was a windstorm. But I had my window open next to my bed since it was such a nice night, and I didn't feel any wind. So then I knew it was an earthquake! How exciting. I've never felt one before. I felt like a Southern California kid experiencing her first snowfall! Thankfully there was no damage and I wouldn't want to experience anything more than that. Once was enough for me! Hubby slept through the whole thing. Oh well. -- Jennifer Voss


The quake was felt as far south was Nashville, Tennessee. Woke us up. --Andrew Campbell


We live in Palatine, IL and I woke up from a deep slumber about 4:40 or 45 AM with a start. It felt as if a giant was walking in and around / outside the house and I could feel the vibration of the footsteps, except they were not in any pattern but continuous! I first felt that someone had broken into the house and was walking around, but soon realized that wasn't a logical explanation, and that it must be an earthquake. No one else in my house felt it. --S Rao


I was at home in bed. Sound asleep...did not feel a thing. --Don


I live in Berwyn Ill and i was seating at my home talking in the chat than suddenly all my bed started to swing and the furniture moved and the walls too, it was scary, i never imagine how it feels this is the first time i experience this. --Isabel


I was working @ Clark Memeorial ER in Jeffersonville, IN when the it started, I noticed my stool rolling a bit and the IV bags swaying!!!
--Kristina Cooper


I was lying in bed half awake when I heard more than felt something. It was like the entire old farmhouse reacted as it does when a strong gust of wind hits it. But it was calm outside. I am in northeastern Indiana, almost to Ohio and Mich. --Kevin Kimpel


I live about 30 miles East of Evansville Indiana, in Rockport. My cat jumped up on my head and woke me up about 30 seconds before the house started moving back and forth and everything was rattling. You could hear the rumble of the earth moving. It lasted for about 45 seconds. I felt it at 4:38 a.m. I've been awake since then and have had 3 pots of coffee already! My main concern was crossing a bridge over the Ohio River to come to work this morning. Unfortnately, I watched Eli Stone the other evening. We've had no damage though and I'm happy to say, I wasn't as nervous crossing the bridge as I expected to be! --Patricia Evans


Rogers Park: I was at home on the couch and I felt an odd shaking. I was mildly concerned that I was imagining it until I saw a plant near me trembling a little. I wondered if someone had driven a car into the building (even though I'm in a fairly large courtyard building). Then, I was a little concerned that perhaps a fire or something in the building had caused some sort of structural issue and wondered if I should be evacuating. My first instinct was to wake up my boyfriend but just as soon as I realized the quiver was real it was gone and didn't think he or anyone would believe me. It's reassuring to know that there is actually something recorded to validate my experience! --Mariya Elverum


The heater in my house is under my bed room. I felt a shacking and i thought it is either the heater or some one is walking really fast. I got a little nervous but went back to sleep thinking it is the heater! --Helen


When the earthquake struck, I felt the bed shaking, and things were shaking on my desk, and a couple of things fell off of my bookshelves, etc. it was cool!! --Tucker


Staying on the fourth floor of the Residence Inn in Rosemont, I was awakened by the closet door rattling and my bed shaking. Being a California resident I first thought "earthquake" but as the shaking went on I really thought it was just an overly energetic couple in the next room, the headboard being against the wall and all. The lack of moaning was suspicious given the magnitude of the shaking, but I attributed that to good soundproofing. --David



I was sleeping peacefully when the tremor began. I awoke to the sound of the pictures hung in the next room rhythmically hitting the wall. I had the sensation of movement similar to what I experienced as a child after climbing high in a tree on a breezy summer day. The difference was this movement was continual and unnerving; not like the occasional gusts of wind giving me pleasure in those days of my youth. It was as if a hand had grabbed the building and was moving it slightly back and forth. I lay in my bed after it ceased, wondering if there was to be another episode. After several minutes of focusing all my senses to detect more movement, I decided there was no imminent danger and went back to sleep. This was my first earthquake. Considering we suffered no injury or damage, I hope this is my only earthquake. Mizpah, Aaron
--Aaron Paulsen


I live in MS I was sleeping and awoke to gentle shaking, it lasted about a minute.I knew what it was besause I felt the same thing a couple of years ago when we had a small trimer. --Consietta Pittman


I live in Cunningham Tennessee about 180 miles from where the quake hit in Illinois. I awoke at 4:40 AM to the bed shaking and things rattling on the dresser. --George


The bed was moving gently under me as I felt like I was on a boat..No major shaking. No damage. But strange sensation. --Bob Davis


I was awakened by my cockatoo parrot completely freaking out and thrashing about his cage. It was around 4:30. The last time he did this was a couple years ago when the other earthquake hit at 1:11 am (I remember looking at my clock) My dog and family completely slept through it. I went back to sleep and awoke this morning with a massive headache! --A. Matan


was awake, and the panel TV started banging against the wall, the bed shaking pretty good. We live in Geneva, and trains run thru but never shake the house. --Rob


Our dog jumped on the bed and pawed us several seconds before the quake. when we got up to let him out the floor was shaking. --Sandi Kubbs, Champaign IL


I live in Lake St. Louis, MO. I felt my bed shake. --Lois McNeill


I was awakened slightly after 4:30 am by my house and bed shaking, and i immediately knew it was an earthquake. Just like a ride on a rollercoaster, you just had to ride it out. Lasted for about 20 seconds, and i can honestly say that it was a pretty cool thing to experience in the midwest. Just really glad there were no serious injuries.
--Matt Pilch


I was lying in my bed and it just started shaking and the headboard was hiting the wall. It woke me and at first I thought the dog was under the bed. The I felt the bed shake again. I thought it had started storming outside. I ask my husband what was going on, and he said that he thought maybe the boiler was about to explode. --Theresa Smith


My daughter and I where shaken awake around 4:30 am...bed shaking, dog barking and pictures on the wall wsaying. Having both recently moved here from Los Angeles, we knew exactly what it was. We where just amazed that it was occuring here! --Gloria Kekstadt



I live in Naperville, IL. It was around 4:38 am,I felt the my bed shaking. It lasted for a several seconds - probably less than a minute. My daughter felt it as well. Her bedroom windows were rattling and her bed was shaking. I knew that it was an aftershock as we are currently studying about earthquakes and volcanoes in my classroom. --Radhika Venkat


The blinds on my window started hitting the window sill, which woke me up. I felt a gentle rolling and my bed was shaking. At first I thought that a truck was going by or the wind was blowing pretty hard and shaking the house, but then realized "I think this must be an earthquake!" It lasted about 30 seconds and stopped, so I went back to sleep. --Wilmette Mom


Oh it was about 4.40 am and I was woken up as the home was shaking and alsted for several secs (felt like more than a minute) and the window rattled and I knew for sure that something was wrong but I went back to sleep. MY brother from Houston woke me up at 7 ish to ask me if we were ok and then I told him that there was a quake and it wasnt a dream after all! --Seetha Bala


Plano Area, Bowling Green, KY We were in bed when the entire house let out a loud creak at 4:40 CST. Then the whole house continued to rumble lightly for about 10-15 seconds. --Sherri Myers


I was getting dressed and all of the sudden I heard the bedroom door rattling from hitting my doorstop. I wasn't sure what it was. That is what caused me to know SOMETHING was going on. I live in Elgin, IL
--Maria


I was in bed and sleeping. It woke me when my bed shook. It was unusual because we have one of those mattresses that doesn't move when your partner gets in or out. I felt the bed shake and thought to myself that was an earth tremor. It lasted a few seconds, like someone shaking you to wake up. I laid there and it shook again. This time I knew what it was and looked at the clock, it was 4:39. When I got the kids up for school, I checked your website and confirmed my suspicions. --Chris Jauch


I live in Champaign-Urbana Il and I was awake sitting in my garage and I felt a strong magnetic force in my body which made my body feel light.
--Darlene Bailey


I was in bed and felt a quivering feeling....it passed, and felt nothing after that. That was at 4 this morning. --Linda Fetla


Wauconda IL - I was already showered and putting on my make-up when the vibration began. I thought it was a huge truck outside-but then the noises and vibrations moved to inside the house. I thought someone was in our living room. I listened to see if it my daughter coming down the stairs, but the noises and vibrations were too heavy to be her. My dog was lying on the floor in the hallway about 4' from me with a view of the living room but she did not react as though anyone were there. I was a little scared and did not move. Then it just stopped. I had no idea what it was, but was sure at that point there were no intruders. It wasn't until after I turned on the radio and at 5:00 a.m. WMBI announced there had been an earthquake and that it had been felt in their studio in Chicago and in the far north suburbs. They confirmed what I had felt. --Mar


I woke up to the bed shaking like in the movie "EXORCIST" and our dogs howling and barking like I never heard before. I was so scared. --Donna Conley


It woke me up out a dead sleep. felt scared as the whole house vibrated.
--Therese Timmerman


We're in Dekalb Illinois and as we're laying in bed our dog starts barking and i feel my body shaking as i'm laying there, but didn't think anything of it because i'm half asleep. then my husband calls and says he heard it on the radio. --Amy


It woke me out of my sleep! I was asleep and I awoke to my bed shaking. It lasted for about 10 seconds, and it was over. Funny thing is, I went downstairs to ask my husband if he felt the house shaking, and he said "no, you must have been dreaming!" --Jamila


I live 35 miles from West Salem,IL and was just arriving home from work (midnight shift) and felt my house just completely shake for approximately 20-30 seconds. --Joe Rodeghero


I live in Berwyn. I was shaken awake - bedside clock read 4:38. I realized 2 things - bed was shaking and the mirrors on the wall were rattling! I immediately thought "earthquake" which was quickly followed by "Get real!" as I've never felt one before. I grabbed jeans and went into the hall in the center of my apartment and waited - for sirens... sounds of people... something... but, other than the birds chirping, there was nothing else unusual. Once my heartbeat slowed down, I decided it was safe and went back to bed. Turned on channel 2 this morning at 7:00 - WOW! I hope everyone closer to the quake is alright. --Jaime Walden


I was in Dubuque, Iowa, at the time, at work in Finley Hospital. (I'm an RN there) I felt an odd shaking feeling at my desk, which lasted about 5 minutes. Several patients felt it too and were concerned, one nurse thought a patient was having a seizure. It seems, though, that the estimate for the time the quake hit was late by at least an hour. --Jason Timmermans


I live in Orland Park, so I am (obviously) not expecting to be woken up by an earthquake shaking and rattling my house! However, last we were all sleeping when I was jolted awake by a very weird sound coming from the baby monitor on the night stand and my bed shaking! The sound on the baby monitor was like someone knocked it over, picked it up, knocked it over, picked it up. The shaking of the bed was subtle, not violent, but the bed was definitely moving. I woke my husband up and said, "there's something wrong, the bed is shaking and there are weird noises coming from the baby monitor." He jumped up to investigate and check the children (who slept right on through it). The shaking stopped, but then started again a few seconds later, and then stopped for good. My husband said "I bet it was an earthquake." And I just laughed. First thing in the morning, I ran to the computer to check the headlines...and so it WAS an earthquake! I guess it's kind of neat to have felt an earthquake, but it's not something I'd like to experience up close and personal!!
--Janet Stroobosscher


I was sitting in my truck at the train station in university park when my truck started to sway back and forth I thought at first there was something wrong with the engine in my truck so I turned off the engine , but the truck continued to sway the chain on my rear view mirror was also swaying. --Patty Czajkowski


I was asleep in bed the tremor woke me up at 4:39 am, kind of wild! --Aaron Flynn


I was laying in bed watching a movie. It felt like something was pushing on my headboard. I got up and turned the light on and shined a flashlight behind my headboard to see what the heck was going on. 10 minutes later I turned on channel 2 news and realized it was an earthquake. An earthquake never even occurred to me. --Patty Geer


It woke me up approximately at 4:36 a.m. I live in Palatine Il. --Nita Gonzalez


I was sleeping and felt my bed shaking and thought my cat was on the bed giving herself a vigorous cleaning. I rolled over to knock her off the bed and realized that she wasn't on the bed!! I then received a text message from my daughter in Indianapolis saying "Did you just feel that?". I called her and she told me that she felt the shaking there too!!! --Jill Hayhurst


I am in Merrillville, IN visiting from Las Vegas, NV. I was sleep, in a post frame bed, which started shaking. I woke up, turned on the light becuase I thought my sister was shaking the bed to wake me up. When I saw it was not her I realized it was an earthquake after that. I believe it lasted longer than 5 seconds as some callers to the station have indicated. More like 10 to 15 seconds because I turned over to turn on the light, set up in the bed and still felt shaking. I then turned on the TV to see if I what I believed had happened happen "an earthquake"; to my surprise it was. I said to myself, I am in Indiana right? Just flew in from Vegas last night for a funeral. I feel quakes quite to often where I'm from. --Kathryn

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