Over 6 Million People Saw The Aftermath Of An Everyday Item Exploding In This Woman's House And Are Understandably A Little Freaked Out

In late November, Elizabeth Lawler woke up to a strange sound coming from her kitchen in the middle of the night. "I heard a noise like the sharp crack of a cabinet slamming. I thought it could be my youngest son, so I wanted to check on him," she told BuzzFeed.

"I went toward the kitchen, and then I heard a huge crash like the ceiling collapsed, so I ran," she said. She looked up, and the ceiling was intact. Instead, she found glass all over the kitchen.

The culprit? A brand new glass table. "The tabletop had just exploded. The table legs were still in the same place, and so were the chairs. The table didn’t fall over; the bottom didn't collapse or anything. The glass was just flung out in every direction," Elizabeth told BuzzFeed. No one was hurt.

"Nothing fell on it, as you can see, but this glass has spontaneously shattered and is crackling and making a popping noise," Elizabeth says in the video. The sound of glass crackling can be heard throughout.

Elizabeth, a startup founder and mom, decided to document the incident on TikTok, calling out the table manufacturer. She didn't expect nearly 7 million people to see it.

I had never heard of this happening before, but it turns out that dozens of people have documented their exploded glass homewares online. Elizabeth had never heard of it either but discovered that some of her family members had gotten the same scare: "I found out after my post that this even happened to my in-laws. They had a shower door glass shatter when they were away on vacation, and they came home to a huge mess of glass but a frame that was intact."

People were understandably shocked.

The internet being the internet, people had a plethora of theories and opinions on what might have happened. And, well, jokes.

"Everyone from the daughter of a glazier to industrial engineers replied to my post," Elizabeth told BuzzFeed, explaining that the theories about her table fall into a few main categories: design, low-quality mass-produced glass, and temperature changes.

"There was a critical flaw in the table's design," Elizabeth said. "The glass top was glued to the table by metal feet that were bolted to the legs of the table. If you attach glass to something that puts stress on the glass, it will shatter. If the table legs expanded or contracted with heat changes (or if my kids kicked the table legs out of adjustment!), that could put pressure on the glass, causing it to fling 'outward.'"

That means that any piece of glass furniture or home decor with too much pressure applied to the sides or perimeter — think glass shower doors attached to a metal frame — could eventually shatter.

Elizabeth also learned that the quality of glass used in mass-produced furniture has greatly declined, another possible reason for the explosion of her table in conjunction with the design. According to glass manufacturers, several types of inclusions can appear in glass, the most common of which is nickel sulfide. These inclusions, or materials trapped in the glass during or after production, can weaken it and cause breakage.

The last main concern of viewers was that the table had been subject to too many temperature fluctuations (aka "thermal shock" or "thermal stress"). Elizabeth lives in New England, where big temperature shifts can happen, especially during the winter.

"At this time of the year, the heat is on at night. Apparently, people who live in cold places should not own glass tables. That sentiment was definitely in the replies, too — I hear them loud and clear," she said. According to another building materials manufacturer, temperature changes can cause glass to expand and contract. When this happens at different levels on different parts of the glass, the pressure from thermal stress can cause the pane to shatter.

The manufacturer of Elizabeth's table sent her a new glass top right away, but she told BuzzFeed she was "too freaked out to install it." Eventually, she did, though, and all seems well so far.

There's one theory I forgot to mention: "The fourth theory from TikTok was that my house is haunted by ghosts," Elizabeth said. "I dismissed this at first, but I have a big ceiling light in my hallway that just started blinking on and off at odd times, so maybe these folks have a point, too."

Are you sworn off glass furniture forever now? Has anything in your home ever shattered out of nowhere? (And you can be honest, was it ghosts?) Tell me all about it in the comments.