A South Carolina family was awoken Easter Sunday morning to the frightening sounds of a burglar in the house. But this was not just any intruder, the violent criminal had managed to climb a 15 feet stairway to the the second floor porch and push past the door. When homeowner Steve Polston found the intruder the terror only got worse.

The amazing ordeal was all captured on home video that is attached below. Out sized, Steve decided to back off and call for assistance. After the ordeal, Mr. Polston told reporters at first they thought someone was breaking into their home, but instead they found a very upset 9 feet long gator that had climbed on the porch and forced his way into the home.

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At first we thought it was a burglar, but it turned out to be far worse.” The giant beast had managed to climb the stairs to the second floor porch of the family home and squeezed its way through the screen door. Susie and Steve Polston, along with their 16-year-old son, found the huge alligator making himself at home, snapping its jaws between a sofa and a swinging bench.

Initially, the family cowered in a bedroom but after several loud crashes, their teenage son sneaked a look outside the room to find that the beast had overturned furniture and was prowling around the room. Susie told the South Carlonia Post and Courier: “It was just surreal, it was so bizarre.”

The family managed to retrieve a phone and contacted a animal control company. But while they waited for expert help to arrive, the huge reptile became increasingly aggressive. Experts said the beast was thought to be around 60-years-old and was frustrated because the homeowners had recently constructed a new fence blocking him from reaching a favorite mating pond.

South Carolina has a law that says that any alligator that is found trapped in such a situation should be destroyed, because it has lost its fear of people. But the Polesons pleaded with animal control not to kill the animal and opted instead to wait out their ordeal. That decision turned out to be to no avail as eventually, officials had to destroy the aggressive creature for the public good.