10-foot alligator breaks into Florida home by smashing floor-to-ceiling windows

A Florida woman woke up in the middle night to find several broken floor-to-ceiling windows and a 10-foot alligator lounging in her kitchen, KSTU reports.

Mary Wischhusen, a nurse, told the station that she woke up at 3:30 a.m. on Friday to go to the bathroom, only to find the reptilian creature in her Clearwater home.

"I heard this huge, monstrous crash, like the whole roof was falling in on the side of my house," she said. "I headed for the kitchen and as I got to the door of the kitchen, I had this beautiful face staring at me as though he belonged there. This 10-foot gator was having a marvelous time sitting in my kitchen."

The gator had reportedly broken through the residence's floor-to-ceiling windows, knocked over furniture and damaged the walls before making its way further in.

"I decided I wasn’t staying there, so I went back to my bedroom and closed the door and called the police," Wischhusen said. "I was hyperventilating a little, so what I did was I went on the computer and played games to settle down."

Ten officers and two trappers then arrived and spent two hours trying to lure the alligator out. Wischhusen, whose home has two golf courses and water hazards surrounding it, told the station that she wasn't sure why the gator passed by four empty condominiums and broke into her house.

"He could have come right after me," she said. "I’m very happy he did not come after me."

A city spokesman told the station that the alligator suffered minor cuts to a shoulder during the break-in. Wischhusen, for her part, said all is well now.

"I think after all these years, if you’ve been a nurse this long, you’ve seen everything. He was just added to the book that I need to write," she said. "It’s just amazing."