A wood chipper fell off a truck, took out a utility pole, and crashed into a Mendon couple’s living room Monday afternoon.

Malcom Clifton, 88, who lives in the Providence Street home, told WHDH he and his wife usually sit and read newspapers and magazines in the area that was destroyed by the rogue machinery.

He told NBC10 Boston he was helping his wife, who is confined to a wheelchair, when he heard the crash.

“I was tending to her when this monster came through my living room,” he said.

A sign hangs outside the home that reads “Blessed,” and Clifton said that must be true.


“When it came through the living room, my wife was in the back bedroom and she said, ‘What’s that noise?’ I came out and looked and I said, ‘You’re not going to believe this,’” he told WHDH.

Police told NBC10 Boston the wood chipper came loose from a landscaping company’s truck before barreling into the Cliftons’ home.

The machine took out a large swath of the home’s wall and destroyed its living room. The Cliftons spent Monday night in a motel.

“It was very terrifying because she’s 90 and in a wheelchair, [and] he’s 88 and unfortunately going through radiation right now,” the couple’s daughter-in-law, Theresa Clifton, told WCVB. “They just really didn’t need this.”

Malcom Clifton said he was just thankful no one was hurt.