UAP?

[Stagger Lee]

I went out for a smoke Saturday night 9 pm and noticed an orange light coming from out of the east and heading my way (west) -about 800 ft high, I watched as it moved at a steady pace. I opened my front door and called for my wife to come out and look. I pointed the object to her and we watched as it started to pass by. She asked if it was a plane, I told her couldn't be as no sound was coming from the object. As it passed by, we watched the orange light flicker once, then go out completely. My wife then asked if it was a meteor, and my response was that they certainly don't cruise across the sky keeping pace and low altitude. When I first spotted the object, my first thought was some kind of Chinese lantern- but after watching it I decided this thing moved to quickly.
Later that night, I decided to look up the Chinese Orb lantern, and found out that they can sail at that altitude and cover several miles in 12 to 15 minutes time. I was convinced that is what we saw. Before looking this info up, my wife convinced herself it was a plane, even after seeing this object for herself for about 30 seconds before it vanished. I wondered just how many people out there, like my wife, may have seen something unusual and dismissed it, or never recognized it as unusual to begin with.

 

[Burnt State]

The first time I saw one in the backyard I was out with my son getting ready to light off some fireworks for Canada Day. At the moment we both saw it, it shifted towards us suddenly and then arced back along the ecliptic and rapidly seemed to speed off as its candle burnt out. The next 4th of July an American family in the neighbourhood sent up six or seven over the course of an hour. In the steady wind that night they flew overhead diagonally across my yard, haunting, quiet and beautiful.

 

[Polterwurst]

Whenever I see orange lights flickering in the sky or on Youtube, the explanation is obvious. Even back when I didn't know about these lanterns, I did have one "sighting" of these, but observing it flying steadily with the flickering clearly reminding me of a flame, it was obvious that this was something man-made.

And wasn't there a big fire in Scotland caused by these things a few months ago?

I think in most, if not all, german states they have been outlawed now because of incidents with aircraft and fires. And I know of at least one instance where some jester let them fly to have a laugh at the UFO sightings they would generate. Nothing much happened, alas.

So, good riddance to these buggers.

EDIT:

Smethwick blaze caused by Chinese lantern 'could burn for days' - Telegraph

BBC News - Chinese lanterns 'must be banned'

 

[Stagger Lee]

I have to admit I was a bit excited to have possibly been witness to something unusual, but decided to look into my first impression, and the description of a Chinese lantern fit too well. I guess my biggest surprise was my wife believing it to be a plane or "shooting star"

 

[Polterwurst]

Yeah, I had that feeling for about 10 seconds, too, with my first chinese lantern (that was years ago, when they weren't widely known). But then I was like "why is it just flying in a straight line? and why does that light flicker like a flame?" I guess if it had done something like Burnt State's did, I would have taken longer to think about that.

Of course, you never know if they aren't just pretending to be chinese lanterns and actually they are.... irish ones? Swiss? Canadian? No, that's silly. They're german, of course, developped during the last years of WW II as a secret weapon. The lanterns of death.

 

[Stagger Lee]

A big clue for me, was hearing fireworks going off in the same direction the lantern came from, just before and after the sighting. I was caught off guard, not knowing these lanterns could do more than float up. Once I verified that they do sail a couple miles, my first UAP sighting fell apart.

 

[Randall]

... I wondered just how many people out there, like my wife, may have seen something unusual and dismissed it, or never recognized it as unusual to begin with.

That is an excellent point. It's really common for us to presume that someone has misidentified something mundane, but we rarely hear people talk about misidentifying alien craft, presuming them to be some natural or manmade object instead. I guess it only makes sense in a way. If we think it's something mundane to begin with, it probably is something mundane, and yet, it's possible that we could also be wrong. We've heard a few reports of morphing aircraft, and if those accounts are true, perhaps there are more of them than we're aware of.

 

[Stagger Lee]

I was a little taken back with my wife's dismissal of the sighting as a plane or meteor- when it was clearly neither. I can't help but think the majority of the population might have the same reaction if confronted with a UFO or UAP.