"Supermoon spotter's UFO shock" : Chinese Lanterns?

(1) Title of relevant video on Youtube: "St.Osyth, Essex. Three UFO's"
(2) Search performed of ATS for the title in (1) above : Yes - no prior discussion found.
(See the thread about avoiding being a plonker)



The video above has been the subject of an article on the website of a local newspaper (The Clacton Gazette) in England today.

That article states:

A STARGAZER struck lucky when he was filming the weekend's 'supermoon' by capturing video footage of mysterious unidentified flying objects.

John Hancock armed himself with his trusty camcorder to record Saturday's giant moon which was the closest it has been to the Earth for 20 years.

He was left speechless when three bright lights suddenly appeared in the sky.

The video on Youtube is accompanied by the following description, presumably by Mr Hancock:

Last night 19th March 2011 was the night of the Super Moon and I was at the end of my garden filming the event. It was about 11pm and freezing cold but it was so light outside and really quite beautiful, looking across the fields and listening to the night wildlife. It was a clear night and there was no wind at all. The video shows the moon filmed through trees. I had my back to the fields at this point, then when I turned to look out over the fields right in front of me was three huge red lights moving across the sky in total silence. I was filming in infa-red at the time and this was when the lights were at their brightest. I switched to normal mode and the lights began to vanish one by one in a clear, cloudless sky.

To be honest this video does'nt do justice to the intensity of the lights when I first saw them, they were huge and red in colour flying in formation coming out from the West. At the time I wanted to watch them, film them, look at them through binoculars, take pictures of them, all at once. At least I captured them on film and you get an idea of what I saw, this upload is darker than it appears on my TV. At the end of the video I filmed a plane coming over so you can see that what I filmed moments before was no aircraft. I am a paranormal researcher, ghosts, big cat sightings, ufos, etc, so this for me was just fantastic.

To me, the video looks like classic footage of Chinese Lanterns. The description also includes a few keywords reinforce that view (e.g. the "moving across the sky in total silence").

I'll contact Mr Hancock and seek his comments.

Most of you will be familiar with Chinese Lanterns, but just in case here are a few relevant videos.









Given the number of press reports (particularly by local newspapers in England) arising from Chinese Lanterns in the past few years, I did start a thread about Chinese Lanterns in the Research Forum here on ATS about 4 years ago. Unfortunately, the person that I collaborated with on that thread was banned from ATS.

I might have add revisiting that topic to my "to do" list...

Also, query whether it is worth contacting the relevant local newspaper when it publishes such an article so that a follow-up article could be written and their readers would then become more aware of this very common source of UFO reports (particularly in England).

All the best,

Isaac

Hm, could be Chinese lanterns with flashing lights? You can see some flashing lights at the end of the video...

Originally posted by Dalbeck
Hm, could be Chinese lanterns with flashing lights? You can see some flashing lights at the end of the video...

Hi Dalbeck,

I think the flashing lights at the end are a different object, specifically a plane. The person that posted the video on Youtube (presumably John Hancock) includes the following in the description I quoted above:

At the end of the video I filmed a plane coming over so you can see that what I filmed moments before was no aircraft.

By the way, in other instances I'm aware of some hoaxers that have tied flashing LEDs to balloons (and kites etc) to add a bit of impact...

Most UFO reports caused by Chinese Lanterns do not actually involve any hoaxers. Chinese Lanterns are increasingly popular at parties (weddings, birthdays and other events) where the people involved do not - generally - intend to cause any UFO reports. The people that released the lanterns do generally get a kick out of the press reports and it is fairly common for them to contact the newspaper a day or two after such an article is published, leading to a follow-up article giving the explanation for the "mystery".

All the best,

Isaac

I don't thing those were chinese lanterns. They were remaining still in their positions and keeping the almost the same distance between each other during the entire video. Airplanes? No to that as well. Maybe MSM helicopters capturing something on camera?

Mistaking UFOs with chinese lanterns is a regular occurance where i live When will a real UFO (Alien spaceship) come in contact with earth? OR have they already.....

reply to post by IsaacKoi

So you write a thread about plonking a vid and then you do this?

How is anyone meant to make any comment on this as you have already basically said you think that they are chinese lanterns?

I like your style start a thread and debunk it all in one go.

By your theory of plonking, you've just "plonked" a useless You tube vid on here.

May I ask do you think these are chinese lanterns? simple answer yes or no, please.

If you did why start a thread about dud vids and then put one up of your own?

There's just been, conveniently, too many Chinese lanterns stories to cover up for UFO's.

For example, in your title, you mention chinese lanterns? notice the question mark? well that means you aren't sure, and if you're not sure, then it's safe to say that they are indeed UFO's (Unidentifiedflying object) why can't you just say as much Isaac?

I think that by putting the words in the title you are already suggesting, psychology 101.

As for what I think they are? hard to say due to distance, but my eyes don't deceive me so I'd say they are pretty big lights, in formation, (something normal people throwing Chinese lanterns up in the air for the hell of it would have a hard time doing) pretty far, and judging by the airplanes flying next to the vicinity, not the only one to may have filmed that. I'd look for more video in the next few days.

conclusion?

UFO's.

Ah I missed the comment about the plane Isaac, thx for pointing out!

Maybe it's a constellation of stars, I remember last night while having a walk with our dog there were a constellation of stars like this, 3 stars all lined up in a very exact distance to each other! (it *may* be even a star sign, I don't know...) !

reply to post by Dalbeck



That may be the constellation of Orion you are referring to, precisely Orion's belt. Although the stars that make up the rest of that constellation are pretty bright too, and you can't see those.

Originally posted by Slipdig1
So you write a thread about plonking a vid and then you do this?

How is anyone meant to make any comment on this as you have already basically said you think that they are chinese lanterns?

I like your style start a thread and debunk it all in one go.

By your theory of plonking, you've just "plonked" a useless You tube vid on here.

May I ask do you think these are chinese lanterns? simple answer yes or no, please.

If you did why start a thread about dud vids and then put one up of your own?

Wow, I mean, wow! The difference in the views implied in your post and my views is just so vast that I don't know what do say.

Yes, I think these are chinese lanterns (and clearly stated that view in my OP...).

I posted a video that has been the subject of a newspaper article about a "UFO" and gave a possible/probable explanation of it (something which the relevant press article failed to do).

Would you really prefer that I didn't put forward my explanation for the video? Or that I waited until other members commented on the video before I put forward my own views?

Other members of ATS are not compelled to conform to my views as to that explanation...

The point of my thread about people plonking videos onto ATS was (as I hoped I made clear, but your various posts here and in that thread show that I wasn't clear enough) that some videos are discussed repeatedly, partly because it can be difficult to find the prior threads relating to a video due to the absence of clear keywords upon which to search. That thread had NOTHING to do with the content of the videos themselves. It had to do with practices that might reduce the amount of reinvention of the wheel and wasted time. This thread adopted the practices I suggested to make it easier in future to find the relevant discussion.

I give up...

Isaac

Originally posted by Conluceo
For example, in your title, you mention chinese lanterns? notice the question mark? well that means you aren't sure, and if you're not sure, then it's safe to say that they are indeed UFO's (Unidentifiedflying object) why can't you just say as much Isaac?

Hi Conluceo,

Your point is rather dependent upon your definition of "UFO" - a matter which is far from straightforward and may be worth a separate thread. You may know that Hynek and various other serious UFO researchers have put forward definitions of UFOs which are much narrower than your definition.

All the best,

Isaac

Originally posted by Conluceo
reply to post by Dalbeck

 

That may be the constellation of Orion you are referring to, precisely Orion's belt. Although the stars that make up the rest of that constellation are pretty bright too, and you can't see those.

Ah thanks Conlueco It's really the star sign I was looking for !!

Interesting thread ,its really to dark in the clip to be specific to judge but i don`t think lanterns float/fly in formation that long so its not that .nice to see a genuine sighting getting brought to ATS and not some helicopter in japan .

reply to post by IsaacKoi


Well with all due respect Isaac, I use the term UFO which is the most commonly known and understood worldwide, including on ATS.

If Dr. Hynek and friends wish to narrow that term down, It's their choice. When the mainstream media start using those narrowed down terms, then we can all be on the same page.

Sadly, there are too many plonkers around, so we are in agreement there Issac.
I can also make a comment on the UFO St.Osyth youtube video. Until very recently I lived in Essex in a town close to St Osyth and I have seen chinese lanterns on 4 occasions in the last 2 years. On all occasions it wasn't too difficult to indentify them as they have certain behaviour (flickering flame, following the direction of the wind exactly or not if there is no wind, orangey / yellow colour, they flicker out - no zooming off into hyperspace etc).
I have also seen them on sale in department stories in the last few years - previously I had never seen them in shops.
I can't say with any certainty that the UFO in this particular video are lanterns, but they do have a number of common characteristics and are in an area where they are sold in large numbers.

reply to post by IsaacKoi

My opinion is that anyone who posts about UFO's regularly should be forced - at gun-point if necessary - to watch some Chinese lanterns being released. They should film how they behave and look and then be made to compare the footage to many of the videos posted on ATS.

There have been some unbelievable 'discussions' on here that should have lasted 3 posts at most. I have identified lanterns then been dismissed as some kind of professional debunker several times. The person dismissing had clearly no idea I was genuinely correct. One trip out to a field with a video camera would solve that problem.

Originally posted by Pimander
reply to post by IsaacKoi

 

My opinion is that anyone who posts about UFO's regularly should be forced - at gun-point if necessary - to watch some Chinese lanterns being released. They should film how they behave and look and then be made to compare the footage to many of the videos posted on ATS.

There have been some unbelievable 'discussions' on here that should have lasted 3 posts at most. I have identified lanterns then been dismissed as some kind of professional debunker several times. The person dismissing had clearly no idea I was genuinely correct. One trip out to a field with a video camera would solve that problem.

I'd like to add to the above.

Anyone who posts about UFO's regularly should also be forced to learn basic astronomy. If you can't recognise at least the main constellations, all the visible planets, satellites, meteors, ISS etc, you shouldn't be allowed to post!

As for using a camera... everyone should try zooming in on a bright point light source and defocussing. That would clear up 99.99% of the drivel that gets posted!

But then, I also firmly believe that everyone should sit an IQ test before being allowed to use the internet...

Originally posted by healthysceptic
But then, I also firmly believe that everyone should sit an IQ test before being allowed to use the internet...

What a great idea... The Internet IQ Police (The IIP).

The IIP: Keeping the Web Idiot Free!

lanterns or flares.