Father/Daughter appeal to public to Identify "Strange Lights" in sky in New Zealand (video)

Fairly interesting video.

Father and daughter were out walking in the evening and captured this video:


news.gather.com...

They spied the noiseless, hovering aircraft while on a walk in the town, and, luckily, had a digital camera with them.

Video quality and camera work are shaky at best, the pair managed to capture a minute of footage which is hard to explain as any kind of conventional aircraft.

What appear to be three distinct flying objects, with a triangular light pattern, are seen hovering in the pitch-black night-time sky.

Lights on the craft can be clearly seen"winking out" which is not a normal occurrence for pilots navigating through the air so close together. And why are these objects hovering, noiselessly above? There are no known aircraft which can perform these kinds of aerial manuevers. So what are they?

Originally posted by MRuss
Father and daughter were out walking in the evening and captured this video:

Video embedded below for ease of reference:



To me, the video looks like classic footage of Chinese Lanterns. See, in particular, the (relatively-speaking) better focused shots at 18-25 seconds into the video. The description also includes a few keywords reinforce that view (e.g. "hovering", "orange lights", "went off on their own").

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

Looks good, however it looks like manmade and my personal guess it's a new type of craft that has been spotted all over the place

Truthfully...they look like chinese lanterns to me...just my opinion!

I have seen hundreds of videos of chinese lanterns and this video seem spot on for them!

I saw the video embed by IsaacKoi and immediately thought lanterns , then I watched the video and that confirmed my first thought , its lanterns

They look nothing more than Chinese Lanterns to me .
Nothing more for me to say ...Sorry

I don't mean any disrespect, but the thought of Chinese lanterns blowing around the sky---everywhere--on any given day makes me laugh. Are there really that many Chinese lanterns? I've never seen one, and I've traveled all over the world.

It's not that I don't think they could be lanterns. I don't know what the lights are...... but could someone explain to me more about this Chinese lantern phenomenon?

Originally posted by MRuss
I don't mean any disrespect, but the thought of Chinese lanterns blowing around the sky---everywhere--on any given day makes me laugh. Are there really that many Chinese lanterns? I've never seen one, and I've traveled all over the world.

It's not that I don't think they could be lanterns. I don't know what the lights are...... but could someone explain to me more about this Chinese lantern phenomenon?

Chinese Lanterns are not a phenomenon . They are as common as fireworks

I don't mean that the lanterns are a phenomenon.

The phenomenon I'm referring to is the fact that there seems to be a lot of chinese lanterns floating around all the time.

Why?

can anybody say lanterns?

IsaacKoi pointed that out already.

Originally posted by MRuss
I don't mean that the lanterns are a phenomenon.

The phenomenon I'm referring to is the fact that there seems to be a lot of chinese lanterns floating around all the time.

Why?

They are a common FAD , usually set off at celebrations , party's or BBQ's

reply to post by MRuss


They are used at birthdays , weddings , anniversaries , festivals even funerals on occasion. I see them every few days where i live.

reply to post by MRuss


I finally saw my very first chinese lanterns, live, in person this fall. Had I not seen the person release them, I wouldn't have believed that's what it was because of the area it was in. I was pretty much in the backwoods of Kentucky. I'm a civil war reenactor and some of the other reenactors were releasing them. I'm not sure why... I guess they just thought it was fun to do. There was nothing else going on that would warrant it, as far as I know. Before that, I doubted that anyone else around here had even heard of chinese lanterns. I decided right then and there that if people release them here, they can do it anywhere, lol. Also, people on the other side of the camp that didn't see the lanterns until they were up in the sky and floating off were freaking out because they didn't know what it was. I almost wish I had thought to video the whole experience just for use on ATS, lol.

The video does look like the lanterns I saw, after they had drifted off and up into the distance. Can't say for sure that's what is going on in the vid, but it looks like it. I think I'll release a bunch before too long and see how long it takes for people to start reporting lights in the sky... not to be mean, but just to see how many people are surprised by it. I'd gladly openly admit to it, afterwards, just so the locals don't think we're being invaded.

Originally posted by MRuss
Are there really that many Chinese lanterns?

I don't think many people, particularly outside the UK, realise how common Chinese Lanterns have become at celebrations.

I still see people talking about Chinese Lanterns being used to hoax UFO reports - but in fact the UFO reports are often an unintended (but highly amusing to those involved) consequence of releasing Chinese Lanterns at weddings and other parties/celebrations.

I remember a few years ago trying to find out if Chinese Lanterns had been released at about the time of a particular sighting in Oxford. I found at least TWO wedding parties which thought their releases of Chinese Lanterns at about the right time were responsible for the relevant UFO sighting!

I did start a thread on Chinese Lanterns in the Research Forum here on ATS a few years ago, but the other person in that research team was banned from ATS.

reply to post by MRuss

Well put MRUSS ,they may look like a lantern , which some could be (percentagewise .03 out of 100 sightings)
UFO's generally travel at MACH speeds and exibit extraordinary flight characteristics (such as 90 degree turns at high speed) . Lanterns? I seriously doubt it. Top secret reverse engineered craft? Well maybe, I do know this a pilot can LOSE his LICENSE if he flys without his MANDATORY FAA red rotating collision beacon...

Originally posted by gchrome
Well put MRUSS ,they may look like a lantern , which some could be (percentagewise .03 out of 100 sightings)

Er, what's the basis for your figure of .03 out of 100 sightings?

I know several respected UFO researchers and groups (e.g. Jenny Randles and BUFORA) that have put the percentage of UFO reports caused by Chinese Lanterns MUCH higher than .03 out of 100 sightings.

I think it's interesting how these chinese lanterns tend to group themselves into triangles.

Originally posted by damwel
I think it's interesting how these chinese lanterns tend to group themselves into triangles.

You aren't the first to comment on this appearance. I think you may kick yourself if I post my explanation for it... I may do that in a brief thread on Chinese Lanterns in the near future, as a further distraction from my longer-term research for a thread on Astronomers and UFOs.

it's amazing to see so many chinese lanterns taking off from/landing at detroit metro airport...didn't know they could get clearance from the tower that easily

I have a question. Whats the burn time of the fuel in those lanterns?

I just had a thought of one of those getting snagged in a beautiful fall, full foliage tree, and seeing a new kind of lantern. One about 40+ feet high and looking like the torch of Hercules.