Some genuinely quite eerie footage appearing to show an unidentified flying object (UFO) has emerged over the last few days from Shanghai. Unlike most UFO footage, it is clear, crisp, and has been captured by multiple witnesses.
The footage shows a triangular object that appears to be in the clouds over the Chinese city. Witnesses recorded it for several minutes as it remained there, overhead.
So far, so creepy. The videos prompted speculation about motherships from UFO conspiracy types.
"I had a mini version of those triangle baddies hover above my head for a solid two minutes when I was out for a jog with my girlfriend 5 years ago. It had a giant red circle at the middle," one Redditor wrote. "It went zoom zoom away."
"I’ve seen one very similar and I Live in NY. Absolutely giant black triangle darker than the night sky with a dim white lite in each corner and a weird almost “vibrating” orangish-red light in the center of it. Moved across the sky right in front of me and a friend very slowly, almost just drifting along," another wrote. "We stared at it for maybe a minute before it vanished in front of us. It was insane."
The video also attracted the attention of more skeptical folk. YouTube channel Burbex went to the site where one of the videos was recorded, to see if they could crack the case.
Heading towards the building, they found that the police would not let them past. This turned out to be a gas leak, however, rather than the Men In Black doing a cleanup. They eventually got to where they believe that the footage was filmed, due to the acoustics and angle of other surrounding buildings.
Here, the presenter began replicating the movements of the initial cameraman, in order to try and find the exact spot where the UFO appeared. However, he was kicked out before he could get a night shot, and maybe get a look at the UFO.
However, when heading to another spot where the second piece of footage may have been filmed, he got drunk with a local bar owner, who got out his phone and provided a shot of a UFO that looked strikingly similar to the one that's caused all the fuss. It was taken on a different date and showed clearly what the source was: a shadow. Yeah.
As seen with the Statue of Liberty below, a bright light shone on an object on a cloudy night can cause this illusion.
The triangle shape of the building casting the shadow made people think UFO, whereas the makers of the Statue of Liberty were sensible and went for a much less convincing "angry god towers above New York" vibe, which is more difficult to mistake for aliens.