Why you shouldn't trust Lights in the Sky

The reason for this thread is to show why we can't trust "lights in the sky" no matter how convincing they may seem. CGI hoaxers are getting easier to spot, and if someone really wants to muddy the waters in the UFO community, they'll continue by creating actual lights in the sky we all can see.


The March 13, 1997 Phoenix Lights could have very well been a psychological operation to observe the public's reaction - similar to what some believe the 1938 radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" was all about. If extraterrestrials really wanted to make their presence known, why did they choose the nighttime? Whether the The Phoenix lights were perpetrated by an alien species, or a Government entity, those behind the act understood the concept of plausible deniability. All we were left with were some grainy pictures/ video and witness testimony.

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm not a skeptic or debunker. I have a firm belief that extraterrestrials are among us, and they have a sinister plan for humanity. Do I offer proof? No. However, for those of you who are often disillusioned whenever events such as the April 21st Phoenix lights occur, where we have what very may have been a hoaxer who tied flares to balloons, I'm here to say: Hold your breath until you see that metal saucer. You don't want to immediately become a believer, especially if you require hard proof. You'll only be setting yourself up for disappointment.

What was the point of all this non-sense? Could be my sleep deprivation. I'd still like to share with you "How to hoax a UFO 'light in the sky.'" And even though this might just start an influx of hoaxers and youtube videos, I just want to show you how deceiving lights can be...no matter how convincing they look.

Triangle UFO - hot air balloon

I'm not an expert by any means - and on a drawing this mini "triangle UFO" it looks feasible. I don't recommend you make one of these for obvious reasons (FIRE waiting to happen!, FAA regulations?, mid-air collision?) BUT...if you live out there in the middle of nowhere, in some country where "Homeland Security" has no jurisdiction (yea right!) then...just make sure to tape it! SERIOUSLY GUYS.... I am not responsible if you burn your neighborhood down. Just had an idea, and thought I'd debunk the hoaxers before the act.

Video of one in action: www.metacafe.com...
Mods - please delete this thread if you think this is just a wildfire waiting to happen.

[edit on 25-4-2008 by DavidU]

i can completely understand why most people would be skeptical of any ufo footage that is taken at night especially if they are just showing a light or lights.

however,

to not take them into consideration or analysis would be most unfortunate because what i experienced in 1984 was a light at nighttime and it was absolutely not a human craft. because of the experience that i had i always look for footage of lights at night because i am looking for answers.

yea sure i would love to see a daytime photo of a saucer craft but maybe our perception or pre-concieved expectations of what an alien craft will be are all wrong ?


untill it is established what we are dealing with it would be foolish to discount any sightings day or night.

Something about the penmanship of the posts these days that make me wonder why?

It is getting very curious. All with the same ideas and following one another like a team. Opps did I post this in the right thread?

No matter, I have seen 3 huge triangles that were close enough to see the occupants in 1986-7.

They were moving from the North over an area in the Verde Valley of Arizona at approx. 7pm, headed South over Mingus Mountain toward Luke AF Base. It was a clear night and little to no wind at the time.

There was one thing I noticed that no subsequent reports have stated, and I await the day someone mentions it first.

As for trusting lights in the sky, for me it will depend on the situation and my awareness.

OK, so we cant trust lights in the sky

Can we trust witness statements then? People can lie or be mistaken

Can we trust anything?

I hate blurry photos as much as anyone, and floating orange lights in the night sky that hover like balloons and don't do a thing but what a lit up balloon would do scream out to me (at least) its a balloon/lantern. Thats not to say that we abolish every photo. I look at the photos hoping that one day I find the one to prove me wrong, in the same way the others look to prove themselves right.

I have trouble believing aliens who don't want to let us know they're there, would park over the middle of a city 8pm at night with their lights on for 15 minutes before flying off.

I agree with the OP on this. Lights in the sky does not mean UFO, in the conventional sense of flying saucer. Most of us here agree that with the glorious wonder of CGI and blatant hoaxers alike lights in the sky mean absolutely nothing. However if a light in the sky decides to move in irradic patterns and then shoots of at 10,000 MPH, well then maybe. Hovever as antar stated it really does depend on the circumstances. I feel common sense has alot to do with identifying and misidentifying lights in the sky.

Rather than observing the presence of lights, we should look at the behavior of said lights.

Now, whether the phenomena is ET in origin or not is really beyond the scope of most footage and eyewitness accounts (some have actually seen more than just lights - I'm just going by en-large, here). However, when you have footage and accounts of lights, that are obviously quite distant, suddenly appear to move up and out of our atmosphere.... something is going on.

Now, as for the light formations, that's anyone's guess. Known natural phenomena don't really offer any real explanations, and it is quite paranoid to think that our government agencies would be performing mass psychological experiments. I think War of the Worlds was enough of an experiment (even though it was unintentional), and the UFO phenomena (both physically and culturally) provides plenty of research evidence without having to orchestrate any activities.

Now, that could mean it is/was some pranksters with a bright idea and wanting to pull one over on an entire city - but I somewhat doubt it.

So... what was it? ... a collection of lights. What was causing those lights? - we really don't have enough data to tell.

In my retirement, I would really like to put my electronics background to work in developing tools (or simply purchasing them - depending upon what the needs are) to detect and analyze various EM emissions, thermal emissions, precision video, and laser range-finding and scanning equipment (sort of a civie version of "LADAR"). Then put together a few teams around the world to study the phenomena and attempt to really figure out what the lights are.

Of course, something tells me the Air Force would not appreciate a number of their aircraft being regularly illuminated with an infra-red and ultra-violet laser... especially the ones that don't really exist.

It'd be pretty cool to catch some daylight UFOs as well. But the idea, here, would be to compile a bunch of data that doesn't consist of a bunch of grainy YouTube videos and people talking about being taken to Venus and out of the galaxy (Because Earth and Venus are the only interesting planets in our Galaxy, lol). Not that every one of those is wrong... but just that it doesn't really do anything other than fuel both sides of the debate.

Though I really do find it odd that it has taken as long as it has for commercialized space travel. We seemed ready to start colonizing the dang moon in the 70s - then it's like the emergency brake got crammed down to the floorboard and everything stopped. Makes me wonder what kinds of things we've run into on our excursions into Space. Or perhaps it was just the reality of cost prohibitions... but we've seen in the past that such has never stopped corporations from developing extremely clever solutions to counteract high operational risks/costs....

Either way - I believe we will start to see far more come to light on a number of mysteries that have been around for the past few centuries. As portable electronic and recording devices become ever more powerful, accurate, and reliable, and a growing number of people take an interest in actively researching paranormal (yes, UFOs qualify as paranormal) activity, we will see a number of breakthroughs in science and technology, as well as general understandings of our universe.

In the past, research was pretty much a very costly endeavor. Computers were expensive, cameras were bulky and cost an arm or leg, and the world was far more isolated without cellular phones and nation-wide calling plans or the Internet. Thus, research was primarily limited to potentially profitable ventures. You can't really sell UFOs, and you can already sell enough Haunted Mansion T-shirts without having to bring in MIT to make some sort of Dienzichwerg to detect ghosts or something (MIT insults German engineering - I've not met one worthy of being called an engineer).

However, with computers being quite affordable these days, as well as very portable and reliable visual, audio, and thermal equipment, the technology required to do accurate research based off of empirical evidence can now be rather easily obtained by the curious. Rapid communication networks mean that those with similar interests around the world can share data, thoughts, analysis, etc and rapidly pull together fully functional research teams from around the world.

It's only a matter of time until one or more of these phenomena are documented in a professional manner with quality equipment.

Again - not to discredit current evidence or eyewitnesses... but you have to admit that there is a lack of very detailed information. We need a team capable of actually zooming in to focus just on one of these lights - so that most of the camera's resolution is capturing it, not just a few pixels.

There's a possibility it may yet be some unknown natural force..... while I see this as rather unlikely.... and look to some military project (though why do it over a city when you can find much less populated areas?) or some other intelligent life for an explanation - there simply isn't enough evidence.

It's also already been mentioned - but it is very much a "case by case" basis. There are such things known as "Earth lights" - which may or may not be terrestrial - but they seem to be an electromagnetic or electro-plasmic sort of phenomena. There are also a number of aircraft that have been reported as UFOs, as well as burning bits of fireworks, I'm sure. So whatever the explanation is for one set of lights may not be the explanation for a separate occurance of lights.