Very strange "Ring" UFO sighting at King's Dominion Virginia!

As you can see, I'm new at posting here at ATS. I have, however, been a lurker for over 2 years. Anyways, on to the sighting.

On Youtube I had subscribed to my favorite local newstation. In their latest video, they had a supposed UFO sighting over King's Dominion Amusement park. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. So, I quickly made my 20 posts and made this thread

What do you guys think it is?




UPDATE: Wavy News has made another video. This time explaining on what the object could be...



[edit on 15-6-2009 by mitman93]

[edit on 15-6-2009 by mitman93]

[edit on 15-6-2009 by mitman93]

[edit on 15-6-2009 by mitman93]

It looks like a smoke ring generated by one of those fairground contraptions. Do a search for 'smoke rings' on YouTube and you'll find lots of examples just like this.

WG3

Originally posted by waveguide3
It looks like a smoke ring generated by one of those fairground contraptions. Do a search for 'smoke rings' on YouTube and you'll find lots of examples just like this.

WG3

Yeah, that's what a lot of people are saying. Someone at the park did say it could be from another ride...Oh well, looks like this mystery was solved as soon as it came up!

hmmm, doesnt look like a smoke ring to me. Iv'e blown lots of smoke rings in my life and for something to emit a smoke ring that large i'd almost speculate that whatever created it might as well have been designed to blow it out intentionally.

If it's a smoke ring, its probably the greatest smoke ring ever, to float up that high and not fall apart.

EDIT: It says in a news report that the ring was from the Volcano Mountain rollercoaster, that closes it for me.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by Ansiroth]

This does not look like a smoke ring to me. It doesn't even look like a reflection. I think it could possible be a disc that is partially cloaked. The outer ring is visiable but the center part of the object is blending in with the overcast sky. It would be interesting to know what it did to disappear? Did it just vanish? It even looks like in the video that you can see it moving slightly out of the cloud cover! It is funny that it was only there for a short time and then gone. It looks like if it was from a ride it would have been there longer and possibly on other occasions. Also, in Virginia, I have been to Kings Dominon. Sure didn't see THAT when we were there! Great Find!!

Originally posted by Ansiroth
hmmm, doesnt look like a smoke ring to me. Iv'e blown lots of smoke rings in my life and for something to emit a smoke ring that large i'd almost speculate that whatever created it might as well have been designed to blow it out intentionally.

If it's a smoke ring, its probably the greatest smoke ring ever, to float up that high and not fall apart.

EDIT: It says in a news report that the ring was from the Volcano Mountain rollercoaster, that closes it for me.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by Ansiroth]

Yeah, that's what I thought as well...but now that I think about it, if it was from Volcano Mountain...why wasn't it there on other occasions. Why in that location? I dunno...some things still don't add up.

Well this is a great sighting, i don't think it's a smoke ring as it's far too high and like others said it would have been seen before. Very strange.

reply to post by mitman93


WOW, finally an article about something I've wondered about for years!

When I was middle school age, around 1974-1975, thousands of people in and around Corpus Christi TX saw something exactly like this. It was a black smoke ring that stayed high above Corpus Christi Bay for hours one afternoon. I remember that it did not move or lose it's perfect ring shape for many hours. It was very mysterious, but it did look like a smoke ring, with diffuse edges (we looked through binoculars).

One of the TV news stations (probably KIII Corpus Christi) talked about it and said that it was a smoke ring produced by an oil tanker fire in the Gulf of Mexico under "unusual conditions". Everyone seemed to drop it after that. Except me, that's why I'm an ATSer!

I could not understand why you can blow a smoke ring with a cigarette, (yes I was a bad-boy smoker) and it will lose shape quickly in a closed room with no wind, but this thing hung high in the atmosphere for hours and did not lose the ring shape nor dissipate. I was checking on it frequently that day, and then one time I went out to look and it was gone.

Several years ago I did some searching on the net and this article is the only thing I could find, but it does look like what we all saw that day. The latter half of the page has some photos that are exactly like what I saw in '74-'75. Here is one: [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9cb47ac303ca.jpg[/atsimg]

P.S. I can't get that link to work, another first for me. Just search at cassiopaea(dot)org for smoke ring UFO.

BTW this was not one of what I have considered to be a "major sighting" in my life. I guess at the time I felt I had to believe what the news station said, I was young.



[edit on 15-6-2009 by 1SawSomeThings]

I do not know what it might be either, but I have seen smoke rings from a number of emitters, from artillery from a ship's funnel, and I have never seen one that is 1) so clearly defined 2) that does not continue to move and expand/diffuse.

This ring appears to maintain position relative to the bottom of the cloud deck.

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


Hmm that is strange...You're right, how can it be a "normal" ring of smoke and yet stay in place, not expand, and keep a constant thickness? Nothing in this adds up at all...

reply to post by Viking04


Yeah, I'll be watching the 11 PM news tonight to see what else they have to say about it. Apparently, someone who works at the park is 100% convinced that the ring did NOT come from any ride. Another employee had a completely opposite oppinion...Should be interesting

Very interesting, gonna see if i can find any more on the subject.
Another account of black smoke rings



[edit on 15/6/09 by refuse_orders]

reply to post by refuse_orders


Awesome find, one of the commenters on that article said:

If these rings are supposedly caused by a fireworks show, why is there no point of origin for the show? Doesen't law enforcement in that county usually have some kind of knowledge or a heads up prior to a fireworworks show provided by sponsers? One more thing, these "fireworks" rings were spotted in San Antonio, Texas a few years ago, same show I wonder!!?????

I dig your sig man! Another find on this thread.

"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up." - Hunter S. Thompson

[edit on 15-6-2009 by 1SawSomeThings]

Interesting read about creating these smoke rings yourself, Im not sure if its what all of them are but its possible some are people using the same method.

I expect that a 50ft smoke ring would have a very long lifetime. If launched upwards, the warm air would carry it much higher than the launcher would otherwise throw it. The ring-shaped cloud would be seen for miles. Maybe it would reach the stratosphere and form a genuine cloud. It'd look very strange on a cloudless day.

www.eskimo.com...

As for the volcano or mountain theory, here's a site with pics from "steam" rings created by Mt Etna

Instead, were rewarded by other spectacular sights, and some incredible «steam rings» from Bocca Nuova. Normally, this phenomen is referred to as «smoke ring». However, as there was hardly any ash, but a high steam content, we call it «steam ring». Some lasted for up to 10mins (times documented by video recordings). To give a sense of the perspective, camera lens focal lengths are given.

www.swisseduc.ch...

reply to post by mitman93


Looking forward to your next post on what occurs locally. Hope you can capture local video. Thanks

edit: to not mention "debunkers"



[edit on 15-6-2009 by 1SawSomeThings]

Very interesting!

www.caelestia.be...

They undoubtedly rank amongst the most eccentric sky phenomena on the planet: the metres-wide rings of vapour or smoke that can be seen floating through the air on occasion.

The physics behind these "vortex rings" is very complex. Moreover, vortex rings do not always form in the same way. In most instances, the rings are formed by air mixed with smoke or steam that is forced out of a (relatively) small circular or cylindrical opening (this can be a chimney, the barrel of a canon, or a vent in a volcano crater). Because of the drag of the surface of the opening, the air expelled from the centre will move faster than the air exiting the opening near the edge. The air from the sides is sucked in, and a circular motion is created. In this way, a doughnut-shaped vortex is formed, just like a smoke ring that is blown from a smoker's lips. The ring-shape is maintained due to the rotational motion of the air flowing in the vortex ring.

Site has much longer explanation and images

reply to post by Pauligirl


Nice find! Looks like this one has been solved then!

reply to post by mitman93


the park says it has something to do with another ride?

highly unlikely seeing as how it was above and behind some of the clouds

is their mystery ride able to fly above the clouds and is that even legal for theme parks? over a thousand feet up doesn't sound safe for a theme park.

reply to post by refuse_orders


I will tentatively agree, unless new photos or video come in from the OP.
You have to admit that video was odd.
It seems that this phenomena is reproducible by man-made means. That would definitely explain what I saw years ago, they said it came from an oil tanker.
ATS is cool.

This 'Ring' Ufo looks alot like one taped back in 1957.