A bizarre cloud over a mountain in Alaska had locals wondering whether a UFO had crashed down to earth from the skies.
If you take a look at the cloud formation, as well as some of the other pictures of the strange phenomenon, you can easily see why they might have thought that something paranormal was occurring.
Of course, the authorities did eventually come up with an explanation for it, but there’ll still be people out there who are adamant that there are tiny green men and unexplained spacecraft involved.
The whole thing happened on Thursday after people started to notice a strange cloud formation above the Lazy Mountain in the northernmost US state.
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Some folks thought it was a UFO, others questioned whether it could be a meteor.
More people suggested that it could have been a plane crash, or even a top-secret military weapon.
Either way, there was so much attention that the authorities eventually had to respond.
The Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center even started investigating whether there had actually been a plane crash.
The State Troopers released a statement that said: “'There have been no reports of overdue aircraft or ELT activations indicating an aircraft crash.
“A rescue team on a helicopter flew a mission around the Lazy Mountain area this morning and located nothing suspicious and there were no signs of crashed aircraft.”
That’s exactly what they’d say if they were trying to hide the existence of extra-terrestrials from us though, isn’t it?
Still, the chatter continued on social media.
One person wrote: “Looks like a meteor. I wonder where it landed.”
Another said: “Could it be a satellite? It’s so strange.”
A third commented: “We saw this on the way to school this morning as well. Very eerie!”
In the end, it was confirmed to have been something way less interesting – it’s just the trail left behind by a commercial airliner.
Officials later said: “Further investigation revealed that a large commercial jet was flying in that area around the time that the photos and video were taken.
“The aircraft was contacted and reported normal flight operations on its way to JFK airport in New York.
“Troopers believe that the photos and videos showed a contrail from the commercial jet combined with the rising sun which together caused the unique atmospheric sight.”
That’s not very much fun though, is it?
Tom Wood