Dripping UFOs, what do you think these are?

water_buffet

New Member
What do you think these sightings are? Most of the clips in the montage don't appear to be CGI (a few of them might be).

Higher resolution source video:
https://www.reddit.com/link/qth4n3/video/cc8p29td5hz71/player

Some lower resolution GIF excerpts from above source:

Source: https://i.imgur.com/jWr4ReP.gif


Source: https://i.imgur.com/d8V6yyE.gif


Source: https://i.imgur.com/VKE1zvE.gif


Source: https://i.imgur.com/TxjIRrn.gif


Source: https://i.imgur.com/ip5mj85.gif

Another interesting one, this time supposedly caught on a police helicopter's infrared camera:
Full length source:

GIF excerpt:
 
Last edited:
The FIRST one looks like a bit of sun* through clouds over the ocean, reflecting off waves, the waves "below" a false horizon. False Horizon happens when the more distant part of the water reflects the color and brightness of the sky better than the nearer bit, or the like. Such as:
Capture.JPG

If you look closely you can see the actual horizon out beyond the ship, visually intersecting the hull of the ship just below the line of the portholes or gun-ports or whatever those are.

That may not be what it is. but it is what it looks like to me. The others do not look like that, they might be something more like a fire lantern dropping flaming bits or the like, but to me they look more like something actually falling off of a brighter light than the first one does.

*Or moon or some bright light source.
 
The others do not look like that, they might be something more like a fire lantern dropping flaming bits or the like, but to me they look more like something actually falling off of a brighter light than the first one does.
Thanks for the thoughts. Yea, that was the only mundane hypothesis that crossed my mind... something like a flying lantern burning up, dropping bits of burning pieces. Not totally convinced by that explanation due to the high brightness in some clips illuminating the clouds around it, and the fact that the objects appear to be stationary for the most part. You would think a burning lantern would immediately start dropping to the ground, as its hot air containment that is creating the buoyancy force becomes compromised. Example below:
 
Last edited:
Home made hot air balloons. For amusement and general mischief.

Long ago when I was in college fellow dorm residents launched some of these over campus.
Body of the balloon was a dry-cleaning bag, the fuel after-shave lotion, four drinking straws taped together and a small piece of aluminum foil formed into a cup to contain the fuel taped to the straws. Someone to hold the bag up and away from the aluminum cup away while the fuel is lit and away it goes. Super easy to make, with plausible deniaibilty achieved by using your roomates aftershave instead of your own.
 
What do you think these sightings are? Most of the clips in the montage don't appear to be CGI (a few of them might be).
There are a number of different things going on... Here are my speculations:


Source: https://i.imgur.com/jWr4ReP.gif

The bright lights above are landing lights on two or more military aircraft in formation. My guess is 2 four engine turboprops.. The falling lights are countermeasure flares being ejected, probably from an unseen aircraft.







Source: https://i.imgur.com/d8V6yyE.gif
Chinese lantern falling apart.







Source: https://i.imgur.com/VKE1zvE.gif
Chinese lantern falling apart.





Source: https://i.imgur.com/TxjIRrn.gif
I don't know. Maybe a Chinese lantern falling apart.




Source: https://i.imgur.com/ip5mj85.gif
I don't know. Maybe military ballistic missile launches. That's Korean writing. There's a lot of missile "tests" in that region.




Maybe reentering space junk. I'll see if I can find something for 25 Dec 2004.

Edit: Not a reentry. Probably a large homemade hot air lantern dripping candle wax. The chopper is circling the lantern, giving an illusion of speedy travel across the sky.
 
Last edited:
Home made hot air balloons. For amusement and general mischief.

Long ago when I was in college fellow dorm residents launched some of these over campus.
Body of the balloon was a dry-cleaning bag, the fuel after-shave lotion, four drinking straws taped together and a small piece of aluminum foil formed into a cup to contain the fuel taped to the straws. Someone to hold the bag up and away from the aluminum cup away while the fuel is lit and away it goes. Super easy to make, with plausible deniaibilty achieved by using your roomates aftershave instead of your own.
We did the same thing in high school with a few variations. The cup was the bottom half of a severed aluminum beer can, the fuel provided by 10-12 small birthday candles cellophane taped together and placed in the severed can. (Freezing the candles before use tended to make them burn more slowly.) The best part was using blue-tinted dry cleaning bags from a local cleaners, gave off an eerie greeish blue glow when viewed from the ground. We were responsible for at least a couple UFO reports.
 
I was a full grown adult, so have no excuses...

Materials: A bunch of helium latex toy balloons. A large sheet of aluminum foil, suspended below. I can't remember what the bracing was. Just tape, probably.

Purpose: Generate UFO report(s)

Time: Late afternoon.

Place: Orange County, CA

The gentle onshore breeze carried it sedately toward the east as it slowly gained altitude.. The specular reflections of the Sun on the foil made it quite a sight. No UFO reports in the media that I ever saw, though.

Dang me, dang me; they ought to take a rope and hang me...
 
Last edited:
I did the same thing on a small scale many years ago, but decided it wasn't a good idea when the neighbor's St. Bernard went crazy, leaping and barking at it while it dragged its doghouse into my yard.
 
Full Baltic sea video (not that anyone cares)

I look forward to your comments. It's definitely not a plastic bag in the wind... I would like to add that this light phenomenon has appeared twice. First, one cluster of lights appeared, and after a few minutes, another. A total of three videos are combined. Date is 9-09-2014 approximately 18:17
Content from External Source

Source: https://youtu.be/Z9_duTx1Uxw?t=42
 
Article:
Once again netizens who claimed and convinced that the red light falling from the sky was light came from a flare. @dkja_aulia, "It was a beacon fired by the local military, right in front of my house."


Salinan ini telah tayang di https://metropolis.id/news/benda-ja...hebohkan-warga-nitizen-menduga-ini/index.html.


1701019286652.png


1:38
To the north of Kutablang Kesungai Market
1:39
Manyang level according to Mimin anyway
1:42
It was Wergen where the award
1:45
is a fire shot fired into
1:47
sky and can emit firelight
1:49
that a person uses in conditions
1:51
special or used to request
1:53
Help Others Who See Fire
Content from External Source

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=LTcnAcaXq6o
 
Last edited:
Article:
Once again netizens who claimed and convinced that the red light falling from the sky was light came from a flare. @dkja_aulia, "It was a beacon fired by the local military, right in front of my house."


Salinan ini telah tayang di https://metropolis.id/news/benda-ja...hebohkan-warga-nitizen-menduga-ini/index.html.


1701019286652.png


1:38
To the north of Kutablang Kesungai Market
1:39
Manyang level according to Mimin anyway
1:42
It was Wergen where the award
1:45
is a fire shot fired into
1:47
sky and can emit firelight
1:49
that a person uses in conditions
1:51
special or used to request
1:53
Help Others Who See Fire
Content from External Source

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=LTcnAcaXq6o

The text you provided is in **Indonesian**. Here is the English translation of the text:

> Recently, there has been a viral video circulating showing a red light falling from the sky. This video was uploaded by an Instagram account @memoefriantto. However, according to tribunjabar.id, the video of the red light falling from the sky was also uploaded by a Facebook user named Firnanda Hadi. The description by Firnanda Hadi's Facebook account stated that the sighting in the video occurred on Tuesday (24/12/2019). The incident occurred at around 20:25 local time and was said to have taken place above the Tingkeum Manyang River, Bireuen Regency, Aceh. "On Tuesday, December 24, 2019, at around 20:25 WIB, something fell from the sky, causing a red light." "The object fell precisely north of the Kutablang market, exactly above the Tingkeum Manyang River, and then suddenly disappeared. The video is attached, information from the group." The viral video, which is less than 30 seconds long, indeed captures the sighting of a red light floating in the sky. After a few moments, the red light dropped a small light below. Eventually, the light slowly disappeared. Nevertheless, it is still unknown what exactly the light captured in the viral video is. However, this video has gone viral on social media, making netizens curious. Some netizens speculate that the object is like a Flare Gun in the PUBG game. @panji.agw, "Flare gun itu bossku." @zulmi_anggara, "Flare gun, kemungkinan nantinya datang pesawat akan menjatuhkan kotak yg berisikan senjata AUG sama AWM." @taa969851, "Itu punya militer,ntah ujicoba atau gmn." Once again, netizens who claim and are convinced that the red light falling from the sky is a light originating from sound. @dkja_aulia, "Itu suar yang di tembakim oleh militer setempat,pas itu depan rumah saya." @arztom, "itu mah suar / penanda SOS."

I hope that helps!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 11/26/2023
(1) . https://bing.com/search?q=translate+Indonesian+to+English.
(2) Google Terjemahan - Google Translate. https://translate.google.co.id/.
(3) Indonesian–English Translator | Cambridge. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/translate/indonesian-english/.
(4) FREE Indonesian to English translation online for Free. https://translatiz.com/translation/indonesian-to-english.
(5) Indonesian to English translation - ImTranslator.net. https://imtranslator.net/translation/indonesian/to-english/translation/.
(6) undefined. http://www.bing.com/translator/?ref=TThis&text=&from=id&to=en.
 
I did consider a red rocket parachute flare. But I chose Chinese lantern because:
-It's simpler
-I've never seen a flare "drip" something

But I guess it's theoretically possible that a burning flare candle could crumble... or whatever you might call it. And a flare is much brighter. So, I will switch to red rocket parachute flare losing burning bits of the flare candle.

I did run across these videos, looking for "dripping" flares:





This video includes this comment chain:

@vannesanatalia4738
5 years ago
And it is happening today on my village, I try to explain them that was a parachute flare. No one belive me. Thank God I found this video
@mohammadrafliariyansyah5672

@medy_black7704
4 years ago
Namanya apa ya di indo ginian [What's it called in Indonesia?]

@Redmia-rh6fn
3 years ago
This in viral in Indonesia and people wo the this thinks that id was a black megic
 
Last edited:
Full Baltic sea video (not that anyone cares)

I look forward to your comments. It's definitely not a plastic bag in the wind... I would like to add that this light phenomenon has appeared twice. First, one cluster of lights appeared, and after a few minutes, another. A total of three videos are combined. Date is 9-09-2014 approximately 18:17
Content from External Source

Source: https://youtu.be/Z9_duTx1Uxw?t=42

Having seen the full video, I'm switching to large and distant parachute illuminating flares dropped from aircraft.

The flares seem to be "dripping" parts of the burning flare candle. Once again, I was wary of "crumbling" flares. But this seems to be the case.

There are two phases to this video. They seem to represent two discrete drops of large parachute illuminating flares.
 
Last edited:
The significance of this thread is that we now seem to have evidence for "dripping" or "crumbling" flares.
 
It cant be something burning up and still floating, a lantern or balloon would not sustain flight on fire.

If you'll notice Chinese lanterns drop, below the embers, same with any other physical based object, just slit a hot air balloon and it will immediately start dropping. Even the Hindenburg dropped like a rock.

What you see in the videos is sustained floating, with the dripping, so it's something that has to be able to sustain lift while being on fire enough to drop chunks of burning pieces almost equal to its mass. Let alone just embers.

I could be convinced that each one of the ones in the OP is a bucket, designed to fly and drop fire made by someone who was just goofing off irresponsibly.

Although the one out on the ocean surely is a military exorcise IMO. (Or maybe someone goofing off making a floating bucket designed burn - but is doing it responsibly out on a boat.)
 
Small hot air balloons/Chinese lanterns can drip candle wax. Or lose the burning candle. Especially large homemade versions powered with multiple birthday candles. Burning Chinese lanterns can drop burning parts of the balloon.

Re: the cop chopper IR video. In my scenario - The chopper was circling a large homemade hot air balloon, which was dripping hot candle wax. The hot wax is visible in the IR video.

Although the one out on the ocean surely is a military exorcise IMO. (Or maybe someone goofing off making a floating bucket designed burn - but is doing it responsibly out on a boat.)

The issue of what large parachute illuminating flares look like; and the issue of parachute flares "hovering" is addressed starting here, in this thread:

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/strange-lights-over-las-vegas-april-25-2023.12946/#post-289810

Briefly, they are falling... slowly. You just don't notice. The flares in Baltic video are many miles away. 10+ miles.
 
Last edited:
Having seen the full video, I'm switching to large and distant parachute illuminating flares dropped from aircraft.

The flares seem to be "dripping" parts of the burning flare candle. Once again, I was wary of "crumbling" flares. But this seems to be the case.

There are two phases to this video. They seem to represent two discrete drops of large parachute illuminating flares.
I'm glad this thread has some attention, as the objects are quite weird and reoccurring it seems. I don't think a burning up flying lantern is a viable hypothesis for 2 reasons:
- The flammable structure of the flying lantern is responsible for containing the hot air and therefore keeping it in the sky via buoyancy force. Once it starts burning through, the lantern should drop to the ground immediately.
- Hot wax does not emit light.

Flare was another thing that crossed my mind. Most of these clips are in locations where I wouldn't expect parachute flares to be, but it's a possibility to leave on the table for now.
 
See post #18 above.

Important to remember that these videos represent different events. Be wary of putting them in one basket due to a single superficial resemblance.

In other words, don't try to create a single new type of UFO - the Dripping UFO.

So far, the solutions I'm most confident about:

Indonesian case - A relatively small red rocket parachute signal flare, losing burning parts of the burning flare candle.

The Baltic Sea case - Very distant, very large parachute illuminating flares dropped at high altitude by military aircraft. The falling bits might be coming off the parachute flares... or might be falling countermeasure flares.

Cop chopper IR video case - Chopper is circling large homemade hot air balloon/lantern. Hot wax is dripping off unshielded candles. The wax is not burning, but it is hot and is showing up in the IR video. The circling creates the illusion of constant high speed motion.
 
Last edited:
flares dripping? (your 4th one though looks fake)

your vids are extremely short.

11-26-2023 12-06-35 AM.jpg
https://www.barrons.com/video/flare...aza/60565402-C3D1-4277-8961-8468D0875473.html
The source video has the full length clips. Imgur limits upload size, so the gifs in higher resolution can't be too long. Honestly, the only reason I create the shortened gifs is because I know most people won't click on the source link to engage with the content. The original video link isn't playable through the forum software.

I'm also having trouble playing your link.. constant loading/buffering, not sure what the issue is there.
 
Last edited:
Did you put this video together yourself?
No, someone else put the source video together. I just clipped some parts to create the gifs. The source thread on reddit is... wild.. to put it mildly. Very esoteric/occult, not your typical aliens narrative.
Btw, at 7:15 this video includes footage from this solved case:

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/my...f-us-coast-military-flares.10942/#post-234531


It's important to understand that there are different types of flares. A discussion about why some people dismiss flares as an explanation:

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/tw...-triangle-uap-flares.12967/page-3#post-293813

Basic problem: People put all flares into a single category.
I'm interested in the dripping parachute flare hypothesis, gonna go down that rabbit hole. Though I'm a bit skeptical, as the locations some of these things were filmed don't appear to be near battle zones or military training sites. There's also still some unresolved visual differences between the known flares clips, and the unknown UFO clips.

So, maybe some interesting distinguishing metrics are:
- presence of smoke from flare (though not totally exhaustive, because I think there might be some reasons smoke would not be very apparent or may not exist at all, depending on the substance burning)
- distance from military activity
- dripping (still TBD)

Don't worry, you don't have to hold my hand too much. I ride a stable line between skeptic/believer. I look at this stuff like UFO believers have a bias to actually populate the landscape with potentially interesting evidence, and the skeptics have a bias in which their brains are filled with mundane explanations which they can offer up. I'm looking for that latter offering here on metabunk for some of the more interesting stuff I come across. I greatly appreciate the skeptics that back up their bias with thorough evidence.
 
I'm glad this thread has some attention, as the objects are quite weird and reoccurring it seems. I don't think a burning up flying lantern is a viable hypothesis for 2 reasons:
- The flammable structure of the flying lantern is responsible for containing the hot air and therefore keeping it in the sky via buoyancy force. Once it starts burning through, the lantern should drop to the ground immediately.
I'd tend to agree -- maybe not immediately, but yeah, if the envelope catches fire it should come down pretty quickly. But bear in mind that if there were several lanterns in a bunch, and one caught fire and fell while the other continued floating, you'd get a bright light and falling burning debris. And they DO sometimes get launched tethered together or in close proximity.
- Hot wax does not emit light.
But burning wax (or other fuel or fuel with bits of wick) would. (seems unlikely that would happen with the waxed-and-cardboard square of fuel they tend to come with, but people are free use more/different fuel, some examples of homemade fuel supplies nd homemade balloons are above in the thread.)
 
I'm interested in the dripping parachute flare hypothesis, gonna go down that rabbit hole. Though I'm a bit skeptical, as the locations some of these things were filmed don't appear to be near battle zones or military training sites. There's also still some unresolved visual differences between the known flares clips, and the unknown UFO clips.

The Indonesian case involves a small handheld rocket flare. Civilian boaters use it to signal distress or such. Teenage boys buy them and F around with them.

Here's a case of teenagers dressing up as spooks in nearby Java:

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/mexican-president-posts-photo-of-a-mayan-elf.12877/#post-288321

Maybe the red rocket flare thing has become a common hoax perpetrated by giggling teenage boys scaring the superstitious old folks. That comment thread I posted above hints at that.

@vannesanatalia4738
5 years ago
And it is happening today on my village, I try to explain them that was a parachute flare. No one belive me. Thank God I found this video
@mohammadrafliariyansyah5672

@medy_black7704
4 years ago
Namanya apa ya di indo ginian [What's it called in Indonesia?]

@Redmia-rh6fn
3 years ago
This in viral in Indonesia and people wo the this thinks that id was a black megic



The Baltic Sea case is not a war zone thing. It's a military exercise thing. OR The ocean is a common site for search and rescue. OR search and rescue exercises.
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
not much to see. basically the one flare i arrowed drips 2 small pieces.

Small, but the most like OP of the lot so far.

I wonder what the distance is, did the news broadcast say? 1 mile? 6? 30?

As an aside I notice how much the flares illuminate the smoke in this known flare example, as opposed to some of the mysterious UFO claimed ones in other events, like San Diego.

The distance I wonder is a factor to this, if its within 1-6 miles that's a lot closer than some of the sightings like the San Diego lights, which are more like 30-60 mile distances from the sighting (if the flares are where I think they were, a north of san Clemente island military testing site.)

I wonder how far dripping effects off flares might be too.
 
But bear in mind that if there were several lanterns in a bunch, and one caught fire and fell while the other continued floating, you'd get a bright light and falling burning debris.
Right. Go back to the original post, the very first video. It looks very much like there are two still floating, and a third one falling.
 
Small, but the most like OP of the lot so far.

I wonder what the distance is, did the news broadcast say? 1 mile? 6? 30?
the footage has no commentary. this is the same one though and AP News says

( @water_buffet hyper link above to youtube is the same footage as my Barron's link above)

Images of strikes hitting northern Gaza overnight from a camera position in Sderot
Content from External Source
i'm totally guessing what "northern gaza" means, and i put camera in middle of Sderot..so not 30 miles. less than 10?

1701037973959.png

1701038414660.png
 
Last edited:
Small, but the most like OP of the lot so far.

I wonder what the distance is, did the news broadcast say? 1 mile? 6? 30?

As an aside I notice how much the flares illuminate the smoke in this known flare example, as opposed to some of the mysterious UFO claimed ones in other events, like San Diego.

The distance I wonder is a factor to this, if its within 1-6 miles that's a lot closer than some of the sightings like the San Diego lights, which are more like 30-60 mile distances from the sighting (if the flares are where I think they were, a north of san Clemente island military testing site.)

I wonder how far dripping effects off flares might be too.
The difference is that the flares seen in this video are relatively small artillery shell parachute illuminating flares. Much smaller and much less bright. As you have speculated, they are much closer to the camera than those seen in the San Diego event and others.
 
Same day...


I was thinking of starting a thread here about this, because the commentary by the reporters is not accurate. There are no rockets. Not an airstrike.

This is what I wrote in the comments section.

I'm not an expert but I don't think this is an airstrike or rocket/artillery barrage. I think everything we see is non-lethal artillery. Parachute illuminating flares fired from mortars; and the ones splitting up into multiple parts are (155mm howitzer?) smoke projectiles. The projectiles burst open and release wads of felt impregnated with white phosphorus. The wads are burning with an intense white light so it gives the impression that we're looking at rockets. I'd also guess we're seeing the burst open projectile carriers falling and hitting the ground, spreading sparks. This is in support of an IDF ground assault, I'd think.


Here
We might be seeing the flare in the left top corner shedding burning pieces of the flare candle.


Is it important that this starts happening seconds before the flare candle burns out?
 
Last edited:
Is it important that this starts happening seconds before the flare candle burns out?

i dont know, but a good opening for the Public Service Announcement i wasnt sure if i should include.

Article:
3. Flares can deflate life rafts:

Pyrotechnic flares can drip. Flares are a form of phosphorous, on fire, and can produce a liquid-hot drip of molten pain when misused. If you let that stuff fall onto your liferaft, you’ve got yourself a hole and rapidly escaping air. So, if you find yourself using a handheld flare, try your best to point the thing downwind and hang it out over the side of life rafts and inflatable craft as far as possible.


cause that would seriously suck.
 
What do you think these sightings are?

The first one is very clearly a reflection of lights from some nearby source, possibly even the inside of a car.....because the lights move an absurd amount relative to the background for even the tiniest movement of the camera. Its a rather poorly done reflection hoax.
 
The first one is very clearly a reflection of lights from some nearby source, possibly even the inside of a car.....because the lights move an absurd amount relative to the background for even the tiniest movement of the camera. Its a rather poorly done reflection hoax.
I see what you are saying, on the other hand the lower ones DO seem to be occluded by the pedestrians (while the ones above the pedestrians' heads do not go out), though camera movement there makes it hard to see clearly.


Source: https://youtu.be/Z9_duTx1Uxw?t=144


What I don;t see is any of the folks on the beach doing anything to indicate they are seeing this amazing light show out over the water. Can't say definitively that they do not -- but not pointing or otherwise visibly reacting. (I'm unable to play with sound at the moment, if they are saying "Look, ma, UFOs!" or the like, then that point is invalid, but the first is still in play.
 
It does look odd, in that one section.

This section here shows something. The AF goes out of whack. If these are reflections, the lights would have to be very distant behind the window. Because they go out of focus too.



Lot's of chatter on the video. The quality of the sound does seem consistent with a conversation inside a car.

There's no CC and no transcript. Just the author's description.

The language of the text you provided is Polish. Here's the translation to English:

"I'm waiting for your comments. It's definitely not a commercial in the wind... I will add that this light phenomenon appeared twice. First, one cluster of lights appeared, and a few minutes later another one. In total, three videos are combined. The date is 09-09-2014 around 18:17."

Please note that translations might not be 100% accurate and some nuances might be lost. Let me know if you need help with anything else!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 11/26/2023
(1) Tłumacz Google - Google Translate. https://translate.google.be/?hl=pl&tab=wT.
(2) Czekam na wasze komentarze - Tłumaczenie na angielski - polskich .... https://context.reverso.net/tłumaczenie/polski-angielski/Czekam+na+wasze+komentarze.
(3) Tłumaczenie hasła "czekam na wasze" na angielski - Reverso Context. https://context.reverso.net/tłumaczenie/polski-angielski/czekam+na+wasze.
The guys channel has scores of videos of him talking into the camera, including him sitting alone in a car. Not a good sign. But nothing else that looks like a hoax
 
Last edited:
What I don;t see is any of the folks on the beach doing anything to indicate they are seeing this amazing light show out over the water. Can't say definitively that they do not -- but not pointing or otherwise visibly reacting
i think theyre busy trying to get their joint lit :) ..the 3 huddled on the beach anyway.
 
Back
Top