Meet the people who investigate possible UFO sightings

SAN ANTONIO — Are UFOs flying over San Antonio?

That’s the question KENS 5 posed to several experts after we received videos of a bright light flying in the sky on Sept. 29.

Project manager Dan Paul recorded the clips on his iPhone 13 in the Terra Mont neighborhood, where he builds homes. The residential area is located on the far northwest side of Bexar County, along Babcock Road.

“It just kind of went across the sky, and then it drifted a little further above that house and then it went up and disappeared,” said Paul, pointing towards the sky.

It’s hard to tell what the flying object in the video is, but it’s not the first time he’s seen something strange overhead. In October of 2018, while snapping a photo of a rainbow on his cell phone, he noticed a white oval-shaped glow appearing above the multicolored arch in a cloudy part of the sky.

“I thought it could be a drone, but I have no idea. I thought the photo was kind of interesting,” he said.

Paul hasn’t done much of his speculating as to whether or not the image is of a UFO. However, since he couldn’t explain what the light was, he asked KENS 5 to look into it.

Ken Jordan, of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) – a worldwide research and date-collecting organization that investigates UFO and UAP sightings – looked at the photo from 2018 first. 

“(Initially) you establish a theory and then we try to go back and prove that theory. With the photo I got, since it was a bright sunny day and there was a rainbow over this beautiful house, the first thing I thought it was is what we call a lens flare,” said Jordan, who serves as the state director for MUFON. 

Then he moved on to the videos. Without any enhancement, he said he believed the bright light could be a diamond-shaped craft. 

“We went in and did some analysis – blew them up, pixelated them, cleaned them up a bit – and it was pretty obvious to me that they were Mylar balloons,” he said.

See the full interview with Jordan below. 

We also had an expert from the San Antonio International Airport weigh in. Over email, a spokesperson agreed the object in the videos appears to be a large Mylar balloon. 

Here is how they came to their conclusion:

• It appears to rise in comparison to a bird that’s seen flying in the same shot.
• That bird appears to be a turkey vulture, and the balloon looks to be about the same size.
• The object appears to spin, and the sun’s reflection is visible. 
• Mylar balloons tend to end up all over the place, from people taking them to cemeteries or using them for celebrations. They often blow away and the object in the video appears to be one of them.

Though the conclusions are more Earthbound and less close encounters of a certain kind, Jordan said every minute he spends investigating is worthwhile—no matter how anomalous.  

“We give every case the same amount of due diligence, because you never know what’s going to turn up,” he told KENS 5. “I would encourage everyone to keep looking up, and if you see something and you can’t figure out what it is, try getting a video and send it to a research organization like MUFON.”

Cell phone users can soon submit sightings on a mobile app created by Enigma Labs.

“We’re gathering UFO sightings to create a large database of historical sightings from around the world and gather new sightings that people start to submit,” said Alejandro Rojas, head of research and content at Enigma Labs. “We can first allow the public to be able to see where things are going on, but also and more importantly, allow scientists to do analysis of that data to figure out more about the phenomena.”

Rojas said the app will launch later this year, but you can submit sightings online right now. The questionnaire will ask for a location, date, notes, who witnessed the sight and images.

When uploading material, Rojas suggests submitting video in-focus and, if possible, while stabilized on a tripod. As for notes, be as detailed as possible and talk over the video clip.

“Narrate while you’re filming. A lot of people are kind of exclaiming their excitement, but it’s more helpful if you kind of talk about what you’re seeing in the sky. (Talk about what) you’re seeing, time of day, where the moon is, if there’s a bright star and where that is in relation to what you’re seeing. Those types of things are going to be helpful,” he said.

We asked Rojas his opinion of the photo and videos shot by Paul. 

“It could be a balloon. One of the ways we look at it when we’re analyzing is can we prove it’s not something? And in these videos, for example, I’m not sure I could prove with the data provided that it’s not a balloon. It might not be. 

“When it comes to extraordinary claims, you’ve got to have extraordinary evidence, although the bar is pretty high in looking for that data. And so we would need more evidence to prove it’s not a balloon if that’s not what it is.”

Paul said if he spots another unknown object in the sky, he would consider submitting it to an online platform or mobile app.

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