Lights purportedly filmed over Ilion, New York, on December 27th, (Tales from Out There / YouTube; pictured left), and Jersey Village, Texas, early January 1st (Stephaine Westerfield / YouTube; pictured right). — Lights purportedly filmed over Ilion, New York, on December 27th, *(Tales from Out There / YouTube; pictured left)*, and Jersey Village, Texas, early January 1st *(Stephaine Westerfield / YouTube; pictured right)*.

Two sets of strange lights purportedly caught on camera within several days of each other from across the United States were uploaded to YouTube recently, and have prompted speculation within the UFO community regarding their cause and origin.

The first, posted to Tales from Out There, appears to show three lights—with possibly a fourth, smaller light between the first and second lights from the left—seemingly hovering above a cloud. The lights appear to be stationary.

According to the description below the video, the objects represent a "White Triangle Sighting in Ilion, New York" from December 27th, 2019. A red orb reportedly flew out of the "triangle" and into the cloud prior to the observer recording the incident.

Little is known about this video or how it was shot, although many viewers commented on the poor quality of the footage.

Skeptics suspect that the video is an outright hoax, with some believing the lights were created using CGI, while others say it’s one or more drones from CNY Drones in nearby Rome, New York. Still others think the lights could be a reflection on a pane of glass through which the video was shot.

Regardless, it is unlikely that the video was shot when its description says it was, as not only does the tree in the foreground still have its leaves, but data from the National Weather Service shows that the skies over Ilion were cloudy throughout the day in question.

The second set of lights was recorded over Jersey Village, Texas, at around 12:37 am on New Year's Day, according to witness Stephaine Westerfield.

The circumstances of this video do align with the witness’ testimony of when the footage was filmed.

Fireworks can be heard in the background as Westerfield films, while someone says “them ain’t fireworks,” in reference to the trio of lights overhead.

Westerfield said "My phone broke the video up into two recordings, I'm not sure why. But I posted both [videos, and] in the second video the lights start to fade out."

The lights in Westerfield’s first video appear to be loosely moving against each other, implying that they are three separate objects rather than one large triangular craft, and in the second video, they can be seen to slowly diminish until out of sight.

This behavior has some believing that what Westerfield has captured are, in fact, Chinese lanterns.

"Chinese lanterns are pretty obvious once you know what to look for," commented one viewer. "Everything about these is consistent with three lanterns. The formation is loose and changes over time, as we'd expect. They are drifting up and to the left, as we'd expect. One of them is occasionally dimming...as we'd expect. Nothing anomalous here."

Other explanations offered include that the lights themselves are entities—such as angels—and, of course, that they represent extraterrestrial craft.

While aerial lanterns might be likely culprits to explain Westerfield’s sighting, there is no evidence that she hoaxed the video, and she has made no declarative statement regarding what the objects might be.

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