NYE lanterns spark fake UFO sightings | Offbeat | Weird News, Odd and Freaky Stories in Northern Rivers

3rd January 2009

Germany's UFO hotline has been inundated with thousands of calls from people who have mistaken glowing lights in the night time sky for alien space objects.

    The red-gold lights were in fact balloons that have become the latest festive season fad, according to Werner Walter of the Central Research Network for Unusual Sky Phenomena (CENAP).

    The sightings were "nothing but hot air," said the UFO expert, referring to the sky lanterns which have been sold for the first time at Christmas markets and garden centres across the country.    

   The miniature hot-air balloons, nothing more than a paper lantern suspended over a naked flame, provided "a silent alternative" to the traditional fireworks let off to mark the start of the New Year, Walter said.

• Daily newspapers
• Bundaberg News-Mail
• Coffs Coast Advocate
• Fraser Coast Chronicle
• Gladstone Observer
• Grafton Daily Examiner
• Gympie Times
• Ipswich Queensland Times
• Lismore Northern Star
• Mackay Daily Mercury
• Rockhampton Morning Bulletin
• Sunshine Coast Daily
• Toowoomba Chronicle
• Tweed Daily News
• Warwick Daily News
• Community newspapers
• Ballina Shire Advocate
• Biloela Central Telegraph
• Byron Shire News
• Coolum & North Shore News
• East-Ipswich Satellite
• Emerald Central Queensland News
• Gatton Star
• Gold Coast Mail
• Ipswich Advertiser
• Logan Reporter
• Noosa News
• The Northern Rivers Echo
• Whitsunday Times
• Other publications
• Surat Basin News