By Tim Binnall
In a story that may conjure a sense of deja vu for UFO enthusiasts who have been following the news over the last week or so, residents of a community in northern California recently caught sight of a strange object in the sky that some suspected was some kind of alien craft. A television station in the city of Chico reported that they were flooded with phone calls on Monday evening from viewers who had noticed a white spherical anomaly floating through the air and were wondering what it was.
The station subsequently turned to a Cal State Chico physics professor named Dr. Eric Ayars, who initially quipped that the oddity was a "frenobulaxian GB-47 scout ship preparing for the alien invasion next week," before deflating that idea with the explanation that it was probably a weather balloon. While the segment seemed to settle on that answer, it did explore the possibility that perhaps the anomaly was the International Space Station, though that theory was dispelled because the object was moving too slowly to be the ISS.
The report from Chico may sound familiar to UFO newshounds as it bears a striking similarity to a pair of incidents last week in which witnesses in both Kansas City and Ohio reported seeing a white, balloon-like object floating in the sky. As with this California case, the sightings sparked speculation of an alien presence and led to reporters seeking answers for the origin of the object until it was ultimately determined that the anomalies were probably a DARPA project that had launched from Maryland.
In light of the timing, location, and description of the UFO, the chance that it was the same DARPA project that stumped witnesses in the Midwest last week seems pretty likely. Such a possibility is further strengthened by the fact that all three places where the white aerial anomaly has made news sit on the same circle of latitude, meaning that it would make sense that an object floating westward over Kansas City would wind up being seen in the skies of Chico a few days later.