This Mysterious Video of a UFO Flying Over Chile Has Experts Completely Baffled

click to play video

Chilean airspace is apparently a haven for UFOs.

Footage captured in 2014 by a Chilean naval helicopter shows a strange, aerial vehicle floating through the sky and releasing a long plume of what appears to be smoke or gas. For the last two years, the 9-minute video has baffled experts at the country’s Committee for the Study of Anomalous Air Phenomena, leading “imaging specialists, astrophysicists, aeronautical engineers, and meteorologists” to conclude that it’s basically a mystery, The Daily Dot reports.

As CEFAA Director General Ricardo Bermúdez told The Huffington Post: “We do not know what it was, but we do know what it was not.” The agency has ruled out anything within the vein of normalcy, including weather balloons and space junk, meaning that after their rigorous investigation, Chile’s foremost authorities are kind of like: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The UFO was flying at an altitude of 4,500 feet, and went undetected by ground radar. The helicopter, piloted by a Naval captain and an experienced Navy technician, attempted to make communications with with the object, but was unsuccessful.

Here's an abridged version of the video:

click to play video

Given the deadlock in its investigation, the CEFAA is identifying the rogue aircraft as an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP), which means you’re free to call it an alien aircraft. "The great majority of committee members agreed to call the subject in question a UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) due to the number of highly researched reasons that it was unanimously agreed could not explain it,” Bermudez told The Huffington Post.

The CEFAA is considered a worldwide authority on the subject of UFOs. This video, however, has it completely lost. 

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Sam Blum is a News Staff Writer for Thrillist. He's also a martial arts and music nerd who appreciates a fine sandwich and cute dogs. Find his clips in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club and Vice. He's on Twitter @Blumnessmonster.