Should’ve known. The five mystery objects that were said to be UFOs flying low over Connecticut could be nothing more than Chinese lanterns.

Paranormal investigator, Jon Nowinski, reviewed the YouTube video of the supposed Connecticut UFOs and right away knew what they were:

“We’ve seen a lot of Chinese lanterns,” he said. “It was definitely paper lanterns.”
Chinese lanterns or paper lanterns are made out of papier mache, are about one foot high and work like small hot-air balloons, Nowinski said. They usually have a candle or small burner inside of them, which creates hot air to propel them, he said.
When they are in the sky, their size can be indistinguishable, Nowinski said. They can float for about 10 minutes, he said, and when the candle burns out, they fall to the ground, and the papier mache can easily disintegrate.
They have become increasingly popular over the last few years, which has resulted in Nowinski getting an increased number of phone calls about UFOs, he said.
“Almost always UFO reports coincide with Chinese lanterns,” he said.

Full source: NewsTime

NEWTOWN — The five mysterious, low-flying “aircraft” that police said they saw last Saturday were actually paper lanterns, said Jon Nowinski, director of the Smoking Gun Research Agency, a nonprofit agency based in Orange.
“It’s not something that people have to panic over,” he said.
Nowinksi, 29, has been studying UFOs, ghost encounters and haunted houses since he was in high school, he said.
He said his 14-year-old organization has received several e-mails about the Newtown sighting. People described the objects as a silent cluster of about five lights of indistinguishable shape that were fairly high in the sky.
Nowinski examined a video posted on YouTube that captured the mysterious illuminated objects, which police said were the same things their officers said they saw when they arrived at the scene at Route 34 and Toddy Hill Road.
When Nowinski saw the video, he knew what they were, he said.
“We’ve seen a lot of Chinese lanterns,” he said. “It was definitely paper lanterns.”
Chinese lanterns or paper lanterns are made out of papier mache, are about one foot high and work like small hot-air balloons, Nowinski said. They usually have a candle or small burner inside of them, which creates hot air to propel them, he said.
When they are in the sky, their size can be indistinguishable, Nowinski said. They can float for about 10 minutes, he said, and when the candle burns out, they fall to the ground, and the papier mache can easily disintegrate.
They have become increasingly popular over the last few years, which has resulted in Nowinski getting an increased number of phone calls about UFOs, he said.
“Almost always UFO reports coincide with Chinese lanterns,” he said.
About 85 percent of the time, Nowinski said, he is able to find the cause of mysterious sightings such as this one.
“But there are still some out there that are unexplained,” he said.
This sighting was one of four in Newtown, Danbury and New Milford, that have been reported to Nowinski’s organization since Dec. 18, he said.
However, he and his 12-member field team have been unable to explain these cases because the descriptions, which have been e-mailed to him, have been too vague, he said.
“The unexplained don’t necessarily mean that it is alien craft,” he said.
Nowinksi said his organization receives up to 50 e-mails each week about mysterious sightings throughout the state. He said it’s important that people be as descriptive as possible about what they saw and the location of the sighting.
Although First Selectman Pat Llodra said residents should contact the police if they see something mysterious in the sky, Nowinksi said his organization works with the police when they are overwhelmed.
As of Thursday, police said they still did not have an answer for Saturday’s “aircraft,” and would not identify them as UFOs, they said.
Nowinski, though, said the term UFO simply means the flying object is unidentified.