Facebook The Alaska clouds or formation
Bizarre photos of Alaska clouds – or a formation that looked like them – have sparked conspiracy theories.
Heather Isackson first posted some of the photos in the Facebook group, Palmer Alaska Buzz, on April 8. She wrote, “Not sure what, but it looked cool.”
The strange photos sparked a series of theories. Alaska State Troopers, however, offered a more mundane explanation in a statement on Facebook.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Strange Alaska Clouds Sparked Various Theories
Here are some of the comments and theories from the comment thread on the Palmer Alaska Buzz page, including from other people who saw the clouds.
“I saw it and it certainly looked like a plane going down. But I am guessing we would’ve heard something by now.”
“Lazy mtn. eruption.”
“Rocket launch.”
“Poker Flats rocket launch. They launched 2 rockets a few hours ago.” But another person responded, “Understand, however Poker Flat is 250 miles northwest of Palmer. That would have to be a tremendously large plume to be seen in Palmer.”
“Ufo crash,” suggested one man.
“Asteroid trail,” suggested another person.
Several People Thought They Saw a Plane Going Down, But Alaska State Troopers Found No Sign of One; They Believe, However, That the Plume Was a Contrail From a Commercial Jetliner, Though
Multiple people took to social media to report that they thought a plane had gone down.
Alaska State Troopers reported on Facebook that they searched the area and didn’t find anything. They wrote:
The Alaska State Troopers and our partners at the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center investigated the Lazy Mountain photos and video that were reported to Troopers and have also been circulating across social media this morning. There have been no reports of overdue aircraft or ELT activations indicating an aircraft crash. A rescue team on a helicopter flew a mission around the Lazy Mountain area this morning and located nothing suspicious and there were no signs of crashed aircraft.
Further investigation revealed that a large commercial jet was flying in that area around the time that the photos and video were taken. The aircraft was contacted and reported normal flight operations on its way to JFK airport in New York. Troopers believe that the photos and videos showed a contrail from the commercial jet combined with the rising sun which together caused the unique atmospheric sight.
We greatly appreciate the numerous Alaskans that reported the suspicious sight this morning to law enforcement.
Kassandra Morris Allred wrote on the State Troopers’ comment thread, “But my house is on KGB (not near Lazy Mountain) I had it in my back yard a few min later 2 jets went by fast. Over my roof before I heard them.”
But another person wrote on the comment thread, “Last year in July we saw the same thing in Anchorage I have photos of it same thing that at first looked like a 90 degrees from the ground straight into the stratosphere and then it sort of fell apart after a while.”
But a woman wrote, “You have got to be kidding me..THAT was not a Con trail. THAT DID not come from a jet.. Shame on you for lying to the general public. We are supposed to TRUST AST.. Lost a couple degrees of trust from me today..”
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