NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario — After spending Saturday evening at the Greg Frewin Theatre, at first Angela Jordan didn’t think the bizarre lights in the sky above the falls were all that magical.

“I thought, being in Niagara Falls, it was another attraction,” the Brampton, Ontario, resident said Monday.

But as all eyes in the tourist center were drawn skyward, she joked with her husband, Scott, that the mysterious formation must be a UFO.

“We stood there looking at if for 20 minutes. Personally, I don’t know what it was,” she said. “It looked like a piece of metal, and my husband thinks it was a spaceship.”

The truth is out there, somewhere.

According to a number of witnesses who contacted The Niagara Falls Review, the unidentified object appeared around 10 p.m. and hovered in the sky for a couple of hours.

Several witnesses reported seeing an object that appeared to be obscured by clouds. However, when the revolving strobe lights from the casino flashing into the sky came together, “something” in the sky was illuminated.

Some reported seeing blue lights. Others recalled red beams of light.

Tom McLaughlin was helping a friend move on Florence Avenue.

“It seemed like it was right above us. You couldn’t see past the clouds, but there was something up there.”

McLaughlin at first thought the object was a hot air balloon or a blimp, but shelved that explanation after realizing the object never moved.

“It was really weird,” he said.

Tony Caruso first spotted the object around 10:30 p.m. Saturday after leaving the casino with a few friends. He had all but forgotten about the odd light until an hour later when his mother returned home and asked if he had seen the UFO.

He went outside and saw the same flashing blue light in the sky.

“Whatever it was, a hoax or a UFO, it did bring the community together, because everyone is sharing their experiences,” Caruso said.

Not long after the light show, a video of the strange occurrence was posted on YouTube.

Among those who viewed the video was Brian Vike, a UFO researcher from British Columbia.

“It’s hard to get a take on it without talking to witnesses, but I don’t know what it could be,” he said Monday.

Vike doesn’t believe the incident was the result of extraterrestrial activity. But he did theorize the light show could have been fallout from the “balloon boy incident” last week in Colorado.

“When you have something like that, I can guarantee you there’ll be someone out there who is going to try something. If this is the case, I don’t know.”

Brian Pihack of Niagara Falls, a long-time member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Niagara Center, initially thought the object could be the result of a rocket fuel dump.

Not long after launch, a rocket can release electrically charged aerosols that create artificial clouds. Those clouds can appear as bright cones in the sky.

Over the weekend, a rocket flew over Europe and dumped a load of excess propellant, resulting in numerous reports of UFO sightings in Italy, Croatia and Hungary.

After checking the photos, however, Pihack now thinks the celestial apparition may have been a light pillar.

Light pillars are luminous streaks of color created by the reflection of light from ice crystals.

They are most commonly seen at sunset and are known as sun pillars, however moonlight or strong artificial light — such as the casino lights — can also form light pillars.

“If memory serves correct, it was cold enough for this particular type to form,” Pihack said.

According to Environment Canada, there were no unusual weather patterns recorded in Niagara Falls on Saturday night.

“Meteorologically, there wasn't much going on. It was a pretty quiet night,” said Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

Meanwhile, the Niagara Falls Fire Department and the Niagara Parks Police did not receive any calls regarding the unidentified object, and the Niagara Falls International Airport in Niagara Falls, N.Y. was not aware of the phenomena.

Contact alangley@nfreview.com.