![[Via Twitter from @jasondiamond] Mysterious shiny objects like this one sparked wild speculation of UFOs floating over Manhattan's West Side.](http://www.vinnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ufo0.jpg "ufo0")
Manhattan, NY – A mysterious shiny object floating high over Manhattan’s West Side set off a flurry of reports and wild speculation Wednesday that a UFO was flying over the city.
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Police and the FAA said they began getting flooded with calls starting at 1:30 p.m. from people reporting a silvery object hovering high over Chelsea.
Law enforcement sources said they believed the object was likely some sort of balloon, but as of late Wednesday they had not confirmed exactly what it is.
A Daily News reporter could see a tiny, silver dot floating approximately 5,000 feet above 23th St. and Eighth Ave., where dozens of people gathered late in the afternoon to catch a glimpse.
“It’s been hovering there for a while. I’m just kind of baffled,” said Joseph Torres, 49, of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, who spotted the object after leaving a movie. “How can it be ordinary? There is something going on.”
Despite clear skies, it was not easy to make out the tiny object shimmering overhead.
“You really have to look up to see it,” said one witness, who gave only his first name, Rico. “It’s a little crazy. I guess that’s why they call it an unidentified flying object because they don’t know what it is.”
Not long after the first sightings, messages began appearing on Twitter linking to a month-old press release announcing the publication of a book by a retired NORAD officer predicting that UFOs would buzz the earth’s major cities on Oct. 13.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it received several calls to its operations center but after reviewing radar data, the agency could not find anything out of the ordinary.
“We re-ran radar to see if there was anything there that we can’t account for but there is nothing in the area,” said spokesman Jim Peters. “There was some helicopter traffic over the river at that time and we checked with LaGuardia Tower. And they said they had nothing going low at that time.”
“Nothing that we can account for would prompt this kind of response,” he said.
Peters said if it was a weather balloon or any kind of organized balloon release, authorities should have been notified in advance. Police officials said they had received no notification.
It’s the aliens checking up on Rabbi Levin.
rabbi levines home world is calling.
I’m sure coast to coast with George Nore will have fun with this non sense.
#1 Funny. But worth the Gehenim?
The Yaavitz, Z’L, was M’Ramez that aliens do exist.
He writes that the Torah that we have is only for humans on this planet, but if there are people on another planet, Hashem could have given them another Torah.
There are several other places within our writings that discuss this…
He totally misunderstood the yaavetz. Disregard.
I have read stories (Arye Kaplan) that state clearly that nothing in our beliefs Rules Out aliens from another planet/Universe.
As they said on F Troop: “It is BALOON!”
Correction is due – about comments stating that there are NOT millions of Universes.
Quantum physics states that there are possible millions of (parrallel) universes.
It doesn’t rule out ‘aliens’ living within our planet.
What makes people think that if aliens should want to visit our planet, they’d use flying saucers? Maybe they travel via broom, or skateboards.
its nothing but ballons full of hot air from here
#’s 6,7,14
I believe the Ya’vitz writes this in his siddur, although it might be in another source, I would have to go find it again. I know for a fact that I saw it years ago, I asked my chevrusa, and he did not recall the saying from the Ya’vitz, but he said that R’ Pinchasl Koritzer also says something along those lines.
It doesn’t surprise me that you wouldn’t accept this…but then again, when R’ Slifkin reprinted things that the Rambam said, you were probably among those who burned his books.
re quantum physics and multiple universes – that concept works well with our idea of shin-dalets and malachim – both of those would be considered “extra-terrestrial”, as in from beyond earth, but not like in the sci-fi way. Interesting, the Zohar talks of the earth being hollow and inhabited by different types of beings. The Chesed L’Avraham mentions one of the types of people who live under the earth according to the Zohar and says they look the same like people describe aliens
I was there. I saw not “it” but “them”. There were probably 100’s. They were balloons. Probably the opening of something and were too far away for me to see if anything written on them, but they were definitely balloons.
actuall the lubavitcher rebbe said there are aliens but with not as much free will