Strange lights in sky over Hay River, N.W.T., baffle onlooker

Angela McKay said she was just pulling away from the Rowe Building parking lot in downtown Hay River, Northwest Territories, when a curious light over the community arena caught her attention.

"When I turned to look at it it looked like a window," she said.

"It had two black lines going through the middle.And then it had another line going acrossand it was perfect square-like."

• UFOs seen over Fort Smith, N.W.T., may have been birthday lanterns

McKay, who lives in Fort Resolution,said she saw the light around 8:30 p.m.,andmanaged to snap a couple of photos before it disappeared. She said it remained in the sky for less than a minute.

She wasn'talone in spotting the lights, as her travel companionalso looked on inamazement.

McKay said the sky was cloudy that evening, and she isn't sure what caused the odd sight.

"It was bright, bright... It was like there was a light on on the other side [of the clouds]," she said.

Local RCMP saythey didn't receive any reportsofunusual lights in the sky that evening, andthe Department of National Defence says there were no military activities or military aircraft in the area.

UFO investigator skeptical

The chief investigator for Mutual UFO Network of Canada, a non-profit, volunteer organization that studies UFO sightings, was skeptical of the photos.

Dave Palachik said the images are not originals.

"Analyzing the metadata shows these to be clips of a larger photo and Photoshopped," he said.

"The bright lights appear to have been either placed onto the picture where the skyline cuts are showing, and merged together."

Palachik said the bright light could also be a window reflection. In that case, the photographmust have been taken through a window, and the bright light is a reflection of a window with bright lights behind them.

Not Photoshopped, says photographer

McKay said she does not know how to use Photoshop, nor does she have a program that could alter the image.

She said the light could not be a reflection from a bright window.

"I just put my phone out the window... and snapped those pictures," she said.

"It was like [an] amazing sight. It was something that I've never seen before."