Thousands of people sighted a mysterious bright green and orb-shaped light that streaked across the skies of Southern California on Tuesday night, April 26, 2016, between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. The unexpected aerial display was reported by people living hundreds of miles apart in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties and as far as Bakersfield in Kern County.

Although experts said that the object was most likely a meteor, a UFO blogger claims controversially that based on his experience of similar incidents in the past while living in Needles, San Bernardino County, in California, he was forced to conclude that Tuesday’s “green light UFO” was an alien craft, or a reverse-engineered replica of an alien craft, that crashed while undergoing USAF flight testing as part of reverse-engineering R&D efforts.

Residents in several cities and communities across Southern California were baffled about the sighting, and questions about the nature of the object sparked debates on social media, including Reddit.

Witnesses snapped pictures and took videos later uploaded online. Several witnesses contacted KTLA-TV, giving reports and submitting images and videos of the green fireball.

Dash cam footage of the mysterious green light was captured in Los Angeles, and it has gone viral online (see above). Many residents expressed astonishment at the size and brightness of the object and described the sight as “spectacular.”

A witness told the San Diego-Union Tribune that the fireball was “[v]ery large, very bright, fast moving vivid green ball followed by a shockingly orange/yellow fire tail.”

“I’ve never seen anything that large, that fast, or that close explode out of the sky,” the witness added. “We almost crashed while driving, we were in such disbelief.”

“Saw it from Point Loma. It was pretty big!” “I also saw, can confirm, was spectacular.” “Brightest and most consistent trail I’ve ever seen. “ “The way the tail sparkled I thought it was really big fireworks.”

The San Diego-Union Tribune reports that the American Meteor Society received more than 60 reports of the fireball as it blazed over the city at about 9:39 p.m.

According to CBS Los Angeles, a spokesperson for the U.S. Strategic Command said the object did not correspond with any of the thousands of man-made space objects being tracked by the command, and thus, it was probably not a man-made object or space junk making re-entry into the atmosphere.

KTLA reports that Dr. Ed Krupp, the director of the Griffith Observatory, said the object was very likely a piece of “interplanetary debris” (that is, a space rock) that entered the Earth’s atmosphere and began glowing brightly after heating up due to friction in contact with the Earth’s dense atmosphere.

Green Light Seen Over Southern California Believed To Be Meteor https://t.co/JCPOD7tcqv — Social In Anaheim (@SocialInAnaheim) April 27, 2016

He added that the object burned up completely in the air. He said that meteors burning up in the air after impact with the Earth’s atmosphere were not uncommon. They happen regularly, but most incidents go unnoticed.

Some suggested that the fireball was part of the Lyrid meteor shower that peaked last Friday. Gizmodo, for instance, pointed out that Lyrid meteor fireballs tend to be explosive. The color of light emitted by a meteor depends on the type of metal atoms the meteor is composed of. Meteors consisting mainly of magnesium atoms tend to emit a blue-green light, while those composed of sodium atoms emit orange-yellow light.

However, alien and UFO conspiracy theorists view the incident from a different and unique perspective. UFO Sightings Daily editor Scott C. Waring believes the mysterious green light was an alien craft crashing to Earth.

He claims that his take on Tuesday’s incident was based on past experience. According to Waring, while living in Needles, California, in 2008, residents witnessed a green, glowing, and oval UFO that crashed at a site near the town. Residents later saw government agents in black helicopters and two “Janet planes” rush to the crash site to retrieve the alien craft.

The term “Janet” refers to USAF passenger planes based at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, which are used to transport government employees and military officials to and from Area 51.

Waring claimed that Tuesday’s green UFO was the same type as the green and oval alien craft that residents of Needles witnessed crashing in May 2008. He claims that alien crafts and reverse-engineered replicas in the hands of the USAF sometimes crash while being tested as part of reverse-reengineering efforts.

A USAF Boeing 737 'Janet Plane' Departing from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas [Image via Beer Root/Wikimedia/Public Domain]

According to Waring, “Janet planes” carrying scientists from Area 51 must have been rushed to an airstrip nearest to the crash site to retrieve the UFO before anyone saw it.

He said alien crafts in the hands of government agencies and the USAF often crash during attempts to fly them, probably because USAF scientists, engineers, and technicians are unfamiliar with alien propulsion technology.

Such crafts have to be retrieved hastily by military specialists in black helicopters, backed by teams of government scientists transported to an airstrip nearest to the crash site in “Janet planes,” according to the UFO blogger.

[Image via Shutterstock]