Footage uploaded recently to YouTube shows the moment that hundreds of tourists were nearly thrown into panic over fears of an imminent alien invasion after a large, mysterious “black ring UFO” appeared over the Magic Castle in Disneyland, Anaheim, California. Although members of the UFO community have declared the black ring formation a “super-rare” form of an alien UFO, and others claimed it was a portal to another dimension that formed over the world-famous theme park, skeptics have dismissed the fanciful speculations, saying it was only a smoke ring.

But UFO believers insisted it was a UFO or a portal to another dimension being formed over the park. UFO enthusiasts cited the witness who argued it could not have been a smoke ring because it was too windy at the time for one to form.

Hundreds of tourists at Disneyland were baffled when the solid-looking black ring appeared, hovering in the sky over the famous Magic Castle. Some thought it was an alien UFO, while others feared that aliens were about to emerge through a portal to another dimension.

YouTube user Kyle Hawkins, who filmed the mysterious object floating across the sky, described the sighting as baffling.

“I was walking up main street at Disneyland following the parade. Everyone around me started looking up and pointing at this daunting black ring floating methodically above us,” Hawkins said.

He said he first thought it could be a smoke ring. But he changed his mind when he observed that it was able to sustain its form despite the fact that the night was rather windy. According to Hawkins, the wind was strong and a smoke ring should have dispersed within seconds.

“It was a windy night, so it couldn’t have been a smoke ring. Everyone watched it in fear and confusion,” he said. “We were gazing up in disbelief — the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. I yanked my phone out to record as soon as I saw this thing, then immediately uploaded to YouTube.”

To Hawkins and hundreds of other tourists at the park, the mysterious object seemed like an alien portal forming in the sky.

“I half expected an alien portal to open up through the ring as we were gazing up in disbelief.”

Sleeping Beauty Castle At Disneyland, Anaheim, California [Image via Tuxyso/Wikimedia Commons]

But skeptics dismissed claims that it was a UFO, saying it was only a smoke ring. One viewer, who claimed he had worked at Disneyland, insisted it was “a smoke ring from the Star Tours section of World of Color.”

“That is from the World of Color Celebrate show in Disney California Adventure,” the viewer commented. “During the Star Wars and Finale unit, there is a flamethrower that shoots up to 150 feet which causes a huge smoke fire ring effect in the air.”

But Hawkins pointed out that the shape persisted for several minutes, and looked solid as it floated across the sky. He argued it was a windy night and that an ordinary smoke ring should have dispersed quickly.

“It was a smoke ring from the fire ring from the Star Tours section of World of Color.”

UFO blogger Scott C. Waring supported the suggestion that the mysterious object was a UFO, describing it as a “super-rare ring UFO” that has been seen around the world.

“Ring UFOs are super rare, but they have been seen,” he commented. “This UFO is over Disneyland and causes the family to worry about an alien invasion.”

But echoing the viewer who claimed it was part of the “World of Color Celebrate” show at the the park, he conceded it could have been part of the show.

“However since this is over a theme park, it’s possible that one of the rides may have caused it,” he wrote.

“It also could have been a transformer blowing out,” he added.

But unwilling to rule out the possibility that it was a “super-rare ring UFO,” Waring cited a ring UFO sighting by U.S. Army personnel in the 1957 Fort Belvoir case.

The Fort Belvoir, Virginia incident, which happened in September, 1957, involved a ring-shaped UFO nearly identical in appearance to the Disneyland “UFO.”

An Army private snapped six photos (see YouTube below) of the mysterious black ring UFO using a Kodak Brownie camera. Several servicemen sighted it floating over their barracks at a uniform slow speed at about 9 a.m.

The object, which looked solid, became engulfed in thick white smoke as it floated across the sky.

UFO researchers have often cited the Fort Belvoir case as proof of the theory that UFOs often cloak themselves in clouds. Researchers assume that the UFO produced the clouds after it realized it was been observed and photographed.

Witnesses insisted that the engulfing smoke could not have been the clouds because the UFO was flying far below the clouds, just above the trees.

“The ring seems solid enough, not a smoke ring and Private Stone guessed the size of the ring to be about 60 feet in diameter, with the ring width about five or 6 feet.”

More recent black ring UFO sightings include one that appeared over Argentina in May 2012 (see YouTube below).

Another mysterious ring UFO appeared in April, 2015, over Shortandy village near Astana in northern Kazakhstan. It was estimated to be about 100 meters in diameter and persisted for more than 15 minutes.

While YouTube viewers speculated it was created by “extraterrestrials powers,” a physics professor at the Northern Kazakhstan State University said it was likely a large smoke ring from a nearby factory.

A similar phenomenon was sighted recently over Royal Leamington Spa in the U.K., Express reports.

Nick Pope, a UFO expert, admitted that the sighting over Leamington Spa looked like smoke but he could not explain “where it came from.” He suggested it could also have been formed by a swarm of insects, such as bees.

[Image via Shutterstock]