Is there an alien base under Lake Erie? A video was recently posted online that shows something floating above the ice on lake Erie. The font of wisdom and rationality that is the YouTube comment section has called it every paranormal name in the book: UFO, USO, ghost ship, secret military technology, harbinger of doom. Mostly it looks like a giant floating turd. But who am I to judge the aliens’ aesthetic choices?

The video—which you can watch for yourself here—was reportedly filmed around Christmas 2018. A father and son were apparently driving through Toledo, Ohio along the shore of Lake Erie when they saw this enormous object floating above the surface. They pulled over and the father began filming. At first glance, it’s easy to write this one off as a cloud. Which is the most hilarious of all mistaken UFO sightings. When the video zooms in, however, it gets a lot less cut and dry.

First, the object looks pretty symmetrical. It looks like a classic “flying saucer” or cigar-type UFO. The color is the same across the entire object and its edges look pretty well defined, or as well defined as can be expected with a pixelated digital zoom.

Second, it appears to be reflected off the surface of the lake. The UFO is not hovering very far above the surface, perhaps 20 feet or so, and there appears to be a sheen or some sort of disturbance on the water or ice beneath.

The channel that posted the video, popular UFO channel thirdphaseofmoon, claims that this is pretty concrete evidence of USOs, Unidentified Submerged Objects. That’s absurd for one very simple reason: it’s not submerged. Whatever it is, it’s clearly in the air. There’s no evidence that it came out of the water.

The same goes for the assertions that it’s a secret navy submarine. It’s not sub-anything. It’s literally above the water.

So is it concrete evidence for the existence of UFOs? Come on, you know how this game works by now. If you’re after indisputable proof, you’re in for a rough time. This could easily be a hoax. I don’t know that it is, but the possibility is definitely there.

The Great Lakes do have a history of UFO sightings and high strangeness. Sightings of ghost ships have been reported on the lakes, and sightings of mothman in the region have been on the rise. So strange unidentified objects in the region is nothing new.

Yet, it’s a bit too much to claim that this video is indisputable proof of anything. For one, it could still be a cloud. The object may appear symmetrical because of the limitations of the cell phone camera, and extremely low hanging clouds do exist. It could also be much higher and farther away than it appears, with the sheen on the water giving the illusion that it’s much closer.

I will say this, though. I am 100% confident it’s not a drone.