The curious event was described to an air traffic controller by the pilot of an Agusta A109 chopper owned by Colorado-based company Air Methods, The Drive reported. The eyebrow-raising conversation unfolded on Sunday at roughly 9 p.m. local time.
"Just to advise. It looks like I have some sort of object over the southern hills area. It looks to be about 7,000 feet. It could be a balloon or something along those lines," the pilot informs the controller. "It's unlit, so… just advise."
However, while many were quick to spin conspiracy theories, the phenomenon was later explained as being the result of a fallstreak hole, which is a a large circular gap that forms in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds when unfrozen, supercool droplets mix with ice crystals created by passing airplanes.