By Tim Binnall
A curious object spotted in the sky over a Toronto suburb sparked speculation that it might have been some kind of alien craft, but the 'ET visitor' wound up having a decidedly Earthly origin. The puzzling anomaly was reportedly filmed last Saturday by a witness in the city of Mississauga and the footage quickly found its way online by way of a YouTube channel devoted to anomalous videos. As is so often the case, viewers offered a variety of theories for what the weird object might have been, including a flying humanoid, an individual wearing a jet back, 'dark spirits,' and, of course, an extraterrestrial ship.
However, the debate over the nature of the oddity was short-lived as a resident of the area stepped forward with a far less fantastic and rather deflating solution to the mystery. "It's a Mr. Peanut balloon," explained Alvin Acyatan, who shared a much clearer image of the sizeable advertisement floating in the air over Mississauga last Saturday. While UFO skeptics got a good chuckle out of the revelation, the proverbial case of mistaken identity can serve as something of a teachable moment as it shows how low-resolution videos can make almost anything seem mysterious, even an iconic cartoon mascot like Mr. Peanut.