Does a video showing a light-filled cloud "drilling through the firmament" show an authentic UFO? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that this footage exists outside of a few social media posts. Also, the user behind the uploading of this video has posted made-up content before.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on September 21, 2024. The video was captioned:
UFO DRILLING THROUGH THE FIRMAMENT? LADY AND NEIGHBORHOOD CATCHES WHAT LOOKS TO BE A MASSIVE UFO TRYING TO DRILL THROUGH THE FIRMAMENT? THOUGHTS? #ufo #space #heaven #2024 #september #new #jesus #bible #fyp #viral #trending #foryoupage #aliens
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Sep 26 15:47:24 2024 UTC)
The video does not include the date or location of this alleged UFO sighting. Lead Stories used several reverse image search engines, like Google Lens (archived here), Yandex (archived here), TinEye (archived here) and Bing (archived here), trying to find the video's origin. We found no results suggesting the video was posted elsewhere other than a few social media websites. We also did not see any other images that captured this supposed UFO within the search results.
Using keywords, Lead Stories searched on Google News (archived here) and found no credible documents or reporting to confirm the claim.
Additionally, the audio in the video on TikTok in question was taken from another video. Lead Stories clicked on the sound linked at the bottom right and discovered that it originated from another video (archived here) posted on May 17, 2024. While the person in the video where the sound originated also questions whether the objects they see are UFOs, the footage is totally different.
Finally, the TikTok profile associated with the video making the claim mentioned an Instagram page in its bio. The Instagram page mentioned a Facebook page in its bio. The Facebook page belongs to a user named Antonio Williams. Lead Stories has debunked claims that originated from Williams' content before; those fact checks can be found here.
Overall, the lack of evidence outside of this video suggests that this alleged UFO encounter didn't happen.
Lead Stories has debunked other claims related to UFOs, which can be found here.
