When he peered out his window in American Fork, Utah, Anthony Piceno saw a UFO hovering in the night sky. Neon blue and red lights flashed in the sky and drifted slowly from side to side. The UFO, or Unidentified Flying Object, was unlike anything he had ever seen.

I looked up in the sky and it was just a different object. It was neon blue, [white] red flashing lights, Piceno told The Weather Channel. He said the UFO cruising slowly from south to east.

His footage of the UFO later appeared on The Weather Channel and had many questioning. Some thought it was extraterrestrial beings, others were more skeptical.

Lynn Hadfield, president of Utah Valley Aeromodelers, said he believed the lights were simply radio-controlled planes in nearby Art Dye Park. I believe it's an RC plane with lights... There have been a number of people who spot these around and wonder if they were UFOs, he said.

Chris Santacroce of Superfly Paragliding said that it could have been a paraglider flying at night with lights. However, he noted that such an act is illegal. We can't fly a half hour before sunset or a half hour after sunset. We are strictly forbidden, he said.

If it's not a paraglider then it sure makes you wonder what it is, he added with a smile.

Some have associated UFOs and extraterrestrials with the end of the world. These claims may come from conspiracy theorists or fans of Ancient Aliens.

However, either there are a lot of such people or unusual things are floating through Earth's skies. During the first week of 2012, UFO sightings skyrocketed, according to The Huffington Post. The Colorado-based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the largest UFO investigative organization in the world, received claims of UFO sightings from eyewitness in 36 out of 50 states.

The 14 states that had not reported any sightings as of Jan. 10 include: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

For the entire month of January 2011, MUFON recorded around 500 reports, and we're already up to 233 after just the first week of 2012, said MUFON international director Clifford Clift.

For December, we had 810, compared to about 500 in December 2010, Clift told The Huffington Post.

Last year, we averaged over 6,000 total sightings, and if it continues at this pace, we'll be up 50 percent, with about 10 percent of those reports ending up as unexplained after our investigation, he said.

According to an article by the Examiner, on Jan. 29, an Indiana witness traveling on Route 31 saw an object hover for a few seconds and then shoot straight up into the sky. The lights hovered, and then went right for about 5 seconds, the witness told the MUFON. Then it stopped for 2 or 3 seconds, and then went straight up until it disappeared.

It was a clear night and you could see the stars. Believe me when I tell you it was not after burners, and it wasnt chaff flairs. I grew up on Gris. Air Base. My Dad was stationed there. Nothing could move that fast and the disappear.

This is not just a U.S. occurrence, individuals around the world began reported more and more UFO sightings. According to New Zealand's WeatherWatch.co.nz, in the first 24 hours of the New Year, it received almost 80 reports [of UFOs] and they're still flooding in at about 10 an hour.

Many people around the world have been outside celebrating the New Year. In the U.S., where most of the sightings came from, conditions were fairly mild and dry in many areas, so more people were outside to see things, weather analyst Philip Duncan said in a statement.

Do you believe these are UFOs flown by extraterrestrial beings?

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