The mysterious flying object video recorded in Jefferson City earlier this week has garnered more than 50,000 views online - and a simple explanation that might disappoint UFO enthusiasts.
It was a drone.
Jeremiah Nelson and his partner, Gene Fairfax, operate Homeland Roofing & Restoration LLC. They recently bought a DJI Inspire 1 drone to survey roofs for customers who suspect they've had hail damage, or roofs that are hard to access by ladder. The $3,000 drone is capable of taking 4K high-definition video, among other things.
They also use it to take before and after shots on their job sites to use as promotional material on their website.
When Nelson saw his drone was caught on video, and the stir it caused, he decided to contact Andrew Lloyd Schnieders, who shot the video with his phone.
Nelson had flown the drone Sunday night to test some new aerial photography equipment on it.
"The next day my sister called and said there's something on Facebook on it, and I saw there was going to be an article in the paper," Nelson said. "The video got such a response, I figured why not just say what it was.
"I was just really surprised," Nelson added. "I really didn't know what to think. I certainly didn't anticipate anything like that happening."
So he contacted Schnieders, and told him it was his drone he filmed. Schnieders, who had heard lots of speculation from lots of people - was skeptical. So the two agreed to recreate the flight and the video. They did their respective flying and filming from the same locations at the same time in the evening.
"It ended up being the exact same thing," Schnieders said of the second video. "And I ended up going down and meeting (Nelson and Fairfax), and got a good closeup shot of (the drone) and put it on the interwebs again and told everyone the mystery has been solved."
Schnieders said the attention drawn to the video has been interesting.
"Just the friend requests and the messages I've been getting, you wouldn't believe," he said. "I've been told (by one guy) this is angels fighting off demons."
Nelson said he and Fairfax have used the drone often since they purchased it several months ago, but never had anything like this happen.
"I think it's kind of a neat story, not just because it's a drone, but what a ruckus it's caused online and went semi-viral," he said.