Giant Glowing Object Filmed Over Chignahuapan, Mexico, Likely a Cantoya Balloon

This scan turned up one new sighting that met our bar, a widely shared video from central Mexico. It comes with a likely ordinary explanation, and we report it below with the evidence as it stands.

Large glowing object filmed over Chignahuapan, Puebla (Nov 1)

What was reported: On Sunday, November 1, residents of Chignahuapan, a town in the Sierra Norte of Puebla, Mexico, filmed a large object drifting through the sky. The local page Conoce Chignahuapan posted the clip, which shows a group of people pointing their phones upward. The posted version has dramatic horror-style music added, which helped it spread as a supposed UFO.

Evidence: Phone video from several onlookers, reported by La Razón de México on November 2 and by other Mexican outlets on November 3. La Razón says the footage itself is real and not AI-generated. No named witness, radar data or official statement has surfaced.

Verifiability: Moderate. The local news reports and the video confirm that people saw and filmed something real. Neither the date nor the location is in dispute.

Likely ordinary explanation: A giant globo de cantoya, a traditional paper hot-air balloon. The neighboring municipality of Zongozotla held its Regional Cantoya Balloon Contest days earlier, with balloons up to about 14 meters tall, and La Razón reports such balloons had been drifting over Puebla since October 31. That identification rests on timing and the contest photos. No one has matched the filmed object to a specific contest balloon, so treat it as the most likely answer, not a confirmed one.

Heads up for tonight: The Southern Taurid meteor shower peaks overnight November 4–5. It is known for slow, bright fireballs, and only a thin crescent Moon rises before dawn. If you see a brilliant streak with a glowing tail in the next few nights, a Taurid fireball is the first thing to rule out.

Saw something you can't explain? Run it through our Is It a UFO? checker before you post it. It walks you through the usual suspects: satellites, planets, balloons, drones and rocket launches. Steady video matters more than anything else. A simple phone tripod mount or a pair of stargazing binoculars can turn a shaky clip into something analysts can actually use. Note the time, the direction you were facing and how long the object stayed in view.

Sources: La Razón de México; La i Noticias; El Heraldo de México; Forbes (Taurid peak).