TOOELE — A glowing, unidentified flying object seen in Tooele's skies Saturday night was identified not as otherworldly, but as a hoax.

The 10-to-15-feet long, 4-to-5-feet wide cylinder was first spotted by a Tooele police officer at 12:59 p.m. about 800 feet in the air.

"From his vantage point, he thought it was over the (Tooele Army) Depot," Tooele Police Sgt. Lance Sutherland said. "You couldn't make it out through binoculars."

A second look, however, showed the object was flying over 900 South and 200 West. "It was definitely over Tooele," Sutherland said.

About 20 minutes later, the object lost some of its buoyancy and began to float down. Officers were able to determine it was several garbage bags filled with helium. Glow sticks were attached to the bottom.

"It must have been affixed to the ground at one point because it had some fishing line attached to it," Sutherland said.

Officers grabbed the fishing line and reeled the object in, putting an end to the spectacle about 1:25 a.m.

"It was just a hoax," Sutherland said. There are no suspects in the case.

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Deseret News / UT - Oct 02.01

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