This thought came to mind when a man reported dozens of lights in the night sky south-west of Cessnock and north towards Singleton.

The man captured the lights on video. Some lights were still, some were flashing. 

The man, who did not want to be named, first saw the lights while out on his deck, calling his dog in.

He lives in an area surrounded by bush and state forest near the Watagan Mountains, not far from the Laguna area.

“Looking to the north, I noticed three flashing lights coming towards me,” he said.

“All of a sudden one went to the left, the other to the right, and the third one kept coming our way.”

Soon others came over the horizon, shocking the man and his wife.

They’d lived in the area for years, but had never noticed so many lights in the sky before.

“I noticed most of them did a U-turn and went back again. I thought ‘this is strange, am I in a movie, like one of those attacks from Mars,” he said.

“There were so many out there, it was such a spectacle.”

The man said that helicopters and aeroplanes occasionally fly over, but “this seemed quite odd” because the craft were “flying together”.

“Normally when an aeroplane or helicopter goes by, we can hear it – even in the house.

“These were quiet.”

The Singleton Military Area is to the north of the man’s property. A Department of Defence spokesman said Singleton barracks “didn’t have anything going on which they think could have been responsible”.

The man said the craft first appeared in the sky about 8pm on Thursday.

“Most had three or four flashing lights on them,” he said.

“They turned around and went back north. By 8.30pm, they were all gone and the sky was clear of these flashing lights.”

About 15 to 20 minutes later, the aircraft had returned.

He could see them for another half hour or so.

“At the very end, there was only one or two I could see doing this strange kind of loop,” he said.

“They were coming out from north to south, then they turned around and went back north again.”

Did he think they were UFOs?

“The first thing my wife said was ‘they’re UFOs’, but I don’t really believe in UFOs.”

He thought they could possibly be military drones.

He wondered if someone could help identify the craft.

“I’m curious because it’s an odd thing and I don’t have an explanation,” the man said. 

“I’m one of those people that likes to have an answer to these things. Maybe somebody else saw it. If a number of people saw it, there could be different perspectives on it.

“Someone in the aeronautics industry might recognise the lights and know what kind of craft it is.”

Topics posted the man’s story on Reddit and YouTube.

Thankfully someone out there in internet land was able to solve the mystery.

A post under the name HydraMonkey, said the lights came from “regional link flights placed into holding whilst waiting to land” at Sydney Airport.

“The article says the flights started at about 8pm. At that time there were three flights in holding just south of the Singleton Military Area with a Virgin flight just breaking from holding and moving south. 

“To the west three larger jets are moving to final approach for Sydney.”

But why did the man not hear any sound coming from the planes?

“There was a very strong westerly blowing wind on Thursday that went as far to affect normal flights at Sydney,” HydraMonkey said.

“Depending on where he was, the wind might have been moving sound away from him.”

If anyone has a UFO story to share, let us know at topics@theherald.com.au.