Most of those who have witnessed this phenomenon tend to immediately bat off suggestions the lights could be anything other than otherworldly, with explanations putting them down to fireflies, seagulls, aircraft or Chinese or LED lanterns, being refuted.
In recent weeks, The Portugal News has received more reports of such sightings, which seem to happen at around the same time every year, from Lisbon to the Algarve.
Benjamin Goodwin and Kayleigh Lawrence told The Portugal News they recently witnessed “hundreds of lights, dancing across the sky” in central Lisbon.
“They moved in a group, travelling slowly through the sky, looking as if they were almost as high as the stars. They flashed and twinkled in a way similar to Christmas tree lights. Random but intense and powerful. They were extremely bright and unmissable, beautiful and amazing, unlike anything we’ve seen before.”
The pair went on to say that “what was truly amazing was how they seemed to defy the light pollution, more visible than any stars, like permanent fireworks as they light up the city sky. This was an experience we’ll never forget!”
A contributor identified as Marcela commented “I’ve just witnessed the same phenomenon in Lisbon tonight, 15 July, 2017 around 11pm. It is amazing!! What is the explanation of this?”
Fellow observer Jo Lavoie told The Portugal News: “I saw the same shoal of twinkling lights moving like a geese formation, while eating dinner outdoors around 10.30pm on 15 July, 2017, in Lisbon.
“It was amazing and several people looked on in awe as the formation moved slowly across the night sky. We were unable to take photos because the lights were too far away to be captured by camera or cell.”
In 2013, a spate of strange night light activities were reported in the Cascais area of Lisbon, and more cases have been reported in the years since.
Environmental and meteorological experts have offered a number of explanations for the phenomena, including putting them down to a type of firefly that becomes more active at this time of year, or LED balloons that have become popular at trendy summer events.
However, these possible explanations have been batted off by those who witness the phenomena, claiming it is too well-ordered and constant to be anything that could be influenced by nature’s elements.
Gary Purdon, who was in Loulé (Algarve) when he saw the phenomenon at around midnight on 17 June 2017, went one step further, stating: “My family and I saw these ufos. There is no way to dismiss what we saw as flashing lighting satellites or fireflies. Anyone who saw what we saw should know they were ufos or ufo.”
Mr Purdon described the event as “a cluster of about 50 pulsing lights at the front then around 150 of these pulsing lights followed behind in perfect formation. Not once did any move out of formation.”
He recalled they “travelled from one end of the sky to the other until they were out of sight.
“These lights are hard to explain. They were like if you turn a dimmer switch of a light on and off constantly and slowly. They were not flashing or twinkling, they were pulsing on and off like a dimmer switch as I described. It was like breathing; every time you take a breath in they would light up and when you exhale they go out very slowly. We tried to capture the ufo with a £200 camera and a Samsung S7 edge. None managed to capture it. There’s no doubt in any of my family’s minds that what we saw was a ufo or ufos that night.”
He concluded by describing it as “the most incredible thing we have ever seen in our lives and I hope everyone gets the chance to see what many people have now seen.”