Emergency call: The man who mistook the moon for a UFO
A patient operator calms a confused Briton who reports an "enormous light blazing" in the sky above his house

The audio: Our place in the cosmos can be a bit disorienting, which might partially explain why a British man recently dialed his country's version of 911 to report an unidentified flying object above his house. Confused and nervous, he told the rather steely operator peppering him with questions that there was an "enormous light blazing" in the sky. "I don't know what the hell it is," the man says. "It's not an airplane, but it's hovering." Two minutes after he hung up, the man called back. "I made a mistake," he said. "You won't believe this… It's the moon." (Listen to the audio below.) The police released the tape to the public this week to serve as a reminder not to clog up emergency phone lines.
The reaction: What's especially striking is "the genuine panic from the man," says Aaron-Spencer Charles at Britain's Metro. It's clear why the operator initially treated this as "a serious matter." Well, what's not to take seriously about reporting "a Death Star hovering over" your house? says The Daily What. In any case, "I feel very sorry for the people who have to deal with these phone calls," says Casey Chan at Gizmodo, "but very happy" that amusing callers like this exist. Check out the audio:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Film reviews: Snow White, Death of a Unicorn, and The Alto Knights
Feature A makeover for Disney’s first animated feature, greedy humans earn nature’s wrath, and a feud between crime bosses rattles the mob
By The Week US Published
-
Bombs or talks: What’s next in the US-Iran showdown?
Talking Points US gives Tehran a two-month deadline to deal
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Inside the contested birth years of generations
The Explainer Battles over where Gen Z ends and Gens Alpha and Beta begin remain unsettled
By David Faris Published