A rare phenomenon in the skies of some places in the United Arab Emirates and Oman had residents jumping to conclusions about supernatural occurrences.

Videos showed a mysterious circular hole that had opened up in the sky over the weekend. Sharjah-based astronomer and meteorologist Ebrahim Al Jarwan posted the video of what was dubbed as a “whirlpool hole” over Al An City in the UAE. Some people, inevitably, speculated that it was a UFO, while others thought it could be a portal of some kind due to “the matrix glitching.”

But according to IFL Science, it was actually an atmospheric phenomenon called fallstreak or a punch hole cloud, which occurs when supercooled water droplets in clouds are given a reason to freeze, like ice crystals. These could be introduced into the clouds by, say, airplanes.

Water droplets interact with the crystals and freeze to produce more of the same. All the crystallised water droplets fall to the ground, leaving behind a stunning circular or elliptical hole.