Definitely deception, ever notice “aliens” are different in each generation. It mirrors our imagination of alien life currently.
Ronald Reagan saw an UFO and referenced an invasion from outer space in a speech. Douglas MacArthur referenced an invasion from outer space in his last speech, I think it was. Sad they did not have you to inform them of their error.
In historic times this kind of activity was understood to be demonic, today we’re much too sophisticated to believe that, /s