Look, up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane! It’s...really disgruntled and in a hurry. To the shock of every tourist and native in the city this week, it looked like people were flying around some of our major landmarks. For a moment it looked like we finally hit the jackpot and gained some superpowers, like nearly every New Yorker in a Marvel comic. The whole scene, however, was a trick of the eye.

 

 

 

 

The clever ruse was created by people piloting specially crafted RC planes from the ground. The planes were the general size and shape of an average person. They even have some leg-kicking mechanic to add to the real feeling they created. From a distance, these toy planes made it look like people were taking to the sky, gracefully soaring all around Manhattan. It was nothing short of surreal and amazing. People everywhere snapped photos and paused to see them soar around our bridges and buildings. However, no one could surmise exactly why these human kites were flying or who put them up there.

Thanks to TechCrunch’s research and a video put out on Youtube, we’ve finally figured out their origin. These flying people were created and piloted as a promotion for the film Chronicle, which deals with high school kids inheriting powers and the downward spiral these powers cause. The stunt was created by Thinkmodo, a marketing agency that specializes in viral videos. It’s definitely an off the wall bit of advertisement, but it’s definitely exciting. Check out the video below to see the flying people in action: