Could mystery bag some tourism dollars?

Hawke's Bay Today Senior Reporter Roger Moroney. Photo / File

Anything not easily explained is always a great talking point.

A great spark to get people thinking, theorising, guessing and speculating — and the ideal result of such events is when there is no explanation at all.

As many a fine fiction writer has been known to declare, there's nothing like a good mystery.

And so it came to pass an unusual and effectively unexplained "object" was spotted high in the skies on the edge of Hastings this week, yet unlike the traditional "UFO" this aerial quandary appeared in the daytime.

Of course the images of the object tended to suggest that it was a large plastic bag which had been whipped up into the air, carried by the high winds of that day and I daresay thermals, given the weather was unseasonably clement, which sent it upwards.

Bit I am not going to dissolve a good mystery, because what I am suggesting is just one of the ingredients I listed earlier when it came to what mysteries cause people to do.

I am merely speculating.

What I did enjoy reading about the sighting was that someone thought they saw it emitting flashing lights, and someone else said it appeared to rapidly change direction at one stage and a short time later disappeared from sight.

The resulting postings aboard the identified object called social media were as imaginative as they were speculative.

Everything from drones in bags to flying roast turkeys.

Oh yes, the unexplained is always a great talking point so it's best not to have it formally and officially explained at all.

Because perhaps there is a dollar to be made here for the tourism industry?

Look at what the unexplained "monster" has done for the economy of Fort William on the shores of Loch Ness.

Loch Ness...they've made a tourism fortune out of it.

Maybe, with the onset of the cooler months and the inevitable decline in visitor numbers, we could market the "mystery of the skies".

The promotional catch-phrase would simply be "Keep an Eye on the Sky".

But I guess the only downside would be an increase in plastic bag sales, but hey, let's not go there.

May the mystery remain unexplained.