It's a bird, it's a plane,
it's ... advertising!

This summer, an alternate reality promotion began for a JJ Abrams film, about a New York monster invasion, slated for a winter release. Codenamed "Cloverfield," strange websites are popping up everywhere. One mysterious url in particular shows up at the end of a trailer for the film currently running in theaters, reports Wired.

1-18-08.com (the date of the movie's release) presents two photos to users. One shows two women looking up in fear at what appears to be a ghoul parked between their faces. Another site, ethanhasswasright.com presents a puzzle featuring buttons with strange symbols. Clicking on one opens up the user's email application, where users must email a mystery person to obtain more pieces to the puzzle.

One of the sites involved asks for help locating a car with New York license plate ABZ 3293 - an SUV that gets blown up in the film's trailer, which bears the same plate number.

Incidentally, Tribble Ad Agency is looking for the same car, which may point to their involvement in the promo.

Abrams is the man behind TV's mysterious island mini-series, "Lost," so the cryptic, deeply-involved promotion is expected to tide fans over while the show is on hiatus.