I believe I caught the truth

I think I have an answer, even if it hurts to say it. This can very well be a new, previously undocumented type of broken light pillar phenomenon that appears in the relatively strange weather conditions that exist in and around the Niagara Falls. There are two huge waterfalls here and 2 huge lakes. The reason it looked and appeared so "alien" is that they usually do that anyway (see pictures below) and that there are very bright searchlights in downtown Niagara Falls that interfere with the phenomenon in a way never before documented.

There are still some minor inconsistencies though, like the fact that it (or at least something similar) has been seen during the summer when ice crystals can't form. This could be explained by Niagara Falls being a special area which fulfills different requirements necessary for "non ice crystal based broken light pillars" to form.

1: High humidity. The fact that Niagara Falls have two huge waterfalls and two lakes around it means the area is prone to weird light phenomenons, as the air is literally crammed with water particles, known for their light bending effects, such as halos, pillars, sun dogs and many other effects.

2: Powerful lights that are being directed straight up. This is after all a tourist area, with 2 huge casinos that don't skimp on the lighting. North American culture is like that after all. It has to be big and flashy, at least when it comes to casinos. And the area around the casinos are very lit up, and as I discovered yesterday, the lights from the light pillar I saw Did come from the square building that is a couple of hundred meters from the spotlights. I also noticed another light pillar, coming from the direction of the second casino, south of Skylon Tower, creating the 3 pillars which have been seen often.

In short, the phenomenon is kind of a "weak" light pillar phenomenon, that doesn't react to all ground lights, like shown in the pictures above. Instead it reacts to the high humidity of Niagara Falls, and the fact that it's a tourist area with powerful lights being shone straight up. These are many times brighter than ground lights, which cause a reaction in the sky even though the atmospheric conditions aren't enough to react to ordinary ground lights. That's the phenomenon in a nut shell.

It is very possible that this light phenomenon has existed before late 2009, when the weather conditions were so special that they formed a very thin layer of clouds that created very short and bright broken light pillars, that were also affected in a very weird way by the powerful searchlights coming from Clifton Hill, downtown.

As far as I'm concerned, this video and the phenomenon visible in it is fully explained by my findings and I don't believe there is much else of a mystery here. Feels good that I was the only one in the world to fully figure this out though. I may even call it the Melender phenomenon, if history lets me.