By Tim Binnall
A time lapse video from the shore of North Carolina's Outer Banks captured some puzzling 'red trails' that inexplicably appeared in the night sky. According to a local media report, the project was the work of photographic artist Wes Snyder, who set up his camera near a shipwreck on a beach in the town of Nags Head and programmed the device to snap a picture every ten seconds. The end result is a breathtaking view of the stars slowly rotating in the sky, the occasional airplane cruising across the horizon, and some peculiar red patterns that left the photographer scratching his head.
As noted by Snyder in the video (seen above), on several instances over the curse of the evening, the very odd trails appear fairly low to the ground and quickly form a tight circular shape before vanishing out of frame. "I've caught thousands of plane trails and never have any of them looked like this," he marveled, "so I'm certain they are not your typical aircraft." Having seen the phenomenon in previous time lapse projects, Snyder indicated that they have mystified him for a very long time. "I have yet to figure out what kind of plane possibly has these capabilities," he said, "whatever they are, they have some incredible maneuverability."
While the weird trails may conjure thoughts of alien craft in the minds of some, the photographer does not embrace the extraterrestrial hypothesis for the origin of the trails, arguing that they likely have an earthly explanation. Noting that the location is "not too far away from a bombing range and eastern North Carolina is known for lots of military aircraft,” Snyder suggested that the curious anomalies are probably related to "military aircraft training over the Pamlico Sound." Should that be the case, the true nature of the lights may remain a mystery, especially if they were something that weren't supposed to be seen.