The Charlotte Observer
Video of a “random flashing” object in the sky outside Greensboro, North Carolina, has ignited an ongoing debate on social media, including claims others have seen the same mystery object.
In the 5-minute video — which is magnified and slowed down — the “pill-shaped” object is seen soaring through the sky and producing a series of flashes.
The video was posted Saturday and has been viewed thousands of times since being picked up by YouTube channels devoted to UFOs and unsolved mysteries, including the Hidden Underbelly 2.0.
It is credited to Bret Jones, known as SpaceBret on YouTube, who explains in the video that the “weird thing” was spotted Friday, Jan. 25, while he was trying to film birds outside Greensboro.
“I noticed a strange flashing light in the sky near an airplane. It was moving slowly in the sky, a little slower than the planes flying around,” Jones says on YouTube. “I did not think I captured it at all, because the focus would only hunt and not lock on.”
However, he says he later magnified the footage by 900 percent and slowed it down to reveal a “glinting pill shaped” object that produces flashes from its two ends.
“When I saw it, it just blew me away because it was not what I expected at all,” Jones says on YouTube. “I don’t know what that is.”
At least one person has suggested its nothing more than a “Mylar balloon with string, or WiFi extender antenna balloon,” in part because it looks like the object might have a tether at one point in the video.
However, Jones says that wouldn’t explain the flashing and vanishing, and the suspected tether could also be the object “ejecting some kind of fuel.”
Others seem to agree, with one person noting it appears to “warp in and then out.” Several people have reported seeing the same thing and having trouble filming it.
“I saw a similar object in Winston Salem on the 25th, in the late afternoon!” posted Julia Hejnar on YouTube. “It happened so fast. It blinked out just like that!”
“I have seen this flash at night for the past year now,” posted SkyHound, in response to the video.
“I…clearly know the difference between planes, satellites, iridium flares, meteorites, helicopter, etc. This is different…It seems to flash incredibly bright with no pattern. It even fades out into a dull red light occasionally.”
North Carolina has been the scene of reported UFO sightings for decades, though some have later been explained away as commercial blimps or military aircraft, reported the Charlotte Observer last year.
