UFO hunters have speculated amateur photos captured last week over North Carolina may be alien in origin.

Several sightings of anomalies in the air over the US city of Charlotte have triggered UFOs claims online. Local Alisa Homewood was among those who reported seeing a strange string of lights at night near Charlotte.

Her intriguing pictures posted on Facebook over the weekend depicts what seems to be strange lights hovering over North Carolina’s Indian Trail, a little southeast of Charlotte.

She asked the community Facebook page: “Anyone know what these lights were tonight?”

“No sound at all. They flickered like lanterns, but followed the same exact path up until they disappeared which was odd.“

She revealed why she shot the perplexing photos to Express.co.uk today.

UFO sighting – Photos of ’flame-like’ blue light over US have triggered alien spacecraft claims (Image: Alisa Homewood)

UFO sighting: Several sightings of anomalies have been spotted over the US city of Charlotte

She said: “I walked out of the grocery store with my family and happened to notice the lights.

”We watched for a moment, I had watched approximately six military helicopters fly over that area that same morning so thought maybe it was them returning.

“As the lights got closer there was no sound so I knew they were not helicopters.

“That’s why I decided to grab my phone and take a few photos.

UFO sighting: The eyewitness suspects they were simply a trick of the light (Image: Alisa Homewood)

UFO sighting: UFO fact-checker Scott Brando believes they are lens flare (Image: Alisa Homewood)

“The lights flickered like a flame. They could have been Chinese-style lanterns.”

However, she added how although she has no explanation for the lights, she suspects they were simply a trick of the light.

Ms Homewood said: “I don’t have any reason to believe they were aliens, and this doesn’t make me more inclined to believe.

“However, I don’t have solid evidence they were definitely lanterns either.

UFO sighting: Several members of the Facebook group mentioned alien UFOs as a possible cause (Image: Alisa Homewood)

However, several members of the Facebook group, boasting more than 20,000 members, have mentioned alien UFOs as a possible cause.

One Charlotte woman posted: “Yea we saw them too and couldn’t figure out what they were.

“They did flicker, but like how big were those lanterns then for us to see it so bright and so clear from so far away.”

Another commenter wrote: “I’ve seen something like this recently too.

“It was 5.00am [local time] so no, not lanterns. The string of lights wasn’t there, only the triangle shape lights.

And a Matthews woman added: “I’m officially creeped out. “Same weird lights happened [at] my friend’s home last night!”

North Carolina ranks high among states with the most reports of UFO sightings, many of them off the Outer Banks.

The Mutual UFO Network reported in January how the state had 15 UFO sightings last month alone, ranking Caroline number seven among the 50 states.