BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- On Thursday the sky above Kern County was filled with lot of air traffic as indicated by many contrails, which sparked several calls into the 23 ABC newsroom.

One resident stopped reporter Mark Christian on the street and said those contrails could be something more ominous than what first meets the eye.

Contrails are long thin clouds of ice crystals that form behind planes fly through freezing air that usually dissipate with in a few minutes, but they can last longer under certain conditions, meteorologists say.

Bakersfield resident Kevin Murphy contacted Christian at a north of the river shopping mall after seeing the sky filled with contrails, which Murphy calls "chemtrails."

"I have researched this theory for several years and I realizes that some would call me a conspiracy theorist, but as far as I know, this is conspiracy fact," said Murphy.

ABC 23 video cameras captured the sky above filled with nondissipating contrails. The video shows jet planes flying from north to south and east to west with more than 100 contrails that blanketed the skies.

"This is absolutely not normal. If it were contrails, they would normally dissipate in about 20 minutes. This is a mess, we are being sprayed like a crop duster," said Murphy.

According to Murphy, there is a large group of people around the world who agree with the chemtrail conspiracy theory. Murphy added that they believe what most consider to be contrails are actually chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for clandestine programs directed by government officials. Other Proponents have said it is a top secret program to change weather patterns or fight global warming.

Other residents 23 ABC talked to say they noticed more contrails than usual on Thursday, but most believe it was just normal activity. Murphy said those people need to do the research for themselves, because the public is being used as guinea pig's for some type of chemical test.

"If you look into if further you will find that these chemtrails are filled chemicals such as barium and aluminum," said Murphy.

23 ABC Meteorologist Jack Church said Thursday's contrails were normal activity and there was a logical reason why the contrails did not dissipate quickly. "The biggest reason people may have noticed more contrails today is because the atmospheric conditions provided more moisture in the air, allowing the contrails to linger," said Church.

Proponents of the chemtrail theory say chemtrails can be distinguished from contrails by their long duration in any atmospheric condition. 23 ABC research found that various versions of the chemtrail conspiracy theory have circulated through websites and radio programs. Officials at Edwards Air Force Base said the air traffic above Kern County was normal and mostly likely commercial airliners