December 9, 2024
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What are the mysterious drones reported over New York and New Jersey?
Reports of unidentified flying objects are increasing in the northeastern United States, but so far authorities have provided few answers for alarmed residents.
Rensburg/Alamy Stock Photo
What is said to be flying brightly and swarming the night skies of northern New Jersey?
The answer is clearly “drones,” but no one seems to know much more than that, or at least, they can’t seem to reveal it.
Reports of strange, unidentified aircraft, some described as the size of a car, have spiked over parts of the Garden State in recent weeks. Witnesses and video suggest some were rotary-wing planes and others fixed-wing planes. Some are said to have flown alone and erratically, while others appear to be flying in orderly formations. However, neither shows any signs of stealth. They are described as exceptionally bright lights. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s Dec. 5 social media post said the sightings are being seriously investigated, but that there is “no known threat to the public at this time.” .
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Many of the reports initially focused on Morris County, New Jersey, where strange objects were seen moving over major waterways, municipal reservoirs, and even sensitive military installations such as the U.S. Army Picatinny Arsenal. It was seen that he appeared to be there. But some of the latest sightings have come from other surrounding counties, as far south as the Philadelphia suburbs. The sightings follow new reports of alarming drone activity at four military bases in the United Kingdom used by the United States in recent weeks and elsewhere, including around Langley Air Force Base in Virginia in December 2023. It took place inside.
The response from local, state, and national authorities has been mixed as the number of cases in New Jersey increases. Approximately 20 Morris County elected officials signed a letter to the relevant federal agencies, warning the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of drones flying over the Picatinny Arsenal and a golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, owned by President-elect Donald Trump. Flights were temporarily prohibited. In a joint statement last week, the FBI, New Jersey State Police and the state’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness announced they were seeking information related to drone sightings. The advisory asks witnesses to submit reports through the FBI hotline at 1-800-225-5324 or the bureau’s Tips for Information webpage.
In the meantime, many witnesses are turning to local news outlets and a New York City-based startup that allows users of a smartphone app to submit location reports and records of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) instead. I started relying on Enigma Labs. . Christine Kim, head of marketing at Enigma Labs, said the company processes thousands of sightings each month and has received dozens of related reports (some with videos) from users in the region in the past three weeks. 16% of these reports are from the United States. At the time, it was related to drones in New Jersey.
“This is an active investigation, and what we need is more eyes in the sky,” Kim said. “For us, this is like a ‘stress test’ where we ask users to film what they see and report back, so we can crowdsource this and investigate it together. We don’t have the answers, but we can get more data and find and understand patterns in what we’re seeing.”
Kim points out that the content and quality of the reports so far has been highly variable, making it difficult to be certain. “Someone wrote that they saw a large triangular shaped airplane with three lights on the corners, not flying high or fast, but glowing too brightly to be considered a conventional airplane.” she says. “Another reporter reported seeing several aircraft each night that appeared relatively small next to other helicopters and airplanes, flying very fast and in varying brightness ranges… Some of the pictures I’ve seen are floating around and I’m like, “Yeah, this is what a plane looks like in the clouds.” So we ourselves are in the process of debunking some of these mistakes. ”
In response to the sighting, UAP skeptic and investigator Mick West wrote on X (formerly Twitter) early Sunday morning ET, posting a smartphone video of a purported “drone” taken near his home in California. He pointed out that it was actually a normal drone. An aircraft passing over the sky, as confirmed by flight tracking data. According to his post, many of the sightings in New Jersey are likely similar cases of mistaken identity, mainly because most smartphones have poor optics and experienced Even observers can easily misjudge size, distance, and movement. an object in the sky.
Still, it seems implausible to attribute all these latest sightings and rich recordings to mere mass hysteria, especially considering the reactions from multiple echelons of law enforcement. There’s certainly something strange floating over northern New Jersey, but we still don’t know what exactly is going on.
