‘Shoot them down’: Thousands report mysterious drones above New Jersey

Chatham, New Jersey: That buzzing coming out of New Jersey? It’s unclear if it’s drones or something else, but the night-time sightings are producing tons of talk, a raft of conspiracy theories and craned necks looking skyward.

Cropping up on local news and social media sites around Thanksgiving, the saga of the drones reported over New Jersey has reached incredible heights.

Points of light appear in the evening sky near Lebanon Township, New Jersey. Credit: AP

This week seems to have begun a new, higher-profile chapter. Politicians are demanding (but so far not getting) explanations from federal and state authorities about what’s behind them. Governor Phil Murphy wrote to President Joe Biden asking for answers. New Jersey senator Andy Kim spent Thursday night on a drone hunt in rural northern New Jersey and posted about it on X.

More sightings have been reported in New York City, and Mayor Eric Adams says the city is investigating. President-elect Donald Trump posted that he believes the government knows more than it’s saying. “Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” he posted on his social media site.

But perhaps the most fantastic development is the dizzying proliferation of conspiracies, none of which has been confirmed or suggested by federal and state officials. It has become shorthand to refer to the flying machines as drones, but there are questions about whether what people are seeing are unmanned aircraft or something else.

Some theorise the drones came from an Iranian mothership. Others think they are the Secret Service making sure Trump’s Bedminster property is secure. Others worry about China. The deep state. And on.

In the face of uncertainty, people have done what they do in 2024: Create a social media group.

The Facebook page “New Jersey Mystery Drones – let’s solve it” has nearly 44,000 members. People are posting their photo and video sightings and the online commenters take it from there.

One video shows a whitish light flying in a darkened sky, and one commenter concludes it’s otherworldly. “Straight up orbs,” the person says. Others weigh in to say it’s a plane or maybe a satellite. Another group called for hunting the drones literally, shooting them down like turkeys. (Do not shoot at anything in the sky, experts warn.)

Trisha Bushey, 48, lives near Round Valley Reservoir, where there have been numerous sightings. She said she first posted photos online last month, wondering what the objects were, and became convinced they were drones when she saw how they moved. Now she’s glued to the Mystery Drones page, she said.

“I find myself – instead of Christmas shopping or cleaning my house – checking it,” she said.

She doesn’t buy what the governor said, that the drones aren’t a risk to public safety. Murphy told Biden that residents need answers. The federal Homeland Security Department and FBI also said in a joint statement they have no evidence that the sightings pose “a national security or public safety  threat or have a foreign nexus”.

A photo captures what appears to be multiple drones over Bernardsville, New Jersey. Credit: AP

“How can you say it’s not posing a threat if you don’t know what it is?” she said. “I think that’s why so many people are uneasy.”

Then there’s the notion that people could misunderstand what they’re seeing. William Austin is the president of Warren County Community College, which has a drone technology degree program, and is coincidentally located in one of the sighting hotspots.

Austin says he has looked at videos of purported drones and that aeroplanes are being misidentified as drones. He cited an optical effect called parallax, which is the apparent shift of an object when viewed from different perspectives.

Nonetheless, people continue to come up with their own theories.

“It represents the United States of America in 2024,” Austin said. “We’ve lost trust in our institutions, and we need it.”

Federal officials echo Austin’s view that many of the sightings are piloted aircraft such as planes and helicopters being mistaken for drones.

That’s not really convincing for many, though, who are homing in on the sightings beyond just New Jersey, where others have reported seeing the objects. An FBI official told congress that the bureau had received more than 3000 tips from the public about these incursions.

For Seph Divine, 34, another member of the drone-hunting group who lives in Eugene, Oregon, it feels as if it’s up to citizen sleuths to solve the mystery. He said he tries to be a voice of reason, encouraging people to fact-check their information while also asking probing questions.

“My main goal is I don’t want people to be caught up in the hysteria and I also want people to not just ignore it at the same time,” he said.

“Whether it’s foreign military or some secret access program or something otherworldly, whatever it is, all I’m saying is it’s alarming that this is happening so suddenly and so consistently for hours at a time.”

AP

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