The drones

[DaveBrown74]

I will admit that I more or less ignored this story when it first became a thing. It just sounded like some sort of prank or mischief, and I didn't pay much attention.

Clearly I underestimated the situation. I didn't realize how big those drones were or how many of them there are.

I find it a little odd that the authorities don't seem to know what they are, or at least aren't saying. I assume they know more than they're saying, but if the drones are not a threat of any kind, why not give concerned citizens more information?

If the reason is because they literally don't know any more than they're telling us, how is that possible? These drones can't stay in the air forever.. why not send one of our own fully powered drones up there and trail just one of these things until it goes down and see where it ends up? If they've done that already, what were the results?

I'm curious as to what people think all of this is. If it's a prank, it's pretty elaborate not to mention expensive. If it's a military exercise of some kind, it seems astonishing that they'd hover these things over people's homes in densely populated residential areas and leave American citizens terrified like this. I don't find either the prank or military exercise theories to be highly credible.

What are these things, and who is responsible for them?

[MightyGiants]

I can't say with any certainty, but my money is on mass hysertia

[DaveBrown74]

I can't say with any certainty, but my money is on mass hysertia

Meaning what exactly? The sightings are not real (or are exaggerated)?

[MightyGiants]

Meaning what exactly? The sightings are not real (or are exaggerated)?

The government has come out and said many of the alleged drone sightings are actually perfectly normal manned aircraft (small planes and helicopters).   Maybe there were a handful of hobby drones that were flown at night briefly.  It seems like the whole thing has taken on a life of its own, and I seriously doubt the whole NJ is being invaded by mystery drone things.

If I am correct (and I don't pretend to know for sure), it's hardly the first time for mass hysteria.  There was the infamous Orson Wells War of the Worlds radio broadcast.  The UFO craze of the 50s and 60s inspired the Air Force's project Blue Book. 

I also remember the mass hysteria where first responders mistakenly believed they could OD on fentanyl just by touching it.  It went so far that responders were being taken to the hospital with psychosomatic symptoms.

[DaveBrown74]

The government has come out and said many of the alleged drone sightings are actually perfectly normal manned aircraft (small planes and helicopters).  Maybe there were a handful of hobby drones that were flown at night briefly.  It seems like the whole thing has taken on a life of its own, and I seriously doubt the whole NJ is being invaded by mystery drone things.

If I am correct (and I don't pretend to know for sure), it's hardly the first time for mass hysteria.  There was the infamous Orson Wells War of the Worlds radio broadcast.  The UFO craze of the 50s and 60s inspired the Air Force's project Blue Book. 

I also remember the mass hysteria where first responders mistakenly believed they could OD on fentanyl just by touching it.  It went so far that responders were being taken to the hospital with psychosomatic symptoms.

I am sure it's accurate that there have been some sightings reported that were either manned aircraft or just routine drones. And I'm sure some people have called in sightings who didn't see anything. What I personally don't think is accurate is to say this whole thing is made up and that there is nothing to see here. It may ultimately be innocuous, but the car-sized drones are real and have been seen and filmed over and over for the past several weeks. My good friend's mother, who is now a widow and is someone I have known since the 90s, is the furthest thing from an hysteric. She is a normal, nice, now elderly woman who just goes about her business. She had one of these things flying over her house two or three nights ago and was pretty startled.

It is fair to say that the public tends to err towards the darkest possible conspiracy theories when it comes to the unknown or to unexplained events, and I am sure many are doing exactly that with this event. But the actual existence of these things does not seem in question to me. I had a business lunch yesterday with a group of people, one of whom I know pretty well and who is a normal, NJ-based, busy, work-focused guy whose main non-work focus is his kids and their sports. This guy is no conspiracy guy. Yesterday he was talking about having seen them near his house. He said they were massive and very loud, and flying pretty low too.

They're clearly real. It's just a question of what they are and who is controlling them. And the answer to that question may be completely non-sinister. It probably is. I just think it's curious that we don't have any explanation yet and it's been going on for now over a month.

[MightyGiants]

@DaveBrown74

Consider:

In an update to the ongoing reports of drones flying above New Jersey, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security have released a joint statement attributing most of the reports to misattribution, claiming that the reported UAVs were more likely manned aircraft or other objects.

New Jersey Drone Sightings "Not Corroborated with Electronic Detection"
"We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. The FBI, DHS and our federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings."Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities. We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space. 

"We take seriously the threat that can be posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which is why law enforcement and other agencies continue to support New Jersey and investigate the reports. To be clear, they have uncovered no such malicious activity or intent at this stage. While there is no known malicious activity occurring in New Jersey, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight the insufficiency of current authorities."

Also, this article might be of interest.

https://dronelife.com/2024/12/11/understanding-the-new-jersey-drone-sightings-separating-fact-from-fiction/

[Ed Vette]

I was outside the other night and saw a large amount of aircraft out flying in patterns, likely looking for drones. In my town they have reported them flying low. I haven't seen any but I haven't run out to go look when they were reported. Someone I know said one was right above her house just above tree level. Is she an idiot? Idk.

I believe some are out there. I believe they could be our own military drones either searching for something in grid pattern or testing how the public reacts to the phenomenon. It's very easy to follow them with our own drones so I don't buy into the excuses of not knowing. How long can a battery charge last... The crazy theory would be that they come from an extraterrestrial mother ship outside of radar, or from a ship in the ocean. Again, how far can they fly before they need a charge. Tesla would love to know.

The most disturbing part of this is how easy it would be to be attacked by a foreign entity, shooting down people on Park Ave. or in an open stadium dropping bombs.

[MightyGiants]

Here is another article worth reading

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/unidentified-drone-new-jersey-video-icemanfox1/

[Ed Vette]

This is pretty cool.

https://youtu.be/rGwvNcRwMtI

[MightyGiants]

I don't even want to think about the amount of tax dollars spent investigating this toy


https://www.facebook.com/PequannockTownshipPoliceNj/posts/pfbid02qFz635Vop1S8tAArn4VJafkPDSiZ9RVBDUgjD1rKxsWMLGmWX4GuGdHqTWkBL38vl

The investigation was undertaken by the Pequannock Township Police Department, Morris County Sheriff's Office and the Morris County Prosecutors office.

[DaveBrown74]

I think it's important to not fall into the trap of conflating the high likelihood that some if not many of these reported sightings are not real with the idea that that means ALL of the reports are not real.

The US Coast Guard, a Navy base in New Jersey, and multiple elected officials from both parties have all reported seeing them. Moreover NJ residents I personally know well and trust, who are the furthest thing from tin foil hat conspiracy buffs or loners who want attention, have said they have seen them, and that in no way shape or form was what they saw planes, nor were they small drones for hobbyists.

I'm not suggesting there is anything hugely alarming here necessarily. But I don't buy that all of this is not real and that there aren't some large drones flying around. I'm just curious who is controlling them and what their purpose is.

[MightyGiants]

I just remembered another mass hysteria event that I was actually involved in. After the actual anthrax terror attacks, people went crazy. They thought every piece of mail they weren't expecting was coated in Anthrax.  I used to go with the hazmat team from call to call, examining hoax after hoax.  I remember one woman claiming her throat was closing up after she handled a Chinese Restaurant menu that had been placed in her mailbox (my tongue bled from biting it when she made a comment about how we must think she was stupid). It got so bad that the hazmat team eventually adopted the practice of taking the mail, walking behind the truck, waiting a few minutes, and telling people it was safe.

[DaveBrown74]

I just remembered another mass hysteria event that I was actually involved in. After the actual anthrax terror attacks, people went crazy. They thought every piece of mail they weren't expecting was coated in Anthrax.  I used to go with the hazmat team from call to call, examining hoax after hoax.  I remember one woman claiming her throat was closing up after she handled a Chinese Restaurant menu that had been placed in her mailbox (my tongue bled from biting it when she made a comment about how we must think she was stupid). It got so bad that the hazmat team eventually adopted the practice of taking the mail, walking behind the truck, waiting a few minutes, and telling people it was safe.

That's a very good example of mass hysteria. I remember that well too. People were justifiably terrified then (as it was not long after 9/11), and there were not just constant anthrax scares but also a lot of false bomb threat scares. I remember having something happen in our office back then and having to run outside, and I recall seeing multiple women crying on the sidewalk. People were flipped out.

I have no doubt that many reported sightings of these drones are intentionally or unintentionally false. There is also confirmation bias at work, I suspect. People believe they're there, so they want to see them, and so anything that looks remotely like a drone, including even just a star, might get reported.

However this isn't some elusive, legendary, almost certainly fictitious thing like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. I personally feel 99% certain that plenty of the reports (of large drones flying around) are accurate. We have seen the videos, and some who are making the claims are almost impossible to call liars or even innocently mistaken (US Coast guard, US Navy). As I said before, multiple elected officials, both Dem and Republican, have reported seeing them. Politicians lie, but not all of them do all the time, and I don't think the Coast Guard or Navy would participate in deliberate lying or even be confused about what they saw.

There are any number of reasonable explanations for there to be some drones flying around in a concentrated area. This isn't keeping me up at night. And as I said in the OP, I was paying zero attention to this story for some time. I'm now just simply curious what all this is, exactly. I don't have a sinister theory, and I accept that the story itself may be getting magnified due to an element of hysteria. I just believe something is going on, more likely than not innocuous, and I'm curious what it is.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Fred Fleitz, former "National Security Advisor" has said, "If it's big (7-8 feet diameter) it's probably a joint secret exercise between the military and the CIA; and if it's small, it's probably youngsters playing around as they can run them from a computer for great distances". That makes sense to me FWIW...and if the CIA is involved, they ain't saying nuthin!

[LennG]

We just came back off a cruise that left from Baltimore. While on the cruise we met several people from NJ who told us in no uncertain terms that they saw these drones, reported the sightings to the police and one even reported to the FBI.
This was NOT mass hysteria, this was real people seeing real things in the sky.
If they are not government-activated, I would just shoot down a few of them and you would probably see a rapid decline in them.