The New Jersey Drones
The account
Car-sized drones flew every night over towns and military bases, and no one knew who they belonged to.
What investigators found
The government concluded that most were airplanes, authorized drones and hobbyist drones, plus misidentified stars.
The story
Starting in November 2024, New Jersey residents began reporting lights hovering and moving across the night sky, described as large drones. The sightings spread to other states, including areas near military installations. The FBI received thousands of tips, local officials demanded answers and the FAA even restricted drone flights over some towns.
In January 2025, the White House said the drones observed had been authorized by the FAA for research and other purposes, and that many reports were of airplanes, hobbyist drones and stars. Federal agencies said they had found no threat to public safety. Some members of the public and a number of politicians considered the explanation incomplete.