The Drone Saga Continues

A look into the ever present drones of New Jersey

AI Generated

We all remember the waves of drone sightings that swept New Jersey at the end of 2024. These sightings made such a stir that even people across the pond in Europe and Asia heard of these mysterious sightings. Drones, the size of small SUVs, were reported in droves primarily around the northern Jersey counties of Morris, Hunterdon, and Somerset.

From mid-November to mid-December, there were roughly 1000 reported sightings. Many speculated that these were the drones of a far off civilization. Some speculated that they were covert military tests that were … not actually covert. Other theories blended the two. My favorite theory during this time was that these drones were launched to watch over the historically present orbs that have been seen up and down the state of New Jersey for many many years. I, myself, have read articles and book excerpts talking about numerous fighter jet deployments over the last twenty years trying to run down these orbs.

No matter which theory you believe in, we all have to concede that the start of these drone sightings were quite timely. You see, on November 13th, the same day the drone sightings started, the largely publicized subcommittee hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena also took place. With this in mind, we have to ask … Was it planned? Just some food for thought as we continue through the article.

It seems that on December 16th much of the national attention on these sightings started to dwindle down, with the timeline of reported sightings stopping around December 17th. But, did the drones mysteriously disappear? To put it bluntly, no. They didn’t just disappear. No proper explanation had been provided at this point either. It wasn’t until January 28th, that the government provided a sufficient, albeit typical, government answer. But still, I would find it sufficient that news agencies would then stop covering it in such large fashion.

However, this isn’t what happened. The news coverage dwindled long before that. It begs to question: What caused this to take place? We may never know; but, what we can do, is continue to look at what is currently taking place in the New Jersey drone saga. The fact of the matter is, they never left. When the Northern Jersey sightings began to become less and less, it seems the sightings kept going south. This was good lucky for me since I live in Southern New Jersey. I have had a front row seat in the continuation of drone sightings.

The Saga Continues

Before we get into the current happenings of the drones, I want to preface something. Is everything we see in the sky a drone? No. Are there ways to narrow down what we are seeing? Yes … to a point. So, in my time of “drone watching” I have done my best to rule out everything that I can. I cannot say with absolute certainty that everything I see is a drone; because it isn’t. What I can say, however, is that through the use of various applications, such as “flightradar24”, I can rule out ANY plane that has their transponder turned on. This should rule out 100% of commercially operated flights, and the vast majority of private flights. Additionally, it doesn’t seem that the airspace for my area, within a large radius, would allow for private flights to turn off their transponders. Other apps that I use such as the “Enigma” app helps me to determine if what I am seeing could be a satellite (this would not include military satellites). As you see, I try to rule out most of the common misidentified ariel objects using my personal knowledge, and the tools I have available to me. What these apps allow me to do is narrow down the list of what object I could be seeing. Then, when you compare the behavior of the object, you can make a pretty educated guess on what that object could be. If you can’t, then you get into UFO/UAP territory.

With that in mind, we still have to ask the question: Are drones still present in New Jersey? Yes, they are … nightly. I have been closely observing the skies of New Jersey since the drone sightings began. I have visual knowledge of what the skies looked like before the drones, and after the drones. About mid-way through the aforementioned time frame I started to see drones myself. At first it was only a handful here and there. As of late, it has progressed to nightly sightings. The frequency of these sightings inspired my family to investigate and observe the drones in hope of figuring out what they were. We have some vlog style footage of this investigation if you would like to watch (here).

In April of 2025, as my wife and I sat at a park enjoying the spring air, I was able to count at least a dozen drones within an hour of arrival. As mentioned, I used the apps to make the best educated decision on what the objects were, and I determined that they were drones. They flew over our heads so close that you could make out the color and shape of the craft in its entirety. Throughout the year, I would occasionally stop and watch the night skies for whatever might show up. Even as I moved further south, to the Cape May area, almost every night, I can see drones. Most often, you don’t just see a single drone. Typically, you will see 2 or more lined up with meticulous spacing, flying in an almost grid fashion. Occasionally, you will see them hover in place for prolonged periods of time. To me, this has become a very telltale sign on if what I am seeing is, in fact, a drone. My usual markers are extremely slow speeds, hovering for extended periods of time, and seeing multiple drones lined up combing an area in a grid-like fashion. All with zero, or extremely low, noise levels. And, all flying quite close to the ground; possibly, just a few hundred feet off the ground. A very typical answer to what these might be is that they are helicopters. However, the apps that I use would allow me to determine if they are helicopters. Not to mention, helicopters are quite loud. Needless to say, for myself, I have checked off every box I could think of to explain what they could be apart from drones.

Towards the end of 2025, I briefly spoke to someone in the UFO/Cryptid field that regularly investigates active cases of the UFO Phenomena. Our discussion ended up heading in the direction of what really took place during the drone incursions of late 2024. From sources he could not name, he knew where the drones came from and who built them. No, they aren’t from another planet; but rather a company that specializes in experimental drone technology. According to him, many of the sightings were from test flights of these drones. These claims seem to be corroborated via various articles that I have found since speaking to this person. In the articles, it details claims from this company that some of their test flights might have sparked many of the drone sightings. Included in one of the articles was a photo of one of the drones, half covered, and appeared to be one of the drones that people reported looked SUV sized.

After much thought, I have no clue what these drones could be used for. Obviously, given the strange responses by the government, we aren’t supposed to know yet. All we can continue to do down here in South Jersey is step outside and look towards the stars to observe these newly created crafts. Maybe there will be a day where we won’t see them any more, and maybe then I will release another article detailing the end of a saga in our history.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory