The burst of drone activity lighting up the night skies above New Jersey and other states is propelling online posts and conspiracies offering up bizarre claims to explain the drone "hysteria," some involving missing nuclear material and an impending alien invasion.
Federal government officials have downplayed the reports in recent days and insisted the objects don't pose a public safety or national security threat, and in some cases, may simply be normal commercial air traffic mistaken for drones.
More than 5,000 drone-related tips have been reported across the Northeast to the FBI since mid-November, although the agency cautions some are duplicates and most are not worthy of further investigation.
Still, the lack of clarity has only fueled social media intrigue and speculation purporting to know who or what is driving the activity.
A TikTok video by the chief executive of a remote aircraft system company in Kansas was shared Sunday by Joe Rogan on X, prompting the popular podcaster to write: "This is the first video about these drones that has got me genuinely concerned."
The executive, John Ferguson, explained that while he hasn't seen anything to indicate nefarious intent, "the only reason why they would be flying, and flying that low, is because they're trying to smell something on the ground," referring to a gas leak or radioactive materials.
Ferguson, whose video has been viewed more than 1.5 million times, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Other TikTok users have shared similar beliefs that the drones may be searching for nuclear weapons or dirty bombs.
The mystery behind the drones is also furthering decades-old conspiracy theories. One refers to Project Blue Beam, which involves a supposed government plot to fake an alien invasion and spark panic.
During a wide-ranging news conference Monday, President-elect Donald Trump continued to cast doubt on government officials' inability to fully explain an apparent surge in sightings and said the military can establish where drones take off from.
"Something strange is going on. For some reason they don't want to tell the people and they should because the people are really — they happen to be over Bedminster," Trump said of drone activity near his golf club in New Jersey. He declined to comment if he has received intelligence briefings on the matter.
A senior official briefed on the drone sightings told NBC News last week that they believe drones were indeed seen over the Trump National Golf Club as well as the U.S. Army's Picatinny Arsenal research facility, also in northern New Jersey.
Trump, however, said he doesn't believe an enemy is behind the activity and that the U.S. would have "blasted" down foreign unmanned aircraft. (The Federal Aviation Administration has cautioned private citizens against shooting drones, saying it would be a federal offense and could pose a safety hazard.)
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters last week that the drones are neither U.S. military-related nor appear to be dispatched by another country, such as Iran.
But Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., told reporters Saturday that foreign actors shouldn't be ruled out.
"The elusive maneuvering of these drones suggests a major military power sophistication that begs the question whether they have been deployed to test our defense capabilities — or worse — by violent dictatorships, perhaps maybe Russia, or China, or Iran, or North Korea," Smith said.
Other lawmakers continue to echo similar concerns.
"Why can't the federal government tell us where these drones are from?!" Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote Monday on X. "The lack of transparency is exactly why Americans don't trust our federal government. Not to mention, if these are the same Chinese drones I fought to ban from our military, they're a national security threat."
Last week, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also called for increased government transparency and said he was worried it's allowing potential "misinformation to spread, or at least fear. We should know what's going on over our skies."
One New Jersey mayor, Ryan Herd of Pequannock Township, told NBC New York that answers are necessary to quell community concerns.
"Now we're getting to the point where this is just hysteria," Herd said.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told reporters Monday that there is "zero evidence" that the federal government or military leaders are hiding anything further, as Trump had alluded to, adding he "would just like to debunk there's a lot of conspiracy theories out there right now."
Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a vocal Trump critic, urged his social media followers not to be swayed by the conspiracies just because politicians don't have all the answers.
"Drones exist," Kinzinger wrote Monday on X. "This doesn't mean they're Iran, alien, or sniffing out nukes."
