Overview

Drones Over East Coast and Mothership Drones Conspiracy Theory refer to a series of unidentified aircraft sightings (or UAPs) that many believed were drones flying over the northeast American states of New Jersey, New York and parts of Maryland and Virginia near Washington, D.C. in late 2024. Local lawmakers and officials corroborated the sightings after word began to spread online. The drones were reportedly SUV-sized and looked like commercial airplanes. However, they maneuvered differently. The sightings inspired conspiracy theories about foreign, malign activity, including a minor theory that a foreign "mothership" was in the Atlantic Ocean and sending drones to investigate the area.

Background

Starting in mid-November 2024, police began investigating complaints of drones flying over Morris County, New Jersey.^[1][2] On November 18th, videos of alleged drones over Morris County were shared by the X^[3][4] account @rawsalerts, gaining over 3.6 million views in a month (shown below).

🚨#UPDATE: More video has been sent by one of my followers, @JerzyBets shows his footage of a drone in Morris County, NJ. He says, “They were all over the place. I saw up to eight drones at once, and none registered on the flight radar app. pic.twitter.com/Jggsmn8OQP

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) November 19, 2024

Sightings and reports about alleged drones in northern New Jersey continued into December 2024.^[5] According to local reports, the FBI began looking into the alleged drone activity, and officials at the Picatinny Arsenal military research and manufacturing facility in northwest Morris County also said that they were aware of the "numerous reports."^[6]

Reports from residents on social media platforms like X^[10][14] stated that the drones appeared at night, were the size of SUVs and looked like commercial planes. However, they reportedly maneuvered differently than commercial aircraft.

New Jersey officials and lawmakers began corroborating the reports by mid-December 2024. For instance, on December 9th, New Jersey Congressman Tom Kean posted to X,^[7] writing, "I join thousands of New Jersey residents in deep frustration regarding the growing concerns over drones operating in our skies…" receiving over 4,100 likes in four days (shown below).

On December 13th, 2024, New Jersey Senator Andy Kim posted a video on X^[8] that he recorded of alleged drones over the Round Valley Reservoir, gaining over 1 million views and 5,000 likes in a few hours (shown below).

Last night I went out with local police to spot drone flying over New Jersey, here’s what I saw. We drove to Round Valley Reservoir and the officer pointed to lights moving low over the tree line. Sometimes they were solid white light, others flashed of red and green.THREAD pic.twitter.com/ly7kUUDWDn

— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024

White House Response

On December 12th, 2024, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby gave a press conference at the White House, stating that they could not corroborate the drone sightings and believed they were legal, manned aircraft based on imagery and video. Kirby said that federal investigations hadn't revealed a foreign, malign activity. The video was shared on YouTube^[9] by CBS News that day (shown below).

Online Reactions

On social media, numerous internet users discussed the drones and shared photos, like X^[11] user @UAPReportingCnt on December 5th, 2024, whose photos revealed how the alleged drones looked like commercial jets, receiving over 1,400 likes in a week (shown below).

On December 9th, X^[12] user @Michele_Tafoya tweeted, "How in the hell can we NOT know who is flying drones over New Jersey??" receiving over 2,900 likes in four days (shown below).

On December 12th, 2024, X^[10] user @SteveSkojec started a viral thread on the topic, including multiple tweets posted about the alleged drones in late 2024, including videos and photos. The initial tweet received over 52,000 likes in a day (shown below).

During the same timeframe, others made fun of the conspiratorial posts about the drones, like X^[13] user @nykyt0sha on December 12th, who believed that the image in the abovementioned tweet was just an airplane, receiving over 880 likes in a day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References