With drones flying over New Jersey, thousands of worried locals are turning to Facebook to solve the mystery

Over the last few weeks, residents across New Jersey and nearby environs have reported sightings of large drones flying across the nighttime sky, and not even the government seems to have any clue who is behind them.

Officials from the Department of Homeland Security met with state lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss what they know—or rather what they don’t.

Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia of New Jersey’s 24th legislative district posted some details from the briefing on X, noting that some of the drones are as large as six feet in diameter, that they operate in a “coordinated manner,” and that they don’t appear to be operated by hobbyists.

Sound scary? Officials, including New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, have gone out of their way to stress that the mysterious aircraft do not appear to be a threat to public safety, but for many residents who live in the areas where these drones have been spotted, that answer may not be especially reassuring.

In the absence of answers from authorities, many residents are turning to each other. One public Facebook group aimed at solving the mystery has mushroomed to more than 30,000 members in just over a week, with users trading photos, videos, and theories.

As you can imagine, some of those theories pretty wild. Members of the group have posed everything from aliens to marketing stunts to military experiments to something having to do with Elon Musk.

Among the more salient concerns is that the drones are operated by a foreign adversary, a possibly so far dismissed as unlikely by the Pentagon.

At the same time, you can hardly blame people in online forums like Facebook and Reddit from putting forth any and all theories when the top-down response to the drones has largely felt like the equivalent of a shrug emoticon.

Part brainstorm, part support group

Even as younger-skewing platforms like TikTok generate much of our social media discourse these days, Facebook continues to prove its value as a refuge for people seeking likeminded communities. The site’s groups feature has long served this role during moments of uncertainty, like in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when sufferers flocked to Facebook groups to trade symptoms and discuss their experiences with the newly discovered virus.

But in the wake of this month’s drone sightings, Facebook users aren’t merely joining the group to share wild theories or chide the government’s response. Sometimes they’re just looking to offer support to their fellow New Jerseyans, many of whom are increasingly anxious about what they might find tonight when they look up into the night sky.

“Don’t cower in the basement, and don’t obsess,” wrote one user. “If you have to get rid of social media, do it.”

Another user responded: “I needed to hear this today.”