Unidentified drones light up New Jersey's skies, baffles residents

"I was like, 'What is that? Is that a UFO?'" said Kat Dunbar, a 37-year-old acupuncturist and mother of three. "And we watched it the whole way home."

Brightly lit against a dark night sky, the low-flying object wasn't a star, and it wasn't moving like a plane or a helicopter.

Kat Dunbar spotted the strange object early one night several weeks ago while driving home with her children, and she was stumped.

"I was like, 'What is that? Is that a UFO?'" said Dunbar, a 37-year-old acupuncturist and mother of three. "And we watched it the whole way home."

Then, she said, she thought nothing more about it. Until this past week, when similarly bright, large and buzzing objects began flying low over her home in Bedminster, New Jersey.

They were drones, she realized. And since then, she said, they have been back every night. Usually, she and her husband, Nick Dunbar, see the first drone not long after sunset. Then they keep coming, one after another: sometimes five or more, following the same flight path.

"In the last week, it became a little bit of a menacing and, like, creepy thing," Kat Dunbar said.

Dunbar is not alone. Drone sightings have been reported in at least 10 New Jersey counties since mid-November. They have been spotted flying over important infrastructure, such as reservoirs, power lines and railroads; in people's backyards; and above highways. They often fly in groups and emit a loud humming noise that Nick Dunbar, 39, described as similar to the sounds made by electric cars. The drones appear to be significantly larger than those widely available to hobbyists.

The sightings have prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily ban drones from flying over a military base in Morris County and a golf club owned and frequented by President-elect Donald Trump. On November 26, drones flying near a landing zone prevented a medical helicopter from picking up a person injured in a car crash in Somerset County, according to NJ.com.

State leaders and elected officials have said the drones do not pose any threat to the public. But they have yet to provide any information about who might be operating them, or why.

The reported sightings have alarmed local law enforcement officials. The police chief of Florham Park, New Jersey, said in a statement on social media that the drones' presence appeared "nefarious in nature." In Hunterdon County, officials said that drones had been seen near the county's emergency communications center and near Round Valley Reservoir, the largest in New Jersey and a critical part of the state's water supply.

In recent days, drone sightings, which had been concentrated in northern New Jersey, have been reported in the southern part of state, in the Philadelphia suburbs and in towns near the coast. In New York, some Staten Island residents have reported drones near the Howland Hook Marine Terminal and on the west shore. Vito Fossella, Staten Island's borough president, asked the FBI and the FAA to investigate the sightings in a letter, describing the ongoing mystery as "odd and quite bizarre," according to reports.

The FBI's Newark, New Jersey, field office has urged anyone with "relevant information" about the drones to call the bureau's tip line or submit information online.

On Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement on social media that his office was "actively monitoring the situation" in coordination with federal and state law enforcement officers, and that there was "no known threat to the public at this time."

The US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday evening.

Unmanned objects in the sky have been spotted near US military bases several times in the past year. Last December, drones swarmed the Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which added that similar sightings had been made this year near an Air Force base in California.

In the past few weeks, the US Navy said that "small unmanned aerial systems" had been seen flying near or above four military bases used by the United States in Britain. Pentagon officials said they were taking the reports seriously, but that they did not present "any significant mission impact."

For many New Jersey residents such as the Dunbars, the drones feel more like an oddity -- and a nuisance -- than a threat. Still, the family is on edge, unnerved by the nightly mystery. They wonder when, or if, the flyovers will end.

"The thing that really feels unsettling is just like, is this always going to be like this?" Kat Dunbar said, adding that she feared for her family's privacy, not knowing what surveillance capabilities the drones might have.

"I'm not a conspiracist by any means," she said, "but I don't love the idea of massive drones patrolling where I live."