On a cold winter night in New Jersey, the skies are far from still.
The state has become the eerie epicenter of mysterious drone activity in recent weeks, rocking the nation with tales of locals spotting brightly lit objects whizzing through the sky. Federal authorities are adamant there is not threat to the public.
Joseph Micali, 38, a patent attorney from Westfield, New Jersey, stood in his frigid driveway on Saturday night, staring into the abyss that had been illuminated by drones over the last few days.
Out of the starless December sky, one, two, three, then four drones suddenly started to appear out of thin air – sending a shiver down the spines of everyone watching.
Staring in disbelief, the dad-of-two described how his neighborhood was being plagued by low-flying fixed-winged drones, that release a low humming noise and colored lights in the night sky.
Like many experiencing the bizarre fixtures in the air, Micali has reached his wit’s end with the radio silence from authorities on what the drones are – causing him and his neighbors to delve into terrifying conspiracy theories on who is behind them.
The never-ending cycle of buzzing drones has made the father feel as if he’s inside a thriller movie – with his wife left fearing to leave the house because of what may ‘be coming off’ of the menacing drones.
Speaking outside his home on Saturday night, Micali told DailyMail.com: ‘I ran inside grabbed my binoculars and caught a clear glimpse. It looked like a plane, but it is a fixed-wing drone.
Joseph Micali, 38, a patent attorney from Westfield, New Jersey , stood in his driveway, staring at the drones that he had been seeing lighting up the sky over his home for days
The dad-of-two described how his neighborhood was being plagued by low-flying fixed-winged drones, that release a low humming noise and colored lights in the night sky. Pictured: A colorful drone above his NJ home on Saturday night
‘It was zig-zagging across the sky, making circles, but at any given time over Westfield there were probably at least 10, up to 15, going at the same time.’
Micali described the drones as ‘blinking red and green lights’ and making a low noise – revealing that some nights, the illumination coming off the drones is just white.
The New Jersey man said that the strange activity usually starts around 9pm and ends at 12pm – but that now it seems to be starting earlier.
‘Today, I started seeing some activity around 6pm. It is a bit unsettling. My wife is probably more concerned than me,’ he told DailyMail.com.
He described the unnerving way the drones often feel like they are ‘coming right at you’ because of how low they are flying in the sky.
Micali said: ‘The low-flying drones you feel like they are coming right at you – like the Alfred Hitchcock movie when the planes are coming down and Carey Grant dodges the the aircraft. There are some nights you just see them come over the tree line and think “they are right on top of me.'”
Speaking about the drone hysteria in New Jersey, he said: ‘It is the buzz of the town. Everyone is trying to get footage, and send it around to friends. They are substantial in size. They are not drones you can buy off the shelf in Target.’
The inexplicable drone issue reached boiling point over the weekend as President Joe Biden remained silent on the matter – refusing to address the mounting crisis, fueling country-wide fear and confusion.
Pointing to the sky on Saturday night, the attorney showed how there were currently three drones above him, ‘crisscrossing in different directions and altitudes.’
‘Sometimes I see them coming over my house in this direction and other times in this direction,’ motioning the other way.
‘At first, I wasn’t so concerned. I thought that there would be an explanation coming out in a matter of hours, especially with the pressure building to get answers. But the fact that we still have no information is very unsettling.
‘You can’t deny what your eyes are seeing. I thought at first, it seems they were following the same pattern… but as the days go by, I see them coming every which way as they are scanning indiscriminately.’
Micali added: ‘There is no rhyme or reason.’
Pictured: A drone seen flying over Joseph Micali’s home in Westfield, New Jersey
Pictured: A drone seen flying over Joseph Micali’s home in Westfield, New Jersey
Speaking about the drone hysteria in New Jersey, he said: ‘It is the buzz of the town. Everyone is trying to get footage, and send it around to friends. They are substantial in size. They are not drones you can buy off the shelf in Target’
Reporter Ruth Bashinsky points up at the night sky above the community in New Jersey, where locals have been plagued by the never-ending drone activity
Unlike some experts who believe a foreign entity is behind the drones, Micali said that he thinks it may be the US military – but that is based on him ‘hoping for the best.’
He said: ‘The drones feel very much focused on the ground below, and the question is, what are they doing flying around at night?
‘Obviously if they are doing mapping, you would think they would want daylight, unless they are testing some type of capability in the night time,’ Micali said.
He added: ‘Another theory is that they are testing some kind of self-driving auto-pilot feature to these drones, giving them a prompt to go exploring and collecting data. A third theory is that they are just testing to see how far these drones can travel.’
The attorney, who said he has not discussed the drone ordeal with his children, aged nine and 11, said that the flying objects have often ‘caught him off guard’ as he’s driving home in the dark.
Micali added: ‘I am much calmer than my wife. But as the days go on, I am getting her perspective and getting more concerned. Like, if I step outside, am I breathing in something? Is something coming off of these things?
‘Another conspiracy is that it is a kind of PSYOP [psychological operations] event that we are getting subjected to. This is an experiment and they are going to fly drones overhead and get people ready for a world where drones will always fly.
‘It’s just nonstop. Every time you think one has passed over, you turn around and see a new one hanging overhead. That is how it has been most nights.’
Joseph isn’t the only person on his street who is fed up and confused about the drones. Lisa, another local, was walking her Chihuahua named Chance at 10:30pm on Saturday when she called the drone business ‘annoying.’
She told DailyMail.com: ‘Honestly, I can’t tell the difference between a drone or a plane, but I feel like somebody knows what they are and they should be telling us.
‘I am disturbed that whoever knows something is not telling the public and that is not right and not fair.’
While we were talking her dog was barking loudly and I asked her if her dog was sensing something unusual, she laughed: ‘I wish I knew. I wish I could talk to him and ask him.’
She added: ‘He is more disturbed by cats than anything else.’
This comes as former CIA operations officer Laura Ballman revealed her chilling theory that the drones lighting up multi-state skies may be a ‘classified exercise.’
She told Fox News Live that the drone sightings are ‘extremely unsettling,’ and shared her theory that they may be part of a technology ‘test,’ orchestrated by the Biden Administration.
Unlike some experts who believe a foreign entity is behind the drones, Micali said that he thinks it may be the US military – but that is based on him ‘hoping for the best’
The attorney, who said he has not discussed the drone ordeal with his children, aged nine and 11, said that the flying objects have often ‘caught him off guard’ as he’s driving home in the dark
Speaking about the drones above his home, Micali said: ‘There is no rhyme or reason’
Ballman said: ‘Now in terms of who is behind this, seeing the statements that have been made by John Kirby, who has said that these objects are not operating illegally.
‘Coupled with the several op-eds that have been out there in the last 24 hours about the need to look at our detection systems, [it] makes me think perhaps this is actually a classified exercise to test either evasion technology or detection technology in urban areas.’
Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at conservative think tank the Gatestone Institute and an expert on Chinese affairs, said the drones appeared to be highly sophisticated and are not being controlled by amateurs.
‘These activities are too large and well-organized to be the work of hobbyists,’ Chang told Fox Business.
‘That leaves foreign powers. It could be Iran in connection with China, but clearly, somebody is trying to divert our attention.’
Chang suggested that while the drones themselves are unsettling, he was more troubled by the fact that they could be a distraction for a far greater threat.
‘What really worries me is what they might be doing elsewhere. We could very well get hit,’ he told Fox.
As of Saturday night, drones have been spotted over the skies in California, Massachusetts, Florida, Wyoming, New York, and New Jersey.
The unnerving sightings are causing mass hysteria – and witnesses have taken to social media to share the peculiar sightings, after Trump demanded the ‘SUV-sized’ drones be shot down.