Mystery "Drones" Represent Continuing Phenomenon, Not a Novel Event

A still image from a video shot during the 2019 mystery drone flap. *(Wyatt Harman / TODAY)*

As strange as the phenomenon might seem to mainstream audiences, there’s nothing particularly novel about the thousands of mysterious “drones” being reported across the U.S.

To start, this isn’t even the first flap of such sightings we’ve seen in the 21st century.

Back in 2019, authorities in a corner of rural northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska were at a loss to explain a series of reported mystery drone sightings over several counties across the two states.

This also isn’t the first large UFO event in recent memory to be dismissed by the authorities.

The Phoenix Lights were a mass UFO sighting that occurred on Thursday, March 13th, 1997, and stretched from Phoenix, Arizona to Sonora, Mexico. Witnesses reported a triangular formation of lights that passed over the state, and a series of stationary lights in the Phoenix area. The events were witnessed by thousands of people between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. that evening.

The event was explained away as a military training exercise, but eyewitnesses argued that what they saw was inconsistent with the appearance and behavior of flares.

Then governor of Arizona Fife Symington III—who at first publicly ridiculed the event—was among those eyewitnesses.

"I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery," Symington said in 2007. "Other people saw it, responsible people. I don't know why people would ridicule it"

"It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too. It was dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape."

Fast forward to today, and making headlines are reports of these unidentified flying objects causing concern among residents while simultaneously buzzing around over military bases in a number of states.

In New Jersey, this includes incursions into the airspace of Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, and in Ohio, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base’s restricted airspace was closed for four hours after the unwelcome arrival of some “small unmanned aerial systems.”

In each case, authorities assured the public that the “drone” invasions did not impact local residents or critical infrastructure.

While any unplanned incursion into military airspace is cause for concern, this is nothing new—at least not as far as UFOs are concerned.

Whatever it is, it’s been happening for far longer than mid-December 2024.

It didn’t begin with the five Navy pilots who told the New York Times that unidentified flying objects were an “almost daily” occurrence from the summer of 2014 through March 2015 while flying out of Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia, although those encounters gave us the GIMBAL and GOFAST videos that quickly found fame on the internet.

Nor was its advent the 2004 incident off the coast of California as the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group was preparing for deployment, which led to what is arguably the most famous UFO video of the 21st century—the FLIR, or “tic tac” video recorded by pilot Chad Underwood.

In terms of modern sightings, we can easily trace the interaction of UFOs and military sites back to at least the 20th century.

One such incident occurred on March 16th, 1967, when strange lights in the sky seemed to deactivate a score of ICBM missiles at two sites attached to Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

I’ve even taken a firsthand report myself from around the same time.

In 2020, I was contacted by then 79-year-old Gerald Turrise regarding an experience he’d had with a weird, winged creature in Illinois during the winter of 1957.

In the course of discussing that experience, Gerald also mentioned that he’d "had an encounter at a U.S. Army station at a Nike Hercules missile site in Northfield, Illinois” in 1963.

The missile site at which he was stationed—which was active from 1955 to 1974—is just south of Chicago.

"I was on guard duty at the time at our radar station," he said. "It was after midnight when I witnessed a UFO in the sky southeast of my location, maybe a mile away around 1000 feet above the terrain. I watched it for a few minutes before I made a phone call to our command offices in Arlington, Illinois, to report what I was observing. I was contacted a few days later by Dr. J. Allen Hynek. This report is documented in project Blue Book. Dr. Hynek had told me he was informed to tell me that what I saw was just a private airplane towing an advertising sign. I doubt they would be flying at that time of night, Now, there's no way a plane could ever make the moves I witnessed, and at the end of the encounter this UFO just shot up into space as fast as a bullet."

Gerald described the UFO as "saucer-shaped" with rotating lights that encircled the craft illuminating what looked like windows.

"[The size was] difficult to know exactly, but I'd say about 100 feet in diameter," he said.

The craft's color, he added, was indiscernible because it was nighttime.

As far as I know, the craft didn’t interfere with any missiles while it was in the area.

Regardless, this illustrates two disturbing trends we still see today: UFOs flying over military sites and the government trying to explain them away.

As you may recall, both the FBI and DHS came out and said that there is “no evidence” the recent “drone” sightings "pose a national security or public safety threat,” after which the White House went one step further and essentially blamed the whole thing on misidentifications and mass hysteria.

But these dismissals have not proven popular with every military serviceperson.

Earlier this month, a 47-foot Coast Guard rescue vessel was reportedly followed by a fleet of 12 to 30 “drones” while on patrol in the Atlantic.

“We were actually out there to see if we could spot any drones, because of all these sightings,” one Coast Guardsman said, speaking to The New York Post on condition of anonymity. “Well, we found some drones. Or more accurately, they found us.”

According to the witness, at approximately 9 p.m. these drones “appeared out of nowhere” and followed them for around 15 minutes, even changing course when their boat did.

Since their orders were merely to observe the “drones,” the Coast Guard vessel did not engage them, although, the witness clarified, “if they fired at us or engaged us in any way, we would’ve fired back.”

“I’m terrible with measurements, but [the swarm] was about 80 to 100 feet above us," he said. "They had four propellers. Seven feet across. The flashing lights, like you’ve seen. The festive green, red, and white lights.”

The “drone” swarm kept pace with the Department of Homeland Security vessel, which was cruising at “around 20 knots, which is just over 20 miles an hour.”

Eventually, the craft climbed "maybe another 100 feet" before banking left, towards the shoreline, and flying out of sight.

“Commercial airplanes don’t move like that,” he explained. “I’ve been out there [on the water] when planes were coming in for landings in New York, and trust me, you can tell the difference. We’re not idiots, we know what drones look and sound like.”

Needless to say, this Guardsman was less than enthusiastic about the White House’s dismissal of his encounter.

“I can’t pretend to know what’s going on [with the drone activity over the area], because I don’t. But they weren’t the types of drones you can buy at the store. These were government drones," he said, adding, “I don’t care what [White House spokesman John] Kirby or [DHS head Alejandro] Mayorkas say, they’re full of shit.”

“It’s the implication that’s insulting. It’s implying we’re making shit up, when the ones making up shit are down in Washington, D.C.”