Mysterious drone night flights are unsettling New Jersey residents

Drones have been flying over parts of northern New Jersey at night for weeks, sometimes in groups, frustrating residents over the lack of information.

Nancy Read, who lives on Ironia Road in Mendham, told NJ Advance Media on Sunday that she saw groups of drones near the Randolph Regional Animal Shelter for extended periods between 8 and 10 p.m.

“One is stationary, the others are inside and outside the tree line,” she said in a Facebook message. “It’s strange. They’re out there for hours, never during the day.”

Mike Walsh, who lives on the border of Randolph, Chester and Mendham, first heard the drones overhead on Nov. 18. He has seen her every day since then, except for Thanksgiving and one snowy night. He estimated that the larger specimens were the size of a car.

One night he drove to a ridge near Black River Middle School in Chester, where he counted eight drones flying simultaneously. He also saw several drones over Randolph’s Company 4 firehouse on Dover-Chester Road.

“I don’t know if it’s casing material or worse,” said Walsh, who reported the drones to Mendham and Randolph police.

“They said they would be informed, but they are not providing any answers,” he said.

Morris Township police informed residents last week that an investigation was underway and asked for reports of additional sightings.

The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office referred its investigation to the FBI’s Newark field office, which did not respond to emailed requests for information over the weekend.

The FBI confirmed an ongoing investigation to the Daily Record.

At Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township, home of the U.S. Army’s research and development laboratories, officials were investigating reports of drones overhead on Nov. 18, according to an official comment to The War Zone, a military news site.

Messages left with the Federal Aviation Administration, local police and Picatinny Arsenal were not immediately returned.

“All I can say is it’s very strange,” Read said. “What’s even stranger is that no one can track them or find out who they are and what they do.”

Staff reporter Eric Conklin contributed reporting.

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Tina Kelley can be reached at [email protected]. Jackie Roman available at [email protected].