Eyewitnesses in New Jersey and New York are seeing flying drones, some they say are the size of a school bus.
New Jerseyans continue to report sightings of alleged drones in the night skies, as residents and elected officials demand answers from federal authorities that so far are not forthcoming.
The phenomenon, and the uncertainty surrounding it, has spread to news and entertainment programs throughout the country. Mayors, members of Congress and even President-elect Donald Trump have weighed in on the matter, while some savvy local businesses are using the drones as a marketing tool.
The response is being fueled by numerous social media posts from residents who claim to have seen the mysterious objects flying nearby. In some cases, local authorities have had to clarify that what the public saw was not actually a drone.
But most of the sightings are not as easily disproven, especially with the lack of information coming from the federal government.
Pequannock Mayor Ryan Herd, in an interview with the USA TODAY Network, said he reached out to elected officials after he saw 60 drones around the township, but he had no luck finding anything out.
"I wasn't getting any answers. Nobody knew anything," Herd said.
Evan Cutler, a Montclair resident and co-executive producer of "On Patrol: Live," recalled a recent night when he saw an object, which he originally thought was a helicopter, draw closer to him and eventually hover over the tree line.
"I've never seen anything like it," Cutler said, calling the object "a drone on steroids."
Herd said the alleged drones he saw were two distinct sizes. He compared the smaller ones to the size of a suitcase, while the others were closer in size to an SUV.
Speculation about the source of the lights continues online, with residents sharing their own videos and images and wondering what they may be.
Moderators on the New Jersey subreddit announced Friday that they were receiving a drone-related post once every 15 minutes. In response, the site was only accepting drone-related posts "which add something new and have some credibility" and directed users to share any content and theories on the NJDrones page.
The newly created subreddit now features plenty of user footage showing lights in the night sky, though some of the clips are more convincing than others.
One post containing a video shot at 8 p.m. Friday depicted several bright lights, including multiple that appeared to be stationary. But commenters noted that the objects were likely just planes preparing for approach into a nearby airport.
Another video, taken at 6 p.m. Saturday in Mercer County, lent a little more credibility to the drone theory. The lone object in the footage "moved like a blimp if a blimp could move faster and be more agile," according to the user, and made only a very faint noise as it flew low.
"I'm skeptical of everything," the post read. "Seeing this made me more curious."
One post criticized the "gaslighting" of the drone issue by federal agencies and others who have not witnessed any alleged sightings firsthand.
The user included a video taken at 10 p.m. Thursday in Morristown. At that time, the post read, the user noticed "what I thought were more than usual low flying planes," when one suddenly turned and went the opposite direction.
"When we got home, there were so many 'planes,' more than I'd ever seen in the 6 years I've been living there. It felt eerie," the post read. "I didn't take the drone sightings seriously or pay it any mind at all until 3 days ago, when my night sky was filled with blinking lights in a way I've never seen before and haven't seen since."
The post also noted the silence from each of the supposed planes. The user stayed up until midnight watching the objects circle, at which point they all left simultaneously in the same direction.
"Maybe some of those aircrafts were planes," the user wrote, "but I'm certain without a doubt of what I witnessed that night."