"I could see five of them" on Sunday night from the backyard, said Jonelle Ferentinos, who lives less than a mile west of the reservoir in the Lake Intervale section of Parsippany. "It was dark, so I really couldn't see where they were coming from or going to. They just seemed to be flying around."

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The latest eyewitnesses to a growing mystery hovering over North Jersey posted their accounts on social media Sunday night, illustrated with videos of what appeared to be drones darting across the night sky in Parsippany, not far from two interstate highways and the Boonton Reservoir.

Similar sightings over the past week of nighttime drone activity in the area have ignited an explosion of viral speculation after the first reports — and confirmation of an FBI investigation — spread on social media and through news reports over the past week.

"We remind everyone that it is unlawful to fly [drones] over Picatinny Arsenal or any other federal military installation without prior authorization," a Picatinny spokesperson said last week.

The question remains: Who or what is behind these disturbing and, in some cases, possibly illegal drone flights? Are they just innocent drone pilots having some fun at the expense of an increasingly nervous public that is prone to embracing a hoax?

Morristown Councilman Chris Russo, who know a thing or two about hoaxes, having infamously perpetrated one in 2009, has a more cynical view.

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Austin, who also teaches a course on drone operation, said almost all drones for sale carry a GPS chip, with the possible exception of cheaper "drugstore drones." "It's like flying with LoJack," he said.

Recalling their shenanigans in a Daily Record/USA Today Network interview on Monday, Russo explained they were attempting a "social experiment" to expose “ufology” as a pseudoscience and emphasize the unreliability of eyewitness claims.

Until then, "Stories like this are great, they're exciting, regardless of what the explanation is," Moran said. "It gets people talking, and why not? Makes life more interesting."

Another drone expert, Warren County College President William Austin, said last week that he feels the daring pilot or pilots can be identified and grounded.

Russo and a friend, Joe Rudy, captured the same public's attention in January 2009 when they launched a series of helium balloons into the night sky above Morristown with red road flares attached.

At about the same time, Julie Washington posted a video of a drone flying over Lake Intervale. Another poster claimed to see five drones near the Parsippany PAL building about 3 miles away. Yet another was spotted by Forest Drive, a little farther to the west of the reservoir, "just hovering," said a Facebook post by Leena Butala Sheth.

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"It would be nice if there was some sort of conclusion, because otherwise it's purely speculation," said Moran, of Weird N.J. "A lot of our stories don't get tied up into a neat little bow. It would be nice to have some sort of lead to go on. But right now, all we have are eyewitness or earwitness testimony."

In September, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Green Day was rushed off the stage during a concert in front of 30,000 fans at Comerica Park in Detroit when a drone was spotted flying over the stadium.

"There's a big hubbub around here for sure," Russo said of the latest mystery. "But usually when they come up with the explanation of these things at some point, it's a boring explanation."

"They're flying at odd times, in the middle of the night, and it kind of makes you wonder," Moran said. "Generally, the private drone users do their activity during the day so they can film things and see things. You're very limited at night. Not only is it difficult to fly a drone when you can't see it, but also, what are you going to be looking at other than just darkness or random lights?"

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So far, the drone sightings are focused mostly in the North Jersey area, especially Morris County, where other night-sky drone sightings were acknowledged by federal officials at the Picatinny Arsenal military research and manufacturing facility.

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Back in North Jersey, authorities are still trying to catch the perpetrator or perpetrators behind this latest drone mystery.

In February, a pulsing flash of light across the night sky, described by some as a "fireball," was seen in upstate New York, in and around Buffalo, with subsequent sightings near LeRoy, in Genesee County, and Warsaw, in Wyoming County.

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More sightings have been posted on social media in East Hanover and Rockaway. Other sightings last week, in the vicinity of Morristown Municipal Airport, prompted Morristown and Morris Township police to post Nixle alerts, warning residents not to approach or handle the drones "should they land."

"We are working with our state and local partners on the reported drone activity," Amy Thoreson, a public affairs specialist with the FBI's Newark Office, said last week.

Or could there be a more sinister motivation at play? Is someone trying to obtain images and data on our critical infrastructure and military bases? A prelude to alien invasion?

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Now an elected official in town and founder and owner of “Superhero Events,” an organization that sponsors half-marathons and other racing events to raise money for schools and charities, Russo paid the price for his transgression, but he proudly states, "We were never caught."

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Those reports later stretched from Ontario, Canada, to Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey, with the suspected flight path being northeast from Ohio, said the American Meteor Society.

Their shenanigans resulted in fines of $250 each and community service. The hoax also resulted in two TV documentaries and a short-lived offer of a series.

As speculation ran wild and law enforcement continued to investigate, Russo and Rudy outed themselves to Skeptic magazine on April Fool's Day 2001.

The Morris County Prosecutor's Office also issued an advisory last week — adding that there was "no threat to the community" — before referring subsequent inquiries to the FBI.

"Could you be legally doing it? Possibly," Austin said. "But one thing's for sure: When they are identified, they will have a lot of questions to answer."

"It seems there may be some technology at play that's beyond the capability of just a private citizen flying a drone," Moran mused. "Perhaps they have some infrared or low-light capability that the standard drones don't have."

Weird N.J. magazine co-founder Mark Moran, who knows a thing or two about local mysteries, isn't quite sure what is going on.

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