Wyoming's Year-Long UFO Mystery Above a Power Plant Stuns a Small Town
Unidentified flying objects have been regularly spotted for 13 months above the Jim Bridger Power Plant and Sweetwater County's Red Desert. A small town sheriff has admitted he is perplexed by a series of mysterious flying objects which have been bewildering locals in his Wyoming community for more than a year. John Grossnickle, the Sheriff of Sweetwater County, saw lit-up, drone-like objects as recently as December 13, his spokesman Jason Mower told Cowboy State Daily. Mower said they've worked with everyone they can possibly think of to try and solve the mystery in the sky. Locals are now so accustomed to the strange sightings that the Sheriff's office has stopped receiving calls about them, the spokesman told the outlet.
In This Article:
- 13 months of drone-like sightings above Jim Bridger Power Plant
- Officials say they've exhausted every lead
- Locals adapt as sightings become part of everyday life
- First drone sightings linked to New Jersey hysteria and a contractor claim
- Officials' theories and possible foreign involvement
- Public opinion and the FAA response
13 months of drone-like sightings above Jim Bridger Power Plant
John Grossnickle, the Sheriff of Sweetwater County, saw lit-up, drone-like objects as recently as December 13, his spokesman Jason Mower told Cowboy State Daily. Mower said they've worked with everyone they can possibly think of to try and solve the mystery in the sky.
Officials say they've exhausted every lead
'We've done everything we can to figure out what they are, and nobody wants to give us any answers,' he said. 'It's like the new normal,' Mower said.
Locals adapt as sightings become part of everyday life
Locals are now so accustomed to the strange sightings that the Sheriff's office has stopped receiving calls about them, the spokesman told the outlet. He also noted that the objects are thousands of meters above the earth, making them too high to shoot from the ground.
First drone sightings linked to New Jersey hysteria and a contractor claim
The first drone sightings in Sweetwater came as New Jersey was gripped by mass hysteria when drones were seen repeatedly lighting up the night sky. A private contractor seemingly solved that mystery after revealing at the Army's UAS and Launched Effects Summit at Fort Rucker in August that they had launched the objects to 'test out their capabilities,' according to the NY Post. 'You remember that big UFO scare in New Jersey last year? Well, that was us,' an employee of the unnamed contractor allegedly told a crowd at the event.
Officials' theories and possible foreign involvement
According to a source at the summit, the employee went on to claim there was no need to disclose their work to the public because they had a private government contract. The foreign powers mentioned were China or Russia, which has been suspected among lawmakers like Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who said some of the unidentified aircraft are 'spy drones.'
Public opinion and the FAA response
Exclusive polling from DailyMail.com and J.L. Partners found that nearly half (45 percent) of people believe the bizarre activity was more than just recreational or normal drone use, with the majority (26 percent) of those respondents pointing to foreign surveillance. Similar sightings caused mass hysteria in New Jersey last year around the same time as the UFOs were seen in Sweetwater. A private unnamed contractor took responsibility for the drone activity and claimed that they were working under contract for the government. The foreign powers mentioned were China or Russia, which has been suspected among lawmakers like Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who said some of the unidentified aircraft are 'spy drones.' The FAA last attributed the sightings to 'lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones'. The agency then issued a temporary ban on flying drones, but as the sightings continued, warned that 'deadly force' could be used against drones that present an 'imminent security threat.' There are some Americans (17 percent) who believe the drones were government surveillance tools, but 10 percent said the craft was actually protecting citizens. And a small eight percent are sure the drones are alien vehicles.
