Remembering The UFO Hoax Of Morris County

MORRISTOWN, NJ — While strange lights and odd aircraft in the sky have become all too common in New Jersey, there was a time nearly 20 years ago when an elaborate hoax had Morristown residents thinking extraterrestrials had visited their town.

In January 2009, 911 calls swept the Greater Morris Area with reports of strange red lights in the sky. Reports would continue for the next month and change, leading some residents to believe alien invaders had taken a liking to Morris County.

While some authorities chalked the phenomenon up to flares attached to weather balloons, residents did not buy it. Paul Hurley, a pilot from Hanover Township, told reporters, “I have been in the aviation industry for 20 years and have never seen anything like this, a little scary, little scary.”

Other residents said they saw an “L-shaped” aircraft in the sky accompanying the lights, with others claiming the lights were “moving fast, holding formation.”

According to Weird NJ, an outlet that reports on supernatural happenings across the state, the largest cluster of lights was spotted on Feb. 17, 2009. Nine lights were spotted gliding across the sky, slowing down traffic due to astounded motorists, and even sparking concerns from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Feb. 17 lightshow would be the last of its kind above Morris County, leaving many residents with more questions than answers. Until a few months later, anyway.

April Fools

On April 1, 2009, Morristown residents Joe Rudy and Chris Russo (yes, the current Morristown Councilman) admitted on Skeptic Magazine that they staged the ‘UFO’ sightings.

The mischievous duo sat down with Patch 12 years after the hoax. See that conversation here: Morristown UFO Hoax: Meet The Duo Behind The 2009 Experiment

“We brainstormed the idea of producing a spaceship hoax to fool people, bring the charlatans out of the woodwork to drum up controversy, and then expose it as nothing more than a prank to show everyone how unreliable eyewitness accounts are, along with investigators of UFOs,” the pair admitted.

See a video below on how the duo pulled off the prank that had hundreds of people questioning their sanity:

A week after their admission, Rudy and Russo pleaded guilty to municipal ordinance charges of disorderly conduct. They were ordered to pay fines and subjected to community service.