The Heck Is Going On in North New Jersey???

Hello all. In the past few months strange things have been brewing in New Jersey.

Firstly several weeks ago there was an earthquake that struck Victory Gardens, NJ (www.nytimes.com...), and now just today appears another quake strikes the same town again: www.nj.com...
Local NJ forums are saying that's 3 earthquakes in a short span, I'm not aware of which is the 3rd one but apparently there was another one recently as well, hopefully other NJ'ers can help fill in the blank spots.

A month prior to that, there was the famous Morristown UFO incident (en.wikipedia.org...), which is 'strangely' the next town over from Victory Gardens, about 4 miles away or so.
www.youtube.com...
As some of you know a few months ago also there were alleged UFO sightings near Rutherford, NJ.
Last night I was near Vernon, NJ in Sussex county (north west corner of NJ) visiting a family member whose house is on a lake. Late at night around midnight (the earthquake last night was said to be around 1am or so I believe), I heard enormous sounds coming from the lake, as if the entire frozen ice sheet was moving. I didn't feel any earthquake or tremors but it was one of the most frightening noises I heard. After doing research I see that such lake/ice movements are common, especially when temperatures drop fast and it shifts the ice/pressure at around midnight til dawn but I have been there plenty times and never heard that before. This morning I can clearly see huge cracks on the lake surface.

Furthermore, earlier last night, around 8pm a relative said they saw approximately 10 helicopters (not sure whether to believe this possibly exaggerated number) hovering over Route 23 near West Milford in Sussex County. Later that night, about an hour prior to the lake incident I myself was watching with binoculars what I thought at first was a UFO, but appeared to be a helicopter in the distance, hovering somewhere around Vernon Valley...but it had a very bright light and was for some reason hovering in place for a long while (not 100% what it was).

And as if that wasn't all strange enough, about a month ago, the lake, which was completely frozen over, appeared to have been hit by a meteor. One morning upon awaking, I found the pristine surface of the lake, roughly 20-30 feet out from the shore, had a huge round hole approximately 4 x 4 feet give or take, with spidery impact veins spreading outward away from the hole like an impact crater on the moon. I know for a fact this wasn't anyone ice fishing as 1. they never drill a hole that wide, 2. no such impact veins would be visible if they drilled a neat hole, 2. I'm usually aware of anyone ice fishing that close to the house as I can see them sitting there for hours on end. And secondly, the impact could not have been from any trees as it is far enough from the 'shore' that no tree is even close to hanging over that area. Keep in mind this is about a month ago when temperatures were very low and the lake is a solid block of ice, whatever hit it and sent those impact veins growing outwards must have been some sort of object that fell at very fast velocity from the sky.
I managed to snap a few pictures with a camera phone:



Finally, I have not been able to confirm but I hear now from a family member in the area that a NEW UFO sighting was apparently reported just today or yesterday..cannot confirm this yet hopefully someone else can chime in.

Can any other NJ'ers fill in with your recent experiences and in particular if anyone is near Vernon/W. Milford/Route 23/Canistear Road and saw anything strange like 10 helicopters in the sky last night?





[edit on 18-2-2009 by rufusdrak]

Update: www.nj.com...

apparently it's true, there WAS another UFO sighting last night in Morristown. Similar red lights, that some people think is a prank, flares suspended from balloons of some sort. One comment at the bottom of the news story says:

"Posted by kd5463 on 02/18/09 at 12:14PM

I was directly under these lights at 8:45 PM tonight. They are definitely some kind of balloon with a flare on them. I could see the flares buring and they swayed around like balloons in a breeze and there was nothing around them like an aircraft, just empty sky. It's just somebody goofing off. But But it could be dangerous to low flying aircraft and if a flare dropped it could cause something to catch fire."


The only problem with this statement is that many people said the first incident last month were flares as well but many testified including I believe a police officer (or some kind of official, check the original article I posted in the OP to make sure) that they specifically observed the lights to move in perfect formation AGAINST the wind and at fast speeds so who knows, this could be a disinfo agent posting about the 'flares'. Secondly, I find it a strange coincidence that if it IS a hoax/flares, then why did an earthquake hit the same area literally 4 hours later? Morristown is only a couple miles away from Victory Gardens and the UFO incident was around 9pm last night and the earthquake was at 1AM 4 hours later.
The other interesting thing is that, as I said in the OP, a family member observed "10 helicopters" in the sky hovering on route 23 at 8-9pm, roughly 20 miles or so northwest of where the UFO sighting was occurring at exactly the same time last night. I then observed a strange light hovering myself 2 hours after that and then the strange lake sounds an hour after that, and then the earthquake apparently occurred an hour later. Very peculiar...

You've posted an incorrect youtube embed and I wanna see!

Originally posted by Good Wolf
You've posted an incorrect youtube embed and I wanna see!

Sorry, it seems I don't know how to embed it (not sure what they mean by "post youtube video *number*), but I just edited it to have just the link so it should work now. It's the youtube video for the family that videotaped the Morristown UFO on January 5, 2009.

Ah cool! I really like the black triangle types.

Any how, here's how to embed.

the link (number in bold):
youtube.com/watch?v=IqcRpQ-WaQw

Which comes out like this.

Here's more, apparently recent UFO incident as well in NJ www.youtube.com...

Interesting things to note, the initial Morristown red lights/UFO incident occurred at 8:30pm in January, the one last night also occurred at 8:30-9:00pm in the same town, same description.

Initial report on the first one a month ago had eyewitnesses SPECIFICALLY stating that the formation was fast moving, changed directions multiple times (often against the wind) and then ascended at rapid speed and disappeared, ruling out any weather balloon/flare theories.

Another interesting thing is that the 1/5/09 lights preceded the earthquake as I've said, in the same area that occurred 2/3/09 I believe. Then last night's lights occurred at the same time as the 1/5/09 lights, roughly 8:30-9:00pm and also preceded an earthquake, which this time came 4 hours later rather than several weeks later.
Interesting because of the stories we have heard over the past year of strange lights and such being witnessed in the skies prior to earthquakes in other countries like the one in China.

[edit on 18-2-2009 by rufusdrak]

[edit on 18-2-2009 by rufusdrak]

www.ldeo.columbia.edu...

Here's a list of the latest quakes in the area. This is definately something worthy of ATS attention and a little data interpretation to boot. Too many lives at stake in that area of the world to just brush it off.

i live right around the corner in the lower hudson valley about 15 min away from high point. i heard of the first quake but didnt hear of the others. i know that there are some wicked fault lines running through the hudson valley. there was a earthquake in the mid 90s in poughkeepsie.

Why is there more UFO activity in areas with high tectonic/volcanic activity? That Mexican dude with his Spanish UFO TV show (can't think of his name of hand) said that the volcanic/tectonic activity around Mexico is linked to it's UFO activity.

Just to let you know, a MAJOR Fault line runs right down the Hudson River (The Ramapo Fault Zone). As a matter of fact, it runs right under the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, and Manhattan. This Fault Line is what created the Palisades.

My Old Man is from Teaneck, NJ, and his Old House (Built in the 1920's) actually has cracks in it from previous Earthquakes in the 1970's (and it was one solidly built house).

So in general, the number of Earthquakes in such a relative short period of time might seem unusual, but the actual aspect of Seismic Activity in the Region is not.

Originally posted by middleclasssoldier
i live right around the corner in the lower hudson valley about 15 min away from high point. i heard of the first quake but didnt hear of the others. i know that there are some wicked fault lines running through the hudson valley. there was a earthquake in the mid 90s in poughkeepsie.

plus dont forget that the hudson valley (especially pine bush n.y) is a huge hot spot for ufo activity. there was a ufo hunters episode about the hudson valley and pine bush. stewart air force base is a 15 min ride from pine bush so its no wonder that there is a lot of weird # in the sky? and this is right around the corner form vernon nj.

Originally posted by rufusdrak
Hello all. In the past few months strange things have been brewing in New Jersey.



And as if that wasn't all strange enough, about a month ago, the lake, which was completely frozen over, appeared to have been hit by a meteor. One morning upon awaking, I found the pristine surface of the lake, roughly 20-30 feet out from the shore, had a huge round hole approximately 4 x 4 feet give or take, with spidery impact veins spreading outward away from the hole like an impact crater on the moon. I know for a fact this wasn't anyone ice fishing as 1. they never drill a hole that wide, 2. no such impact veins would be visible if they drilled a neat hole, 2. I'm usually aware of anyone ice fishing that close to the house as I can see them sitting there for hours on end. And secondly, the impact could not have been from any trees as it is far enough from the 'shore' that no tree is even close to hanging over that area. Keep in mind this is about a month ago when temperatures were very low and the lake is a solid block of ice, whatever hit it and sent those impact veins growing outwards must have been some sort of object that fell at very fast velocity from the sky.
I managed to snap a few pictures with a camera phone:





[edit on 18-2-2009 by rufusdrak]

First of all, GREAT Job with the Analysis and Comprehensive Conclusions. Some individuals simply jump to masterful assumptions, which given any number of "Strange" Occurrences is an understandable reaction. No "faults" there (No Pun Intended). However, you did a good job of looking up possible explanations for the Ice Movement, and the Non-Identified Lights you witnessed as well.

As for the Hole in the Ice, although your initial Theory is completely plausible, have you ever considered the possibility of an Animal having fallen into the Lake? A Deer would be my first Estimate, as they have been witnessed many times over again falling through thin Ice, upon which they wander in search of Food. Even more so, a Bear that decided to awaken early from their Hibernation would have Most Certainly fallen through such ice (and I know how many Black Bears you have in that part of the State).

Did a little research into the geology of Morris county and it seem the earthquakes are occuring in an area of granite and basalt which is good for infrastructure. At least these epicenters aren't in a location of silt or sand.

Interesting thing I noticed after someone mentioned the UFO's occuring around seismically active areas.


1/5/09 Morristown, NJ UFO/lights
1/6/09 EQ 17km NW of Trenton

1/26/09 Lockport, NY Earthquake
1/30/09 Morristown, NJ lights/UFO
1/30/09 Ripon, Quebec Earthquake

2/3/09 Rockaway, NJ Earthquake (3.0mag.)
2/7/09 Morristown, NJ lights/UFO
2/7/09 Massena, NY Earthquake

2/16/09 Oradell, NJ (~20 miles from Morristown) Earthquake
2/17/09 Morristown, NJ lights/UFO
2/18/09 Morris Plains, NJ Earthquake (right next to Morristown)

Originally posted by TheAgentNineteen

Originally posted by rufusdrak
Hello all. In the past few months strange things have been brewing in New Jersey.



And as if that wasn't all strange enough, about a month ago, the lake, which was completely frozen over, appeared to have been hit by a meteor. One morning upon awaking, I found the pristine surface of the lake, roughly 20-30 feet out from the shore, had a huge round hole approximately 4 x 4 feet give or take, with spidery impact veins spreading outward away from the hole like an impact crater on the moon. I know for a fact this wasn't anyone ice fishing as 1. they never drill a hole that wide, 2. no such impact veins would be visible if they drilled a neat hole, 2. I'm usually aware of anyone ice fishing that close to the house as I can see them sitting there for hours on end. And secondly, the impact could not have been from any trees as it is far enough from the 'shore' that no tree is even close to hanging over that area. Keep in mind this is about a month ago when temperatures were very low and the lake is a solid block of ice, whatever hit it and sent those impact veins growing outwards must have been some sort of object that fell at very fast velocity from the sky.
I managed to snap a few pictures with a camera phone:





[edit on 18-2-2009 by rufusdrak]

First of all, GREAT Job with the Analysis and Comprehensive Conclusions. Some individuals simply jump to masterful assumptions, which given any number of "Strange" Occurrences is an understandable reaction. No "faults" there (No Pun Intended). However, you did a good job of looking up possible explanations for the Ice Movement, and the Non-Identified Lights you witnessed as well.

As for the Hole in the Ice, although your initial Theory is completely plausible, have you ever considered the possibility of an Animal having fallen into the Lake? A Deer would be my first Estimate, as they have been witnessed many times over again falling through thin Ice, upon which they wander in search of Food. Even more so, a Bear that decided to awaken early from their Hibernation would have Most Certainly fallen through such ice (and I know how many Black Bears you have in that part of the State).

Thanks for the commendations but I'm afraid an animal falling through the ice to make that hole would probably be impossible in my opinion. The reason is simply that it was particularly cold that week (temperatures hitting 0-5f) and the lake had already been frozen very solid for a long while, people played hockey, and groups of people (10-15 people at a time) did activities and stood around in the same area on the lake without it breaking so I doubt a deer or a bear would have, not to mention we haven't seen either in a long time around here (haven't seen black bears around in over a year in particular). Furthermore the lake is small and only has a small number of houses on it in a private community, so the people that have access to the lake is very small. We know of only 2-3 people or so that ice fish on it and they do so out in the middle with SMALL holes that they leave orange flags so that people don't accidentally step foot into the holes.
So if you ask ME, my knowledge of the area/events 100% rules out ice fishers, animals or tree branches/limbs because as I've said it's 20-30 feet away from the shore no where near any over hanging tree parts. It's utterly inexplicable and appeared over night. I've never seen anything like it before because taking into account how thick and solid the ice was at that time you would not be able to dent it even with a sledgehammer (believe me I've tried for fun near the shore in a different year :lol so whatever caused that hole had to have had immense impact due to velocity. I would not say immense WEIGHT though because the SIZE of the whole was not indicative of something very large. It would take probably several tons to break that ice and any SUPER large bear would have made a far larger hole...so my theory stands that it must have been something very hard going very fast. The good news is that once spring hits and the ice melts...that part of the lake is relatively shallow and I may be able to check to see if there's any space parts or alien meteors stuck in the mud underneath.

Could the hole in the ice have been debris from the satellite? I had read it was suppose to be somewhere near Edmonton or 100 miles east of Calgary just a coincidence about the earthquake timing wise??? interesting...

My mom actually mentioned how weird things have been with NJ the other day, upon the most recent quake. We used to live there, and nothing like this happened then. Weird stuff. It's definitely a lot of earthquakes for a short period of time. That's all I know, haha.

I live in north Jersey. Just a couple of weeks ago I got a call to do a survey about how prepared I would be if a disaster hit. They asked about how much food and drinking water supply I had and other questions. I had a bad feeling about it and thought that maybe they know something is going to happen. Now with all these small quakes I have to wonder if this could be leading up to a larger more destructive quake. It is unusual to have any real measurable earthquakes in NJ. 3 of them within three weeks is unheard of.

I guess I should go stock up.

Another interesting idea that just hit me is the weird smell that residents of NY/NJ have been reporting for the past few months. And please no "smelly NJ" jokes, that's not the sort of smell I'm talking about. I mean for example several months ago there were numerous reports of strange smells over the ocean or harbors or over the city etc. Some speculated it's underwater gases of some sort coming up. Well with all this seismic activity lately it makes one wonder, what if we're experiencing some major shifts underneath lately and it's causing techtonic plates and such to shift around releasing trapped pockets of gas of all sorts and minor earthquakes all over this area.

HHmmm, the hole in the lake is interesting. If you google it, there are other places that have had this happen, but I don't think anyone ever came to a solid conclusion as to what did it. I guess I would also go with the meteor or space junk theory, but I would think there would be some sort of sound, noise or sonic boom that would be heard, unless the water is so insulating as to drown out the noise of something that size hitting the ice.

There was one story where a diver was sent down to look for a fallen meteor, but nothing out of the ordinary was found. In Wisconsin, we sometimes have what is a combo of a snowstorm and thunderstorm...any chance it could have been ball lightening? That one is a chin scratcher, thx for sharing the pic!

We've had tremors in Wisconsin due to the New Madrid, but usually far between, strange to see NJ has had so many in such a short time.