WEBVTT - Episode One: The Arrival 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:06.080 They say that you have to learn from the past 0:00:06.760 --> 0:00:12.400 to prepare for the future. That's never been more true 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:18.360 than now. Sightings of unidentified aircraft are on the rise, 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:25.040 with new eyewitness accounts, congressional hearings, and US fighter pilots 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:31.159 taking down four high altitude flying objects under strange circumstances. 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:37.440 The quest for answers has never been greater. Tensions escalated 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:42.440 in late twenty twenty four when unexplained drones began appearing 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:47.800 in the New Jersey skies, sparking rumors in questions that 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:52.720 no one could answer. But in late twenty nineteen, an 0:00:52.800 --> 0:01:00.520 equally bizarre phenomenon started unfolding over Colorado. In Nebraska, she. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.360 Said that there were three drones that camp beside her. 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.480 One was to the right, one was directly above her, 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.320 and one was to her left, and they followed her 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.960 roughly about nine or ten miles. I think in the 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:17.440 movie with Tom whatever his name is, Tom Cruise with 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:18.679 all the. 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.360 Aliens, the world a war or whatever it is, and. 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.960 Yet it just feels like you're being locked buy these machines. 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:32.000 Authorities are calling it a mobile command vehicle with antennas, 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.560 And this morning there was a very active search. 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:39.280 For there's one right over the top of me right now. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:43.160 It has to be about three hundred feet in the air. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:45.399 It could be looking at me. 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:53.520 When they first arrived that night in late December, hovering 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.800 over farms, I didn't know what would transpire, how it 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.200 would all end, or if the end was actually the 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.440 beginning of a much bigger story. My name is Gabe 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:26.640 Lenners and this is OBSCURUM: Invasion of the Drones. Chapter one, Phillips County. It 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.840 was late twenty nineteen, just days before Christmas. I was 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.440 at the Burbank Airport ready to fly home for the holidays. 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.040 I had originally gone to college to be a meteorologist, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.640 and I still love to report on a good storm. However, 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.640 an unexpected summer job shifted my path, leading me into 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.480 a broadcasting career as a host and producer in Los Angeles, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.600 working with companies like Radio Disney, ABC News in CMT. 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:58.919 Like many people who moved to the city, I'm from 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:03.360 somewhere else, one of those no stoplight towns you see 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.680 from the sky while munching on pretzels or waiting for 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.679 the flight attendant to bring you a drink. It's in 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:14.079 Nebraska and called Imperial. There are two grocery stores, one 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:18.399 coffee shop, and no MacDonald's. It's a place where agriculture 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.959 drives livelihoods and people talk more about the local weather 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:27.760 than the latest fashion. Dia is the closest major airport 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.160 to western Nebraska, so when I flew in, my parents 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.960 picked me up in Denver and we drove east. In 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.600 this part of Colorado, there are no mountains, ski resorts, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.560 or cities. Instead, the area is flat with fields and 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:46.080 rolling grasslands, but that time of year, everything was frozen. 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.280 Once we traveled a couple hours in the car, we 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:53.720 eventually crossed the state line. It was a couple nights 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.520 before New Year's Eve. We were sitting in the living 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.760 room after eating one of my mom's home cooked meals 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:04.960 when we heard a knock at the door. Through the 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.280 living room window, I could see a uniform with a 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.840 radio flashlight and gun holstered to one side. I turned 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.159 the porch light on and immediately recognized who it was. 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.200 The cop has a family friend, and whenever I'm in town, 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.559 he'll drop by and tell a funny story or crack 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.279 a joke. He's your typical laid back small town cop. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:32.279 But that night. He stopped by late. It was after 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.320 ten PM, and there was concern in his eyes. He 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.360 began telling us about giant drones lighting up the night 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:44.599 sky and wanted to see if we'd noticed anything weird 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:45.400 near our home. 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:50.560 I had when I believed you had over or ya. 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.280 Knowing I work in the entertainment industry, he thought this 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.039 wild story may interest me as well. It had to 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.440 be a hoax, but living in has taught me that 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.560 fact is almost always stranger than fiction. So I grabbed 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.960 my phone, hopped in the pickup, and headed out to investigate. 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:15.000 It was eleven PM when I started to see what 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:21.800 all the fuss was about. I'm canning at least one, two, three, four, five, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:24.040 six seven. 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.240 The brightest light that looks the biggest is load to 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.960 the ground. In access on these remote country roads could 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.119 be a challenge, but I'm going to see how close 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:38.440 I can get. I saw more lights in the sky 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:39.839 than I could have imagined. 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:46.120 This was no hoax. I wasn't sure what I'd seen 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.919 that night, but I had to find out. I started 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.159 making calls to neighbors and was told the objects were 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:57.240 first spotted in Phillips County, Colorado, just over the Nebraska 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.600 border or some aircraft were I had to be as 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:02.159 big as small cars. 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.719 We've a got in the country, so lots of empty fields. 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.560 We actually lived fourteen fifteen miles from town. 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.200 This is Sarah. She and her husband Chris were a 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.719 couple of the first people to report these aircraft. It 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.000 took a bit of hometown charm to get them to 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.440 talk about what they witnessed. I've changed their names at 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:24.760 their request. 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:33.120 What do you remember happening on that night of December sixteenth. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.840 My son and I were at his band concert, so 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.359 we were coming home. I would say it was probably 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.600 about nine point thirty and we were coming up our driveway, 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.599 which we have our driveways about three quarters of a 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.520 mile to our house. It's a private driveway. We were 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.080 driving up at and as we got closer to the house, 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:55.320 I noticed that there was a drone flying right above 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:59.000 the porch, the front porch. Then it actually rotated around 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.760 our house, almost looking as if it was peering in 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:04.240 each window of our home. 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.080 Wow, gosh, it's so crazy. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:10.840 Yeah, when it's in your window, it's different. When they 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.840 were all flying high up in the sky, that that's 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.320 one thing. But when they're intruding on your home. It's 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.720 completely different. It flew for a very long time. It 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.840 was a very high tech machine. 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.360 What happens next to your husband gets in in his 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.720 separate vehicles in and continues to pursue the drone. 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.360 Yeah, so he he got in his pickup when he 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.720 just followed the drone and it continued west. We just 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:38.160 stayed in contact with him. 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.400 So then that's when I took off chasing. And there 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.080 were several times where I was going ninety five to 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.840 one hundred and five appreciated I'd be a mile even 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.560 two miles behind this and it blew me away how 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.040 fast it could move. All of a sudden, there was 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:01.040 a there were two drones flying in perfect unison, probably 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.160 fifty feet apart from each other, one just a little 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:04.080 bit higher than the other. 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.280 How big do you think this run was that you saw? 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.440 It had to be at least a five foot wingspan? 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.040 You know when you talked to law enforcement, what did 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:16.560 they think? 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.920 They were a ways behind me or ways of way? 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.520 And they just told me to just try to stay 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.760 with it until it landed. You know, I had a 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:27.440 quarter tank and I pick up and I soak off 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:28.840 and I'd just about use it all up, so I 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:30.480 just part and ship my life off and my sad 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.680 there for probably twenty minutes, waiting to see if I 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:39.280 saw any vehicles any were around, and never did see anybody. 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.479 After talking with Chris, I had way more questions than answers. 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.080 I had no idea how strange the story was going 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:52.000 to become. In all honesty, strange doesn't even begin to 0:08:52.080 --> 0:09:04.680 describe what I was about to discover Chapter two. Their 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.880 rumor mil All right, let's go in there DJ's bar 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:13.160 and grill. The morning after first seeing the objects, I 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.839 was restless. I'd spent most of the night scrolling through 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.360 social media to see who else spotted the aircraft. 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:21.720 How's it going? 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.720 How are you good? I'm gonna get some coffee too. 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:36.480 I'm gonna do a little. 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:34.600 Cream in there. 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.520 There was one local farmer in particular I wanted to 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.320 visit with, but before I did, I needed caffeine and 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.680 stop by a bar to grab a cup of coffee. 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:48.120 You could probably guess what the topic of conversation was about. 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:52.280 I think the funnest one is the fact that they 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.000 were missing a nuclear warhead. 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.760 I like that one is that what they're saying now too. 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.280 There's a few individuals that have said, well, like them 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.480 down into the yard or looked them in their house. 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.760 Someone has to be automatically or manually excuse me taking 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.800 over that control that uav for to do that. 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.199 I hadn't heard about warheads or aliens, but I wasn't 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.640 surprised to hear there were more wild rumors. I quickly 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.840 grabbed my coffee, hopped in the truck, and took the 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:26.079 back roads out of town. It's freezing out here today, 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:28.600 literally out here in the middle of nowhere. I have 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.520 no cell service. There's this county road and a small 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:36.320 farmhouse right next to these fields, supposed to be meeting 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.640 this guy named Tim. I'm kind of like thinking about 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.440 how this reminds me of that movie Signs with Mel Gibson. 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.640 If I was by myself right here at night, there's 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:53.040 no lights, this could get creepy. 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:55.000 O good, how are you doing? 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.880 When I pulled up to Tim's house, I didn't know much, 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.040 just that he and his wife may have experienced a 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.320 few close range encounters west of Imperial. You could tell 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.440 Tim's a family man. There were toys around the house, 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.760 and the farm dog greeted me right when I stepped 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.240 out of the truck. How does that make you feel 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:21.000 that someone could be watching early servying what's going on? 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.400 Drug or sex trafficking and all that kind of stuff 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.360 has kind of been big news locally recently, and so we're, 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.080 you know, with kids, we don't have you know, we 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:36.080 don't have the police driving by every twenty minutes or anything. 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:37.439 And you shoot, I don't even know if I've ever 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:41.280 seen this sheriff drive by out here. That's that's just 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:43.560 the rural Nebraska that we live in. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.319 When Tim's wife saw the aircraft, she was worried. 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.080 Yeah, she was a lot more concern. And in case 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.080 they're trying to find people and find kids to nab, 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.920 like sex traffickers have gone extremely high tech. And the 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.480 numbers of drones, I mean, the first one reports we 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.120 heard was like, you know, six to ten, Then we 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.880 heard sixteen. Now we've heard twenty to thirty. A friend 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.000 of mine he had he said two nights ago he 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.760 had twenty flying over his house. And you know, we 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.560 had four over our house a couple of nights before that. 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.200 Tim was now the third person Night spoken to who'd 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:24.319 confirmed these drones as he described them, were flying really 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.080 low to nearby homes. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:30.079 Yeah, they were about two probably three to four hundred 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.520 feet is probably where they were. My dad flies ultra 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.120 light airplanes. They're a small aircraft, but it's you know, 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.600 a thirty foot wingspan, and it was about the same 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.440 height that Dad flies when he comes over to see 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.080 the grandkids. As they were just over the trees, about 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:45.840 one hundred feet over here, and it was you know, 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.000 they were up there. I mean Dad's airplanes. They're gas powered. 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.040 You can barely hear them when he's flying putting along 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.280 and those drones. Yeah, it was silent. You couldn't you 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.080 couldn't hear anything. You just saw the lights basically, and 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.000 saw them as they were headed west basically. 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.800 Champion, Nebraska resident Dallas Baney recalled a similar description. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:13.080 Well, they're quiet, but they had definite two like spotlights 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.160 coming out of the bottom of them. It was hard 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.600 to tell the shape of them because it was dark, 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:21.959 but you could definitely see the two spotlights coming out 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:25.640 of each side. And I actually started seeing several of 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.840 them just everywhere. Even the close one I could barely 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:34.240 make it out. But you just remember the lights and 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:35.319 it's not an airplane. 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.040 Dallas is as real as they come. He's one of 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.400 those guys you just want to go have a beer with. 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.520 We talked in his garage, which he's converted to a 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.760 lounge area with a hot tub and flat screen on 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.120 the wall. When was the first time you started to 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:52.839 see things appear in the sky. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.000 Well, I was going out to actually flip Hamburgers on 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.200 the barbecue and I just looked up and I was like, 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.839 holy cow. So I'm yelling for the guys to get 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.800 out here. So I did at least have a few 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.400 people witness it with me, So I wasn't, you know, 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.360 people thinking I'm crazy. But I had some of the neighbors, 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:12.720 you know, they came out and they were like wow, 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.440 you know they by the time they got over there, 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.240 it was just going over the lake. The geese were 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:19.560 just going crazy. 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:20.360 They freaked out. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.120 I mean, it just brings up more suspicion. You wonder 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.520 what these drones are doing here and why if they're 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.880 thermal imaging or I seen something the other day on 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.920 the news where a drone could actually take someone's temperature 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.080 flying over and I was just like, wow, you know, 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.360 who knows what they're doing or why they're here, but 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.440 to be that size would cost probably millions of dollars, 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.520 So it's I don't think it's someone definitely has some 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:48.880 money that's back in this. To me, it seemed like 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:50.080 they were looking for something. 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:56.120 If these unidentified aircraft were searching for something and hovering 0:14:56.160 --> 0:15:00.400 outside the windows of folks I'd grown up with, let 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:04.360 it go. One thing was for sure. There were many 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.880 theories about what was happening in the skies over Colorado 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:13.880 in Nebraska, theories that prompted more questions. Why would someone 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.240 be flying groups of drones at night and why would 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.520 they choose to do it here. I was driving down 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:27.320 the road processing all of this when my phone rang hello, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.080 making a voice note. I just talked to one of 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.120 the local authorities. He did not want to be named 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.800 as a source, but he told me that someone on 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:44.680 his team talked to the FBI, and the FBI instructed 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:47.960 them to shoot one of these objects out of the 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:55.240 sky if they got the chance. Coming up on Obscure 0:15:56.240 --> 0:16:01.000 Invasion of the drones, we were testing the ability to 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:06.000 be able to tie remotely piloted vehicles to a mothership, 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:06.720 and that was. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:07.400 In the late ages. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.960 We've heard that there's a missing nuke and that they're 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:11.760 looking for that. 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.120 With the green stuff. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.640 I'm a little you know, I'm like, oh, what if 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:17.960 it's something like dangerous? 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.800 If you have any information surrounding the events detailed in 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:38.480 this podcast, or have your own similar account, please visit 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:45.280 our website at obscurumseries.com and share your story. You'll also 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:50.200 find exclusive behind the scenes content on the side. To 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:55.600 connect with us on social media, you can follow @obscurum_series 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:02.920 and @gabelenners on all social platforms. OBSCURUM is produced by 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:10.040 Imagine and Lenners Entertainment for iHeartMedia. This series is written, hosted, 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:15.520 and produced by Me Gabe Lenners. It's executive produced by 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:23.160 Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carl Welker, Nathan Kloke, Nicki Etour 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:29.520 and Me. Additional production by Jacob Plough. Music and sound 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:35.240 effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Brand management and digital design 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:42.000 by Labyrinth Brand Co. Video editing by Alex Semikopenko. This 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:47.479 project was mixed and mastered by Jacob Plough. Special thanks 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:55.600 to Dan Bodansky, Josh Hiller, Keeton Storts, Bryson Keyes, Ailey Birchfield, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:03.720 David Wasserman, Katrina Norvel and my family. OBSCURUM: Invasion of 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:09.399 the Drones is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:14.840 or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Follow now.