From UFOs to drones, the US fascination with – and fear of – ‘anomalous detections’

A first-of-its-kind public archive of UFO records opens in New Mexico as New Jersey is gripped by drone panic

A widespread panic about drones or other unknown low-flying objects has gripped New Jersey in recent days, but many other parts of the US remain cheerfully gripped by another very American mystery in the skies that has had a modern resurgence of interest: UFOs.

At the newly opened National UFO Historical Records Center - an array of beige buildings on the grounds of the Martin Luther King Jr elementary school in Rio Rancho, New Mexico - records detailing unexplained aerial objects and public fears around them fill dozens of filing cabinets.