Who grew up feeling a great deal superior to the forebears who got suckered into the infamous 1938 “The War of the Worlds” radio program that claimed Martians had invaded in flying saucers in New Jersey? The fictional Halloween broadcast featured a news reporter breaking into a “regularly scheduled” live concert breathlessly describing a mystery object that had plummeted from the sky. A lot of Americans thought it all real and reached out to authorities to find out what was going on. There wasn’t a panic exactly so much as an extended case of the jitters — with thousands of newspaper articles subsequently published in the weeks following to allay those fears.

Hmm, that could never happen again, right?

While there isn’t quite so pat an explanation for the drone sightings of recent days, it’s pretty clear they are at least partly a product of heightened public fears (and some irresponsible media coverage).

Hobbyist drones have been around for years but surely reports of increased use of unmanned drones by the military — and especially by foreign governments — have caused a bit of dread. And not to single out any public figure but how embarrassing that former Gov. Larry Hogan is among the early attention-getters having posted on social media a firsthand account of seeing drones hovering over his home in Davidsonville. Alas, experts say the video he posted actually shows stars in the constellation Orion. Oops.

Hey, anybody could make that mistake. On any given night in Baltimore, we see helicopters, private aircraft and, lately, quite a few Christmas lights especially on a certain street in Hampden. Warn us to be alert for drones and we’ll end up seeing a lot more of them no matter what. By the way, there’s a holiday manger scene on 34th Street featuring a green alien — but we strongly believe that’s an inflatable and not real.

Why haven’t public officials been more forceful in their reassurances about these drone sightings? Basically because they are not omniscient nor do they want to give ideas to copycats. Drones could become a problem in the years ahead. They already pose a danger to aircraft as a potential obstacle, especially near airports. And military installations are rightly cautious about spying. That Chinese surveillance balloon shot down in 2023 demonstrated the possibilities. But let’s face it, shooting down objects in the sky willy-nilly is clearly unwise.

All of which suggests that while the issue is worthy of further study and potential policymaking, let’s do so rationally. The invading forces aren’t coming to New Jersey (or Maryland) quite yet.