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Researchers, led by University of Utah geographers, used over 98,000 public sighting reports between 2001 to 2020 to map out the biggest UFO hot spots in America.
Their study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, reveals “the majority of sightings were in western parts of the U.S. due to the region’s physical geography — lots of wide-open spaces and dark skies.”
“The West has a historical relationship to UAP [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena] — Area 51 in Nevada, Roswell in New Mexico and here in Utah we have Skinwalker Ranch in the Uinta Basin and military activity in the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground,” said Richard Medina, associate professor of geography at the University of Utah and lead author of the study. “Plus, there’s a robust outdoor community that recreates in public lands year-round. People are out and looking skyward.”
“There are many factors that can contribute to the report of anomalous objects,” said Simon Brewer, associate professor of geography at the U and co-author of the study. “By examining the spatial distribution of reports and how they relate to the local environment, we hope to provide some geographical context that may help resolve or understand reports by both the public and in military settings.”
The authors looked at the number of sightings per 10,000 people per county and identified significant clusters of low numbers of reports (cold spots) and high numbers of reports (hot spots). There were far more sightings reported in the West and in the very Northeast, along some isolated areas. The cold spots were in the central plains and the Southeast. All results except for cloud cover supported the general hypothesis that people will see things when there’s an opportunity.
The researchers also noted that many UFO hot spots were in areas with air traffic and military activity, so they believe that the data they used, taken from the National UFO Reporting Center database, involves people “spotting real objects, but not recognizing what they are.”
“The idea is that if you have a chance to see something, then it’s more likely that you’re going to see unexplained phenomena in the sky,” said Medina. “There’s more technology in the sky than ever before so the question is: What are people actually seeing? It’s a tough question to answer, and it is an important one because any uncertainty can be a potential threat to national security.”
“Understanding the environmental context of these sightings will make it easier to find explanations for their occurrence and help identify truly anomalous objects that are a legitimate threat,” the study’s authors wrote.