UFO Sightings at All-time High, Says Statistician

Reported sightings of flying saucer have actually gone down, says Monfort.  Image from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Statistician Sam Monfort has compiled and collated sightings reported to The National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).  According to Monfort, his findings indicate that UFO sightings are currently at an all time high.

Image credit: Sam Monfort

The statistician observed that the type of craft witnessed has changed considerably over the years, with traditional "flying saucers" being exchanged for mere "lights in the sky."

"The plurality of post-Internet sightings take the form of strange lights in the sky. Why lights instead of tangible shapes? Maybe claiming to see 'lights' is less likely to make your friends and family react skeptically than claiming you saw an actual UFO up-close, especially now that everyone walks around with a handy picture-taking device in their pocket," says Monfort.

Monfort makes interesting correlations between certain dates, like the fourth of July, having higher incidents of recorded sightings, speculating that "maybe the mysterious lights [reported on the fourth of July] are actually fireworks."

He also noticed that certain countries are much more likely to report UFOs than others, with the number of reported sighting in the USA being almost 300 times greater than the global median.

Image credit: Sam Monfort

Monfort found no statistically significant connection between internet access and the number of UFOs reported, and offers no explanation for why the USA would report so many.  Some scientists point to this as evidence of UFOs as a cultural phenomena, although others would argue that Monfort's data is skewed, and less developed countries report fewer sightings due to a lack of overall infrastructure and not necessarily just access to the internet.