Florida cities with the most UFO sightings

When pilot Kenneth Arnold took off from Chehalis, Washington, in his single-engine airplane one afternoon in June 1947, he was on the lookout for a misplaced navy plane that had crashed. However what he discovered was one thing utterly completely different—one thing that might set off a cultural obsession within the U.S. that persists at present.

Whereas flying round Mount Rainier, Arnold reportedly encountered nine curious, wingless objects rushing by the sky at 1,200 mph, sooner than any aircraft on the time may. Arnold spent years afterward attempting to explain what he had seen, reportedly utilizing a time period that has been ingrained within the American lexicon ever since: “flying saucer.”

Since then, Individuals have been uniquely fixated on the concept aliens are someplace within the sky above us—and the quantity who consider that to be true is rising. In 2019, a Gallup survey discovered that 33% of Americans believed some UFOs were alien spacecrafts, whereas 60% felt they may all be defined by human exercise or some pure phenomenon. Simply two years later, in 2021, 41% of respondents stated they believed a minimum of some UFOs had been alien-related in comparison with 50% who had been assured any sightings might be defined by human habits or scientific occasions.

There are two foremost causes that perception in aliens has develop into so prevalent in the US: authorities hearings and popular culture.

America’s movie trade has all the time been one of the vital influential on the planet, and a wave of science fiction films in the 1950s, like “The Day the Earth Stood Nonetheless” and “Invasion of the Physique Snatchers,” perpetuated the concept there are different life-forms on the market. This continues at present with alien-centric sci-fi staples just like the “Avatar” franchise and the “Quiet Place” films dominating the field workplace.

Reasonably than depart alien craft to the area of Hollywood, the U.S. authorities has addressed the question of UFOs, solely including additional hypothesis. In April 2020, the Division of Protection launched multiple videos filmed by navy pilots that had been thought to presumably seize UFOs. In July 2023, an Air Power veteran got here ahead to the Home of Representatives claiming that the U.S. navy has been retaining vital data on “nonhuman” sightings secret for the reason that Thirties.

Identical to it did within the Nineteen Fifties amid Chilly Warfare paranoia, the lore of UFOs can be at the moment experiencing a resurgence as many Individuals develop involved about nationwide safety. The notorious Chinese spy balloon panic in 2023 and fears over being infiltrated by the Russian authorities have led to many reporting seeing UFOs within the sky. Individuals are additionally mistaking the spike in Starlink satellites for extraterrestrial activity. In November 2024, the Pentagon introduced that almost all reported sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs, as they’re now recognized) might be attributed to balloons, drones, and different common objects, whereas nonetheless noting that many objects lack a ample rationalization.

UAP and UFO sightings within the U.S. are significantly concentrated within the West, partially due to the abundance of darkish sky places, the place it is simpler to identify objects with much less mild air pollution. Those that consider they’ve seen one thing otherworldly can report it to the National UFO Reporting Center, which depends on volunteers to separate reality from fiction.

Whereas New Mexico and Nevada are maybe finest recognized for UFO sightings, the National UFO Reporting Center data reveals that the state with probably the most sightings is California, with greater than 16,500 experiences as of April 25, 2025. However what do the numbers appear like in your metro space?

Stacker compiled a rating of cities with probably the most UFO sightings in Florida utilizing information from the Nationwide UFO Reporting Middle. Information encompasses all experiences of UFO sightings courting again to 1995. Sightings with places listed throughout a number of cities weren’t included on this evaluation.

For now, the U.S. authorities’s official stance is that extraterrestrial life does not exist. But when the final century is any indicator, that may do little to curb America’s alien obsession.

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