The Most Credible

UFO Sightings And An

Interactive Map

BasedondatafromtheNationalUFOReporting
Center,themapbelowdisplaysover90,000
reportsofUFOsightingsdatingbackto1905.
EachcirclecorrespondstoareportedUFO,with
thesizerepresentingthenumberofreports
received.ThanksalsototheMutualUFO
Networkforallowingmetoreproduceimages
andvideosfromtheirwebsite.

CheckouttheinteractiveUFOmaptoreadthedetailsofeachUFO
report,andinsomecasesviewthephoto/videoevidence

The most corroborated UFO

sightings
Assumingmorereportedsightings =more

credible,thesearethe10mostcredibleUFO
sightingsinrecenthistoryintheU.S.
1)TinleyParkLights, TinleyPark,
IL(10/2004)77reports
2)ConeofLight, EastCoast(9/2009) 75
reports
3) TinleyParkLights, TinleyPark,
IL(10/2005)72reports
4)PhoenixLights, Phoenix,AZ(3/1997)65
reports
5)Blue-GreenFireball, theMidwest(7/1997)
48reports
6) TinleyParkLights, TinleyPark,IL(8/2004)

45reports
7) Blue-GreenFireball,
theMidwest(11/1999)43reports
8) WashgintonFireball, Renton,WA(7/2012)
40reports
9) RockfordLights, Rockford,IL(1/2001)25
reports
10) LightsOverNJTurnpike, Carteret,
NJ(7/2001)25reports

UFO Explanations
Illinoisisinvolvedin6ofthe10UFOsightings
listedabove,aswellasseveralothermassUFO
sightingsfurtherdownthelist.
Ithoughtthatwasinterestingbecausewhenyou
lookatthetotalUFOreportspercapita,
ILactuallyranksprettylowcomparedwithother
states.
Hoveroverthemaptoseehowthestates
measureup

UFO Sighting Reports Per Capita (d

Myinitialthoughtwasthatitmusthave
somethingtodowithOHareAirport,thebusiest
airportintheU.S.throughmostofthisperiod.
AretheremanyUFOsightingsaroundotherbusy
airports?

ThefivebusiestairportsintheU.S.

Thebluemarkersarethefivebusiestairportsin
theU.S.
AsidefromChicago,itdoesnotappearthereis
muchcorrelationbetweenmassUFOsightings
andbigairports.

OnepatternIdidnoticewasthatmanyofthe
massUFOsightingsoccurparticulardates.
Hereiswhatyougetifyouplotthenumberof
UFOsightingsforeachdayoftheyear.

UFOsseemtohaveapenchantforfirework
displays.
Both#5and#8inthelistaboveoccurredonthe
FourthofJuly.Andinbothcases,theUFOswere
describedasfireballs.
Asidefromtheobviousexplanation,itcouldjust
bethatmorepeoplearelookingupattheskyon
thosenights.
Takealookatthesethreevideosofthe
WashingtonFireballUFOsighting,which
occurredonJuly4thof2012,andseewhether
youthinktheyareactuallyfireworks.

SomeofthebiggerUFOsightingsalsocoincide
withlargemeteorshowersorspacecraft
launches.ThoughwhenIlookedintoit,theeffect
didnotcomeoutverystrong.

Update: Afewpeoplethoughtitwouldbe
interestingtoseehowUFOsightingsmatchupvs
militarybases.
Hereisaplotofallmilitaryinstallations,ranges,
andtrainingareas.Thoughwithoutanideaof
whichonestofocuson,Ithinktherearetoo
manytodrawanyrealconclusions.

U.S. Military Bases

Afewothersaskedtoseethetrendofreported
sightingsovertime.
Forthepast20years,ithasbeengrowingata
prettysteadyrateofabout350additionalreports
eachyear.

Ifyoulikedthismap Signupto
havenewMetrocosmposts

deliveredtoyourinbox
At t ri but i on a nd me t hods :
1. ThankstoNUFORCformakingtheirdataavailable,
andtoMUFONforallowingmetousetheimages
andvideosfromtheirwebsite.
2. Togetthecoordinatesofthereports,IusedOpen
GeocodeandtheGoogleMapsAPItogeocodeeach
onebycityandstate.
3. TogroupthereportstogetherbyUFO,Iusedavery
simpleclusteringalgorithm,whichlooked
atcoordinatesandthedates.Ingeneral,
incidentsthatoccuronthesamenightwithin
about50milesofeachotherwillbegrouped
together.
4. Thevideosandimageswereaddedmanuallyfrom
MUFONsdatabaseandfromYoutube.
5. Forthemap,IcreatedthebasetilesusingMapbox
Studio,andusedtheMapboxAPIforthefeatures.
6. TheanimationsweredonewithD3.