09 October 2023 , 05:36
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Unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings aren't uncommon across America — the recent congressional hearing on the fascinating objects has proven their prevalence and brought them back into the spotlight. One state in particular, however, seems to be seeing a lot more UFOs than other states.
With the earliest reported sighting in 1928 and the most recent this past September, California has over 16,000 reported UFO sightings, according to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC). UFOs are also commonly referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), their technical name.
Most of the reports detail a string of lights in the sky or several balls of light, many of which were reportedly orange. A large chunk of the sightings were reported by individuals who were out camping or on Navy ships docked in nearby harbors — places with clear views of the sky. That's why many initially thought the lights they saw were shooting stars.
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There have been more than 16,000 UFOs spotted in California since the '20s (Getty Images)But many also reported seeing UFOs in broad daylight as they walked to work, drove their kids to school or simply went about their days. Several sightings fall between the hours of 10am and noon. A lot were also reported on airplane radars and from pilots looking out as they flew across the sky.
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One particularly intriguing entry from 1953 detailed the experience a camp worker had with the kids she had been supervising at a summer camp near a lake. As the group chatted, a strange flying object came and landed near them to observe them.
The woman who reported it wrote: "It was silver, and looked like two saucers glued together with windows where they joined. It was so close, we could see figures at the windows that surrounded the middle seam. This was 1953, and none of us had ever seen anything move like this craft did."
A congressional hearing on UFOs was held in July (Getty Images)She said it hovered for a while, then "completely disappeared" before reappearing diagonally across from where they had first seen it. "These seventh-graders were beside themselves enjoying this unbelievable demonstration of mechanical maneuvering," she added.
The most recent sighting in California was reported on September 9 and was described as "three separate objects following each other through the night sky.
"It's heartening to me that so many people are coming forward now," NUFORC director Peter Davenport told WJZ. "We are getting significantly more reports than just six months or a year ago."
Many of the sightings were reported from aircraft operators, either visually or via their censors (DoD/AFP via Getty Images)In total, there have been 16,084 sightings reported in California over the decades. Florida comes in second with 8,205, followed by Washington State with 7,145. In fourth is Texas with 6,107, and coming in fifth is New York with 5,834. More than 2,000 sightings have been reported in 24 states each, including these five.
Davenport told the local CBS affiliate that he's encouraged by the increasing prevalence of UFO reporting and the national focus on the issue. He said: "I don't know what the future has in store for us, but I am encouraged that more people are coming forward and the government recognizes the UFO phenomenon that's something worthy of their attention."