It seems like every day a new batch of alleged UFO sightings pops up online. Usually, those sightings are in the form of dubious (and blurry) YouTube videos, but look deeper and you’ll find that the more intriguing, and perhaps authentic, reports exist in databases managed by organizations like NUFORC and MUFON.
However, the number of sightings reported to these organizations appears to be falling.
UFO researcher Cheryl Costa recently looked at the data collected by both NUFORC and MUFON and found that, since 2014, UFO sighting reports have decreased rather dramatically. While they usually experience a rising and falling cycle – with numbers increasing to a peak, then decreasing back to a baseline, and so on — it seems that the last few years may have broken that cycle.
Writing for the Syracuse New Times, Costa pointed out that, in 2017, reports experienced a “41 percent drop from the three-year peak average years.”
Curious, she also looked at the UFO reporting numbers for New York, and found a similar downward trend. There’s not much to go on to explain this, but the graphs do provide some curious insights into the fluctuating nature of UFO reporting.
A spike in the number of reports in 2012, says Costa, could be related to the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse and the paranormal zeitgeist that may have come from it. Heck, this website came from it.
Also worth noting is the relatively “flat” number of UFO reports from 2001 to 2007. Reports jumped quite a bit in 2008, and then again in 2012, as mentioned above. I do have to wonder if the television series Ancient Aliens, which began its official run in 2010, contributed to the rise in reports from 2011-2014. Public interest in the paranormal in general must have an effect on sightings, I’d think.
Perhaps this could explain the recent fall in submitted UFO reports — we may actually be returning to the original baseline, after a period of increased “paranormal awareness.” Are people losing interest?
We’ll have to see what 2018 brings. Will the number of reports stabilize, or will they continue to fall? I’ve been passively keeping track of some of the higher-profile sightings and news over here, so check that out if you’d like to read more.
