By Kay Whatley, Editor
Across the United States each year, thousands of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are reported. UFO reports cover close encounters of various types, range from blinking lights in the sky to unusual aircraft to reports of contact.
In November 2020, over 400 US UFO sightings were reported to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) and/or the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) — while there is overlap, some reports are only in one database or the other.
Numbers below are as reported on NUFORC, which collect citizen reports and catalog them by date, location, shape, and when reported.
- Alabama — 3
- Alaska — 3
- Arizona — 14
- Arkansas — 4
- California — 46
- Colorado — 18
- Connecticut — 14
- Delaware — 6
- Florida — 41
- Georgia — 7
- Hawai’i — 2
- Idaho — 6
- Illinois — 8
- Indiana — 12
- Iowa — 2
- Kansas — 7
- Kentucky — 5
- Louisiana — 8
- Maine — 0
- Maryland — 5
- Massachusetts — 6
- Michigan — 9
- Minnesota — 7
- Mississippi — 2
- Missouri — 14
- Montana — 3
- Nebraska — 2
- Nevada — 2
- New Hampshire — 5
- New Jersey — 6
- New Mexico — 2
- New York — 23
- North Carolina — 18 (incl Havelock, Charlotte, Gastonia, Raleigh, Clayton, and Goldsboro)
- North Dakota — 0
- Ohio — 14
- Oklahoma — 9
- Oregon — 11
- Pennsylvania — 21
- Rhode Island — 2
- South Carolina — 7
- South Dakota — 0
- Tennessee — 8
- Texas — 18
- Utah — 5
- Vermont — 4
- Virginia — 11
- Washington — 14
- Washington, DC — 0
- West Virginia — 3
- Wisconsin — 9
- Wyoming — 2
These are the reported sightings. Note that sightings are sometimes reported months or years later, and these numbers may go up over time.
To see the latest NUFORC reports — or sighting reports going back a long, long time, visit www.nuforc.org.
To search the MUFON database and read details of these accounts, or to report your own sighting of a flying object you could not identify, visit www.mufon.com. Membership is available for those interested in more intensive database searches and access to other MUFON resources.
