Tuesday was World UFO Day; Washington has had many reports

By Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times

COUPEVILLE — Whidbey Island is a good place to celebrate the Fourth of July, but a great place to take part in World UFO Day.

The National UFO Reporting Center crunched the numbers and found that Washington state is the best state to be in if you’re trying to spot an unidentified flying object. A total of 5,894 UFOs sightings were reported, which is 78.22 per 100,000 people.

A total of eight sightings have been made on Whidbey since the center started recording data in 1947.

Other states with a high number of reports include Montana, Vermont, Alaska and Maine.

“Every single state has reports of eerie lights, erratically moving aircraft, or mysterious metal saucers,” the National UFO Reporting Center said in a press release. “But recent data shows the most UFO activity in northern states.”

If you’re trying to avoid flying saucers or alien abductions, Texas is the safest place to be, with only 17.31 sightings per 100,000 people.

UFOs have appeared in the news a lot lately, with reports from Navy pilots and former Pentagon intelligence officers and the release of classified UFO research from the National Security Agency.

It’s perhaps not surprising that Americans’ belief in intelligent alien life is on the rise. In 2016, 27 percent of Americans believed that aliens have visited our planet at some point in the ancient past, according to a Chapman University survey. In 2018, 41.4 percent of people said that aliens have visited Earth in our ancient past.

World UFO Day, which took place Tuesday night, is an awareness day for people to gather and watch the skies for saucers, odd light formations and blinky things. Some people observe it on June 24; others on July 2 each year.

The center suggests that UFO hunters bring binoculars, night vision goggles, cameras and patience.

“If you’re planning an alien interception, your best bet is to pack a cooler of beer and get ready for a long night of stargazing,” the press release states.

This story originally appeared in the South Whidbey Record, a sibling paper of The Daily Herald.