If you’re hoping to see a UFO streaking across the night sky, there’s one major US city where your chances are highest, new research has revealed.
Phoenix, Arizona, has been ranked as America’s supernatural hotspot, with a whopping 323 sightings in the last decade, according to National UFO Reporting Center data compiled by BetUS.
New York City came in second with 313 reported incidents and Nevada, home of the infamous Area 51, came in third with 309 alleged sightings.
While the data only goes back to 2013, Phoenix has long been a hotbed of paranormal activity: its largest UFO event occurred on March 13, 1997.
The city has earned the number one spot with a whopping 323 sightings in the last decade alone.
Phoenix has long been a hotbed of paranormal activity; The most important and widespread report of UFO sightings occurred on March 13, 1997.
On this date, hundreds of people reported having seen ‘The Lights of the Phoenix’.
The sightings were so widespread that even 12-year-old Meghan McCain claimed to have seen them, and what she witnessed that night left a mark.
After her mother allowed her to “go out into the garden to have a look,” McCain told DailyMail.com that she saw “giant, shiny objects floating in a straight line in the distance.”
“Even today, it is difficult to explain, and there are varying descriptions of what occurred in Phoenix between approximately 7:30 pm and 10:30 pm,” he added.
Years later, in 2016, residents of Gilbert, just southeast of Phoenix, reported seeing a strange array of three lights moving from north to south in the East Valley area.
One resident, Todd, shared images on his X account and wrote in the caption: ‘Anyone else just seen a UFO?’
Even more disturbing, in 2019, a livestream outside of Phoenix captured a streak of purple light bursting into the foreground, and multiple alleged UFOs were captured flying across the night sky.
In 2019, a live stream outside of Phoenix captured a streak of purple light streaking through the foreground and multiple UFOs were captured streaking across the night sky.
About 65 percent of Americans believe intelligent life exists on other planets, according to Pew Research Center.
Recent BetUS data showed that some of the other top-scoring cities for UFO sightings are very close to notorious locations known for suspected extraterrestrial activity, such as Area 51 or Roswell, New Mexico.
Roswell had been dubbed the “UFO capital of the world” and was believed to be near the site of an alleged alien spacecraft crash in 1947 known as the “Roswell Incident.”
That same year the National UFO Reporting Center was founded, which has processed more than 180,000 reports.
In 2016, residents of Gilbert, just southeast of Phoenix, reported seeing a strange set of three lights moving from north to south in the East Valley area.
The city is home to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which has been open for almost 30 years and hosts an annual UFO Festival.
Meanwhile, Area 51 in Nevada is one of the most notorious locations for extraterrestrial conspiracy theories. The site became forever associated with extraterrestrials after an interview in 1989.
Former government physicist Robert Lazar told a Las Vegas news station that the site housed and studied extraterrestrial spacecraft. He has said that his job was to recreate the technology for military use, according to national geography.
Other top cities for UFO sightings include Portland, Oregon, in fourth place with 279 reports, and Tucson, Arizona, in fifth place with 244.
Roswell was dubbed the “UFO capital of the world” following an alleged spacecraft crash in 1947 known as the “Roswell Incident.” Above, a sign directing visitors to Roswell, New Mexico, to the start of a ‘1947 UFO Crash Site Tour’, circa 1997.
A man takes a selfie with his son in front of a sign at the Alien Research Center in Hiko, Nevada, on September 21, 2019.
Many cities listed were notably large, with more potential eyes looking into the sky and therefore a higher chance of a possible sighting.
On the West Coast, six California cities make the list of 200; The highest ranking in the state is Los Angeles, which came in seventh with 222 sightings.
According to BetUS, July is the best time of year to spot a UFO in New York, Ohio, Colorado and Oregon, with the most common time being between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.
For states like California and Arizona, November is the best month to observe the skies.
In 2019, an Oxford research project, Breakthrough Listen, announced potential evidence of extraterrestrial life, with hints that the proof would eventually be made public.
The now-retired director of the Pentagon’s UFO office, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick (above), spent 2023 locked in heated public confrontations with UFO whistleblowers over alleged recoveries of extraterrestrial spacecraft.
They had reportedly discovered a signal, a five-hour burst of radio waves, that appeared to come from a region about 4.2 light years from Earth.
But the race to find clearer evidence has sparked debate since its discovery.
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, a longtime CIA scientist who headed the U.S. military’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), recently admitted to the existence of the program to recover “alleged alien technology.”
This revelation comes amid decades of speculation and whistleblower testimony alleging that the United States had been in possession of extraterrestrial craft for decades.