‘Flying saucers’ and ‘men in black.’ Why WA is your best bet for a UFO sighting
Washington state became famous 75 years ago for becoming the home of the first official UFO — Unidentified Flying Object — sighting in the United States. Three-quarters of a century later, the Evergreen State still seems to be a vacation hotspot for little green men.
According to the data analysis website Stacker, Washington ranks first as the state with the most UFO sightings, boasting 100 UFO sightings per 100,000 residents. The report was released ahead of World UFO Day on Saturday, marking the 75-year anniversary of the infamous Roswell incident in New Mexico.
Montana ranked second on the list with 95 sightings per 100,000 residents, while Washington’s neighbor to the south, Oregon, came in fifth with 87 reports per 100,000.
Stacker compiled the list using data from the Washington-based UFO report investigation organization National UFO Reporting Center, analyzing reports from its 24/7 hotline.
Washington has a long history of UFO sightings, dating to the very first on June 24, 1947, when Boise-based pilot Kenneth Arnold was on a flight from Chehalis to Yakima when he saw nine large metallic-looking objects flying at an immense speed near Mount Rainier.
There is also the bizarre Maury Island incident of June 21, 1947, which occurred just a handful of days before Arnold’s sighting but was officially reported on June 26, following Arnold’s report.
Tacoma-based timber salvagers Harold Dahl and Fred Crissman were in Puget Sound near Maury Island when they reported seeing six “doughnut-shaped flying saucers” while on their boat. Dahl said that one of the saucers spewed debris toward their boat, killing his dog and injuring his son.
A witness to the incident was also reportedly approached and threatened by “men in black,” according to Stacker, which would later become an inspiration for the 1997 Sci-Fi movie “Men in Black.”
75 years ago the first UFO report came from WA. In 2022, UFO mania is still going strong
Taking UFO spotting seriously
The UFO reporting center has compiled 6,812 records from Washingtonians who claim to have seen a UFO and has reported over 90,000 sightings in North America since it began keeping track in 1974.
The most recent report in Washington was on June 16, when an orange light was pictured floating over Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood at 1 a.m. Many of the reports include pictures along with a description.
The website UFO Stalker also provides a live map of all UFO sightings in the United States and even the occasional reported alien encounter. As of Friday afternoon, 206,689 UFOs all-time had been reported to either the authorities or a UFO-spotter site. Over 110 of those have come in just the last week.
According to a spokesperson for the UFO and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena research group network, the best way to look for UFOs is using infrared technology such as FLIR.
The network’s spokesperson said infrared is a big reason the U.S. military obtained so much footage. An unidentified aerial phenomena task force headed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is investigating credible reports from military members. Top Pentagon officials confirmed that the task force is looking into over 400 reports during a congressional hearing in May.
The initial report, released in June 2021, said that the task force looks specifically into reports from military members and that many of the reports had been detected by multiple sensors, such as radar, infrared, electro-optics, weapon seekers, and visual observation.
