Where and When to find a UFO
Every report in this dataset is a timestamped observation: a moment where someone looked up and see what they think is not from this world.
In case you really find one too, here is where and when people have been finding them in the past.
To find more about this website.
Where do I get my data?
This dataset is a large collection of UFO sighting reports originally from NUFORC (National UFO Reporting Center), cleaned and structured into machine-readable formats for analysis.
It contains roughly:
160,000+ reported sightings (~147,000 after cleaned up)
Time range: from 1400s to 2024
Global location coverage (mostly USA-heavy)
Full witness narrative text + structured metadata
Click the image to find more about this dataset
UFO sighting record
Let’s take a look!
First, sorting by year.
Expectedly, the data is pretty flat until the introduction of the internet, and since then most data have been reported through website.
There’s some local peak that can be explained by big space & cultural events. Slide the bar to see them side by side.
There’s some local peak that can be explained by big space & cultural events. Slide the bar to see them side by side.
Late 1990s–2000s (web era begins), NUFORC moved toward online submissions Website becomes primary entry point. Data volume increases significantly
Now let look at the monthly total across the year
UFO reports peak during summer months due to longer nights and outdoor activity. As you can see, July and August have the highest number of observation and reports.
Cold weather reduces sky observation time, lowering report frequency. February to May have lowest.
We can also see hourly sighting map across US
Across the day, sightings are relatively low in the early morning hours when most people are indoors or asleep. Real shift happens after sunset when the sky becomes darker and unusual lights stand out more clearly.
The strongest clustering appears in the evening window, with a clear peak around 7 PM to 11 PM. This is the “golden reporting band”. 9PM with 20000s reports lead the board with the highest number.