UFO sightings above UK mapped as US Congress instructed alien craft are ‘actual’

The US Congress is making efforts to “pull back the curtain” on classified UFO research, as our maps reveal the UK and US locations most likely to experience extraterrestrial visits. The hearing, named “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth,” featured a range of expert testimonies and witness accounts.

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) is the updated term for Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). Among the experts were government employees and a member of NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team.

Michael Gold, ex-NASA associate administrator of space policy and partnerships and a member of the UAP study team, informed the hearing that “the vast majority of UAP are drones”. However, he acknowledged that there are anomalies that require further investigation and conceded that some observed UAPs “can move faster” than US submarines and “are being intelligently controlled”.

Luis Elizondo, an author and former Department of Defence official, asserted that “advanced technologies not made by our government – or any other government – are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe.”

He emphasised: “Let me be clear. UAP are real.”

The hearing, co-chaired by Nancy Mace and Glenn Grothman, was the second to delve into the UAP phenomenon. “Americans deserve to understand what the government has learned about UAP sightings, and the nature of any potential threats these phenomena pose,” the co-chairs declared in a statement.

The hearing followed a long-awaited report release.

A report released by NASA last year, which delved into past UFO (or UAP) sightings, couldn’t confirm extraterrestrial activity but didn’t rule it out either. In 2023, the British UFO spotter group UFO Identified clocked a total of 395 UK sightings, down 20% from 497 in 2022, and also less than the counts in 2021 (413) and 2020 (484).

The North West emerged as the top hotspot for UFO enthusiasts with 41 sightings, followed closely by the South East with 40, and the South West with 39. Keen to know if aliens fancied a flyby near you?

Check out our interactive map for local UFO reports:

Nearly half of all sightings (48%) were backed up by photos or videos. A “star-like” object zipping across the sky accounted for 25% of reports, while other common shapes included “orb” (17%), “sphere” (10%), and “cylinder” (9%).

Greater Manchester was practically an alien’s playground with 54 sightings, more than any other UK county, followed by Greater London (52), Cheshire (37), and West Sussex (34). Glasgow topped the charts for cities, with 22 encounters.

Meanwhile, over in the USA, the UFO spotter website Enigma has tallied over 200,000 mysterious aerial episodes.

California tops the list with more than 28,000 UFO sightings, followed by Florida (14,500), Texas (12,500) and New York (10,000). However, these states have the highest populations in the US, increasing the likelihood of sky-gazers spotting something unexplainable.

When considering population size, New Mexico residents are most likely to have seen a UFO, with 162 sightings per 100,000 people, equating to one in 618 people encountering a UFO.

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