The sci-fi series “The X-Files” popularized the saying “the truth is out there.” And in the past 15 years, thousands of UFO sightings across the United States show a lot of people are still looking.
A new list of the top cities in the U.S. that have had UFO sightings from 2001-2015 has been published, with Phoenix topping the list, according to a story in the Syracuse New Times.
The data is pulled from the book “UFO Sightings Desk Reference: United States of America 2001-2015,” written by Cheryl Costa and Linda Miller Costa. Published in March 2017, the book compiles “data and analysis for 100,000+ sightings of unidentified flying objects reported by individuals during the first 15 years of the 21st century.”
Costa noted that Phoenix may be the most prevalent place in the U.S. for UFO sightings, perhaps due to the Phoenix Lights phenomena two decades ago.
In 1997, there were two events that occurred in Phoenix, Arizona, and Sonora, Mexico. Thousands of witnesses say they saw a formation of five lights in a V-shape, producing no sound and a triangular formation of lights. The US Air Force claimed the second group of lights were flares dropped from a A-10 Warthog aircraft.
In addition to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Chicago and Portland round out the top five cities on the list.
Below is the list of 25 most sightings across US cities.
- Phoenix, 929 sightings
- Las Vegas, 639 sightings
- Seattle, 616 sightings
- Chicago, 562 sightings
- Portland, 528 sightings
- Los Angeles, 525 sightings
- Tucson, 480 sightings
- San Diego, 477 sightings
- Houston, 466 sightings
- Denver, 429 sightings
- Austin, 426 sightings
- New York City (Manhattan), 418 sightings
- Orlando, 390 sightings
- Springfield, 380 sightings
- Albuquerque, 376 sightings
- Miami, 375 sightings
- Philadelphia, 338 sightings
- San Antonio, 334 sightings
- Columbus, 327 sightings
- Jacksonville, 326 sightings
- Sacramento, 316 sightings
- San Francisco, 310 sightings
- San Jose, 308 sightings
- Myrtle Beach, 305 sightings
- Dallas and Kansas City, 294 sightings each
