According to the National UFO Reporting Center, the US state of Maryland has returned 1,923 eyewitness reports of unidentified flying objects, called anomalous aerial phenomena, or UAPs, by the US military.
Maryland seems like it would be an unsurprising place to see strange lights in the sky. Not only does it border Washington, DC, on its northern side, but it is also home to Joint Base Andrews and the Naval Academy.
But other mid and southern Atlantic coastal states also have an unusually high number of sightings, according to data from the Defense Department’s new UAP reporting portal.
In recent years, the US government has taken a more open stance on the phenomenon, admitting the objects exist and encouraging service members to come forward with accounts.
That openness was precipitated by the release of three videos of the phenomenon filmed by US Navy pilots that were unclassified by the government and confirmed authentic in 2020 after they were leaked years earlier.
Since then, several military pilots have spoken to the media about their encounters and a government whistleblower claimed the US government is in possession of multiple alien spacecraft and even recovered some bodies.
However, sightings are not limited to the United States; in fact, Japan and the Middle East have also served as hot spots for UFO sightings, according to the UAP reporting portal.
While descriptions of the objects vary, they have been noted in some videos to significantly outperform any human-made aircraft known to exist, but in other videos, they can be seen hovering or moving slowly. They have also appeared to vary in size and shape significantly.
One nearly universal characteristic is that the objects have no visible wings or exhaust plumes.
US military officials and other organizations like NASA have repeatedly said there is no evidence objects are extraterrestrial, but that hasn’t stopped UFO believers from asserting the trove of videos, photos and eyewitness reports prove something is out there.