The 10 Best Netflix Documentaries On UFOs And The Unexplained

The best UFO documentaries on Netflix offer scientific looks into the mysterious cases and unexplained phenomena that fascinate the world. There’s no shortage of UFO, alien encounter, and mystery-related documentaries on Netflix. Some UFO documentaries like John Was Trying to Contact Aliens seek to find proof of alien life, while others like Alien Worlds focus on the «what ifs» of extraterrestrial planets and how they would function. Meanwhile, Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know, and Ancient Apocalypse investigate the most mysterious scientific phenomena and historical evidence.

The best documentaries about UFOs and other unexplained phenomena on Netflix offer the perfect viewing for those looking for insight from beyond the stars. Even though the content is often entirely theoretical and often impossible to prove, the range of documentaries about the unexplained on Netflix offer unbiased and in-depth looks that often manage to separate the facts from the myths of UFOs and alien sightings — as well as highlight those encounters that science still can’t explain. Additionally, many of the best UFO documentaries on Netflix also delve into the theory and statistical evidence that supports the truth indeed being out there.

10 Top Secret UFO Projects Declassified (2021)

A Look At Various Governments’ UFO Programs

One of the best UFO documentaries on Netflix is 2021’s Top Secret UFO Projects Declassified. This Netflix documentary on the unexplained lives up to its namesake by exploring UFO monitoring programs implemented by various government bodies, as well as their declassified findings. Government cover-ups and conspiracies run rampant in the UFO community, but it’s hard to deny some of the hard facts that this Netflix documentary uncovered. Top Secret UFO Projects Declassified is a six-episode miniseries, covering top secret government projects such as the organization MJ-12, Roswell, the involvement of the U.S. army in cover ups, and alleged sightings and secrets in Russia.

9 Alien Worlds (2020)

A Hypothetical Look At Alien Life On Other Planets

Alien Worlds takes a very different approach to studying extraterrestrial life and is one of the best space documentaries on Netflix. It seeks to imagine what life would be like on other planets using a blend of science fact and science fiction. With stunning CGI visuals and an imaginative core, Alien Worlds is unique in its offerings as it takes an approach more akin to nature documentaries like that of David Attenborough’s Our Planet. Alien Worlds consists of four episodes, each around 40 minutes long, and proposes a study of the fictional worlds of Atlas, Janus, Eden, and Terra.

A Documentary About Romance And Alien Contact

The documentary John Was Trying to Contact Aliens follows the efforts of one John Shepherd, a technological genius living in an Arcadian community, who has spent the last three decades trying to contact extraterrestrials by sending music into outer space. After giving up on his quest, John manages to find love with a man named John Litrenta, making for a much more important story in his own world. John Was Trying to Contact Aliens is part UFO exploration and part heartwarming LGBTQ+ Netflix love story. It’s decidedly one of the best UFO documentaries for viewers who want to meet a pioneer of extraterrestrial communication.

7 Connected (2020)

An Exploration Of The Interconnected Nature Of The Universe

Also known as Connected: The Hidden Science of Everything, this 6-episode UFO documentary on Netflix explores the unseen connections that dominate the laws of the universe. While the best UFO documentaries look outward to find answers to humanity’s questions about the cosmos, Connected looks everywhere for cosmic insight, from the tiniest creatures to the largest galactic bodies. From how the migration pattern of birds can more accurately predict hurricanes than modern meteorological methods and technologies, to the mathematical patterns that emerge upon studying the distances between galaxies, host and science reporter Latif Nasser investigates how everything is, as the title suggests, connected.

6 Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know (2020)

An Attempt To Explain One Of The Universe’s Biggest Mysteries

Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know is a Netflix documentary about the unexplained that doesn’t feature UFOs but instead focuses on the most mysterious objects to ever be identified in space — black holes. Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know combines two main perspectives: theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking’s explanation of the phenomena, and the team of scientists who successfully took the first image of a black hole. Humanity still has a long way to go before fully understanding how black holes work, and this documentary is a must-watch for those interested in everything scientists know about the biggest unexplained phenomena in the known universe.

5 Unsolved Mysteries (2020 – )

A Netflix Documentary Series Examining The Unknown

While Unsolved Mysteries covers the unexplained by leaning more into the true-crime genre of documentary, Unsolved Mysteries season 3, episode 2, «Something in the Sky» brings the quality the show is known for and brings it to the world of extraterrestrial encounters and UFOs. The episode covers the fateful night of March 8th, 1994, during which 911 dispatchers were overtaken by over 300 phone calls relating to mysterious lights seen over Lake Michigan. Interviewing various witnesses, Unsolved Mysteries says the lights were reportedly tracked by the National Weather Service for several hours, but no answers have come forth, even to this very day.

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4 The Secret Of Skinwalker Ranch (2020 – )

An Exploration Of Numerous Legendary UFO Sightings

Though technically classed as reality TV, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is among the best UFO documentaries on Netflix for those interested in the history of confirmed sightings in the United States. The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch follows a group of experts and scientists as they explore the mysterious area of Skinwalker Ranch, a 512-acre ranch in Utah’s Uinta Basin that has been the site of a lot of UFO activity since the 1950s. Beginning the series by focusing on the strange cow mutilations that have occurred there, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch seeks to explore the peculiar area known as «UFO Valley» and uncover 200 years of reported sightings.

3 Ancient Apocalypse (2022)

A Look At The Mysteries Of Humanities Oldest Civilizations

Graham Hancock’s investigations on lost civilizations are unraveled in Ancient Apocalypse, an 8-episode Netflix documentary on the unexplained that delves back millennia to explore some of humanity’s earliest mysteries. From Gunung Padang in Indonesia and the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico — the largest pyramids in the world — to the ancient neolithic archeological site Göbekli Tepe in Turkey and the Megalithic Temples of Malta, Hancock visits locations that could potentially reveal the lost history of ancient humanity. Ancient Apocalypse will interest subscribers looking for UFO documentaries on Netflix, as it also explores mysteries that could explain humanity’s role on the planet and possible origins.

2 MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (2023)

Conspiracy Theories Into A Disappearance The Baffled The World

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared is a Netflix documentary on the unexplained that explores the still-unresolved mystery of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and its 239 passengers. Over three episodes, MH370: The Plane That Disappeared dissects all the known details regarding where the plane disappeared, and what could have happened. This includes deep dives into the investigations of local Malaysian and Vietnamese authorities into the matter, as well as the conspiracy theories that have been birthed by the incident. To this day, this mystery remains unsolved, and MH370 is yet to be found, which is what makes this docuseries all the more compelling.

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1 The UnXplained (2019 – )

William Shatner Hosts The Docuseries About Fascinating Mysteries

With the incomparable Star Trek star William Shatner acting as host, The UnXplained seeks to relay information about everything strange and unusual. From ancient monoliths to the Bermuda Triangle, if it’s an unexplained phenomenon, chances are The UnXplained has done an episode about it. While it’s not as high-budget as some of the other documentaries about UFOs and other space mysteries on Netflix,

The UnXplained is the one most guaranteed to tick almost every weird mystery fan’s personal documentary bucket list. This includes several episodes about UFOs and possible alien life, which is why it’s one of the best UFO documentaries on Netflix right now. The UnXplained season 2, episode 4, «The Truth About UFOs» chronicles some of the most famous UFO mysteries that have plagued the U.S., exploring all sides of the debate, with William Shatner narrating all the way.