The UFO Reporting Center has been tracking thousands of UFO sighting reports since 1974., and one of the hot spots it has identified is in New Jersey.
The western United States has reported far more sightings in proportion to the population than any other region of the country, according to the UFO Reporting Center, a non-governmental nonprofit organization.
Most of these reports come from remote areas in states like Nevada and New Mexico, where there is little or no pollution from light. Light pollution is the excessive use of outdoor artificial light, which impacts health, wildlife and our ability to observe the night sky, according to National Geographic.
For instance, Nevada’s Lincoln County, with very dark skies, had the most reported UFO sightings among U.S. counties between 2000 and 2023, at 821 per 100,000 residents, according to the center. While the county is bigger than the state of New Jersey, it only has some 4,500 residents.
On the other side of the country – with more light pollution – UFOs have been reported on the East Coast.
Where are there more UFO sightings in New Jersey?
The National UFO Reporting Center received 77 reports of UFO sightings in New Jersey in 2023. So far in 2024, there have been five reports. A sighting in Toms River on Feb. 14 was the last one reported.
Hunterdon, Salem, Sussex, Warren, Atlantic, and Ocean are among the counties with the most sighting reports, each with about 50 sightings per 100,000 residents since the year 2000. But none of those counties has reported more sightings of the unexplained than Cape May County, where there has been more than double the reports than any other county in the state.
One of the most recent reports in Cape May came from a 61-year-old woman who was riding the Tramcar near the Wildwoods Convention Center. According to the report she submitted, she was taking pictures of the night sky and didn’t see anything unusual until she checked out the pictures later and saw a saucer-shaped bright light.
«I did not see it when I took the photo. I am mystified. I waited a few hours to report this simply because I felt foolish and would not be believed, but the camera doesn’t lie,» she said in the report.
Since the year 2000, there have been 128 UFO sightings in Cape May reported to the center.
Another unexplained flying object was reported in Ocean City by a man who said he was walking on the beach before 5 a.m. In the report, he said that he was on vacation, enjoying the night views with some specialized night vision googles he often uses. He saw airplanes, satellites, shooting stars and birds as he had before, but then he spotted a super-fast-flying object that didn’t look like anything he had seen before.
«This object was moving very fast, and that is why it caught my attention,» he said in the report. «After passing over at a high altitude, it stopped dead in the sky for a second. I was shocked! It just stopped,» he added.
After stopping, the object realigned its position then disappeared.
Over the past five decades, the center has been receiving, corroborating and documenting these reports.
What is a UFO, UAP?
UFO stands for unidentified flying object. In recent years, UFOs have also been referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomenon or UAPs.
These unidentified objects could be extraterrestrial flying vehicles, space clutter, or human-built devices such as satellites.
More: Aliens among us? Vegas UFO report latest in UAP sightings investigated worldwide
In a 2023 study conducted by the Pentagon, the agency found that more than half of cases studied were balloons, drones or space clutter. Nevertheless, many cases were inconclusive and remain a mystery.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: National UFO Reporting Center: Where are the hot spots in NJ?
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