UFOs are getting harder to spot, research claims Perhaps it should be

Is this the calm before the storm or are people just looking down at their phones instead of up ?

close encounters of the blurred kind? New research suggests that UFO sightings, which tend to move in six or seven-year up-and-down cycles, are in a permanent downtrend and it's puzzling researchers. Cheryl Costa, who was recently named 2018 Researcher of the Year by the International UFO Congress, has found that yearly UFO sightings have sustained a downward trend over the past few years, to an average of 7,837 per year, a drop of "a whopping" 41 percent from the three-year peak average years.

Costa, who wrote up her findings in the Syracuse New Times, said that during the cycles, UFO sightings rise ever so slightly from their baseline or average number, decline back towards the median and then the cycle starts over. Between 2012 and 2014, the U.S. had a peak average of 13,500 yearly UFO sightings, Costa wrote, citing data from NUFORC (National UFO Reporting Center) and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network). However, in 2015, sightings fell 11 percent to 11,975 and 2016 saw an even more dramatic drop, falling 21 percent to 10,602.

Costa has not yet found a reason for the significant drop in sightings, but did offer some speculation as to why it might be occurring. "In both the national graph and the New York state graph we see relatively flat sighting report numbers from 2001 to 2006," Costa wrote. "This flatness is considered an artifact of reporting, as broadband internet access was still growing in most areas.

Access to broadband is a major driver in people having routine use of web reporting services such as NUFORC and MUFON." Costa noted that New York state rose to the fourth-most likely place to see a UFO during 2016 and 2017, but dropped significantly from its peak average, at 325 sightings seen in 2017, down from an average of 577 seen between the period of 2012 and 2014. She wrote that both the national and New York state charts show the classic rise-and-fall pattern from 2006 to 2010 and in 2011, the rise starts again. The spike that was seen in 2012 could be attributed to the "Mayan calendar media ballyhoo," causing more people to look up, Costa said. With that into consideration, the classic UFO sighting cycle is seen "clearly" from 2011 and 2017.

Where are they?

Its simply because they are identified much easier with all the information we have at hand.

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Well since the whole world has gone full retard I would say they (Aliens) lost interest in us. Most likely all headed to Uranus to observe the single cell organisms hanging on the edge of your crater. They are a hell of a lot more interesting then us Earthlings.

a reply to: Gargoyle91


Maybe improving knowledge and camera technology by the populace has helped more of us realize they are just planes.

I'd SPECULATE it'll go something like this...

2008: Person sees thing he can't recognize, takes blurry photo of it. shows blurry photo to friend, friend has no idea what it is. Person then goes to report it online and wherever they can.


2018: Person sees thing he can't recognize, takes clear photo of it. Shows clear photo to friend who says "it's a plane..." photo never goes further.

originally posted by: GuidedKill
a reply to: Gargoyle91

Well since the whole world has gone full retard I would say they (Aliens) lost interest in us. Most likely all headed to Uranus to observe the single cell organisms hanging on the edge of your crater. They are a hell of a lot more interesting then us Earthlings.

You calling my girl a Alien ?

I think it's because UFO culture and it's community has moved on to other things.

The UFO scene turned out to be a big scam and the people that were pushing the issue to make money changed over to government conspiracies and new-age stuff.

Yeah, I think psychoemperor above is bang on. The advent of mobile phone technology killed UFOs because no more blurry photos, and no more people able to say 'I saw something amazing in the sky!' Because the response becomes:

'Why didn't you take a photo of it then?'

'Ummmmmmm.'

originally posted by: Gargoyle91

originally posted by: GuidedKill
a reply to: Gargoyle91

Well since the whole world has gone full retard I would say they (Aliens) lost interest in us. Most likely all headed to Uranus to observe the single cell organisms hanging on the edge of your crater. They are a hell of a lot more interesting then us Earthlings.

You calling my girl a Alien ?

Unidentified
Female
Object


maybe???

a reply to: PsychoEmperor

That is a great theory!

But there's an different perspective too.

Start from the hypothetical premise that there are more advanced civilizations in the universe and that they've been visiting us for a long time.

If they do not want to be "discovered", then they would stop showing themselves as soon as the residents of that planet got the ability to photograph and/or film them.

It could be the reason there were more UFOs sightings back in the old days and less now.

Everything's possible and reality is stranger than fiction.

So who knows?

originally posted by: InhaleExhale
Its simply because they are identified much easier with all the information we have at hand.

I agree with this for many of the sightings, but I believe it would also be fair to say that if aliens really are here and studying us, they understand the technological level we've reached and are acting accordingly. If one is to believe aliens are actually here, then they must understand how intelligent these beings must be in order to actually reach our planet. They don't need to try too hard to hide themselves when it's a bunch of hooligans on horses in the wild west, but now that cameras are everywhere and we have crazy technology that many couldn't even imagine 50 years ago, they have to be even more careful about not being detected.

Makes sense to me, but in the end, it all depends on whether or not you believe. I always go back and forth regarding that one. lol

a reply to: vinifalou

yeah for me it's Occam's Razor.

It's always convenient for some conspiracy theorists. Everything becomes "AH HA!" "We see more UFO sightings because ALIENS!".... "We see less UFO sightings because ALIENS!" It's too convenient to have a belief and fit the world to that belief. It makes far more sense to get the facts and fit your beliefs to the world.

It's similar to "TPTB control everything" theories. Whenever Things like Brexit, Trump election, etc happen, things that are clearly not in the interest of "TPTB" people just come out and say that's what they wanted all along and we need to think better.

People far too often have a premise be it "Aliens are here" OR "TPTB control everything" and just fit the facts to their beliefs, instead of the other way around.

a reply to: Necrobile

I agree with this for many of the sightings, but I believe it would also be fair to say that if aliens really are here and studying us, they understand the technological level we've reached and are acting accordingly.

Of coarse it would fair to say and great to entertain the mind with.

however, hypothetical and what ifs are only that and don't lead to answers but more questions.


Yes, sometimes only speculation is all we have but more often than not speculation is put forth way too soon when researching cases in Ufology.

They don't need to try too hard to hide themselves when it's a bunch of hooligans on horses in the wild west, but now that cameras are everywhere and we have crazy technology that many couldn't even imagine 50 years ago, they have to be even more careful about not being detected.

If any spotted UFOs in history were ET craft then they haven't hidden themselves too good and brings up the question why now when we have cameras?

The logic is faulty in my opinion.

If they didn't want to be spotted and wanted to observe humanity then there would be no sightings.

If they didn't care before, as many suggest certain passages in religious texts and old artworks describe and show UFOs then why would they want be hidden now?

Were they trying to create a religious following? were they seen before when photographic evidence wasn't available to us and then when it was yet it was still not developed enough to show sharp images like we have now, so the only knowledge is personal witnesses and for others to accept this reality they would have believe?

Where as now, there are less and less so less photo and video evidence are available which requires more belief in personal accounts of experiences.


This is my point about when you start speculating about ET and have absolutely no reference point.


The questions just keep coming, any answer will spawn many more questions about those answers because they are all derived from speculation.

Once saw this faint dot in the night sky (like a satellite, made visible by the suns illumination) moving in a straight line and then it made a perfect abrupt 90 degree turn while maintaining the same speed. I have a hard time thinking it was a collision of space debris.

a reply to: Gargoyle91


Perhaps it is because they are "looking down"...perhaps their phones should tell them when to look up!

A modern cell phone is well capable of detecting near-by magnetic anomalies, and notifying the user...

When all else fails; throw technology at it!

There are a lot of great points brought up in this thread from improvements in technology (cameras and "Google" are now as ubiqitous as wallets), to cultural shifts regarding UFO "mythology", to a more informed populace being able to better identify "cgi-nonsense/dumb birds/drone". The narrative has changed (or at least shifted), and thus our methodology of discovery has changed. Compare a ufologist from 1955 to a ufologist from 2018 - the burden of proof for a modern researcher has grown exponentially.

Why observe our civilization from LEO or closer when you can park probes at a distant Lagrange point and thus only risk discovery by a very small sample of human observers?

Why would an "alien" intelligence conduct testing and experimentation using methods we are familiar with? Wouldn't their methodology be more exotic/mysterious? Do they use charts, graphs or XVis modelling for statistical analysis?

What is the point in conducting tissue sampling (cattle mutilations) only to leave the body behind? A cored-out carcass warrants more questions than no carcass at all, no? If I break into your house and use your toothbrush to clean the toilets would I be better served putting your toothbrush back in it's stand or should I just leave it laying in the sink for you to find?

Why are high-level physicists paying more attention to CERN anomolies and research papers detailing consciousness studies rather than gun-camera footage and electromagentic propulsion? Why has the critical eye of biology turned away from prion diseases in cattle to study genetic markers in human proteins? Why has the narrative shifted from little green men to collapsing wave functions of subjective thoughtforms?

This is only from my limited perspective, but it appears that Ufology is screaming "look up to the sky (and sea)" and acadmia is saying "look inside yourself". We've spent so long chasing shadows across the landscape, anthropomorphising the intent of our strange visitors, that we haven't been examining what makes "us" so interesting in the first place. What does humanity have (or represent), that an advanced civilization can't do themselves or hasn't already encountered somewhere else?

Mind you, I am being a bit flippant in my comments but I don't mean to denigrate anyone's personal beliefs - I understand that there are serious answers to some of these questions and I would love to discuss those answers. The more we discuss the smarter we become, even in 2018.

a reply to: FocusedWolf

I once saw what looked like a tuna can without the paper label around it , It just hovered for a bit a good 2 min way up and disappeared it looked to be pretty big considering it's size and distance , I've always wondered if it was a satellite .

a reply to: Gargoyle91

They are out there it just people are too stuck looking down at their internet instead of getting the boots on warm jumper grabbing the communicator and going hunting for the UFOs. Just as guilty of this as the rest of western humanity to be honest about it.

originally posted by: ParticleNode
Why observe our civilization from LEO or closer when you can park probes at a distant Lagrange point and thus only risk discovery by a very small sample of human observers?

In all likelihood, 'they' don't suffer from spotlight anxiety. Lol

We have more meteorite and comet videos than ever before. Maybe people spend more time indoors making cat videos than they do sitting outside at twilight/dusk, sunset and sunrise. Those were the times that UFO sightings were most frequently observed.

If you visit various forums, people still report seeing lights in the sky; points of light in the clouds spinning around in geometric patterns. Then those get explained as outdoor entertainment lighting at cineplexes. Shiny reflective metal spheres floating in the clouds. Those are Helium balloons. I remember seeing someone let go of one at ground level and within seconds it was floating at the same height as the clouds.

a reply to: ParticleNode

What is the point in conducting tissue sampling (cattle mutilations) only to leave the body behind?

A lot of things that happen in this world is just done to terrorize us..
confuse us... prevent us from thinking...politics for example is full of it.

and that's just with humans.

Sometimes seemingly irrational behavior actually does serve a rational purpose.

In the case of cattle mutiliations there's a lot to be said.. books worth.. but
one of the simpler responses is that whatever is doing the super-high tech
analysis mainly just wants the fluids.. and doesn't care much about the flesh itself.

Kev