No sighting data yet. The milestones below stand on their own; report a sighting to start the chart.
What the spikes line up with
- 1947
- Kenneth Arnold and Roswell start the saucer era; 850 reports reach the press in a summer. Read more →
- 1952
- The Washington flap and the Blue Book peak: 1,501 Air Force cases in one year. Read more →
- 1957
- Sputnik launches in October; the Levelland car-stalling wave follows a month later. Read more →
- 1966–67
- The Michigan "swamp gas" sightings, Malmstrom, and the Condon study. Read more →
- 1973
- The autumn wave: Pascagoula, the Coyne helicopter case, and national TV coverage. Read more →
- 1997
- The Phoenix Lights, and the first year most people could file a report online. Read more →
- 2012–14
- The all-time reporting peak: smartphones, web forms, and Chinese lanterns at every summer party.
- 2017
- The New York Times reveals the Pentagon program and the Navy videos. Read more →
- 2019–20
- Starlink trains begin; reports rise again during the pandemic year of clear skies and time at home.
- 2023
- The February shootdowns and the Grusch hearing. Read more →
- 2024
- The New Jersey drone and orb wave. Read more →
The full chronology, case by case, is on the UFO sightings timeline; the long view is in the history of UFOs.