UFO Sightings in New York City Have Nearly Tripled Since 2018

For months, any unexpected or bizarre piece of news that surfaces is chalked up to being merely just another element of 2020, though the National UFO Reporting Center has revealed that sightings around the New York City area of such craft are up 283% since 2018, confirming unpredictable phenomena have been on the rise since back in 2019. This year has seen 46 reported sightings, while 2019 saw 35 and 2018 earned 12. It's unknown why there has been such a surge in sightings in recent years, with the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent quarantine surely seeing more people spending time at home and possibly looking to the skies, yet with the numbers rising prior to the pandemic, other factors must be considered.

"I believe we are being visited routinely by these things we call UFOs," Center director Peter Davenport shared with the New York Post, and admitted he has personally experienced five sightings of his own.

We shouldn't, however, look to Davenport for answers on the increase in sightings, as he admitted, "You are going to have to talk to the aliens. I don't know what these creatures are up to. What their objective might be in being here."

Brooklyn earned the most sightings at 12, followed by Manhattan with 11, and Queens with 10. Staten Island scored eight and the Bronx saw five.

Understandably, the nature of these sightings ranged across a wide variety of occurrences.

This past July, one Staten Island resident claims to have seen something that "looked and sounded like a helicopter" which "sent a surge of heat/radiation through my body!"

The witness added that they "honestly thought it was the government putting something into the air with everything going on during these times and I thought I would wake up and find it all over the news or on Instagram."

Also this past summer, a Bronx resident claims to have seen more than two dozen objects that were "flying in a perfect line, in perfect synchronicity" and they "looked like a bunch of moving stars."

In hopes of legitimizing the incident, that witness pointed out, "I don't drink, or take any drugs whatsoever. I'm not a UFO conspiracy theorist."

Even just earlier this year, the government released footage of supposed UFOs, igniting even further speculation that their existence is well documented and that more shocking reveals could be on the horizon.

Why do you think the number of sightings has increased? Let us know in the comments below!