The number of people reporting they had seen an unidentified flying object nearly doubled last year.
The National UFO Reporting Center says it received 5,971 sightings in 2019, up from 3,395 in 2018, according to ABC News.
The data shows California led the country last year with the most UFO sightings: 485 in total, an increase of 182 from 2018. Florida came in second with 385 sightings in 2019, 156 more than in 2018, ABC News reported.
Washington came in third with 222 reports last year, an increase of 51 from 2018.
Peter Davenport, who runs the independent organization that is based in Davenport, Washington, told ABC News he could not explain the phenomenon.
“One of the mysteries of ufology is there is a fluctuation in the number of reports over the years,” he said, the news outlet reported. “Some years it’s been low, but it’s gotten higher recently.”
Rick Fienberg, a spokesman for the American Astronomical Society, emphasized many people get astronomical occurrences mixed up with UFOs.
“If you’re not keeping up with the news and not familiar with the skyline, you might mistakenly see an unidentified flying object. It may be unidentified to you, but known to others,” Fienberg told ABC News.
