UFOs have always spoken to the imagination of the human race. After all, is it possible that a sentient race with technology above our own is regularly paying us a visit?
Over the years, there have been reports of UFO sightings across the world. Some have been more famous than others though. If you are curious about the most prominent UFO sightings in human history, be sure to check out our top picks below.
The New Jersey Turnpike Lights In 2001
One of the most memorable UFO sightings is the one with the lights above the New Jersey Turnpike. On July 14, 2001, countless orange and yellow lights were seen in a V formation above the Arthur Kill Waterway. Among the witnesses, a lieutenant from the local New Jersey police department.
The USS Nimitz
The USS Princeton, one of the carriers belonging to the USS Nimitz strike group, claimed to have noticed an unknown aircraft 100 miles from the coast of San Diego. Interestingly, the military team followed the object at approximately 80,000 feet, after which it seemed to remain stationary above the Pacific Ocean.
Two fighter jets were sent to investigate the area, but all they found was a churning vortex of water with an oval shape underneath the water surface. The unidentified object would re-appear above the water, but would accelerate so fast the fighter jets lost track of it. Then, it turned back up on the radar a whopping 60 miles away; this would mean that the object would have travelled more than three times at the speed of sound and at double the speed of the investigating fighter jets!
The Incident At O'Hare International Airport
Another famous UFO sighting was the incident at the O'Hare International Airport. On the day of the incident, an airplane called flight 446 was getting ready for its flight from North Carolina to Chicago. However, one of the employees noticed a "metallic object" above gate C17. Several other witnesses would spot the saucer-like object.
According to witnesses, the saucer remained hovering in place for about five minutes. Then, it shot up so fast it would break a hole in the clouds. Officials at the FAA called blamed the incident on the weather, mainly because the object was not seen on the radar. However, the witnesses who saw the incident claimed otherwise.
The UFOs In Stephenville
Texas has always been one of the hotbeds for UFO sightings. However, one of the most famous cases is undoubtedly the one at Stephenville.
Stephenville is a small town in Texas, known for its dairy production. In January 2008, a strange object was seen in the sky. First, there was a report of strange white lights above highway 67, which seemed to be changing pattern erratically. According to a local pilot, the lights were a full mile long and a whopping half a mile wide. He estimated they were travelling at 3,000 miles an hour.
There were many things that stood out about the UFO sightings in Stephenville, but the most prominent thing is that the technology to explain such sighting simply did not exist. Whether you want to believe this was a top-secret experiment or a UFO sighting, it is certainly one of the strangest phenomenon in history.
The Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program Incident
As the name suggests, the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program was created to identify any threats to the United States coming from the air. In 2015, a video was released from this program, which showed an encounter between a US aircraft and an unidentified flying object.
Until this day, no explanation for the encounter has been revealed. The Super Hornet tracked the object at approximately 25,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, after which it promptly disappeared.
The Disappearance Of Frederick Valentich
An Australian pilot called Frederick Valentich reported a strange aircraft following him while he was flying over Bass Strait. During his report to Melbourne Air Traffic Control, he also reported that his aircraft was behaving strangely. He also claimed the object was hovering and not flying.
Frederick Valentich would lose contact with Melbourne Air Traffic Control and disappeared without a trace. The Australian government claimed that either Valentich staged his own disappearance or got disorientated and crashed into the sea. However, no wreckage of the plane was ever found.
The Belgian UFO Craze
Between 1989 and 1990, there were loads of UFO reports in Belgium. The unknown object reports would reach their peak in march of 1990. Photographic proof of the sightings exist, as two Belgian aircrafts took photos while tracking the object.
The unidentified objects were not just witnessed by aircraft pilots, as more than 13,500 people reported sightings, with a whopping 2600 official reports and written statements.
Even though the UFO sightings were reported across Belgium between 1989 and 1990, the majority of the sightings were detected in Brussels. While the government has attempted to explain the incidents as helicopters or simply a feat of nature, the sightings have never really been explained.
The Pearl Harbour UFO Aftermath
Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbour by Japan, a UFO sighting was reported in Los Angeles. Considering the situation with Japan, the coast guard defense assumed another Japanese attack was taking place.
Various witnesses reported a hovering object over the Los Angeles coast. At 3 am in the morning, the army opened fire and the entire city was put in a blackout. The blackout was only lifted shortly after 7 am in the morning.
Despite the public nature of the event, the unidentified object has never been explained. Given the times, little attention was paid to the occurence until years later. At the time, the media put it down to "war nerves".
Roswell UFO Sightings
One of the most famous incidents in history is that of Roswell. There has been much debate and controversy surrounding the incident, but here is the core of what happened.
In 1947, a unidentified flying object was found 75 miles from the town Roswell in New Mexico. The object was initially reported as a flying disk and would later be explained away as a highly classified project from the US Army Air Force. Still, despite the official statement years later, man still believe an actual alien was recovered from the wreckage and is still kept secret by the government.