Investigation may reveal why there are so many more UFO sightings in US compared to anywhere else

The ongoing question about why there's been so many apparent 'alien sightings' in America may have finally been answered.

I'm sure we can all agree that America loves an alien-related conspiracy theory, with there being hundreds of UFO sightings in the country over the years.

In fact, data shows that the US is one country with the most UFO sightings in the world. According to the National UFO Reporting Center, there have been over 105,000 reported sightings and encounters of UFOs in the United States since 1947, MITechNews reports.

In 2025 alone, there's already been a 36 sightings, says World Population Review, but coming up top this year so far is actually the UK with a reported 59 sightings.

With the numerous UFO sightings in the US in mind, scientist Sean Kirkpatrick was tasked with heading an investigation into 'unidentified anomalous phenomena' and thus the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was born in 2022.

Sean Kirkpatrick is the head of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (Nightline/ABC News)

As part of their examination, AARO had to collect data on sightings and assess whether they could be explained by earthly technology, The Wall Street Journal explained in a new report.

Of the hundreds of reported sightings, as probably expected, AARO linked a lot of incidents to balloons, birds, and drones cluttering the skies. In regards to pilot accounts, the so-called 'orbs' seen by them were put down as being 'reflections of the sun from Starlink satellites'.

AARO were also tasked with reviewing the historical records going all the way back to 1945 in regards to former military personnel's claims that Washington supposedly operated a secret program to harvest alien technology.

Kirkpatrick and his teamed interviewed a former Air Force officer who was allegedly told about 'a secret alien project' some decades earlier — a project so secret that he was told at the time that if he shared such information about it, he'd be jailed or even executed.

Such sentiments were allegedly echoed to other Air Forces officers, who didn't even tell their own spouses about the apparent secret project.

But Kirkpatrick and his team have since come to the conclusion that this was some kind of strange prank that was played on new Air Force commanders, which has played a part in fueling the rumours about UFO sightings in the US, possibly explaining why the country has so many more 'sightings' compared to other parts of the world.

The WSJ explained: "For decades, certain new commanders of the Air Force’s most classified programs, as part of their induction briefings, would be handed a piece of paper with a photo of what looked like a flying saucer. The craft was described as an antigravity maneuvering vehicle.

"The officers were told that the program they were joining, dubbed Yankee Blue, was part of an effort to reverse-engineer the technology on the craft. They were told never to mention it again. Many never learned it was fake."

As well as for what's been described as 'hazing' purposes, these false stories about aliens were also said to be concocted 'to create a smokescreen for real secret-weapons programs'.

More of the AARO’s findings on the matter are expected to be included in a second volume of the Defense Department's Historical Record Report later this year.