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The ongoing debate on whether aliens are real or not still has yet to be settled. Until then, the alien spaceships we spot in the sky will continue to be known as "unidentified flying objects" (UFOs).
If you've ever wondered how many UFO sightings have been reported in your state, Stacker looked at data from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) and compiled a list ranking which states have the most and least UFO sightings.
According to the report, the first recorded UFO sighting was in the 1600s, and the first documented image of a UFO was in the 1800s.
"The first documented image of a UFO was captured in 1870 on the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. More sightings were reported at Mount Rainier in Washington in 1947, and of course several in Roswell, New Mexico. Since then, countless numbers of unusual shapes in the sky—and their supposed inhabitants—have been exhaustively reported without sufficient explanations beyond the possible existence of extraterrestrial life."
The report adds that since 1974, when the NUFORC was founded, there have been about 90,000 documented UFO sightings, and "almost 95% of those sightings supposedly easily explained away as military tests, weather balloons, or other terrestrial activity."
So, where does Minnesota rank among the states with the most UFO sightings?
Minnesota was listed at No. 24 with 1,482 UFO sightings.
Here is what Stacker had to say about one of the most famous UFO sightings in Minnesota:
"Deputy sheriff Val Johnson awoke 40 minutes after his squad car had been swallowed in a ball of light sometime around midnight on Aug. 27, 1979. His wristwatch and car's clock, both meticulously set, had stopped for a full 14 minutes and he was 1,000 feet from where the incident occurred. One hundred feet of skid marks scarred the highway, and cracks throughout the vehicle's windshield, according to an expert from Ford Motor Co., appeared to have been caused by simultaneous inward and outward forces. Johnson also suffered welder's burns and had scorched retinas upon medical inspection. A metal expert brought in to examine the car found bent antennas he could only explain as having been deformed by powerful bursts of air. The car can still be viewed at the Settler's Square Historical Museumin Warren."
To see the full report, click here.