Ufology Research

Yes, the 2020 Canadian UFO Survey is now out. To view it, visit Ufology Research.

It turns out that 2020 was an exceptional year for UFOs, as well as being a strange year for all of us because of the pandemic.

Here are some highlights:

There were 1,243 UFO sightings recorded in Canada in 2020, an increase of 46 per cent over 2019. Despite the pandemic and lockdowns, this was one of the highest total numbers of UFO reports recorded in a single year since the annual Canadian UFO Survey began in 1989.

Data showed that during the early stages of the pandemic, during the first quarter of 2020, UFO report numbers surged significantly from 151 in 2019 to 259 in 2020. As the pandemic took hold in Canada in the second quarter of 2020, UFO report numbers surged to 354 cases, up from only 222 in 2019. This trend continued throughout 2020.

There are now more than 22,000 Canadian UFO reports in the Ufology Research database, just from 1989-2020. (A project is underway to document Canadian UFO reports previous to 1989.)

In 2020, about 13 per cent of all UFO reports were classified as unexplained, but more than 26 per cent had definite explanations. The remaining cases had either possible explanations or insufficient information for evaluation.

In 2020, Ontario led all Canadian provinces with 30 per cent of all Canadian UFO reports, up from 20 per cent in 2019, followed by Quebec (24 per cent, down from 2019) and BC (17 per cent, unchanged from 2019).

Manitoba was the only other province that showed a decrease in UFO reports from 2019, from 78 to only 42 in 2020.

Maritime provinces had a dramatic increase in reported UFO sightings, rising from 39 reports in 2019 to 130 in 2020.

Since 1989, Ufology Research (formerly Ufology Research of Manitoba) has solicited UFO case data from known and active investigators and researchers in Canada. The goal has been to provide data for use by researchers trying to understand this controversial phenomenon.

2020 marked the 32nd year of collecting and analysing Canadian UFO report data by Ufology Research. With some gaps in data, tables of most Canadian UFO reports included in the annual surveys from 1989 to the present are available online.

Was this because of COVID? Or was it because of several factors such as Starlink satellite launches combined with the lockdowns? One suggestion, that it was because of media attention to the "Tic Tac" UFO story and the impending US Intelligence report on UFOs, would be reasonable, but that would not explain the sharp drop in June reports. Besides, it is known that current UFO reports are not necessarily linked to current media, but often precipitate reporting of older experiences.

It's also interesting to compare Ufology Research data analyses with other studies. American ufologist Cheryl Costa, for example, has been doing fine work by crunching UFO data as well. What's curious is that her graph of monthly UFO report numbers is very different:

Specifically, while the April peak is in the US data, the second August peak that is in Canadian data is absent. Costa notes that the March/April American peak is due to: "the result of COVID lockdown giving people more leisure time, a known driver of sighting reports."

Another difference is that Costa notes: "usually the 4th of July spike dominates the chart. In 2020 there weren't as many fire works events scheduled due to shutdowns." Yet Canada's national holiday featuring fireworks is in July as well, and showed high numbers of reports.

Clearly, some other factors are involved in the variances in Canadian UFO report numbers and the differences between the two countries.

Of all the 1,243 reports recorded in 2020, while about 13 per cent were classed as Unexplained, when looking only at Higher-Quality cases with high Reliability, the field was narrowed considerably.

The following are the best of the bunch, mostly in the witnesses' own words. Some might have simple explanations despite their classifications:

Higher Quality Unknowns in Canada in 2020

2020    1          23        1700    Toronto           ON       c1        180      silver   1          other   8          4          NUFORC            u         
"7ft long UFO came within 5ft and folded in on itself"           
I was shoveling snow on my balcony when I saw something in my peripheral vision. When I looked up it was about four or five feet away from me, levitating above a roof. It was about 7 feet long, silver on both sides with two black (not sure how to describe them) at each end. Almost like camera shutters. It had no noise at all. I stood there staring at it and the one side kind of folded... I went to the end of the balcony to get a better look and it was gone, or I couldn’t see it.

2020    1          23        2303    Guelph    ON       nd                                1          cylinder           7          5          MUFON            u         
"2 craft escorting another cylinder shaped craft"
I saw a plane with 2 bright lights following it. I know planes do not travel so closely together so it caught my eye. As the plane moved I identified it because of its flashing lights. I tried to see if the other object had flashing lights — they didn't. The plane started to go in a different direction and then the other objects traveled alone. The one in front turned into two and the one behind “went off” and I saw a massive circular object as if it was being escorted by the two in front. I pulled my phone out and managed to get a pic of the two in the front. They were moving at least 4 times faster than the original plane had been. I tried to take a video but the objects were so fast moving they disappeared heading in the direction of Kitchener from Guelph.

2020    2          3          1506    Whistler          BC        nd        600                  2          cylinder           8          3            NUFORC          u      
"tube shaped snow formation" with tan disc shaped ufo going in and out"  
We saw a tubelike snow formation with the sun shining through from behind. We took a photo and later upon examination there appeared to be saucer shaped objects flying into the formation as well as bright pink spots of light. We were on top of Backcomb Mountain looking down after exiting 7th Heaven chairlift.

2020    2          3          1630    Cochrane         AB        nd        15        grey     2          triangle           7          5            NUFORC          u         
"triangle shaped craft stationary, spun in spot then disappeared"    
Driving with my son westbound on RR 262, I noticed a grey pie-shaped object in the sky out of my driver side window. I alerted my son to look at it and he spotted it right away. As I was driving, I had my attention divided between the road ahead and the object in the sky to my left. I took four or five 2-3 second glances at the object, which seemed to be standing stationary in the sky. The object began to rotate, appeared to turn black then disappeared. After it turned black I looked away to check the road and when I looked back it was gone. No trail, nothing. Very clear sky with high visibility and ceiling. I have binoculars in my truck which I quickly passed to my son earlier on in the sighting, and he struggled to find it through the binoculars, but he watched for the first 10 seconds or so. The object was triangular in shape. It looked proportionately like a thick piece of cake.. The tail end was also “v” shaped or possibly described as a shallow chev! ron shape when observed from directly below. There were no windows, lights, lines or markings on the objects surface and the edges were all rounded. Within 1 min of us seeing the object we witnessed a military plane flying in the direction of our sighting.

2020    3          25        2015    Sparta     ON       nl         120                  1          ps         7          5          MUFON           u           
"pulsating light that moved erratically and reappeared in random positions"           
Just as I was at the crest of the hill leading down into the valley, and before descending down into the valley, a bright streak of a light caught my eye. I later realized that it appeared as a streak because the light was fairly slowly pulsating as it appeared, and my movement made it appear as a streak. But then I stood still, anticipating seeing the light appear again, as is usually the case with evenly-timed flashing lights of an overhead airplane passing by. But it took longer for me to see the light reappear than any aircraft I've seen before. When it did reappear (about 2-3 seconds later), it was in a different location than I would've predicted. I expected it to be farther along a straight flight path because of longer timed intervals, but it actually appeared in an entirely non-predictable location somewhat farther to the left. At least 2 or 3 seconds later, the pulsating light reappeared again but farther to the right and somewhat higher (the light seemed to be moving away at a low angle, so I expected it to reappear somewhat lower, not higher, the next time it reappeared, if it was following a straight flight path leading away from me). There was another non-uniformly timed interval before the pulsating light reappeared again, and again in a random position that my mind would not have expected if it were following a straight flight path. This pulsating light gradually brightened when it appeared and then gradually faded, which took approximately 1-2 seconds maximum in total time during each I saw it appear. I estimate that I saw the pulsating light appearing and disappearing in unexpected random positions, and at random time intervals between pulsations (intervals between pulsations ranged between 3 - 6 seconds); pulsations occurred approximately 8 different times. And then I did not see the light reappear again at all, and it if was an aircraft, I would definitely have continued to see the aircraft's light continue to flash, consistently, quick-flashing, and for a much longer duration, before it traveled beyond visible distance. But this randomly somewhat gently-pulsating, random positioned light just suddenly stopped reappearing in the plain open sky.

2020    3          27        2100    Ottawa            ON       nd        2          white   1          boomerang     7          5            MUFON           u         
"boomerang ufo with brightly lit tips and dimmed circular center travelling fast through the sky"
I was standing on my balcony looking at how bright the moon was tonight. Then I looked away from the west towards the north and I saw this object that appeared to me to be boomeranged shaped, with a light at both tips. The center appeared as if there was a dimmer circular light about twice the size of a tip. It flew as if gliding in a straight line going much faster than any plane I’ve ever seen. I was gone in the North in one instant.

2020    4          18        132      Innisfil        ON       nd        900      red       1          triangle           7          5          MUFON            u         
"triangle shaped formation with red light in the center flying low"
I was driving West, not far from home and on a side street that has farmland all around, so it’s very dark. From behind the trees came this white light in the center and reddish lights in a triangular formation pulsating back and forth and then pulsating from the center light. The direction it was headed was South. It was flying low and the reddish orange lights seemed fixated to the center light, but didn’t appear attached. It disappeared behind the trees on the South side of the road, but I was curious to see more, so I drove past my street to where there’s an elevated bridge. I stopped at the bridge and the lights continued to fly low in the South direction. It disappeared over a distant hill and that was the last I saw it.

2020    4          22        2200    Saskatoon        SK        nl         60                    1          ps         7          5          MUFON            u        
"2 lights moving at horizon, then moved together and abruptly disappeared"
I saw two star-like lights meandering on the horizon. At first I thought they were airplanes, but the movement was shifting left right, in a coordinated manner. After about 15 seconds, the two lights moved together towards the east and abruptly disappeared.         

2020    4          22        2325    Red Deer         AB        nd        5          black       1          rectangle         7          8            MUFON           u         
"rectangle craft came down out of clouds (had green/yellow lights under it)"          
Stepped outside and saw two satellites moving to the SE directly above Red Deer Alberta. Suddenly, a light caught my eye moving rapidly from SE to NW. Sighting was approximately five  seconds. Absolutely clear view of an object moved into low sparse cloud and disturbed the cloud as it passed. The object was rectangular, grey/black in color, with two large lights facing down. The lights were not particularly bright, yellow/green in color but proportionately very large compared with the rectangular object. The sighting took about five seconds, and was a very clear image. I have 20/20 Vision.

2020    5          22        2237    Barrie     ON       nd        300      white   1          ps         7          7          MUFON           u           
"Bright object moving SW"       
At first I was looking into the sky towards the West from my backyard patio and saw a bright object moving SW with pulsating a bright white light. Then it disappeared and reappeared travelling in the opposite direction NE and it moved upward vertically and disappeared while pulsating. I was very excited and asked it to show itself for my wife to see, but my wife left. I then re-entered the house and just a moment later I went out on the backward patio again and there it was again showing up pulsating light like never before. I waved and got more response by light pulsation.

2020    5          26        2215    Tottenham      ON       nl         600      multi    1          ps         7          5          MUFON            u         
"star like light moving in erratic way and flashing different colours"
Star sized flashing red and green object with no specific pattern. Could be red for 1 min then flash green and red then be green for 1 min. Saw it at about 45 deg over the horizon due south. Then moved straight north to then veer southeast to a full stop for a few minutes. Then it started to go north to disappear and reappear going north and then started to go S. It stopped in the North at about 45 deg above the horizon. I tried to take a picture with my phone but was way too small to be captured. I tried to zoom but was just a big blur.

2020    7          24        2011    Pickle Lake      ON       dd                                2          irregular          6          7          TC            u         "
"obj. 3 feet in diameter passed over right wing of aircraft; nothing on radar"          
The pilot of a North Star Air Ltd. aircraft from Thunder Bay, ON (CYQT) to Sachigo Lake, ON (CZPB) reported an object passing over their right wing, approximately 3 feet in diameter. No traffic on radar in the vicinity.

2020    8          30        2030    Ottawa            ON       nd        3600                2          boomerang     6          6            NUFORC          U         
"dark boomerang shaped object with lights hovered then slowly moved away"        
I saw a blinking light, similar to strobe light. At first I assumed it was a plane or a helicopter, but after a minute or so, the light didn't move. Only the blinking light was visible. The object was in a clearing between the clouds. During dusk, it was still pretty bright, so I took my binoculars an looked at the source of light. I saw an object, dark in color, chevron shaped. Facing me with one side, blinking light in equal time intervals . Looked like the object had the same light on the other side of it. Smaller lights were visible on the bottom of the object, changing colors from green to blue and purple. My wife witnessed the object as well and confirmed the shape and lights. After around 20 min hovering in the same spot, 70 degrees above the horizon, the object began to move Westbound.

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Results of this study show that many people continue to report unusual objects in the sky, and some of these objects do not have obvious explanations. Many witnesses are pilots, police and other individuals with reasonably good observing capabilities and good judgement.

Numbers of reported UFO sightings remain high. Several theories for this can be suggested: more UFOs are present and physically observable by witnesses; more secret or classified military exercises and overflights are occurring over populated areas; more people are unaware of the nature of conventional or natural objects in the sky; more people are taking the time to observe their surroundings; more people are able to report their sightings with easier access to the Internet and portable technology; or even that the downturn in the economy is leading to an increased desire by some people to look skyward for assistance.

Although the largest percentage of reported UFOs is simply lights in the night sky, a small number are objects with definite shapes observed within the witnesses’ frame of reference.

Popular opinion to the contrary, there is no incontrovertible evidence that some UFO cases involve extraterrestrial contact. The continued reporting of UFOs by the public and the yearly increase in numbers of UFO reports suggests a need for further examination of the phenomenon by social, medical and/or physical scientists.

Images of UFOs representative of what are seen and photographed by witnesses

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Thank you to organizations and individuals whose data were included in the Canadian UFO Survey. Many cases were posted originally to Facebook groups such as UFOs Above Canada and PEI UFO INFO.

Special thanks go out to those who assisted in the production of the Canadian UFO Survey: Geoff Dittman, Ashley Kircher, Jason Carignan, and Sarah A.

For further information, contact:

Ufology Research via e-mail: canadianuforeport@hotmail.com

Twitter: @ufologyresearch

Labels: Canadian UFO Survey reports Canada sightings data statistics 2020

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