UFO Report Numbers Down in 2009

Yes, it's true. Despite many premature exclamations by some UFO buffs who heralded a surge in UFO reports for 2009, when the numbers were actually tallied, UFO reports in Canada are down. Way down.

How many?

First of all, the arm-waving. Why are reports down? It might be, as some have suggested, that Brian Vike "retired' from ufology mid-way through last year. Hence, it was reasoned, people may not have known where to report their sightings. Trouble is, Vike is still around. His various blogs (five or six of them) have continued to function, and he even has some cases from 2010 already posted. It's true that Vike's posts constituted a significant fraction of total Canadian cases each year, although they also reduced the percentage of Unknowns in our annual studies.

Also, there are many, many more sites where people can post UFO reports. The number of videos of UFOs posted has risen dramatically during the past year. Most of the ones I've seen are noting more than planes or birds. A few are curious, like some of the Niagara Falls footage that is currently being investigated by some researchers from the USA.

The reduction in the number of Canadian UFO cases in 2009 flies in the face of other claims, such as that by the British Ministry of Defence that report numbers were way up in 2009 (e.g. http://bit.ly/XMMNI). That may be so, but since UFO report numbers are cyclic, it could be that Britain was just catching up to Canada.

Worldwide, the only measures of UFO activity we have is Peter Davenport's NUFORC and MUFON. According to Davenport's monthly counts, the number of UFO reports during the first three quarters of 2009 versus the same time period last year is about the same. However, the numbers for Oct-Dec are barely a fraction of the year before. (This might change, as there is usually a delay in receiving report data.) So, we can say that there does not appear to be an increase in UFO sightings worldwide. This, despite loud noises from the Disclosure camps that insist that sightings are increasing as we get closer to "Disclosure." (And wasn't there supposed to have been something disclosed regarding UFOs by the end of 2009?)

So, in Canada in 2009, there were 596 UFO reports filed at various websites, groups and agencies, including government and military organizations. This compares with 1004 reports in 2008, a 41% decrease in numbers. This also puts the number of UFO reports for Canada at about a level just behind 2003 report numbers, giving 2009 a ranking of the seventh-highest number of UFO reports on record. Not bad, but the 40% reduction is obviously significant.

The 2009 value may change a bit as additional reports trickle in, but we can say with certainty that 2009 was not the Year of UFOs in Canada.

Were aliens scared away from Earth because of political change? increased worldwide war campaigns? the impending arrival of Google Nexus?

Was it something specifically Canadian that caused a countrywide reduction in UFO report numbers? the lousy summer that Canada had last year? the downturn in home sales in Alberta? cost overruns at the 2010 Olympics?

We shall see.