By Micah Hanks
Each year, an untold number of individuals report UFO sightings around the world. In spite of the wide variety of locations where people have claimed to see strange things in the sky (including a number of “hot spots” where activity is said to occur more often), it is difficult at very best to guess where and under what circumstances a sighting will occur.
There are the occasional “flaps,” of course, where sightings of an anomalous nature begin to happen with greater frequency around a given locale, such as what occurred near Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the late 1960s. But imagine if there were some consistent way to discern when a UFO would appear; it would obviously mean that researchers would be able to gather more information about the phenomenon, by virtue of having the ability to prepare for the experience beforehand. That said, are there any ways one can increase the likelihood that they’ll end up seeing a UFO?
Perhaps part of the problem with Ufology is that rather than going to the sorts of places where frequent sightings might take place, researchers instead wait to hear of sporadic sightings, and only visit the area after the fact to try and gather evidence in most cases. But again, this problem stems from the obvious fact that there is little that can be done to increase the likelihood that one will actually see a UFO, let alone know a predetermined time and place that one will appear. Hence, it must suffice as what is generally the most effective method for studying UFO phenomenon, for now.
That said, there are at least a few general tips that one might consider when it comes to the dodgy art of predicting the whereabouts of UFO sightings, which could be helpful in assessing conditions where one is more likely to encounter a UFO. By clicking here and here, you can access a a couple of articles that feature number of ways to increase your chances of spotting strange things in the skies; additionally, a list of alleged hot-spots can be found here.
Among some of the more novel ideas available, there is the suggestion of becoming a hazardous weather spotter. This can be done under programs like the National Weather Service’s SKYWARN program in the United States, though doing so often requires a general amount of training to help develop one’s ability to spot severe storms, in addition to a variety of useful meteorological data and conditions. Additionally, over the last few years a few researchers and websites have begun compiling available UFO data, plotting the information graphically on maps such as this one. Though data of this sort may be useful in spotting trends and locating areas where strange aerial craft are seen most often, don’t be misled by the greater number of sightings reported near highly populated urban areas (where increased sightings only indicate the fact that there are more people present to witness such an event).
