Let’s face it, America has always had a thing for alien conspiracies. With hundreds of UFO sightings reported over the decades, it’s almost become part of the culture.
As MITechNews reports, the U.S. actually leads the world when it comes to reported UFO encounters. The National UFO Reporting Center says more than 105,000 sightings have been documented in the country since way back in 1947. That’s a staggering number when you think about it.
To dig into why UFO reports are so common in the U.S., scientist Sean Kirkpatrick was brought in to head a government-backed investigation into what are now called ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’. This led to the creation of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, better known as AARO, in 2022.
As part of their work, AARO has been combing through sighting reports to see how many of them can be explained by earthly technology. The Wall Street Journal recently detailed this in a new report.
AARO also dug deep into older records going all the way back to 1945. They investigated claims from past military officials who said the U.S. government was running a super-secret program aimed at collecting alien tech.
One of the more startling accounts came from a former Air Force officer. He told investigators that decades ago, he was warned about an ultra-secret alien project. And the warning came with a serious threat—if he ever talked about it, he could face prison time or even be executed.
But according to Kirkpatrick and his team, it appears that these stories may have actually been part of an elaborate prank pulled on new Air Force commanders. That bizarre tradition may have helped fuel the fire when it comes to all the rumors and tales of UFO sightings across the U.S.—possibly explaining why America sees way more of them than other countries.
The Wall Street Journal reported: “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.”
These stories, which were often made up for what’s been described as “hazing,” may have also served another purpose. They likely helped distract people from the real secret-weapons programs going on behind the scenes.
More findings from AARO are expected to be included in the next volume of the Defense Department’s Historical Record Report, which is set to be released later this year.