In the past few years there has been a considerable effort by UFO researchers and experts to advocate for disclosure.

“Disclosure” in this context means lobbying the government or whatever is sitting on information about the truth regarding UFOs, to get them to step forward and be square with the American people.

A first effort occurred on Sept. 29, 2010, when a respected group of experts, former Air Force officers and first-hand witnesses presented their case at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C., about contact with UFOs. The primary focus was to reveal and discuss evidence of government cover-up and information suppression. The National Press Club effort was mounted to garner support within the news media.

A second major event, the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, was held April 29 to May 3 was conducted in a format that resembled a congressional hearing. It was staffed by six former member of Congress and involved 30 hours of testimony by researchers; activists; military, agency and political witnesses; and witnesses representing 10 counties. The focus was to reveal an overwhelming body of evidence to the public and media in one event.

The hearings were streamed on the Internet and covered by a host of alternative methods, but it was barely covered by the major news organizations. The questions asked by many interested in the topic: Did the news media think it was silly and not worth covering? Are the major press establishments an accomplice in covering up the greatest story rarely told?

Here at New York Skies, we can only share with you the facts as we know them and let you make your own judgments about UFO activity in New York. In the interest of disclosure, I have spent many months mining data related to UFO sightings in New York over 63 years.

In the chart, we see a summary of reported UFO sightings in New York covering the 50 years from 1950 to 1999. The chart represents 759 sightings logged with National UFO Reporting Center, or NUFORC. Also represented are the 259 NY sightings registered with the Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON. The combined bases reflect a total of 1,018 UFO reports over the 50 years.

OK, a word of caution before you start getting excited about the apparent high sighting counts in the 1990s. You should be warned that the seeming high counts do not necessarily translate to increased UFO activity. Before 1994, the principle UFO reporting organizations received their information in the form of letters, phone messages, faxes and newspaper clippings. So what changed in 1994? The answer is simple: the World Wide Web. It was about 1994 when online private Bulletin Boards Services (BBS) and commercial online services like America On Line (AOL) started to become popular. Suddenly information was moving and people were able to share information about everything, including UFO sightings. It was this ability to share information that I believe was the reason that yearly UFO report records began to grow.

As we move into the 21st century, we see an average of NY sightings between 100 and 200 a year through 2007. In 2008 through 2011, we see growth in NY sighting reports, setting a new yearly average from 300 to 400 per year. This chart reflects NUFORC data of 2,602 and MUFON data of 1,343 for a total of 3,945 New York sightings over 13 years.

Is 2012 a fluke, or is something interesting happening? I’ll discuss the 2012 spike in a few weeks, but here’s one last tidbit for you to chew on until then. New York has about 8 percent of the reported world sightings on an average month.

Let’s look at recent New York sightings.

13 Nov.: At about 8:41 p.m., a motorist in Hopkinton was heading west on state Route 11B and observed two orange fireballs hovering above the tree tops, in the area of power lines. After about a minute, one of the objects disappeared. The other object was gone after the driver got past some obstructing trees.

14 Nov.: At about 7:15 p.m., a man in McGraw watched three orange fireballs traveling in the northern sky. One fireball executed an abrupt 90 degree turn toward the east. The man reports that one by one the other two fireballs did the same maneuver and headed off behind the first object.

15 Nov.: At about 10:30 p.m., near Syosset a married couple were out for a drive and saw five orange fireballs flying in a formation from west to east. The couple attempted to follow the objects, but they disappeared.

16 Nov.: At about 7:30 p.m., near Waterville, a motorist and passenger while traveling on state Route 12 witnessed a huge bright light hovering above some radio towers. During their 10-minute observation, they said that the object appeared to lower and land behind a heavily wooded area.

18 Nov.: At about 5 a.m. in Pomona, a man was awake and working on his laptop in bed. Suddenly he was a aware of a bright luminance coming from outside his window. He looked out the window and saw a glowing and pulsating object flying low and slow in the rainy overcast sky. He reports that the object was square with bright lights on the ends and a pulsating red light in the center. The silent object was last seen disappearing in a southerly direction.

18 Nov.: At about 5 p.m., a married couple in Selkirk observed a bright glowing object hovering at near tree-top height. After a few minutes they saw an unusual amount of air traffic in the area, two helicopters and later two jets were flying toward the object. As the helicopters approached the glowing object, it slowly began to fade and then rapidly winked out. They report that the helicopters and the jets loitered in the area for an additional 20 minutes.

I need help from my readers. I am seeking Mattydale residents that might remember witnessing the flying disk that crashed in Mattydale in 1954; it was something that was hushed up. If you have knowledge of this UFO event, I’d love to hear a personal account. Email me contact information at NYSkies@DragonLadyMedia.com . The names of witnesses will be held in strict confidence to protect their privacy.

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