Let’s get this out of the way early: Here at Co.Design, we are UFO skeptics. Still, we can’t ignore the fact that every single day thousands of UFO sightings pour in across the country. Maybe as long as mankind has walked on two legs, we’ve thought there was something crazy in the heavens (and it’s coming for us!!!).

So where do people tend to see the most UFOs? And, why there? Slate has put together a very nifty little infographic, showing UFO sightings per capita in every county of the U.S. The results vary wildly–New Yorkers, for example, have only seen 5 UFOs per 100,000 people in the last 15 years. But those in living in Esmeralda County, in southern Nevada, have seen a whopping 479:

As you can see on the map, UFOs have a predilection for appearing in sparsely populated counties out west, and rural counties in general. At first sight, this makes no sense. If you’re a UFO buff, you’d probably argue that the aliens are trying to watch people without much interference, so they’re trying to pick off a loner here and there. Then again, if they didn’t want to be detected, I’m pretty damn sure that detection would not be a problem given their laser rays, tractor beams, and interstellar technology. Meanwhile, if you’re a UFO skeptic, you’ve got to wonder why such a phenomenon doesn’t scale to population size more directly. After all, aren’t city slickers just as likely to be as loopy and unscientific as rural folk? (Let’s assume that this isn’t a statistical fluke, created by, say, one UFO nut reporting hundreds of sightings.)

A few thoughts.