Reports of UFO - unidentified flying object - sightings in Pennsylvania happen all the time. According to the National UFO Reporting Center, a Washington State-based website that collects witness reports, there were 77 reports across Pennsylvania in 2018.

The center tries to weed out the "obvious hoaxes," but admits to being unable to determine to gauge the validity of every report. With that precautionary note in mind, the center's database remains an interesting glimpse of flying objects, alien spacecraft and even little green men that have been reported.

According to a 2017 survey for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 47 percent of Americans believe in aliens, but a smaller 35 percent believe aliens have visited Earth. Only 17 percent claim to have seen a UFO themselves, while 27 percent said they knew someone who had seen a UFO.

And the U.S. government has admitted that they have studied the phenomenon. Although government sources claimed to have done no investigations since Project Blue Book in the 1960s, in 2017 The New York Times reported on the existence of a program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program or the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program.

The very existence of the project caused a sensation, because until the New York Times broke the story in December 2017, the US government claimed it had not investigated UFOs since the 1960s when sightings were looked at in a study called Project Blue Book.

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Pennsylvania communities with the most reported sightings in 2018 were Philadelphia, 5 reports; Lancaster and Pittsburgh, 4 each; Greenville, Johnstown and Millerton, 3 each; Allentown, Dover, Easton, Hamburg, Langhorne and Warrington, 2 each.

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All of these spots had a single report in 2018: Altoona, Bensalem, Bethlehem, Camp Hill, Cape Coral, Carlisle, Coatesville, Croydon, Delaware Water Gap, Downingtown, East Berlin, East Petersburg, Eighty Four, Elco, Erie, Grove City, Harleysville, Harrisburg, Huntingdon, Logantown, Manheim, Mechanicsburg, Monesson, North Wales, Old Forge, Port Allegany, Reading, Robertsdale, Shiremanstown, Smithton, Souderton/Hatfield, Spring City, State College, Sunbury, Trooper, Tylersport, Ulster, Upper Darby, Versailles, Warminster, Wheatland, Williamsport, Willow Grove and Windber.

Here's a look at some of the Pennsylvania UFO reports from 2018. (Photos and images do not depict the reported sightings.)

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December 16, 2018; 12:49 a.m.; Smithton, Westmoreland County

"It was early morning. My boyfriend and I were driving to get some food from a local restaurant. We were nearing a stop sign when we noticed in the field directly in front of us a few strobing white lights in 2 lines, fewer lights in the time row of them. We took the road that runs along the field to get a better look. As we crested the hill the lights disappeared, and nothing was there.

"We actually forgot what we were doing there. Then one week later we both asked each other about it and we both remembered seeing the same thing.

"Shortly after we talked about it and decided we were going to tell someone about what we saw, I had a major seizure."

Duration: The sighting lasted about 30 seconds.

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December 15, 2018; 6 p.m.; Pittsburgh

"Me and my parents were driving to my little sister's birthday party in Robinson. I look towards a UPS compound/office building. I see an orb or some kind of light start to float up. It went up then it flew over us. I looked towards my sister who I am one year older than. I tell her, 'Did you see that?' Then she said, 'I think.' For the rest of the day I've been wanting to report this, but I am confused and scared."

Duration: 7-8 minutes.

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November 24, 2018; 4:30 a.m.; Lancaster

"While driving west on Route 30, a blue teardrop-shaped form flew into my field of vision. At first, I thought it was a falling star, but then instead of falling towards the ground it banked west and disappeared. The ship was a very light blue with a tail of light blue."

Duration: 3-4 seconds.

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October 7, 2018; 8:45 p.m.; Dover, York County

"I was sitting on our deck and noticed an unidentifiable object in the southwest sky. It appeared reddish and was in the shape of an X. It did not appear to be moving. Watched it for about 15 minutes to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Even went inside and came back out and I could still see it.

"In the morning I googled to try to find an explainable reason for seeing this. The only thing I could come up with was a red rectangle nebula, but it stated that that is not visible by the naked eye."

Duration: 15 minutes.

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July 19, 2018; 9:20 p.m.; Johnstown

"I saw a fireball-shaped craft hovering and making zigzag patterns in the sky. It had a smaller orb circling it, like it was orbiting around the craft. It turned completely black like it was cloaking itself. Another black craft met with it and they sped off into the mountains."

Duration: 5 minutes.

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July 11, 2018; 10 p.m.; Warrington, Bucks County

Again, last night as soon as it turned dark, about 9:30-10 p.m., I saw several helicopters heading towards it, almost appearing to be checking it out. It's very bright, big, and close, appearing near Willow Grove Naval station between Route 611 and Bethlehem Pike or Old Route 202. It changes in shape from oval to triangle. It hovers in place for a while then moves a bit. It disappeared after 11 p.m. only to show up in the sky, same place, again after 3 a.m."

Duration: Multiple sightings over 3 months.

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June 25, 2018; 10 a.m.; North Wales, Montgomery County

"Black floating and spinning, rectangular, metal object. Metallic and about 50 meters long by 10 meters wide. Slowly falling and out of control."

Duration: About 35 minutes.

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April 22, 2018; 5:14 p.m.; Lavelle, Schuylkill County

"Was traveling on I-81 South towards Harrisburg and was on what the locals call Lavelle Mountain. Suddenly an object appeared over the interstate and appeared to hover stationary for about 20 seconds and quickly went into the trees on the right at a high rate of speed. Object appeared quite large. At first the observer thought it was some type of drone, but it moved too fast. Reportedly looked like a lunar lander in his opinion. Witness was shocked by what was seen and got emotional."

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April 13, 2018; 9:18 p.m.; Grove City, Mercer County

"We were stargazing, and we suddenly saw a shadowy and seemingly transparent triangular/boomerang shaped object, with regularly spaced white patches. It moved steadily across the sky from southeast to northeast and made no noise.

"Before we had gotten over the surprise, another one, exactly the same and going the same direction appeared and moved across the sky just like the first."

Duration: 20 seconds.

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March 20, 2018; 3:15 a.m.; Croydon, Bucks County

"My dog woke me up to go out into the backyard. I got up and let him outside and proceeded onto my deck in the rear of my yard. While I was waiting for the dog, I noticed a large circular whitish or silver object off to my left moving from north to southeast. The object was moving very slowly just above the tree tops and making no sound. The object was approximately 100 to 200 hundred feet from me. The object did not emit or have any lights as a normal aircraft. I was astonished at what I was witnessing and as I watched the object proceed in front of me as I was facing southeast the object turned upward 180 degrees where it seemed to stand on end for a moment. It was then that I saw the object appear to have a different shape such as the shape of a boomerang. Then suddenly and without a sound the object disappeared directly upward and was out of view within seconds.

"After the object disappeared, I heard an odd growling noise near where the object disappeared, and my dog began growling. I hurried my dog back into the house and my dog would not leave the rear sliding door."

Duration: 30 seconds.

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February 27, 2018; 9:30 p.m.; State College

"During stargazing, we noticed a large, triangular shaped 'transparency' moving across the sky, approximately southwest to northwest. It moved rather quickly for its size (about the time it would take to watch an airplane go across the sky). The size was that of about 15-20 airplanes (as seen from the ground) clustered into a triangle. The shape moved very steadily without zigzagging or changing speeds. The shape was very obvious and visible, yet the object looked essentially transparent."

Duration: 30-45 seconds.

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February 27, 2018; 6:10 p.m., Upper Darby, Delaware County

"From Upper Darby, I noticed a very bright stationary object in the sky to the east near the Philadelphia airport. It was still light out and the sky was clear. At first it was just a bright light, but lights began to flash around it as a passenger plane passed by at the same altitude.

"Then suddenly the light went out. Very shortly after that, a fighter jet flew overhead, headed toward the airport. It was close enough to see missiles on the wings and on the underside of the jet. The jet moved slowly and noiselessly over the neighborhood, in an easterly direction towards where the object had vanished near the airport."

Duration: 8 minutes.

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January 3, 2018; 5:15 p.m.; Harleysville, Montgomery County

"I was sitting at my desk in my room watching videos. I notice the reflection of my screen in the window, which scared me. Then I notice over some houses southwest of me and I see this big ball of light slowly rising into the sky. It's about dusk and at first, I think it is a helicopter reflecting sunlight, but if that were the case it would not have been such a bright solid white color.

"Then I opened my window to see better and I cannot hear any helicopter. And the light is way too close not to be able to hear if it was.

"So, I keep watching and the light disappears for a moment then reappears a couple hundred yards to the left and it seems closer. Then it just disappears.

"So, I go to sit back down, and as I turn around my Amazon Echo starts listening to me, then says, 'Sorry, I don't know that one.' Very odd."

Duration: 45 seconds.

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