GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- Feeling like you're approaching the final frontier, Genesee County?

Just weeks after a man told police he spotted an unidentified flying object above the Rave theaters in Flint Township, three more sightings -- one each in the Flint, Flushing and Grand Blanc areas -- have been made to the

.

This month alone, 13 online reports from the county have been made to MUFON, ranging from randomly flashing, multi-colored lights to to a large, glowing object to a bright orange light hovering above tree tops.

"I believe a great deal of the reason for the ever-growing number of reports is growing popularity of both UFOs and MUFON in general," said

, chief investigator with MUFON, who said he may visit the county this weekend to have a look around for himself.

"The paranormal television shows, coupled with the internet have really been letting people know we're out here," Nolan said in an e-mail to MLive-Flint Journal. "They no longer see things and stay hush-hush because they fear what their neighbors will think.

"They have an outlet now that they can report these things too. My guess would be, as long as MUFON and UFOs in general get more attention, we'll get more reports."

Whatever the reason, those reports are skyrocketing.

The latest sighting came from Flushing Tuesday -- a report of four or five "very strange objects in the sky," flying from the southeast, according to MUFON's website.

In a separate report, a witness at an unidentified location in Flint said that at 9:13 p.m. Sunday, he saw a diamond-shaped, stationary object flashing brilliant colors of white, red, blue and green.

"I lost sight of the object ... just exactly as though someone had flipped a switch and shut them all off at the same time -- they were gone," the report said.

Also Sunday, a woman in the Grand Blanc area, near U.S. 23 and the Grand Blanc Road exit, made an online report that she saw something she couldn't explain -- a triangular object hovering over an apartment complex with at least three red and six to eight bright white lights at about 10:45 p.m.

Earlier this month, MLive-Flint Journal reported on a UFO sighting in Flint Township, in which 19-year-old

reported seeing an object hovering above the above Rave cinemas.

Washington made his report to MUFON and called 911, but police found nothing unusual when they investigated.

University of Michigan-Flint astronomy professor Rajib Ganguly said he doesn't know of a specific celestial event that could explain all the sightings this month and said he himself sometimes sees things he can't immediately explain in the sky.

Ganguly said he can usually find a likely explanation for what he's seen -- "after a little bit of digging."

Sightings can prove to be anything from a helicopter to a satellite to a planet or a star, he said. In regard to Sunday's sightings, Sirius -- the brightest star in the sky after the sun -- is one possibility because of its position in the sky that night.

"Satellites are also highly reflective ... they can reflect a lot of sunlight and it can seem like an object just flares up and goes away."

"I don't think it's people pulling hoaxes when (they) report something they think they've seen," the professor said. "It's just something they don't see every day. As a scientist, I have to test the data."

Ganguly said getting the best explanation for a sighting involves collecting the most data possible, including the direction the object is moving, an exact time and a detailed description.

"If it starts becoming sketchy, it's hard to draw appropriate conclusions (other than) they saw something," he said.

Nolan said he believes the report from Grand Blanc "seems to be more tied to the previous case (in Flint Township).

"It's in approximately the same time frame ... and fairly close to being equal distance from (Bishop) Airport although it was in the opposite direction ... ," his e-mail says.

"This supportive information only furthers my thinking that what we have here is a mis-identification of aircraft coming in for a landing at Bishop Airport ... I may have to make a run to Flint and see if I can't catch our UFO."

Washington laughed off Nolan's theory, saying he's certain the object he saw wasn't a conventional aircraft.

He said he's taken some ribbing from friends who saw his story but stands behind his account.

"As I explain it to people, they look and can tell I'm serious," Washington said. "I get a couple of jokes cracked, but that's life ...

"People may think I'm crazy, but I think I'm pretty normal."