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CNY UFO Researcher & Writer Crunches Data, has New Discoveries on (possible) Visits

Susann Snyder

We’ve all gazed into the sky to look at the moon, maybe a shooting star, and possibly something we couldn’t quite explain. 

Cheryl Costa has been following U-F-O sightings for years and writes a column for the New Times and a blog.  In 2015 She and her wife Linda Miller Costa cast an eye on actual reports

“We figured let’s crunch the data for New York and it suddenly started revealing patterns that none of the UFO researchers in New York had ever seen before.” 

And then they decided to check out the entire nation…using that big data approach.

“I started downloading the National UFO Reporting Center databases for all 50 states.”

ufo_costa_web_proof.mp3
Cheryl Costa adds more on what she sees as the value of the information they've collected.

You might notice she’s not trying to convince you.

Credit Costa and Costa "UFO Sightings Desk Reference"
(CLICK TO ENLARGE) -- Yearly data shows reports of UFO sightings increased over the past 15 years.

“We couldn’t set out to prove alien life exists.  But people have been telling us for a number of years, ‘UFO sightings, they’ve been on the decline since the 1980s.’  Well, we set out to prove that wrong.”

Her book, UFO Sightings Desk Reference 2001-2015, has break downs of the reported sightings from every state, down to the county level.  The information came from the national organizations that collect sighting reports, the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC). 

What they found – 121-thousand reported sightings from 2000 to 2015 …5200-plus in New York, and on the increase. 

SIGHTINGS BY-THE-NUMBERS FOR NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL COUNTIES

  • 5141 - Total reported sightings in New York State 2001-2015
  • 161 - Total reported sightings in Onondaga County 2001-2015
  • 105 - Total reported sightings in Oneida County 2001-2015
  • 31 - Total reported sightings in Onondaga County 2001-2015
  • 554 - Total reported sightings in Suffolk County 2001-2015 (most in state)
  • 657- Number of reports seeing a Circle Shape (highest shape frequency in state reports)

But Costa says the data revealed other findings…like clusters around the Saint Lawrence and Hudson rivers.
“Those two waterways alone, on a first appearance, it doesn’t look that way, but when you add them up, they are 51% of New York State’s sightings and people have always been saying these things hang out around water for some reason.”

Credit Costa and Costa "UFO Sightings Desk Reference"
Frequency of shapes people reported seeing in Onondaga County.

I talked with Cheryl up on Onondaga Hill, thinking less light pollution = more sightings.  But she said the bulk come from urban areas.

“It raises the question, ‘Are we seeing more UFOs in the city because there’s more people there to see them, or is it because there’s more people there and the UFOs are studying the people.”

ufo_costa_sightings.mp3
Cheryl Costa shares more on her findings and how sightings are investigated.

Costa emphasizes her book UFO Sightings Desk Reference – mostly charts and graphs of data, state by state – down to county level – does not prove existence.  That’s a job, she says for scientists, academics, maybe government, even though the Air force stopped investigating reports in 1968.  The book does group sightings by form, a disc, cigar-shaped …and Costa says the truth is in the shapes and the 6-7 percent that can’t be explained away.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.