Table of Contents
Missouri UFO Sightings Analysis
We analyzed all 2,786 UFO sighting reports in Missouri to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:
- The most commonly reported UFO shape or appearance is "light" (558 reports, 20.03% of total).
- July is the month with the most reported UFO sightings (389 reports, 13.96% of total).
- Saturday is the weekday with the most reported UFO sightings (486 reports, 17.44% of total).
- 07/04/97 is the single date with the most UFO sightings reported (32 reports, 1.15% of total).
- 2012 is the year with the most UFO sightings reported (177 reports, 6.35% of total).
- Sightings occur more often during the night, between the hours of 20:00 - 23:59 (1,309 reports, 46.98% of total).
20 Most Recent UFO Sightings in Missouri
These Missouri UFO reports are presented as they were submitted other than paragraph breaks added for easier readability where necessary. You can click the 'Report' link to view the original report along with any photos that may have been submitted to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).
Full Report Text:
Start faint white flash ZigZag then abrupt turns impossible aerodynamics quick change multiple flash outline of larger one. Releasing of Chinese sky lanterns, windy but clear skies to start out with. Start seeing very faint white movements.
Then the flashes really start being more visible as they ZigZag. Some points they look like dots then almost like a sideways oval. Then suddenly there's 3 that expands into multiple ones appear and almost outlined a what faintly looks like a larger object.
At about 4 mins 37 secs-4 min 46 secs you see zigzaging then what is very bright light far away like supersonically appears to be coming right at us almost looks like a shooting star until it randomly reversed direction headed back way it came quick a lighting disappeared. There was absolutely no sound and the sound barrier was never broken that we're aware of.
Full Report Text:
UFO over northern Kirkwood Saw a large silver and black object over north Kirkwood moving diagonally downward in a fast silent motion. It was seen in clear blue skies. Craft was seen for about 5 seconds and moved out of sight behind trees to the northeast of my house.
Full Report Text:
A light, the size of my hand, not round, moved through the sky almost like a fairy or dragonfly would. Driving home on the freeway with the train tracks on the right hand side. Slightly foggy.
It looked like a dim light about the size of my hand. Was not perfectly round or anything like that. It almost looked like someone was shining a flashlight but definitely couldn't have been the way it looked and definitely wasn't a reflection.
And the way it moves was like a fairy, is the only way I can describe it. It did NOT move like a machine. Very bug like.
But no way it was a bug. It zipped parallel and passed us on my side and disappeared.
Full Report Text:
Outside facing East, see light in sky figure satellite.but stay for few second then moves off to the SW slowly, but flashing orange. Went outside with the dog looked to the East saw a light, typical, figured a plane then the color scheme was wrong, just orange flashing light (not like a plane) a little slower.
Sat there motionless then moved to the SW at the speed of a fast plane. Went inside told my boys (didn't care) amd went out the front door facing south. It came over and headed SW flashing consistently, then just went out.
No cloud bank I could see other stars and planets. Storm in the area to the north. Just didn't look quite normal.
My dog, once inside, went to the window and looked in the direction. (Coincidence, quite plausible).
Full Report Text:
Very fast moving white orb Happened today in central U.S. I was facing East at 2:05pm Central time.
Bright white round object moved across my field of view in just 3 or 4 seconds. Traveled from South to North (which seems to be a rare orbit from my brief research). It didn't seem to be perfectly round, either had a chunk missing or something sticking out.
It's hard to recall exactly, but I remember it wasn't perfectly round. No trail or disruption to atmosphere. I see commercial aircraft occasionally from my location and I would estimate that this object was traveling 10-20 times the speed of a plane.
Viewed through 12x high quality binoculars. I was bird watching and after the bird I was looking at flew off, I focused on some clouds just above the horizon and scanned the sky randomly. The object appeared in my view and despite its incredible speed I was able to track it until the roof of my house obstructed my view.
I only observed it moving in a straight line. I don't think I've ever seen a satellite in the daytime, and some research shows that the S - N trajectory is also rare.
Full Report Text:
Looking out back door through the trees towards a road on the ridge when I noticed an orange light seemingly close to the ground. Looking out back door through the trees towards a road on the ridge when I noticed an orange light seemingly close to the ground. The area is full of trees, its part of a watershed so its hilly, the light looked as though the brightest part was on the ground.
I'm guessing it was about 500 feet from my house. My first thought was that a neighbor had gotten a mercury vapor light, sometimes they are orange. Watched the light for awhile seemed to brighten and then dim, I decided that I must be seeing a car on the road on the ridge.
The next night husband drove over the road with his emergency flashers on and could not see any car lights. I look every night but so far have not seen it again.so far.
(Picture: Light was just to the right of the closest large tree and about 500 feet away and appeared just below horizon line.).
Full Report Text:
I saw a UFO I know it it flew above tree top level I am only about a mile away from where it flew down over the top of hwy 60 south of Big bright white light going a million miles an hour across the tree tops a mile away from me going south from horizon to out of sight in a second.
Full Report Text:
Orange lights seen ascending up from great height At approximately 8:40pm I saw an orange light at approx 20 degrees elevation at heading due west at 270 degrees. This orange light was as bright as the star Sirius in magnitude. Beneath this orange light another orange light moved from 5 degrees from the left to 5 degrees to the right of the stationary orange light.
This orange light was about 5 degrees below this stationary light. Time taken for this light to travel was about 10 seconds and then it faded out. A few seconds later the stationary orange light faded out.
Between three and five minutes later I saw another orange light ten degrees off of the horizon rise in a curve to the left approx ten degrees above the horizon and fade out. 90 seconds later starting in the same location another orange light rises again in a concordal curve and fade in the same place as the first. This happened four times total every 90 seconds.
From my location at night I can see planes leaving from Omaha and Kansas City. Omaha is north northwest of this location 90 miles away and Kansas City is south east from this location 100 miles away. The only commercial airport in the direction of sighting is Denver but at 600 miles the distance to horizon is too far to see air trafic from there.
Weather was clear and 54 degrees.
Full Report Text:
The shimmering silver cylinder was floating in the sky and faded in and out of sight as it rotated. I viewed the object from the Kentucky Fried Chicken building on William St. in Cape Girardeau, MO.
on 11-29-2023 at 12 noon. I first noticed white birds circling a parking lot street light at 2136 William St. Then, above this lamp, I saw a vertical cylinder shaped object constantly rotating and going in and out of visibility as it turned.
It was shimmering in the sunlight with sparkly light and silver spots then completely disappearing and reappeared over and over. It resembled a translucent veil covering a tin can. I estimate the size as big as a box truck.
I watched it for several seconds trying to decide if I was really seeing it. I was with my father at the time but he was unable to see it as his clear view was blocked by a sign. When I reached for my phone to snap a photo the object vanished.
Immediately, I noticed two helicopters in the area and counted 17 other aircraft within 30 minutes of the sighting, which was weird for Cape Girardeau! I am not crazy and know what I saw. I did check with the locale police department, but they had no other reports of sightings. I included a pic of the exact location where I saw the object above the light in the center of the photo.
Full Report Text:
Four points of light - kite shapes I saw four lights in a kite shaped configuration, low to the horizon. They looked as if they were covered and uncovered in quick succession before disappearing completely. I have seen Starlink satellites at my location and this was different from the “train” of Starlink satellites.
Full Report Text:
three orange balls of light going east to west one at a time at about the speed of a jet. The was no noise as I am used to seeing jets go over. These had no noise and did not change their path.
Each seemed to originate from same area of the skyline and disappeared in the same area of skyline. They were about 20 seconds apart from each other. I have seen many things but not like these.
Full Report Text:
Thought it was a bird, but it was just gliding in a very smooth fashion (unlike a bird that flaps its wings). Too round Circular shape, round like a ball, black, gliding very smoothly and passing by fairly quickly. When I zoom in on the picture, there seems to be some kind of circular field around it.
Full Report Text:
4 round objects changing light very low, hovered for several minutes then would come down close and then go back up. Have seen several nights in a row,.
Full Report Text:
Two objects going opposite directions crossed sky Looked up due to airplane noise. I did see the airplane but also saw white objects. Only took photo of one.
The just crossed the sky until out of sight.
Full Report Text:
Star-like object was flying in a circular pattern before shooting off across the sky. October 19,2023 05:51 Clear sky, many stars visible. Stepped off my front porch and looked upwards, facing south-by-southwest, when I saw an object, star-like in appearance, flying in a tight circle around the star Aldebaran of the Taurus constellation.
I only witnessed this strange behavior for a second or two before the object suddenly stopped and took off in a straight line to the left, passing through the center of the Orion constellation and continuing on until it was out of sight. It took 45-60 seconds to cross the sky, moving at what seemed a slower pace than when it was circling the star.
Full Report Text:
An object in what look like mist and bobbing light Wife and I have observed numerous unusual lights in the last 6 months. We see airplanes/helicopters daily due to small airport close by and KCI being not too far. But in the last several weeks we have seen 3 or 4 separate ufos.
The first was about 2 or 3 weeks before the latest last week. The first was a bobbing light that would skip ahead suddenly then return to bobbing across the sky. We observed it for several minutes before it disappeared behind the roof.
Seemed several 1000ft in the air. Tried to take photos. But all 3 turned out as streaks on the camera phone… Then last week I noticed an object moving fast about 2-300 ft off the ground going over our house.
Took me a minute to realize what I was seeing and pointed it out to my wife. It seemed to be an object or objects in a cloud of mist. It almost seemed to be changing shape or the mist was distorting the shape.
No sound at all. We sit on our back deck to smoke and are avid sky watchers. We have seen skylink and other satellites on several occasions.
But what we have seen lately is beyond our experience.
Full Report Text:
I observed a black object appearing to rotate clockwise without sound as it moved West to East, reflecting sunlight periodically. I first observed the object in the Western sky above my house, appearing more distant than a passing plane which was moving North to South and initially believed it was a Bald Eagle changing courses in the air due to a seemingly black body and a white "head." As I continued to watch the object, I could tell it was lower than the plane had been, was dropping altitude and appeared to be a tumbling black triangle or other polygonal shape before settling into one altitude which did not appear to change in any meaningful way.
The object was moving West to East at a slow pace, without jerky movements and produced no sound. After it passed above my home and some power lines, it appeared to be rotating clockwise and was now a diamond shape like that found on an engagement ring. It passed above a nearby cell phone tower (~200ft high) as it continued East.
As it reached a nearby highway (from what I could tell distance-wise), the object began tracking South. Still rotating and no marked change in speed. Direction change wasn't abrupt or concerning in any way.
Throughout the viewing, the object would reflect the sun but seemingly only on one side as it rotated. Sketches of the object include one shape which is the "tumbler" and the second which is the "diamond." The video I have cannot be uploaded through the form because the file size is too large, do not want to add compression to the video to keep it its highest quality.
Full Report Text:
Three brilliantly white Lights hovering in the sky While I was walking my dog late on Friday night I happened to notice three very bright white lights in the shape of a triangle, its position was at 89 degrees of the compass and about 30 degrees above the horizon. I watched this object for about 30 minutes, it never moved from its position, and then it just disappeared from view. There were no sounds or movement coming from it.
I'm a veteran, I've seen all sorts of flares and bright lights, but the light that was coming from the object was the most brilliant light that I have ever seen in my life. My MOS in the military was Air Traffic Controller, I have many years of experience when it comes to aircraft and what should and should Not be in the sky. This was not any conventional aircraft that I know of.
Friday night was a clear night with no cloud cover at all.
Full Report Text:
Saw something shining outside the window at a distance and started looking more in depth to realize it wasn’t a plane or drone Me and a guy from work were putting lighting in on the 2nd floor of the building by some windows and the guy I was working with said “ what the hell is that shining out the window a drone?” We both then started watching it and noticed it was moving too fast to be a plane or a drone as it got closer then it just vanished. We looked around for it about 15-20 minutes but could no longer find or see it.
Full Report Text:
Triangle with three lights figure in sky I was sitting in my car in front of a friend's house when I heard this humming noise I looked out my car window and seen a triangle figure with three lights floating across the sky we pulled our phones out to capture video of it wondering what this was one guy insisted it was a drone but it was floating across the sky humming then disappeared this was the first time we ever seen or experienced anything like this.
Missouri UFO Sightings By Shape
This is a standardized set of shapes a UFO report can be filed under.
Shape / Appearance | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
Light | 558 reported sightings | 20.03% of all reports |
Triangle | 312 reported sightings | 11.20% of all reports |
Circle | 223 reported sightings | 8.00% of all reports |
Unknown | 199 reported sightings | 7.14% of all reports |
Fireball | 187 reported sightings | 6.71% of all reports |
Other | 184 reported sightings | 6.60% of all reports |
Sphere | 176 reported sightings | 6.32% of all reports |
Disk | 159 reported sightings | 5.71% of all reports |
Oval | 95 reported sightings | 3.41% of all reports |
Cigar | 78 reported sightings | 2.80% of all reports |
Changing | 76 reported sightings | 2.73% of all reports |
Formation | 63 reported sightings | 2.26% of all reports |
Cylinder | 62 reported sightings | 2.23% of all reports |
Rectangle | 52 reported sightings | 1.87% of all reports |
Chevron | 45 reported sightings | 1.62% of all reports |
Diamond | 42 reported sightings | 1.51% of all reports |
Flash | 37 reported sightings | 1.33% of all reports |
Teardrop | 23 reported sightings | 0.83% of all reports |
Orb | 13 reported sightings | 0.47% of all reports |
Egg | 11 reported sightings | 0.39% of all reports |
Cone | 8 reported sightings | 0.29% of all reports |
Cross | 6 reported sightings | 0.22% of all reports |
Star | 6 reported sightings | 0.22% of all reports |
Delta | 3 reported sightings | 0.11% of all reports |
Missouri UFO Sightings By Month
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the month the sighting occured in.
Month | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
July | 389 reported sightings | 13.96% of all reports |
June | 301 reported sightings | 10.80% of all reports |
October | 275 reported sightings | 9.87% of all reports |
August | 245 reported sightings | 8.79% of all reports |
November | 238 reported sightings | 8.54% of all reports |
September | 237 reported sightings | 8.51% of all reports |
December | 208 reported sightings | 7.47% of all reports |
May | 193 reported sightings | 6.93% of all reports |
March | 177 reported sightings | 6.35% of all reports |
April | 177 reported sightings | 6.35% of all reports |
January | 164 reported sightings | 5.89% of all reports |
February | 135 reported sightings | 4.85% of all reports |
Missouri UFO Sightings By Weekday
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the day of the week the sighting occured on.
Weekday | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
Saturday | 486 reported sightings | 17.44% of all reports |
Friday | 421 reported sightings | 15.11% of all reports |
Wednesday | 390 reported sightings | 14.00% of all reports |
Sunday | 375 reported sightings | 13.46% of all reports |
Monday | 358 reported sightings | 12.85% of all reports |
Tuesday | 356 reported sightings | 12.78% of all reports |
Thursday | 353 reported sightings | 12.67% of all reports |
Missouri UFO Sightings By Date (Top 5)
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the date the sighting occured on, limited to the top 5 dates with the most sightings.
Date | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
07/04/97 | 32 reported sightings | 1.15% of all reports |
07/04/10 | 11 reported sightings | 0.39% of all reports |
07/04/11 | 10 reported sightings | 0.36% of all reports |
12/09/17 | 10 reported sightings | 0.36% of all reports |
06/14/14 | 9 reported sightings | 0.32% of all reports |
Missouri UFO Sightings By Time
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the time of day the sighting occured during. We took logical 4 hour windows in order to split the day into early morning, morning, afternoon, evening, night, and late night buckets for this analysis.
Time Of Day | Hours | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|---|
Night | 20:00 - 23:59 | 1,309 reported sightings | 46.98% of all reports |
Evening | 16:00 - 19:59 | 492 reported sightings | 17.66% of all reports |
Late night | 00:00 - 03:59 | 409 reported sightings | 14.68% of all reports |
Early morning | 04:00 - 07:59 | 207 reported sightings | 7.43% of all reports |
Afternoon | 12:00 - 15:59 | 164 reported sightings | 5.89% of all reports |
Morning | 08:00 - 11:59 | 158 reported sightings | 5.67% of all reports |
Years with Reported UFO Sightings in Missouri
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in Missouri.
Cities with Reported UFO Sightings in Missouri
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per city in Missouri