From Flying Saucers to UAP: Belief, Government Scrutiny, and Regional Sighting Patterns in the United States
To the point
Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting sparked a lasting US fixation on UFOs, with belief in alien spacecraft rising over time due to government scrutiny and pop culture, and sightings clustering in the West (California leads) while New Orleans is the top city in Louisiana, according to NUFORC.