In the last 50 years Alaska has had 6500 reported sightings. Those are just the reported ones. Many times that go unreported for various reasons.
Mexico City has had daily sightings.
The rise in sightings does not come from seeing more but from the more reporting being done about the phenomenon that is making its way into everyday households.
This can be akin to police shootings. While there is not a rise in shootings per se of blacks, there is more reporting done on police shooting blacks.
The increase in reporting from news, lame stream or otherwise, gives the false sense that there is an increasing amount of activity where there was previously none. We have the 24 hour news cycle to attribute to this. If it is out of sight it is out of mind. However, if it is in front of our faces everyday where previously it had not, then people tend to believe there is an uptick in that particular activity. Hence the media narrative to keep the embers stoked and the fire burning.
Well there is an uptick - these happen and then it subsides until the next time. Keep in mind not many people look up and most live in cities (where the preponderance of cell phones are) that have so much light night time observations are all but precluded and have tall buildings which hide the sky in the daytime.
Many of us out here have seen them on many occasions, and it is always nice to see the MSN take an interest once in a while.
More reporting is being done because more ‘credible’ observers have been given permission to speak and report or are past the point of jeopardizing their jobs.