Here's where UFO sightings were reported in Minnesota
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We're living among Mulders and Scullys, Minnesota.
State of extraterrestrial life: The Twin Cities metro area had 1,236 UFO sightings between 2000 and 2003, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick, Erin Davis and Alice Feng report from National UFO Reporting Center data.
The big picture: That's about 33.5 sightings per 100,000 residents, below the national average of 34.3.
- For comparison, Nevada's Lincoln County — home of Area 51 — logged 820.9 sightings per 100,000 residents.
Why it matters: Discussion and reports of UFOs have been going more mainstream in recent years amid a push for answers from lawmakers and others.
Between the lines: Some view the unidentified objects as a national security concern. What people are seeing out there could be experimental craft from Russia, China or other U.S. adversaries.
- Commercial and military pilots have also been increasingly public about their inexplicable sightings. That's a sea change from decades past when pilots who talked openly about such matters were often ostracized.
Our thought bubble: The vast majority of the state's sightings were in the metro, where we're surrounded by airports.
- The highest rates of sightings were largely in northern Minnesota. That tracks, given that it's easier to see interesting stuff in the night sky when you're far from sources of light pollution.
The bottom line: There's still no proof that we're being visited by extraterrestrials. But the truth, as they say, is out there.
Zoom out: America's UFO hotspots, mapped