History of world's largest UFO investigative group as they track 'aliens' across globe
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Maybe it’s an unidentified flying object.
Ever wonder who would keep track of these sightings? Well, MUFON (USA) - the Mutual UFO Network - based in Cincinnati Ohio, is the answer to all your UFO investigation needs. They track and further investigate reports of unidentified phenomenon that people just cannot explain.
“At MUFON, we are driven by a commitment to advancing the field of UFO research,” the MUFON official website says. Their primary goals include “investigating UFO sightings and systematically collecting data in the MUFON Database, making it accessible to researchers worldwide”.
This data base helps the research process and educates the public on the impact that UFOs may have on society. MUFON is working to answer, does nonhuman intelligent life exist?
As of 2024, the organization had 4,000 enthusiastic members eager to research the UFO phenomena and an annual revenue of $637,000, making it the Guinness Worlds Records title holder for largest civilian UFO investigative group.
The organization first broke this record in 2014 with 3,000 members. Over a decade later, because of their growth and popularity, 1,000 additional members were added, causing MUFON to break their own record!
The group was originally founded in 1969 by Allen Ukte, a college professor, and Walter Andrus, an engineer, as a Midwest specific UFO research group named the Midwest UFO Network. The pair were unsatisfied with the way the United States government discredited UFO research. They also did not agree with the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (ARPO), another UFO research group, who believed in a more central approach.
At the time, Allen and Walter sought to respond to Midwest specific reports, therefore creating a group that would focus on their specific niche. Now, however, as the organization has grown and more scientists are willing to contribute, the name has been changed to the Mutual UFO Network and they document worldwide reports of UFO sightings. The network holds chapters in a variety of different states and nations.
As the search for other intelligent life continues, many civilians across the world like to conduct their own research on UFOs.
Interest in UFOs originally struck the United States like a meteor during the Cold War. They were concerned that these unidentified objects in the sky may be the work of the Soviet Union. The United States Air Force, needing to protect the country, began rapidly investing in several UFO research programmes. The research, however, later came to a standstill.
“The official US government interest in UFOs began to fade as the USAF projects Sign and Grudge concluded, along with the CIA’s Robertson Panel that UFO reports indicated no direct threat to national security,” MUFON say.
“The government’s official research into UFOs ended with the publication of the Condon Committee report in 1969.”
Although the US government deemed the research unnecessary, UFO sightings still continued, so founders Allen and Walter saw the need to continue investigating.
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Their theories of more UFO encounters were correct. As of 2024, MUFON has received upwards of 140,000 witness statements and case reports. Members of MUFON can access this database and go down a black hole of research.
On the group's website, anyone can disclose an experience they have had. Using the Jacques Vallée UFO classification system, this encounter is then added to the stellar database. Who or what these witnesses see, still remains unknown, which makes it difficult when it comes to scientific research.
“The UFO problem seems to bear a closer resemblance to problems in meteorology than in physics. The phenomena are observed, occur episodically, are not reproducible, and in large part, are identified by statistical gathering of data for possible organization into patterns,” Ufologist Diana Palmer Hoyt states. “They are not experiments that can be replicated at will at the laboratory bench under controlled conditions.”
In seeking to explain the unexplainable and working hand-in-hand with Ufologists, this civilian group does not just have a database. The organization also produces a series of documentaries and podcasts that seek to prove there may be other life out there. Members can also subscribe to the MUFON Journal that provides exclusive UFO coverage.
Most importantly, it brings the UFO enthusiast community together. This makes the curious curiouser and fills the gap for a field that otherwise would go undiscovered.