Germany sees record surge in UFO sightings as interest in phenomena rekindles

Germany is experiencing a record surge in reports of unidentified flying objects, with sightings particularly increasing this summer.

Hansjürgen Köhler, director of the Central Research Network for Unusual Celestial Phenomena (CENAP), a German-speaking contact point for people seeking scientific explanations for unusual observations in the sky, said the organisation receives between three and six reports every day. By August, the number of UFO-related cases it had investigated had already reached 14,000, according to a report by Euronews.

"Without question, we're the busiest reporting centre in the German-speaking world," Köhler told the outlet.

According to the news outlet, the renewed interest in UFOs in Germany is partly linked to the Pentagon's release of declassified files concerning unidentified anomalous phenomena.

The subject has gained fresh momentum following the release of the so-called UFO files by the Pentagon in Washington.

The US Navy had previously released videos showing unidentified flying objects, now officially referred to mostly as "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" (UAP). In April 2020, the Pentagon formally confirmed the authenticity of three recordings made in 2004 and 2015. The footage shows encounters between US military pilots and flying objects whose origins could not initially be determined.

In December 2022, the US Department of defence established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), tasked with systematically investigating UAP reports, assessing potential national security threats and reviewing historical cases.

For Köhler, however, the material is nothing new.

"We already know the archives anyway; there was nothing in them that was new to me. For the younger generation, though, it is something new. We can only yawn when we see the old footage," he said.

CENAP has occasionally faced criticism for taking a skeptical approach to UFO sightings and placing considerable emphasis on conventional explanations. Supporters, however, regard this as one of the organisation's strengths, arguing that CENAP attempts to classify observations scientifically and distinguish genuinely unexplained phenomena from misinterpretations.

The differing views largely concern how open observers should remain to explanations that have not yet been identified.

"I understand that people start puzzling over it; I can end up in that situation too," Köhler said. "Some people call the police at 2:00 in the morning and say they can see something flashing in the sky. Then the officers call us because the people insist so strongly that there is something there. So you have two police officers standing there, looking up at the sky together with the caller, unable to explain it either and phoning us."

Köhler recommends that members of the public first use readily available tools to identify what they are seeing.

"Members of the public can find out what they are observing – there are free astronomy apps. You can point your phone at the sky and the name of the celestial body then appears."

By Nazrin Sadigova