The Midlands is challenging the South East as UK's hot-spot for UFO sightings, new data shows.
There were 42 separate sightings reported during 2022 alone in the region, according to researchers.
Claims of extra terrestrial sightings were made in the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
But despite the spike, the area still lags behind the South East, North West and South West of England when it comes to official reports lodged.
UFO researchers compiled data using Freedom of Information requests, along with local and national media reports, according to BirminghamLive.
Within the West Midlands metropolitan county itself, which comprises Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Solihull and Coventry, there were 17 reported sightings last year.
The findings were revealed by BonusInsider, who analysed data compiled by the research group UFO Identified.
A report by BonusInsider said: "According to the data for 2022, the most commonly reported UFO was 'star-like', as described in 126 reports. Other common shapes were 'orb' (80 reports), 'circular' (55 reports), 'cylinder' (52 reports), 'sphere' (42 reports), and 'triangle' (35 reports).
"Saucers or 'discs', as they are classified in the UFO Identified document, were spotted in 34 reports."
The South East of England had the highest number of sightings in the country, according to the research, with 75 last year.
Greater Manchester had 26 reports, followed by Greater London with 20.
The news comes after a series of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects in the United States and Canada in the past month.
The BonusInsider report added: "Within a two week span, US fighter jets shot down four objects over North America, and only one was confirmed to be a Chinese spy balloon.
The nature of the other three, however, remains unknown, giving rise to various theories about the purpose and origins of these flying objects.
"Were they weather balloons, balloons for commercial use, or possibly spy aircraft? Were they man-made or extra-terrestrial?"
The West Midlands region is no stranger to so-called close encounters with the third kind. In September 2021, video footage, obtained by the Birmingham UFO research group, allegedly showed an adduction victim vanishing and reappearing in her bed.
