Is Hamilton County a UFO mecca?
Okay, first of all — no. That was an egregiously, shamelessly manipulative headline. But I’m glad it grabbed your attention, because here’s something cool.
Not cool about UFOs, but cool about the way statistics can be misleading.
Using information gathered from the National UFO Reporting Center, the on-line journal Slate has plotted the number of UFO sitings in each county per 100,000 people over the last fifteen years.
They created a cool-looking map and it turns out, Hamilton County comes in second in the Northeast — trailing only Essex, Vermont in per capita sightings.
According to Slate’s tally, Hamilton Countonians spotted UFOs 62 times for every 100,000 people in the county over that period. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?
But of course, there aren’t 100,000 people in Hamilton County, there are only about 5,000.
So if I do my math right (and trust me, that’s not a given) that means people in the central Adirondacks probably reported seeing about three UFOs over that fifteen year period.
Still, that’s not too bad, right? A visit by flying saucers ever five years or so sounds like plenty to me.
Where’s the Bigfoot sighting map?
I have actually received a letter and photographs from a sasquatch tracker in the southern Adirondacks.
–Brian, NCPR
Whitehall? There were a few sightings in the late 70’s down that way. Read that in my books on Champ.
There aren’t any UFOs, Big Foots, Champs, ghosts, nothing but the usual Cabin Fever.