The Canadian UFO Survey

Help with the study of UFOs!

Since 1989, UFOlogy Research of Manitoba has solicited sightings data from active Canadian researchers. This data is annually compiled into the "Canadian UFO Survey." The survey is made publicly available in an attempt to promote the dissemination of information across the field of ufology. This page contains many of the surveys, as well as the data.

The 2020 Canadian UFO Survey has now been released as of March 29, 2021. The Survey essay can be found here. The list of Higher Quality Unknowns can be found here. The data can be found here. The charts can be found here.

A catalog of physical trace cases in Canada has now been placed on the site.

This is a catalog of around 138 physical trace cases, going back to 1880. This list includes UFO cases involving physical disturbances to the environment, as well as crop circle cases. The list was last updated September 6, 2015.

The "Manitoba UFO Survey" was released on July 13, 2015!

The "Survey Essay" page contains just that; the essays produced each year summarizing the findings of the survey for that year, along with explanations of trends, as well as describing some of the more interesting cases for each year.

The "Search The Database" link is currently inactive. In the future, the complete database will be put on the web, allowing any users to search the database for sightings based on the criteria of their choosing.

The "Data Tables" page contains the raw data, in html table format, for most of the Survey years. Basic data, such as date, time, number of witnesses, etc. is listed, as well as a very limited general description of each sighting. Right now we have the basic data for most years up on the web page, but are currently missing 1989, 1992, and 2009 on the website. We hope to get that data online sometime in the near future.

The "Charts" page contains assorted charts summarizing the data over the years. One can find such things as the distribution of sightings by province, time of day, etc. The charts are in .gif format.With respect to the charts, there is a trade-off that must be made. If one is to be able to view the results of the different variables being measured, the chart is frequently too large to fit on the monitor, and one has to scroll left or right to view the entire results. Shrinking the charts to fit the screen, while making the entire chart as a whole visable, makes it difficult to actually interpret the chart, as the labels become too small. I have chosen to forsake convenience and make the charts large enough that one can actually read the results. Given this, the various charts are best viewed with the latest version of Internet Explorer, as it gives you the ability to easily resize the images. Printing the charts using I.E. seems to work well too. With Netscape however, some of the charts don't print on a single page, and either come out on two pages, or it simply cuts off a portion of the chart.

To celebrate the anniversary of the Canadian UFO Survey, we have released a new survey, which looks at the complete database of sightings. Over the 25 years, we have collected over 14,600 sighting reports. The written report and data table can be found below.

The "25th Anniversary Written Report" (in pdf format)

The "Data" (in pdf format)

The "Testimonies" page is currently inactive, but will contain eyewitness accounts, in the own words of the witnesses.


Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to email Geoff Dittman