State Profile

Missouri UFO Sightings

RANK #15 NATIONALLY — 3,876 REPORTED SIGHTINGS

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3,876
Total reported sightings
#15
National ranking
1 in 1,700
Approx. per capita rate
1990s
Peak reporting decade

About Missouri UAP sightings

Missouri's central U.S. location and multiple military installations place it at the crossroads of military air corridors. Whiteman AFB near Knob Noster is home to the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber fleet — aircraft whose unusual flying wing silhouette has generated legitimate misidentification reports.

Fort Leonard Wood and Lambert Field's Air National Guard wing add to the state's military footprint. The Lake of the Ozarks region is a persistent reporting cluster, possibly related to the area's extensive boating community and clear lake-country skies.

St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas generate significant absolute counts, while rural southern Missouri's Ozark highland communities show elevated per-capita rates.

Contributing factors

  • Whiteman AFB — B-2 Spirit stealth bomber base
  • Fort Leonard Wood
  • Lake of the Ozarks cluster
  • Lambert Field ANG operations
  • Ozark Highlands rural community

Shape breakdown — Missouri

Consistent with national patterns, Missouri witnesses most frequently report orb and light phenomena, followed by triangular and disc-shaped objects.

Orb / Light
38%
Explore →
Triangle
16%
Explore →
Disc
14%
Explore →
Cigar
8%
Other
24%

Recent UAP news — Missouri

Multiple witnesses in Missouri file reports with NUFORC — pattern under review
NUFORC — 2026
Trump declassification order expected to surface files related to Missouri military installations
Defense reporting — March 2026
AARO database includes cases from Missouri in latest review cycle
Pentagon AARO — 2025

Frequently asked questions — Missouri

Missouri has 3,876 reported UFO and UAP sightings on record, ranking #15 nationally. The data is sourced from peer-reviewed academic research geocoding historical NUFORC reports through 2023. This represents reported sightings, not verified encounters.
Missouri has produced notable sighting reports over the decades. The state's military installations and geographic characteristics have contributed to a consistent and varied reporting history. See the contributing factors section above for details specific to Missouri.
Sightings from Missouri can be reported to NUFORC at nuforc.org or MUFON at mufon.com. Both maintain state-level investigators. See our reporting guide for more information.

Neighboring states

Sighting counts: Illinois: 4,432 | Kansas: 1,876

Iowa Illinois Kentucky Tennessee Arkansas Oklahoma Kansas Nebraska

Witnessed something unexplained in Missouri?

Report your sighting to an established civilian organization. Your report contributes to the public record.

Report to NUFORC → Report to MUFON →