Four Million English Folk Have Seen UFOs
The first results from the National Folklore Survey reveals data on a range of extraordinary experiences and beliefs
The results of the first National Folklore Survey for England have revealed more than four million people say they have seen ‘something in the sky they could not explain’.
It also found that almost one third of those surveyed, aged 16-75, say they believe the existence of extraterrestrials has been covered up by governments.
Millions of people also report close encounters with ghosts, angels and other inexplicable phenomena. But one in five have never told anyone else about the strange things they have seen or experienced.
When I set out to create the survey two years ago, my aim was to capture an accurate snapshot of the wide range of experiences, beliefs and traditions that fall under the term folklore.
It is a common misperception that folklore only relates to the past, the ancient, the superstitious and the occult. Folklore does pertain to those things, but it is also embedded in our cultural DNA and plays an important part in all our lives.
For example, how many of us salute when we see a single magpie, refuse to walk under ladders or treat Friday the 13th as a day to be avoided?
As one definition puts it, folklore ‘includes the art, stories, knowledge and practices of people. While folklore can be found in memories and histories, it is also tied to vibrant living traditions and creative expressions today’.
I designed the 2025 National Folklore Survey as a ‘census’ that could be used as a starting point for further research into the kinds of things that people living in England today say they experience and believe. And I hope that in future the survey could be expanded to cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and further afield.
The two-year project draws upon academic expertise from Sheffield Hallam University, where I am an Associate Professor, and the University of Hertfordshire and Chapman University in the USA. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and supported by The Folklore Society that was founded in London in 1878.
The NFS is the first truly representative survey of English folk beliefs ever carried out. I believe it is important to ask questions that might help us understand how the beliefs and traditions of England have changed since the last comparable survey was conducted.
The last survey, launched in 1964 by the University of Sheffield, used basic printed questionnaires to gather a very broad range of folkloric material. These were posted and distributed randomly, with the handwritten responses collated and typed by volunteers. The Survey of English Language and Tradition ran for forty years and during that time more than 12,000 examples were collected on record cards.
But as this was all done before the arrival of the internet, it does not help us draw any definitive conclusions about the kind of folklore that circulates today, both online and via word of mouth. Since the 1960s English society has been transformed by changes in science, technology and medicine that have altered the way we view both the natural and supernatural world and our place within it.
Sheffield-born Professor John Widdowson, who designed the 1964 survey, was my PhD supervisor and, at the age of 90, encouraged me to set up a new, updated version that was suitable for the way people tell stories in the present day. That challenge inspired me to create a folklore survey that considers the revolution in information technology, the pervasive influence of social media and the impact of Artificial Intelligence
The survey was conducted by IPSOS UK during the summer. They quizzed 1730 adults living in England, using our list of approximately 60 questions in seven different categories. Our first results have been released to coincide with Halloween and more of our exciting findings will follow as the project enters its second year.
One section of our survey asked a representative sample of adults who live in England about their supernatural experiences and beliefs. We called this section ‘the unexpected and the unexplained’. Our survey said…
10% say they have seen a UFO/unidentified flying object or ‘something in the sky could not explain’ and 15% are aware of places in England that have become famous because of their UFO legends. But overall, the results suggest the English are less likely to see UFOs and are more sceptical than people who live in North America. Since 2020 the US Government has adopted the phrase UAP – meaning Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena – to replace UFO. A survey conducted by the Canadian government released in June this year found 21% of respondents said they had seen a UAP and a YouGov poll in the US during 2024 found a reporting level of 18%. Is this because of the wide-open skies in North America, that are more suited to skywatching? Or is it because Americans are more likely to interpret UAP as alien craft
In England, the NFS survey reveals a clear division between believers and sceptics. 32% say they believe all UFO sightings can be explained as natural, man-made phenomena and hoaxes. But nearly a quarter of those surveyed (24.5%) say they believe that at least some UFOs are spaceships controlled by non-human intelligences and 23% say they believe some are visitors from another dimension or even time travellers from our own future. In comparison, the recent YouGov survey in the USA found that 32% believed some UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin.
Indeed, the higher level of reported sightings – and belief in a government cover-up of aliens - in the USA may be linked to the higher level of belief in the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs. As noted by Professor Christopher Bader, sociologist at Chapman University in California, from our survey team:
‘Whether or not aliens are visiting Earth, the first and only requirement for sighting an extraterrestrial craft is belief in their possible existence. A person with a very strong belief in aliens will be more likely to interpret anomalous phenomena in the sky as extraterrestrial in origin. A die-hard sceptic will tend to assume that something they can’t identify has a prosaic explanation.’
Our survey also found that 24% of people living in England say they believe spacecraft piloted by aliens have crashed on Earth. That clearly demonstrates the impact that the space age legend of the Roswell incident, where a flying saucer is said to have landed in the New Mexico desert and was covered up by the US government, has had upon our own ideas about UFOs and conspiracies.
Almost one third (27%) of people in England believe the existence of extraterrestrials is being covered up by our government. This result is like a 2007 survey carried out for The Times that found 31% said they believed some governments were concealing evidence of extraterrestrial contact. Despite denials by NASA, the US survey last year found two thirds of Americans believe their government is concealing information about UFOs.
Our survey also revealed that belief in ancient aliens remains strong half a century after Swiss author Eric von Daniken published Chariots of the Gods? Overall, 28% of respondents say they believe aliens have visited Earth in prehistoric times and 15% said they believe these ancient astronauts were involved in the construction of iconic megalithic monuments such as Stonehenge. Another 13% say they believe ETs have established bases on Earth.
Again, Americans are far more likely to believe that ETs have played a role in ancient history. The survey conducted in the USA in 2020 found that 42% said they either agreed or strongly agreed that aliens had visited Earth in the distant past.
The NFS found there are ‘statistically significant’ differences in England with respect to UFO beliefs by religion. For instance, Muslims are much more likely to believe in extraterrestrials, ancient astronauts and alien bases on Earth and that they have an interest in our development of nuclear technology.
The survey also revealed that men are more likely to believe in UFOs than women and UFO beliefs, particularly those relating to cover-ups and conspiracies, and younger people are more attracted to these ideas, possibly due to their greater exposure to social media. 35% of 25-34 year olds and 33% of 35-44 year olds say they believe but this falls to just 20% in the more sceptical 55-75 age group.
Respondents to our survey were also asked about their experience of, and belief in, a range of other unexplained phenomena. In total, 16% of the respondents reported they have had a ghostly or extraordinary experience. Of those who have had an experience, 18% or almost one in five, have never discussed it with anyone – not even family and friends. I found this result both surprising and revealing, in that it suggests there are tens of thousands of extraordinary experiences that we never get to hear about.
Nevertheless, 10% say they have experienced the presence of a guardian angel or protective spirit and 7% say they have experienced an out of body experience. A similar number of people report near-death experiences.
Despite lots of evidence that most Crop Circles are created by human pranksters, 19% said they believe the enigmatic marks in fields are created by non-human forces or energies. A further 31% said they believe in Ley-Lines that are supposed to be invisible straight lines that connect ancient places in the landscape. Somerset’s Glastonbury Tor, associated with the legend of King Arthur, is often said to be a focal point of ley-lines that link the mystical centre of England with Stonehenge and other ancient monuments.
34% say they believe that big cats, not native to Britain, are roaming our countryside – but only 17% say they believe in the Loch Ness Monster. I guess that if we ran our survey in Scotland we might get an entirely different result!
As with UFOs and conspiracy theories, belief in the supernatural, including ghosts, magical beings such as the djinn, telekinesis, possession, spells, psychics, angels, demons and curses, was reported much more highly in the under-45 age group. Our survey found those aged between 25 and 34 most likely to express belief in extraordinary phenomena.
Overall, 39% say they believe there is life after death, 36% say they believe that ghosts or spirits of deceased people exist and 27% say they believe it is possible to communicate with the dead. More than two thirds (62%) have heard of ghost stories and legends from the area of England in which they live.
During the next 12 months, the NFS team will release further survey results to mark the key points in the folkloric year. Participants answered questions in seven categories and the data collected covers many aspects of folklore including places and legends, nature and the natural world, lucky and unlucky objects, calendar customs (including religious festivals, Christmas and other annual milestones), magical beliefs and how people react and communicate with folkloric topics portrayed in film, TV and social media.
Visit our survey website for more information: https://www.nationalfolkloresurvey.co.uk/
IPSOS surveyed 1730 people aged between 16 and 75 using their iOmnibus function, a panel that is truly representative of people living in England, considering demographics such as age, education, gender, ethnicity, religion, region and income level. All responses have been anonymised. This type of survey is regularly used by HMG/NHS and other large organisations and the accuracy of the results is regarded with 99% confidence (gold standard).
I took a photo that was very similar to the three shown at the top of the post. Whilst I can't comment on those shown here, mine had a very Earthly origin.
I simply fixed a cardboard shape to the front window with a little blu-tac and took a photo of someone walking outside. It was just to satisfy my own curiosity, but without the backstory it could have been mistaken for something else.
Great data thanks for compiling !