Geophysical Variables and Behavior: IV. UFO Reports and Fortean Phenomena: Temporal Correlations in the Central U.S.A.

To test the general hypothesis that populations of Fortean events change qualitatively over time, temporal correlations between UFOs and several classes of Fortean events reported during a 20-yr. period (1949–1968) were completed for the central and eastern U.S.A. For the central U.S.A., numbers of UFO reports were significantly correlated with numbers of electromagnetic transients (power failures) (0.57) and odd human behaviors (0.62) of the previous year but with numbers of poltergeist-like (0.57) and odd fall reports (0.52) of the consequent two years. Only the latter correlations were evident for data in the eastern U.S.A. The analyses support the idea that as the geophysical source stimuli increase, Fortean events are first displayed as mundane electromagnetic episodes, then as frank UFO displays, and finally as more bizarre poltergeist-like reports.