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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Edward Helmore in Rio Rancho, New Mexico

From UFOs to drones, the US fascination with – and fear of – ‘anomalous detections’

Composite of three black-and-white images, of a UFO, a man, and an alien head.
David Marler (center) is the director of the National UFO Historical Records Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Composite: Ed Helmore

A widespread panic about drones or other unknown low-flying objects has gripped New Jersey in recent days, but many other parts of the US remain cheerfully gripped by another very American mystery in the skies that has had a modern resurgence of interest: UFOs.

At the newly opened National UFO Historical Records Center – an array of beige buildings on the grounds of the Martin Luther King Jr elementary school in Rio Rancho, New Mexico – records detailing unexplained aerial objects and public fears around them fill dozens of filing cabinets.

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