That time a UFO was spotted in Charleston

This image from Charleston Armed Services YMCA isn't a "real" UFO, but a promotional tour put on by the USO during the late 1950s. An archivist at the University of Minnesota Libraries found it several years ago and slipped it to futurism website io9.com.

Remember that time in 1958 when a UFO was sighted in Charleston? No? Well what about last week?

You might be surprised at the number of UFO sightings reported in South Carolina and in the Charleston area. You probably won't be surprised that more than a few of them seem to appear near the coastline and in proximity to airports and Air Force bases.

So while you might file this under our chance to talk about UFOs or odd stuff we found on the Internet while looking for something else, we prefer to call it "The Other Aerospace."

According to the National UFO Reporting Center, there have been exactly 150 unidentified flying objects reported in South Carolina this year. Thirty-nine of those were in the first three months of the year, which means 74% of the sightings occurred in the past four months, and this month isn't even over.

In the Charleston area so far this year, there have been 18 reported sightings. Compare that to the Myrtle Beach area, which had 51 reported sightings in June alone, and maybe you have your explanation.

A lot of those sightings could be dismissed as folks who might have stayed out too late on a Saturday night or didn't realize it was July 4 when they saw orange-red spheres light up and then fade (six sightings on July 4 and four of those near coastal towns). It's also not surprising that anyone can report something anonymously, but not every sighting comes from an anonymous or possibly less-than-credible source. Some even have photos.

In 1980, William J. Herrmann snapped several photos of something flying over Charleston Air Force Base, and the moment landed the photographer in perpetual UFO folklore.

Okay, so you're thinking what we're thinking: Air Force Base, UFO ... hmmm seems obvious. But when you see the photos, it seems less obvious. Could it be a fast-moving military jet caught by a slow-moving camera? Yes. Could it be a hubcap? Sure. Herrmann was an auto mechanic working near the Air Force Base.

We dug through The Wayback Machine (not to be confused with a time machine) to find Herrmann's photos. Herrmann also said he was abducted by aliens.

So you tell us: Aerospace Phenomenon or Other Aerospace Phenomenon? If we can find a hubcap, we're going to try to make our own flying saucer, and we don't mind if you report us.