Are we alone?

UFOs? Aliens? Intelligent life beyond Earth? The truth may be out there, but some locals still aren't comfortable talking about what they believe

By Jeanné McCartin
features@seacoastonline.com
August 26, 2007 6:00 AM

We write about them, talk about them, make movies and films on the subject, but admit you believe there's intelligent life on other planets? Well, maybe privately.

More than two dozen people who were asked their opinion were more than willing to talk on the matter — but not on the record. What's interesting is, all but two believe. And to the last one, the believers felt it was the rational response. To imagine all universes void of life with the exception of earth seemed a ludicrous concept. But on the record? Thanks, but no thanks. They'd rather the neighbors didn't know.

Only one person admitted to a sighting. She was excited to talk about the experience — off the record. The East Kingston resident saw her UFO on Route 108 between Exeter and Kingston, a few decades back. "It's been a 'stick to beat me with' at the family reunions for years. It's good-natured, but I don't need it to be out there ...; to my friends," she says. "So, no. Not on the record."

With decades to think about it, does she still think it was an alien space ship she spotted? "Sometimes I question it. ...; It was a long time ago. I'll never really know what it was, will I? But it wasn't a plane, and it was definitely different. I've never seen anything act like that — holding steady, and then gone. ...; Yes I guess I did see what I thought I saw."

So aliens are a given? "They would have to be wouldn't they? Not little green things. But I do believe in intelligent life, other than us. It only makes sense."

There it is — the oft-repeated comment; the one few would admit to on record.

And yet, a 2006 poll conducted by the Center for Survey and Research Analysis at the University of Connecticut indicates there are 3 million Americans who believe they've encountered bright lights or incurred bodily marks indicative of a possible encounter with aliens. Ninety-percent of the believers feel Earth should reply to any message from another planet. At least two-thirds of those polled who said they did not believe in extraterrestrial agreed. Seventy-seven percent of the believers thought alien life forms could develop on planets very different from Earth. And 80 percent felt intelligent aliens were likely more advanced than humans.

Andrea Ardito of Portsmouth says she hasn't given much thought to off-Earth intelligent life. But her fourth-grade daughter is truly fascinated by the concept. She became interested in the subject when she learned Betty Hill was a neighbor. Seacoast residents Betty and Barney Hill, now deceased, became internationally renowned for claiming they were abducted in 1961.

There are unexplainable occurrences in this world that get a mind to thinking," says Ardito. "I guess I would say that I would like to believe there is life outside ...; Earth. And I'd like to think (aliens) are benevolent. But after reading the story about the Hills, I think twice about driving dark back roads in New Hampshire. ...; But there have been enough people that have had experiences you can't help but think, gee, there must be something out there."

Scott Seely of North Hampton has pondered the matter. Seely earned a bachelor's degree in astronomy from Northwestern University — many moons ago. One of his teachers and mentors was J. Allen Hynek.

"He was the authority of a UFO project, Project Blue Book. Their mission was to investigate UFOs." UFO, Seely explains, refers to all unidentified flying objects, "not necessarily something that lands in a field with little creatures coming out of it." And yes, Hynek believed in the possibility of intelligent life on other planets, an idea Seely shares.

"I think most astronomers do. ...; It just makes scientific sense with the amount of stars and planets ...; some with atmospheres that can support carbon life."

According to the New Hampshire Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Web site, there have been hundreds of sightings reported in New Hampshire. Rockingham County comes in with 143 reported cases, the most of any county.

There are a few reports listed for Portsmouth, including one in 1954 by two military personnel "It flew 800-1,000 mph at 1-2,000 feet, leaving a faint swath. Sighting lasted about 20 seconds."

Melissa Scott of Portsmouth has 20 published science fiction books to her credit. To date she's created only one nonhuman species. "The artistic reason is I'd rather write about humans rather than aliens that are stand-ins for people," says Scott.

While she may ponder their existence, her own belief regarding is barely one side of the fence. "Are there aliens? That's a very difficult question. I have no evidence either way. We've never been contacted by any," she says. "But on the other hand, it seems presumptuous not to think, that in this massive universe, intelligent life hasn't evolved on any planet beside this one."

"I think (believing) really depends on how optimistic you feel about the universe to tell you the truth," she says. "There is a Drake Equation that lets you figure out what you think about the chances that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. And if you are at all optimistic when you plug in the numbers, then the answer is of course yes. ...; If you're a pessimist ...; the answer is almost vanishing small.

"It's a fascinating question — but there is no data. No sensible data for either side of it." And abductions? "I don't want to get into that one."

But Kathleen Marden does. Marden is the niece of Betty and Barney Hill. She's written a book "Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience," based on her own research of the case. "I don't like to use the word 'believe.' To me that connotes the idea that it's a belief such as a religious one. I think there is sufficient evidence that some people, at least, have been abducted."

"I want to qualify, 'some' — at least one and possibly more." To her mind, the most credible abductions occurred in the 1960s and '70s. "There was evidence that something had happened." In addition to the Hills, there was the Travis Walton incident in the White Mountains of Arizona, and another with Calvin Parker and Charlie Hickson, Pascagoula, Miss., all with strong evidence. "There were also three women from Kentucky. They had a highly credible, multiple-witness case."

In addition to investigating her own family's claim, Marden has worked with Mutual UFO Society (MUFON), and was an investigator of UFO sighting cases. And she still has people reach out to here who believe they've been abducted.

"You can't simply believe. ...; There has to be an extensive investigation." And that can be financially prohibitive. If there are claims of in-home nocturnal abductions, a more common form these days, investigations require security cameras throughout an individual's home. Lie detector tests are commonly used in all sighting and abduction investigations. "You want physical and circumstantial evidence, radar reports from the Air Force, and multiple witnesses that are credible."

As for those who don't believe, she says they're entitled to their opinion. "But I'd like to know they'd done the research, not just gone to some special Web site or the site of a ...; person whose job it is to debunk every claim out of the ordinary."

Seely will stick with his hunch. Something's out there. "Earth may be unique in some respects. But this kind of scientific development could occur thousands of times all over the universe — in different galaxies," he says. "I think it's a fascinating and intriguing idea, and I hope someday it will be proven and that there will be interplanetary communication. It's an exciting prospect."