UFOs Still Flying 60 Years After Roswell

What Are The Odds That There Are Other Intelligent Beings In The Universe?

(CBS) UFO sightings have been playing out on movie screens for over 50 years. With a little help from Hollywood, aliens in every shape and size have landed on earth either to wage war like in "Independence Day;" make friends like "E.T." or even give existential advice like in Woody Allen's "Stardust Memories."

But in real life, between 3,000 and 4,000 legitimate sightings are documented in the U.S. every year, according to the national UFO reporting center. Even President Jimmy Carter claimed to have a close encounter and, as a congressman, Gerald Ford pressed for a UFO investigation. More recently, a sighting last November at O'Hare airport made the front page of the Chicago Tribune.

So where can you hope to spot E.T.? Start in Roswell, N.M. From its local restaurants to its alien head lamp posts to its space-aged McDonald's, the town is like an intergalactic shrine. The main attraction, of course, is the international UFO Museum where Julie Shuster is the director.

"A majority of the people that come through our doors believe there is more out there. That there is life out there — that UFOs and extraterrestrial are totally plausible," she told CBS News technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. "They're curious about it. And they feel we're very arrogant to think anything different."

Roughly 2.5 million earthlings have visited this Roswell Institution since its inception in 1992. That's about 160,000 every year. They come from all 50 states and 35 countries. Some are just curious while others are firm believers.