Why are some of the most educated people in America now believing in UFOs?

Is there life on Mars? Are we really alone? Serious questions about the existence of extraterrestrials are being asked everywhere from Harvard to Congress, often by some of the most respected names in science. Alex Hannaford finds out why so many smart people are convinced aliens are among us

Belief in UFOs has been gaining a surprising number of adherents lately, including newspaper columnists (AFP/Getty/iStock/Roswell Daily Record/Wiki)

In the twilight hours one August morning, a sheriff’s deputy on night patrol in the US state of Minnesota was driving along a country road when he spotted something strange: a bright ball of white light, about a foot in diameter, hovering three or four feet from the ground. Val Johnson drove towards the object in his squad car, but after that he’s not sure what happened.

Thirty minutes later he woke to find himself in a ditch. The skin around his eyes had been singed, and his car had suffered a shattered windshield and dented bonnet. What’s more, both his watch and the car’s clock were 14 minutes slow.

In the aftermath, Johnson became somewhat of a local celebrity, his car was preserved in the county museum, and the incident, which happened more than 40 years ago, remains one of the most famous “UFO encounters” in history. But Johnson himself never thought what he saw was “extraterrestrial”; just inexplicable. And he was content with that.