For centuries, the question of whether we're alone in the universe has hovered at the fringes of science, religion, and imagination.

But lately, it's been moving closer to the center. An astrophysicist named A.V. Loeb has made headlines in recent years by suggesting that we may already have evidence of advanced intelligent life beyond

earth, not in just distant galaxies, but right here in our own solar system. In 2017, an object

called the Omuamua Mua passed through space in a way no natural body should, accelerating against

gravity, behaving more like a spacecraft than a rock.

Avey Loeb believes it might just have been that, a probe sent by an alien civilization.

And if that's true, he argues, we shouldn't be dismissive. We should be looking closer.

More recently, in June 23, Loeb led a scientific expedition to the bottom

of the Pacific Ocean, where he and his team recovered tiny metallic spheres they believe may have

come from an advanced interstellar craft. It's a provocative idea that we are not alone, and that

they may have already been trying to reach us.

It's an idea that casts a long shadow back over stories we've been telling for decades,

stories that have been laughed off, picked apart, and in some cases, quietly buried.

One of the most well-known of these accounts began on September 19, 1961, along a dark, remote road, and New Hampshire's White Mountains.

That night, a couple on a late-night drive had an encounter that would come to be known as the first credible and widely reported alien abduction in American history.

Welcome to National Park After Dark.

Welcome. I could cry right now.

I'm so excited.

I'm so thrilled that you are doing this story.

It's been on our minds for a while.

This is Danielle and she loves aliens.

No, this is Danielle.

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