According to a recent HuffPo/YouGov poll, 48% of Americans believe it's possible that UFOs have visited and observed our planet. Only 35% of those polled totally spurned such an idea.
Additionally, 10% of the U.S. population say they have seen an alien space craft with their own eyes. And while the number of people who claim to have been taken by aliens is much lower, they do exist, and more come forward every year.
Who are these all these people? Where do they come from? What are their stories?
Over the past few years, photographer Steven Hirsch has attempted to find out just that. His series, titled "Little Sticky Legs" (named after one of his subjects descriptions of an alien), is a series of portraits of purported alien abductees, along with anecdotes and drawings from the subjects.
Hirsch initially started photographing his subjects after covering a convention of self-proclaimed abductees in Connecticut. "The experience was mind-boggling and stuck with me for decades," he told Business Insider.
He traveled the Southwest, where many people claiming to be alien abductees live, to continue the project. Hirsch says southwestern landscapes affect the way people think. "It’s trippy out there. In New York, you have no sense of the universe, but in the Southwest you can’t avoid the sky; you get a sense of scale of and intimacy with the universe," he says.
Hirsch continues the project today, going out to the Southwest every year. You can see more portraits, as well as drawings and anecdotes on his site.
"I've got to meet numerous types of beings. I've met Salamander beings and I've met Greys, various different types of Greys. I've also met the Blue Arcturians which are incredible. They all have their own personalities and their own purposes... I've never yet ever met a being that was malevolent. I've never experienced unconditional love 'til I've met them face to face and had conscious contact with them." -Cynthia
"On November 5, 1975, me and six other men were leaving work in a remote forest and we encountered an unidentified flying object and I was taken aboard. My co-workers were accused of murdering me and making up a story to cover up for why I was missing. The state police gave them a lie detector test, and even though they passed, ever since then it's been one sort of attempt to explain it away anyway they could. If you're going to pass judgement on it, get the facts first." -Travis
"I'm telling them, 'I want to stay, I don't want to go.' I start crying. I say, 'I like it here. I belong.' And they said, "No, it's not your time. You have to help save this planet Earth." That's all I remember." -Stephen
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
