WOW! Mathematically it is impossible for us to be the only intelligent life forms in our galaxy let alone our universe, but that begs the question that many have come to ask. Are we alone?

There have been millions of alien or UFO sightings stemming from around the world, many of which have yet to be disproven and several others that have very credible sources. However, many of these have been proven hoaxes or have had inconsistencies and improbabilities that are hard to ignore.

Despite this, many believe that, without a doubt, there is extraterrestrial life in our galaxy.

There have been several sightings from very credible sources, ranging from astronauts, to presidents, to an entire class of 200 students from Tennessee seeing these “Aliens.” However, how do we know they are not simply faking it.

June 1, 1853, students at Burritt College in Tennessee noticed two luminous, unusual objects just to the north of the rising sun, in what became one of the oldest UFO sightings in the USA. The objects fluctuated for 30 minutes before disappearing altogether, the lights would change shapes from ovals to oblong shaped disks horizontal to the horizon.

Professor A.C. Carnes recorded the account in a letter he wrote to the Scientific American: “The first then became visible again, and increased rapidly in size, while the other diminished, and the two spots kept changing thus for about half an hour. There was a considerable wind at the time, and light fleecy clouds passed by, showing the lights to be confined to one place.”

In 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman was using the Ohio State University’s Big Ear Radio Telescope; he caught the signal of something inhuman. While pointing the telescope at the Chi Sagittarii on august 15, he received a large wave frequency for 72 seconds. As he was so excited, he circled the reading and wrote “Wow!” hence the name of the strange signal. The signal demonstrated all the signs of it coming from interstellar space and is still one of the most relevant extraterrestrial signals for the SETI.

Although, recently a new view of the Wow! signal has come to light in the astronomical science division. A scientist by the name of Professor Antonio Paris, has proposed that the signal came from two comets that are surrounded by hydrogen gas that would have been near Chi Sagittarii, which could have caused the odd signal. Paris says that the signal itself was heard at 142MHz, which is the frequency that hydrogen naturally emits. He is trying to gain funding for his experiment in January to see if the comets will emit the same signal a second time.

The sightings of extraterrestrial life are hardly a 20-21st-century thing; there are several ancient artifacts that depict UFOs and aliens in painting, sculptures, and writings. “The Madonna with saint Giovannino,” created in the 15th century, shows the Virgin Mary and in the backdrop of the painting, a man, and his dog stare up at a saucer shaped object hovering in the sky.

Sound familiar? This painting is not alone with several cave paintings to Sanskrit scrolls all depicting alien life. Perhaps they are just the long lost relatives of our current day conspiracy theorists.

Even the Incas have many sculptures; most famously there are three sculptures displaying two flying saucers and an alien created by the Incas. The Incas were far more advanced than their counterparts with advanced mathematics calendars and astronomical charts, which some have attributed to extraterrestrial visitors.

Another ancient depiction of alien life comes from old Egyptian paintings, one of which displays a short alien being offered a bird of some type. These ancient sculptures and paintings have caused many conspiracy theorists to speculate about the involvement that aliens played in ancient societies from building the pyramids to the advancement of the ancient Incas and Mayans.

However, many sightings of these elusive creatures have been nothing but hoaxes. Several people have made up fake UFO stories and the less believable “alien abduction” for fame or to play a simple prank on the public.

One of the most notable was a fake image spread to the public in the nineties was a black-and-white Alien Autopsy footage, in which a creepy-looking, hairless humanoid, with large eyes and a large head, is shown on a table. The photographer, Ray Santilli, later came out to the public that the image was fake in 2006.

An experiment came out last year on how easy it was to fake a UFO sighting by having children create small disk like figures before he placed them in front of a grayish background similar to the night sky before releasing the images to the public. The images were even proven to not have been tampered with by a professional photo analyst, he was unable to see the fish wire and the photos were not blurred, leading him to believe it was a real photo.

When the mastermind behind the experiment, Shermer, the editor of Skeptic magazine, told the public that the photos were indeed faked and even showed the masses how he pulled it off, many seemed disappointed while others still believe they were real.

It can be hard to determine the “real” sightings from the hoaxes, but those who believe us to have extraterrestrial neighbors, who question if we are truly the only ones in our universe, are constantly finding new stories and historical evidence to support their claim, while the skeptics continue to point out inconsistencies in those same stories and sightings.