Long Island News

With all the alien encounter allegations that originate from Long Island, some say the region is as much an antenna for activity as the infamous New Mexico town, Roswell.

Among the assertions made: two UFO crashes, numerous reports of abductions, and countless UFO sightings over the years—Bay Shore being at the top of the list for recent reports, according to one researcher. Then there is the plethora of alien-related conspiracy theories derived from the Montauk Project (its Camp Hero is said to be home to government experiments in time travel).

Other explanations of what motives otherworldly visitors may have are put forth by a loose-knit organization of local extraterrestrial enthusiasts, a local chapter of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), which holds meetings on the third Thursday of each month at the Smithtown Library Commack branch. The prevailing hypothesis is that aliens—and those watching for them—are harmless upon making contact (despite some abduction side effects). To explore these questions, about two dozen believers and skeptics gathered at the Levittown Public Library on Sept. 24 to hear West Islip anthropologist George Dixon discuss Ufology, the study of UFOs, following a short film about UFO sightings caught on amateur video cameras. Although open-mindedness was a prerequisite for this gathering—some shared their own stories of observations that sparked their interest—when Dixon spoke of mankind being derived from crossbreeding with aliens, he lost some in the crowd.

If you live on LI, you have heard the stories before. They have been told ad nauseam, including in this newspaper. Although Halloween always seems to shine a ghastly light on the haunted attractions of our fair island, the spookiness that surrounds them is a year-round affair. Ghosts are a busy lot, and their transcendental stirrings do not hibernate.

There is no shortage of creepy locations, with Montauk’s Camp Hero, the Amityville Horror House and a slew of graveyards that date back hundreds of years. But there are four stories that seem to stand out among the rest. And with decades of retellings, it would seem impossible to put a new spin on these urban tales of terror that have chilled the minds of LI’s youth—impossible, that is, unless you’re filmmaker Pete Bune.