Just as quickly as Bigfoot grabbed the spotlight for New England conspiracy theorists – the aliens have again taken hold.

Avi Loeb, a physicist at Harvard (the alma mater of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and the Unabomber) is organizing a $1.5 million expedition to Papua New Guinea to search for fragments of a meteorite from 2014, according to the Daily Beast.

Evidently, there’s evidence that the meteorite is made out of hard rock or metal. I had the same thought as you: “You can make meteorites out of Aerosmith?” But no – rock or metal materials. This would indicate that the object came from out of this universe.

Per Lieb’s interview with The Beast, the search is actually more difficult than finding a proverbial “needle in a haystack.” But, if successful, it would indeed point to being constructed rather than formed.

At which point, cynics like me finally get fitted for our tinfoil hats.

Loeb wrote a lengthy post on Medium to explain the mission, and why he feels his chances of making a discovery could be greater than assumed. In addition to the right personnel, the proper equipment has also been acquired, according to the scientist.

If nothing else, maybe he can trade some Apollo 13 stories with Tom Hanks at graduation.

While interest in UFOs has ticked up quite a bit since a series of alleged spy balloons floated across the U.S., it’s nothing new here in New England. In fact, one Massachusetts town was featured in an episode of Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries” reboot due to its supposed UFO event.

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