Research: 'A career killer'

Enthusiastic amateurs, the Hoppes aren't paid for their work and getting professional researchers to devote their time to UFOs isn't easy.

"It's a career killer," said Colm Kelleher, deputy administrator of the National Institute of Discovery Science, a privately funded group based in Las Vegas that scientifically investigates aerial phenomena.

Kelleher, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Dublin, said scientists often shy away from UFO research because of fear their work won't be taken seriously and they'll be thought of as crazy.

Believing in UFOs and even the possibility of extraterrestrial life doesn't make anyone crazy, said psychologist Al Harrison, and society can generally accept both those ideas.

"The big jump is when you say they're here. That's what freaks people out," said Davis, a psychology professor at the University of California-Davis who has studied why people believe in UFOs and the effects extraterrestrial life would have on humanity.

Studies haven't really been able to find many differences between those who believe in UFOs and those that don't, he said. People of all intelligence levels and backgrounds believe.

"There are all kinds of people on both sides of the fence," he said.

Basking in Belleville

But still believing in UFOs can be a stigma of sorts.

"I'd rather not be known as the UFO Capital, but that's my own personal preference," Belleville Village President Jo Ann Therkelsen said. "I don't think the chamber would want to give up the title."

The village, on the Dane and Green County line, got the nickname after a series of sightings in 1987. They still hold an annual UFO Day festival, but Therkelsen said it's really just become a community event with an out-of-this-world theme.

"I don't really think we're looking for UFOs anymore," she said.

But according to the Hoppes' data, based on reports to their Web site, Dane County is still one of Wisconsin's UFO hot spots often coming up in the top three counties for reported sightings.

And as the banner on their Web site proclaims, Wisconsin has more UFO sightings than any other state except New Mexico, according to the Air Force's Project Blue Book, which studied UFOs from 1947 to 1969.

"It seems to be a good time to see a UFO," John Hoppe said. "So if you can't sleep, go outside. You might see a UFO."


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