THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE CELEB KIND

Who? Will Smith

Where? California desert

Will has kicked a lot of alien butt in the movies. But he says he's had a close encounter of his own kind in real life, too. He claims to have seen a pair of UFOs over a California desert in 1992. 'They were definitely not man-made,' he insists. 'They were too far away to see their shape clearly. They looked like small metal objects glistening in the sun, but they were not planes. They dashed across the horizon at unbelievable speeds. I was stunned - I've never seen anything like it before or since.'

Who? Muhammed Ali

Where? Central Park, New York

Ali says he's seen a UFO, not once, but 16 times. He saw one while jogging in New York City's Central Park before dawn. 'I happened to look up at the sky and there it was hovering above me, this brilliant white light hanging as if from an invisible thread,' he said. 'At first I thought it was a helicopter, then a second one suddenly appeared. It had a glowing red tail behind it - there was no way they were helicopters. Then they took off and vanished.' On another occasion, he was in a car in New Jersey at night. 'This cigar-shaped object hovered briefly over our car. It even made a shadow over us from the moon. It was eerie,' the champ recalls.

Who? William Shatner

Where? Mojave Desert

Star Trek's Captain Kirk says an alien saved his life when he crashed his motor cycle in California's Mojave Desert. When he regained consciousness, he discovered his bike wouldn't start, and he was alone, miles from any help, in the terrible heat. 'I was very disoriented. I didn't know which way to go. I thought I was going to die,' he says. Suddenly, in the haze, he saw a figure waving to him. 'I couldn't make him out because he was too far away, but he was beckoning me, as if to tell me to follow him.' Shatner followed the mysterious figure and was led to a road - and safety. But he wasn't able to thank his saviour. 'He got into this shining orb-shaped object that was hovering in the sky and took off at an amazing speed,' says the stunned Shatner.

Who? Dan Aykroyd

Where? Massachusetts

Ghostbusters star Dan is another believer - after two UFOs scared him a few years ago in Massachusetts. 'I saw two objects tracking across the sky at about 100,000 feet doing amazing manoeuvres. They would speed off in one direction, suddenly stop and then speed off in another direction. It was unbelievable. I'm convinced they were UFOs.'

Who? David Duchovny

Where? New Jersey

Yale-educated X Files star David swears he saw a UFO while jogging on a beach in New Jersey in 1993. 'It was triangular in shape, way up in the sky,' he says. 'At first, it hovered. Then it zoomed off at an unbelievable speed. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. I don't know what it was - I don't think I ever will.'

Who? John Lennon

Where? New York

Lennon said he saw a UFO in 1974 while living in a penthouse apartment in New York City with his girlfriend May Pang. May was inside when she heard John yelling from the roof. 'I rushed up on to the roof and there was John, totally nude, pointing wildly to the sky,' she says. The two of them saw a UFO hovering about 100 feet away from them. 'It looked just like the spaceships we've all seen in the cinema growing up. It was so close I could almost touch it. It blew my mind,' said John. He told May to go inside and get a camera. But, when she came out, it had gone. 'John was standing there, his arms outstretched, yelling at it to come back and take him away,' she remembers.

Who? David Bowie

Where? Kent

Bowie, who starred in the sci-fi flick The Man Who Fell To Earth, says he regularly saw UFOs while growing up in Kent. 'They came over so often we could time them. Sometimes they just hovered. Other times they moved so fast it was hard to keep a steady eye on them. I don't know what they were. They definitely weren't planes or helicopters. The only explanation I can come up with is that they were UFOs.'

Who? Olivia Newton John

Where? Australia

Olivia had similar experiences in her native Australia with a friend. 'We were on a deserted road but suddenly I had the weird sensation something was nearby. It was a prickly feeling, like static electricity. I looked around and couldn't see anything. Then something I can't explain made me look up to the sky. I was stunned at what I saw. There was this strange object. It was brilliant silver, yet it seemed to occasionally glow with a halo of different colours above it. It flew first one way, then another at amazing speeds - it could change directions like no plane I'd ever seen. It even seemed to change shape. First it was triangular, then it formed into a ball.' It left her in no doubt she'd seen a UFO. 'Before that I'd have shrugged off flying saucers. Today I have a different view.'

Who? Ronald Reagan

Where? California

Former US President said he saw a UFO while he was governor of California in 1974. 'I was in a plane when I looked out of the window and saw a white light zigzagging. I went up to the pilot and asked, "Have you ever seen anything like that before?" He was shocked and said no. We followed it for several minutes. All of a sudden, to our utter amazement, it went straight up into the heavens.'

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