First, I’d like to set the record straight about what type of person I am. I’m probably the most logical and fact-driven person you’ll ever meet. So, when I say aliens are real, that is a statement I can stand behind based on evidence.

The evidence supporting alien existence is overwhelming, and it’s shocking to me that some people deny the fact that they’re out there.

The main thing that makes me think aliens are out there is the sheer size of space. There’s simply too much real estate in our universe for there not to be life. An article on Space.com explains just how big the universe is, and it’s astounding.

According to the article, the European Space Agency released the most accurate map of the universe’s oldest light in 2013. With this, scientists were able to figure out that there is a 13.8 billion light-year radius of visible space around Earth. That’s only what is visible. Let that sink in.

Another shock-factor the article mentions is that the universe is still expanding. We simply can’t be the only life in the never-ending universe. It would be a huge waste of space, pun definitely intended.

If those numbers don’t sway you, take a look at these. Physicist Dr. Don Lincoln wrote an article for CNN about whether or not there is alien life in the universe in January of this year, and in it, he discussed an investigation of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

Lincoln talked about the Kepler Spacecraft which NASA launched in 2009 to search for planets around distant stars. It found that of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, over 80 percent of them have planets. On top of that, a fourth of those stars have a planet in their planetary system that could allow for liquid water, the essential element for life.

The numbers support extraterrestrial life, no doubt. The odds of life being out there are simply too high, but what about all of the encounters people have claimed to experience? Abductions, alien sightings, UFOs, crop circles, we can’t blame it all on mental health and the government.

The first modern-age abduction story of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961, where the couple claimed to be abducted outside of their car in the back roads of New Hampshire, sparked the alien abduction wildfire. Since then, millions of people have claimed to have had an encounter with extraterrestrial life. One of those people is Stan Romanek.

Romanek’s story is incredible. According to the Netflix documentary about him, “Extraordinary: The Stan Romanek Story,” Romanek has documented over 195 pieces of alien evidence. Some of these may be blurry pictures of dome shaped objects in the sky, but others give me goosebumps.

Some of his experiences include abductions with the same three-point indention in his back after each of them, pictures of what appear to be aliens hidden around his yard, videos of aliens in and around his house and unexplained knowledge of complex formulas such as the Drake Equation. In one of his abductions, he even came back with fixed ACL injury that his doctor couldn’t explain.

The evidence and odds supporting alien life is substantial to say the least, but this is a topic that should get taken more seriously. If we discover the life that’s out there it could lead to a new beginning or the beginning of the end. It’s really up to us to decide.