Every year, thousands of people across the globe report some kind of interaction with extra-terrestrial life forms. Whether it's UFO sightings, evidence of alien technology, or abductions, reports of life from another planet seem to come in at a pretty consistent rate.
Many of us doubt the validity of this evidence, and brush off claims of alien encounters as lies or natural phenomena that's simply been misunderstood - but what if we've been wrong this whole time? What if aliens are real, and they've been walking among us without us even realising?
Well, that could be the case with Boriska Kipriyanovich, a 21-year-old man from Russia who claims that he's actually a Martian - and some of the evidence he's provided has left scientists stumped.
Since a very young age, Kipriyanovich has been convinced that he was originally from another planet, but was reborn on Earth after a "nuclear war" between members of his original species.
He claimed to have detailed knowledge about space, how Mars lost its atmosphere, the technology used by advanced life forms, and - most interestingly - about the underground cities which apparently still exist on our neighbouring planet.
According to him, the inhabitants of Mars are around seven feet tall, breathe carbon dioxide, and are immortal. In a documentary made on him over a decade ago, Kipriyanovich said, "I have no fear of death, for we live eternally," so his confidence in his origins is pretty strong.
Even as a baby, Kipriyanovich baffled medical professionals with how quickly he developed. According to his mother, who is a doctor herself, the so-called Martian child was able to hold up his head unassisted at just a few weeks old, could read by the age of one, and showed significant artistic skills in his second year.
Kipriyanovich's more mystical qualities began emerging just a couple of years later. Not only did he appear to have detailed knowledge about Mars (or, at least, the Mars that he "remembers") from a very young age, he's also been visiting a mountain known as Medvedetskaya Gryada since the age of four - something he does "in order to recharge himself from the world".
The young man was also known to meditate as a kid, and his parents would frequently find him in a spiritually-engaged state, often speaking in detail about his previous life on the red planet.
His mother said: "No one has ever taught him. Sometimes he would sit in a lotus position and start telling us detailed facts about Mars, planetary systems and other civilisations, which really puzzled it."
What's more, Kipriyanovich has claimed that Martians actually visited earth before, and had close connections with Ancient Egyptians. If what he says is to be believed, then the fate of Earth could set to be changed dramatically when we re-discover the technology that aliens left behind back then - technology which he says is located in the Great Sphinx of Giza.
Of course, there is the possibility that this is yet another far-fetched belief, and Kipriyanovich is just a gifted person who was allowed to indulge in his childhood fantasies to the point where they became ingrained in him as truth. After all, his mother has been fairly convinced for pretty much his entire life, so she probably never let him doubt his imagination.
But, then again, it could be real. There have been other instances of children remembering past lives before - it just so happens that Kipriyanovich's former existence wasn't human. If we really want to find out, though, it sounds like we need to get ourselves over Giza pronto.
