If the research of a Sudbury man and the experiences of nearly a dozen residents are to be believed, then Sudbury is evolving into a hot spot for visitors from other words.

Michel Deschamps, a long-time UFO watcher, says local sightings have increased quite a bit in the past several months, with as many as six confirmed sightings reported to him so far this summer.

Deschamps says he's been watching the skies and talking to UFO watchers across North America for several years, and he's never seen the skies as active as now.

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Deschamps is a frequent contributor to several internet-based UFO-tracking Web sites. In sharing his information with others, he's come to the conclusion that Sudbury has become a popular spot for intergalactic visitors. Other, far more busy spots include Florida (where NASA space shuttle program is based), the Yukon and Mexico City.

Deschamps says it is the consensus of Internet watchers that interest in Sudbury is both long-standing and based on our mining history.

"I think they're keeping a steady eye on the mining activity here," he says. "We're not sure why, or why they don't pay attention to other mining centres, but they're here. That's for sure."

The "they" are visitors from outer space, he says.

"There's no doubt about that."

He adds their interest in us goes back 30 or more years. The first recorded sighting took place over Inco's Copper Cliff complex in 1967.

That sighting had several confirmed witnesses, including many who worked and still work in the smelter, and the then-operating Radar Base in Falconbridge.

That was followed by another similar sighting in 1975 over Pioneer Manor in New Sudbury, which was again confirmed by the Radar Base.

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In most of these cases, sightings are confirmed in a wide swath, sometimes covering the continent, Deschamps says.

"When that happens, when you get a lot of people telling you they saw the same thing, you can't ignore it. It has to be something."

While skeptics argue there are lots of natural or other ways to explain what people are seeing, Deschamps and others don't think so.

"We see things that are hard to believe every day. Why not this?"

He says Sudbury in encountering the most sightings since 1995, which has kept him busy both interviewing witnesses and reporting his findings on the Internet.