Hand-crafted alien sculptures created by a man in Terrace Bay, Ont., are beginning to capture the attention of people across the globe.

Northern Aliens are handmade, bright green, wooden creatures that began popping up along the north shore of Lake Superior in 2016, but now they've made their way as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Mexico.

"We would just open up the garage door and put on some Frank Sinatra and listen to some music," Terry Bell, founder of Northern Aliens, said in an interview with CBC Radio. "The whole family was watching The X-Files and Star Trek, and we got this crazy idea, we'll make lawn ornaments out of plywood and make them into aliens."

In 2016, Bell's father-in-law began showing signs of Alzheimer's disease so creating the aliens was a way for the family to keep his mind and hands occupied, while making use of his previous lawn ornament making skills.

At first, Bell and his family had the aliens popping up around the township, leaving community members scratching their heads as to where the creatures were coming from. Bell then created a Facebook Page called Northern Aliens, which began to form a community around the now coveted sculptures.

"Now that I'm retired, I'm doing more. When COVID hit, we wanted something to do. So everybody was glad to see me get out of the house into the garage," Bell said while laughing. "But before that, if I had some plywood or had some paint or some money to do it, I went ahead and did it."

Bell said he's lost track of how many Aliens he has actually made, adding that some people will donate plywood or supplies for him to transform.

The wooden sculptures are all named, stand about three feet tall, and are painted with a signature bright green colour.

"I just went to the local store … and we mixed up a couple of things and tried a few experiments, and that's what we came up with. So it's kind of funny because they now call it alien green paint. I just went in there with a picture of an alien and said, let's get the closest green possible to it, and that's how we came up with it," he said.

Bell said the project has now evolved from a fun family hobby, to something that aims to bring joy to others, especially through the pandemic.

"The biggest reason was to get people talking about something besides what was going on in the world, so when they put them out in their campsite … all of a sudden they're not talking about all the problems of the world. They're talking about these darn aliens," said Bell. "It's just a conversation piece to change the subject. So people are. In a better mood."

To see the original report and read related stories, follow this link to the CBC Thunder Bay website.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/hobby-project-of-northern-aliens-in-terrace-bay-ont-captu...