LOCATION: About six miles off the coast of Malibu's Point Dume, in California BACKSTORY: For decades, reports of UFO (unidentified flying object) and USO (unidentified submerged object) sightings along the Malibu coast have been fairly common. Rumors of an alien base, or portal, in this area are nothing new, but in recent years, they have come to the fore within the UFO research community. The attention, specifically to this location, is largely due to reports of a stadium-shaped "structure" about 2,000 feet underwater, widely known as Sycamore Knoll. Some refer to it as an anomaly while others believe is an alien base. It's believed to be between two-and-a-half and three-miles wide. In 2014, radio personality Jimmy "Captain of Conspiracy" Church brought the matter up on his show Fade to Black, referring to the area as a "hub of USO/UFO activity going back 40 years." Church questioned whether it could be natural or proof of an entrance to something inland—perhaps another Area 51 (the massive aircraft-testing facility in the Nevada desert that has long been the subject of UFO theories and investigations, even after more solid explanations were provided by the government)—or something not yet considered. He said it was "potentially the biggest breaking story in ufology since Area 51." But not everyone in the UFO research community was convinced. Robert Stanley, a UFO researcher and the editor of Unicus magazine, the self-described "magazine for earthbound extraterrestrials," reports having noticed this mysterious spot via Google Earth several years prior to Church's announcement, but says he didn't report it publicly as he was unable to substantiate its authenticity. Stanley says he doesn't know what the anomaly is, but he does offer a few thoughts. "It feels like a red herring," he says. "This is some sort of weird distraction. It may be because Point Mugu [which is nearby] is a very large, powerful naval base that they don't want people to think of in terms of [it being a] secret military base." Preston Dennett, another UFO researcher and author of more than 20 books on paranormal and supernatural phenomena, is less skeptical. He’s believed in the alien base theory for years. "I was convinced there was something there before this Malibu anomaly was publicized," he says.