After weeks of relative quiet, the extraterrestrials have returned to the tabloids in full force, driving a riotous menagerie of galactic flotsam -- bizarre skulls, two-ton hairballs, arranged marriages -- in their wake.

As usual, it proved impossible for the rest of the tabloids to keep up with the UFO bombshells dropped in the pages of the News, but the Sun made a valiant effort with two alien exposes.

First, in "Is This a Star Child From Outer Space," Sun stalwart Pat Roller took a fresh look at the so-called "StarChild Skull" discovered in the 1920s by a young girl exploring a cave outside Chihuahua, Mexico. The large cranium is widely believed to be that of an alien by those who think about such things.

Roller quoted novelist-turned-radical-anthropologist Lloyd Pye -- misidentified in the article as "Doctor" Pye -- as saying DNA testing on the skull should come in around November 20. At that time, Pye hopes, we will be able to determine whether the object is actually of alien origin.

Together with radio host Laura Lee and web designer Mark Bean, Pye has been one of the leading publicizers of the skull's strange origins and unsettling configuration. Bean and Pye's website includes a plea for financial help in defraying the costs of scientifically testing the object.

Finally, Sun writer Alan Burgroft told the eerie tale of a Levittown, Long Island, family whose house was buzzed by a large UFO of unspecified shape on the night of September 1. Although the craft returned three nights afterward, the family resisted the call of the extraterrestrial and stayed indoors.