Aliens, sure. But Sasquatch? Let’s not be ridiculous.

Though the vast majority of Canadians believe in extraterrestrials, nearly the same amount say creatures such as Bigfoot aren’t real, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Angus Reid Institute. Overall, however, it appears Canadians are very open to the idea of the supernatural.

“About four in five Canadians say there are simply things that happen on Earth that can’t be explained by science,” said Angus Reid research associate Dave Korzinski.

While 79 per cent believe intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, nearly half of Canadians also believe aliens have already visited our planet, the poll found. About the same amount say some people have psychic powers that allow them to predict the future.

“There’s also a pretty substantial group of Canadians (43 per cent) that believe that the American government have covered up the fact that aliens have visited Earth,” Korzinski said.

Overall, however, Canadians’ openness to aliens didn’t necessarily translate to other supernatural beings. Only 30 per cent said they believed in ghosts, though slightly more believed it was possible to talk to the dead.

And about 74 per cent of those surveyed said they didn’t believe in cryptids — animals that aren’t proven to exist, including the Loch Ness Monster.

Still, Korzinski said the fact that Canadians are so open to the idea of paranormal activity likely explains the popularity of shows such as Stranger Things, the thriller hit series by Netflix.

“The people who believe it tend to gravitate toward those kind of shows,” he said.

And that concept was backed up by another one of the study’s findings — that fans of the iconic science fiction drama X-Files are more likely to think aliens have already visited Earth than those who aren’t familiar with the show. About 71 per cent of self-identified ‘huge fans’ report holding that belief, which is roughly twice the number of those who didn’t know anything about X-Files. 

Korzinski said the results were typically split along gender lines. Women were twice as likely to believe in psychic powers, the possibility of communicating with the dead and ghosts.

Across generations, however, Korzinski said Canadians were much more united.

“(The results are) nearly identical across all the age groups,” he said.

“From millennials to baby boomers, it’s not often you see that.”

The online survey of 1,515 people was conducted from Feb. 22 to 25. It has a margin of error of plus or minus of 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.