Interesting observation. One might wander among the hills of Tennessee or Afghanistan and see folks that, shall we say, differ more in appearance than the average? Am I agreeing with the Neanderthal theory? ... many unknowns.
Add back country New England, and it sounds Lovecraftian.
Please don't start mentioning Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, the Elder Race, the Mi-Go, the Old Ones, the Outer Ones, or the planets of Yuggoth or Yaddith, or utter the cry Tekeli-li whilst traveling on the fabled Plateau of Leng, else the UFOlogists here will be crawling all over this thread like ants at a picnic.