Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Grey Aliens

Grey aliens, also referred to asZeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys, or Grays, are purportedextraterrestrial beings. According to journalist C. D. B. Bryan, twopercent of all reported alien encounters in the United Statesdescribe Grey aliens, a significantly higher proportion than othercountries. Such claims vary widely, but typically Greys aredescribed as being human-like with small bodies with smoothgrey-colored skin, enlarged hairless heads, and large black eyes. TheBarney and Betty Hill abduction claim, which purportedly took placein New Hampshire in 1961, popularized Grey aliens. There areprecursor figures described in science fiction and similardescriptions appeared in early accounts of the 1947 Roswell UFOincident.

The Grey alien has emerged as anarchetypal image of an intelligent non-human creature andextraterrestrial life in general, as well as an iconic trope ofpopular culture in the age of space exploration.

Appearance

Greys are typically depicted asgrey-skinned diminutive humanoid beings that possess reduced formsof, or completely lack, external human body parts such as noses, earsor sex organs. Their bodies are usually depicted as being elongated,having a small chest, and lacking in muscular definition and visibleskeletal structure. Their legs are depicted as being shorter andjointed differently from humans with limbs proportionally differentfrom a human.

Greys are depicted as having unusuallylarge heads in proportion to their bodies with no hair on the body,and no noticeable outer ears or noses, sometimes with small openingsor orifices for ears, nostrils, and mouths. In drawings, Greys arealmost always shown with very large opaque black eyes. They arefrequently described as shorter than average adult humans.

In popular culture

History

The precise origin of the Grey as thestereotypical extraterrestrial being is difficult to pinpoint. In the1893 article "Man of the Year Million", sciencefiction author H. G. Wells envisioned the possibility of humanitytransformed into a race of grey-skinned beings who were perhaps onemeter tall, with big heads and large, oval-shaped pitch-black eyes. In his 1901 book The First Men in the Moon, Wells described Selenites(natives of the Moon) as having grey skin, big heads, and large blackeyes. He also briefly describes aliens resembling Greys brought downto Earth as food for the Martians, who were the antagonist charactersin his 1898 novel The War of the Worlds.

In 1933, the Swedish novelist GustavSandgren, using the pen name Gabriel Linde, published a sciencefiction novel called Den okända faran ("The UnknownDanger"), in which he describes a race of extraterrestrialswho wore clothes made of soft grey fabric and were short, with bigbald heads, and large, dark, gleaming eyes. The novel, aimed at youngreaders, included illustrations of the imagined aliens.

In 1965, newspaper reports of the Bettyand Barney Hill abduction made the archetype famous. The allegedabductees, Betty and Barney Hill, claimed that in 1961, alien beingshad abducted them and taken them to a flying saucer. Under hypnosis,Betty Hill produced a "star map" which she claimedlocated the home planet of her abductors in the Zeta Reticuli starsystem (allegedly the third planet of one of the stars of the ZetaReticuli binary system). Betty thereafter began to refer to them asZeta Reticulans. According to science writer and skeptic BrianDunning, the Hill's alleged abduction introduced the gray alien intopopular culture, although popular use of the term "greys"would follow years later.