Grey alien
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📖 Term
Contents 7
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| Type | Term |
|---|---|
| Also known as | grey aliens, gray aliens, greys |
| On the Timeline | 4 events, 1963–1993 |
Grey aliens, also called "Greys", "Zeta Reticulans" or "Roswell Greys", are the most commonly described type of being in modern alien abduction and UFO accounts: small, hairless humanoids with grey skin, large heads and large black almond-shaped eyes without visible whites. The image is so widespread that it has become the standard popular picture of an extraterrestrial.[1]
Description
Greys are usually described as shorter than an average adult, with thin bodies and limbs, a large head, a small nose and mouth, and no external ears, though taller variants are also reported. In a 1995 survey of abduction accounts, Greys made up about 73 percent of beings reported in the United States, about two-thirds in Brazil, about 48 percent in continental Europe, and only about 12 percent in Britain.[1][2]
Origins of the image
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Similar beings appeared in fiction long before modern UFO reports. In 1893 H.G. Wells's essay "The Man of the Year Million" imagined future humans with huge heads and no hair, and in 1933 the Swedish writer Gustav Sandgren, writing as Gabriel Linde, described grey, big-headed aliens in a novel. The modern image took shape with the Betty and Barney Hill abduction case: in a hypnosis session on 22 February 1964, Barney Hill described and drew beings with large, wraparound eyes, and newspaper coverage from 1965 made the description famous.[1][3]
Writer Martin Kottmeyer noted that Barney Hill's description came twelve days after a similar alien appeared in The Outer Limits episode "The Bellero Shield". The image was cemented by Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and the cover of Whitley Strieber's bestseller Communion (1987).[1][4]
Zeta Reticuli
The name "Zeta Reticulans" comes from schoolteacher Marjorie Fish's interpretation of a "star map" Betty Hill said she was shown, which Fish concluded pointed to the Zeta Reticuli star system; she later abandoned the idea.[1][5]
Explanations
Researchers have offered several explanations for the image's consistency: - Neurologist Steven Novella suggests the Grey embodies traits people associate with intelligence: a big brain, large eyes and a small body.[1] - Psychiatrist David Forrest proposed that memories of medical procedures may shape abduction imagery.[1] - Frederick Malmstrom suggested Greys resemble the way infants perceive their mothers' faces.[1] - Biologist Jack Cohen argued that the Grey is too humanlike to be a credible product of alien evolution.[1] Believers see the consistency of reports as evidence of real encounters.
In popular culture
Greys appear widely in film, television and games, from Close Encounters and The X-Files to the comedy Paul (2011) and the XCOM video games.[1]
On the UAP Timeline
- Dan Sherman and the telepathy breeding claim (January 1963) — Air Force Sgt. Dan Sherman says he was told of a program breeding people with telepathic abilities.
- John Lear's ParaNet statement (1987) (29 December 1987) — Pilot John Lear claims the government has worked with gray aliens since the 1960s.
- Valdamar Valerian's Matrix books (January 1991) — A writer using a pseudonym publishes books claiming 'grey aliens' are involved in human affairs.
- Dan Sherman's transfer papers (December 1993) — Dan Sherman provides transfer papers he says relate to Project Preserve Destiny.
References
- Grey alien — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- C.D.B. Bryan, Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind (1995) — Internet Archive · archive.org · archived copy
- Barney and Betty Hill incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Martin Kottmeyer, "Entirely Unpredisposed" · web.archive.org · archived copy
- Terence Dickinson, "The Zeta Reticuli Incident", Astronomy · astronomy.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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