Alien Abduction and UFOs: Why Are Grays So Common? (feat Josef Lorenzo) | Monstrum

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Grey Aliens, sometimes called Zeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys, or just Grays, are defined by their humanoid forms, long limbs, large black eyes, small noses, thin mouths, and of course, gray skin or gray clothing. They are some of pop culture’s most recognizable representations of extraterrestrial life. But where did this depiction of extraterrestrials come from, and why are Grays the ones mostly responsible for all the abductions?

Special thank you to Josef Lorenzo and the entire Subcultured team for the delightful conversation and invaluable contribution to this episode.

The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. The show, hosted by Emily Zarka, Ph.D., takes us on a journey to discover a new monster in each new episode. Monstrum looks at humans' unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature, and film and digs deep into the history of those mythologies.

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Bibliography

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[Jayjay-qeum]

The best way to avoid an Alien Abduction is to carry a HD camera and a stable tripod.

[christinemarx]

My grandmother was born in 1903 (passed away in August 1999) she used to tell me about watching lights (UFO’s) in the night skies over Southern Utah, that was between 1909 - 1916 long before we had jumbo Airplanes ✈️

[Ironcabbit]

Calling the Travis Walton experience similar to the Hills’ experience is a, um, unique interpretation. For starters, Betty and Barney were actually pursued by their visitors whereas Walton’s visitors were trying what they could to keep away from him and his buddies at first.

[internetanonymity]

When I was a kid - about 7 years old - I was playing in the woods behind my house. We lived in the country and we didn’t have neighbors for miles in all directions. Anyway, I was making a trail in the forest when I heard this little girl crying. I eventually found her. She was about my age and she was “taken by a spaceship.” I took her by the hand back to my house but when we got to the edge of the forest, she ran back in. I felt something very eerie come over me but I was too young to comprehend it. I ran to my house. My hand that touched the girl’s hand started to sting. I told my parents and they came with me to the woods. When we got to the place where I first found the girl, she was gone. Both my father and I saw a metallic orb in the sky overhead for a brief moment before it vanished without a sound. Ever since then, the skin on my hand has become discolored. Doctors say it’s vitiligo but I know it’s because I touched that little girl.

[SniffHeinkel]

9:51 The UFO abduction experienced by Travis Walton was not "almost exactly like the one experienced by the Hills." In fact, it is unique. One thing he had was a truckload of witnesses who had all passed polygraph tests conducted by the police. Furthermore, he disappeared for five entire days. There was no trace of him anywhere. He just showed up at a gas station in the middle of the night in an almost catatonic state. He would not let anyone touch him and would barely respond to anyone who addressed him. The attention his abduction got in the press made him even more averse to talking about what happened to him. The only reason he talked about it was so his co-workers would keep their good names since the town people and the police thought he was murdered by the men he worked with.

[thrillhouse]

My mom told me that one night when I was little I woke them up with a scream and when they came to investigate I had broken blood vessels in my face, they asked what happened and all I said was “the gray man in the window”. I don’t remember any of it at all, she also claims a craft followed her in the 70s, I just think it was acid and a military craft.

[richardchilds]

I heard a theory that the grays are a programable bio species commonly used by other ETS to carry out certain tasks. Could explain why most encounters are with them and not other ETS. just thought it was unique idea.

[eoachan]

Actually, the appearance of the 'Greys" and other supposed aliens oddly matched the look of ancient elves, faeries, demons, etc, The phenomena has always been around.

[pbsvoices]

Thanks for having me on Dr. Z! There's not much that's more fun to talk about than aliens. Also, I need to hear more about your UAP sighting. -Josef

[framerofworlds]

I find it funny that Gray aliens seem to do to humans what humans do to other creatures. (abduct them for scientific experiments, breed them to get hybrid offspring, etc.)

[MewU]

I had a sleep paralysis episode one night and I saw 3 greys looking down at me. I get sleep paralysis a lot so I learned how to wake myself up from these dreams, so I began to wake myself up as I looked up at them and when i woke up, they disappeared. It was awesome.

[Wfalen]

As a skeptic, the UFO craze of the 90s feels today very innocent and even kindhearted, when you compare it to what conspiracy theories are today.

[mattdeblassmusic]

I always thought that the parallels between UFO abduction stories and older European stories about encounters with fairies were interesting. There's obviously something there that has captured our imagination for a very long time.

[rastusbojangles]

I have Hypnopompic hallucinations. The worst one was a gray alien crawling into my window. I was halfway down the hall before I realized I was running. It was wild. My sister heard me yell and run like a maniac out of my room. it felt so real I kicked my door open like it was still in there lol.

[Someduud]

What if these beings are humans from the future? What if these future humans have found a way to “tap” into our timeline to study their past. My theory is that they are not physically here, but rather show up momentarily in our physical plane due to the technology they use to “review” the historical time point which they want to study. This explains why their vessels are not bound by physical limitations and can cross different mediums. They may have ways to “interact” remotely with our physical world but they are not actually here.

[ImCerealSuperDuperCereal]

as a fine artist and a musician, I would love to have a conversation with aliens, talk about each other's cultural art and find out what their music sounds like. just imagine what another interstellar species from another planet's cultural significance is. how similar will it be, or will we have the vocabulary to describe the differences. isn't it fascinating?

[rami_ungar_writer]

I took a class about the scientific possibility of extraterrestrial life as an elective back in college. The class didn't focus on what could be behind UFO sightings, but on the question of if extraterrestrial life exists, what does it need to survive? It was a fun class and I enjoyed it, as did a lot of my classmates. And at the very end, on the day of our final exam, the professor revealed himself to be a gray and we were all abducted.
Kidding. No, the craziest thing to happen was that on the day of the last exam, I played the Imperial March from my iPod and speaker while he walked to the front of the lecture hall. He found that hysterical.

[seanchan]

Omg, I didn't see the r in grays and was wondering what kinda conspiracy theory Channel did I subscribe to?

[SPAZZYok]

The first depiction of the greys comes from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Spielberg had Dr. J. Allen Hynek for on set accuracy. Everything you see in that movie had been from eyewitnesses and Hynek was the head of project blue book for many years. Hynek told Spielberg that their eyes were black but Spielberg didn't want the audience to be afraid or think they were evil so he made their eyes like ours only slightly bigger.

[diawq]

What made X-files so good was that they were true cases. They had an ex-FBI agent helping them with the stories. That’s why the more recent X-files are awful. They don’t have anyone helping them anymore.