In a follow-up to Gwenn Farrell's article, Who Took Me?, we asked the members of our panel for their feedback. Here are their answers:

John Carpenter: Reptilians and other unmentionables

Any individual who enters this field of research brings with him a set of beliefs with boundaries for acceptance or rejection. This is naturally based on the individual's level of comfort and openness with accepting any of the weird information dumped into his naive hands. UFO researchers have been fairly willing to accept a generous portion of this bizarre data but always retain a personal, often private, preference for the amount of "weird stuff" they are willing to accept as credible. I am constantly amused at the notion that a researcher of incredible abductions by aliens in UFOS could label anything as "too weird." Yet, as human beings, it is our nature to "draw the line" somewhere based on our need to provide a sense of comfortable order to the chaotic and bizarre influx of strange information. It seems to take a great deal of personal maturity, security and ego-strength to publicly acknowledge and willingly support some of the data which others label as "too crazy." Our boundaries do shift and expand over time as we become more at ease.

History provides an important perspective on the shifting boundaries of belief and disbelief. Decades ago the first hurdle surpassed was the basic acceptance that UFOs might actually exist in our earthly skies. But to believe that they could contact the soil or land under intelligent control was absurd, at least until enough odd soil samples and credible witness reports forced an acceptance of this possibility. Then it became unthinkable that people could claim seeing little beings in conjunction with a landed craft. Even crazier of course would be the idea that such beings would overpower humans with paralysis and float them aboard for exams!

But look at how our collective boundaries of acceptance have stretched over the decades of research into this endless jungle of weirdness. This is basically due to the endless flow of new cases which, when researched carefully and methodically, are today considered as more reliable, credible, acceptable, and also supportive of data patterns from previous decades. On the horizon are issues of genetic manipulation, spirituality, channeling, multiple dimensions and paranormal correlations. Most of these areas of interest are presently viewed as "too weird" or "without scientific foundation," which is what James Pringle, a prestigious British scientist, claimed about reports of meteorites in 1759, until a wealth of data forced acceptance of "rocks falling from the sky" within the next 100 years!

There is a fairly large gray basket to which other alien types are presently relegated. Why? They are judged either "too weird," "too unlikely," or "too few to be significant." After all, the little gray humanoids have acquired enough notoriety in the media to become the publicly-accepted image of how an alien is supposed to appear. Now that the public is beginning to accept the "little grays," why confuse them with stranger or less believable alien types? Laughter would certainly greet the notion of a seven-foot-tall lizard that likes sex with our women. I believe many researchers have "drawn the line” as an effort to not lose ground in the war for credibility. So we keep the lizards, tall blondes and praying mantises under a quiet lid in that bulging gray basket. (Can we hide them any longer?)

However, as researchers began to share some of the oddities in their gray baskets, they began to find amazing matches and similarities, not only among physical traits, but also in behavior and purpose. ln my own caseload l found a woman reporting (much to her own amazement) at least one experience each with little grays, a reptilian and tall blondes, having never read or heard of the latter two types. Her details and drawings impressed Jenny Randles of England at the Abduction Study Conference held at M.I.T. in Boston during 1992. Jenny responded that the characteristics, presence, manner, and behavior of the tall blonde were nearly the same word-for-word descriptions as in many of her abduction cases in England – a clear majority of which are the “tall blondes" rather than the little grays! Here then are those details for your own consumption and study:

TALL BLONDES OR NORDICS

• Height: 6-8 feet tall in general
• Human in features: well-developed, muscular
• Hair: shoulder-length, blonde, straight, fine or thin
• Facial characteristics: "very handsome" by report
• "Perfect features" like those of a model
• Manner: paternal, watchful, protective. kind
• Effect: subjects report an overwhelming sense of safety, warmth, almost entrancement by a powerfully positive presence
• Eyes: blue, kind and loving - not cold
• Facial expression: pleasant. smiling, joyful, positive
• Clothes: human style, form-fitting jumpsuit or uniform
• Communication: usually telepathic despite human appearance
• Misc: "seems psychic, wise, all-knowing"

The public generally expects aliens to appear different - not like a Hollywood hunk; "these cannot be true aliens!" It would be difficult to prove in psychological circles that these images are not projections of one's wish fulfillment for a fatherly, handsome protector to rescue one from worldly troubles or a boring marriage. Others say that these encounters are with "guardian angels" rather than aliens. Because these beings have also been seen aboard UFOS with little grays, some researchers believe that they are either hybrids or holographic images for distraction, trickery, calming or reassurance. A few researchers believe the tall blondes might actually be supervising the little grays and that the grays may just be computerized androids, organic robots or a cloned subservient race of workers. In the 1975 case of Travis Walton, he disrupts the “standard” procedure of the little grays who then leave the room. A tall blonde then enters and seems more in charge. Trusting these more human-appearing entities, he is recaptured. Even in the files of Leonard Stringfield's crash/retrieval accounts is one allegedly retrieved body of unknown origin which is seven feet tall, with human features and shoulder-length blonde hair. Whatever or whoever they are, they keep surfacing worldwide in abduction cases with striking similarity. As charming and kind as the tall blondes seem, the Reptilian brand of alien life form is a hideous, rude and aggressive type. It is difficult to imagine a higher-functioning seven-foot-tall Lizard strolling into your bedroom. I have close to ten of these odd cases; none of those subjects had ever heard of such a type. Yet there are again many similarities in description and behavior:

REPTILIANS

• Height: 6-7 feet tall, upright always
• Features: lizard-like scales, smooth texture
• Color: greenish to brownish
• Hands: four-finger claw with brown webbing
• Face: cross between human and snake
• Head: central ridge coming down from top of head to snout
• Chest: external "ribbing" may be visible
• Eyes: cat-like with vertical slit, gold iris
• Effect: repulsive, grotesque, disgusting
• Manner: intrusive, forceful, insensitive
• Behavior: intrudes and rapes
• Physical effect: large claw marks photographed
• Communication: none reported!

More psychological projections? Symbolic confabulations of evil or sin – as initially implied in the Biblical account of the Garden of Eden? Cannot anyone imagine a “nice snake”?  ls there always a sinister or deceptive manner about these creatures? Why do they seem to occur more frequently in certain geographic areas despite being reported independently? Where would the public have been able to read about these basically unpublished scoundrels? One of my cases sheepishly admits to having an incredible orgasm while being totally repulsed by the intruder's grotesque appearance. Within two months a second female from the same town reported independently the same type of Reptilian intruder, with the same surprising and embarrassing orgasmic response!

No crafts are typically seen; no communication occurs. The same scenario occurs over and over throughout my cases and those of other researchers, especially in Oklahoma and California. And researchers do not like talking about them publicly; nobody can even picture how a seven-foot-tall lizard could have sex with a human female! (This weird stuff gets crammed into our gray baskets and buried!) But something is going on here that needs to be boldly' studied more openly and publicly - especially among researchers. Patterns of similarity from sane humans are emerging despite our gray basket rituals of stuffing them away.

Then there is the insectoid/grasshopper/praying mantis type that seems to also oversee or direct activity in a supervisory role. Why would anyone imagine a large bug directing an abduction experience? Is this something we would hope for or desire to see? Subjects sense a higher level of wisdom and functioning in this type of entity. Whatever its purpose or origin, we certainly need further study. I encourage those of you who have either experienced such oddities or have researched these types, to begin dumping out your gray baskets and sharing this bizarre data. Only in response to this column or in sharing the data openly with each other can we begin to get a better grasp on these unusual types of beings and how they may fit into the larger puzzle of the abduction phenomenon. Please respond!

Editor's Note: John Carpenter published this article before in the Mufon Journal. 

Thomas Minderle

For this answer, I would like to focus solely on what is indicated by my own experiences and those of people I personally know and trust. In that case the abductors are the infamous grays, reptilians, mantids, human-alien hybrids, human shadow government, and Nordic alien groups.

Grays range from short robotic drones to taller more sentient humanoids. Their jet-black eyes vary from small and round to large and almond-shaped, and skin tones from pink to dolphin gray to sickly pale green. I believe the pure gray alien is a general-purpose worker bot used to carry out the menial labor aspect of the abduction and contact programs. They are genetically engineered drones enhanced with advanced psionic and computer-like intellectual powers. They are not truly sentient beings, but nonetheless made of living tissue. They can be hybridized in varying ratios with other species to produce the spectrum of gray-like beings we encounter, some more sentient than others depending on the ratio. In my opinion, there is nothing good about being crossed with gray genetics since the robotic hive-mind nature of them hobbles emotions and independence of mind. 
Grays, being ubiquitous as they are, serve as convenient screen memories for other alien groups and shadow military factions wishing to disguise their involvement. For example, an abduction carried out by shadow military personnel may be misremembered as a gray alien abduction. This means that not all reported gray abductions are solely by grays, so what is reported of such grays is not always accurate. There are various red flags that point to it being a screen memory. Interestingly, these red flags show up in anecdotes of wise, loving, soulful grays, which leads me to believe such "encounters" are part of an intentional disinformation campaign to cover up the true nature of these beings.

Reptilians, from what I can tell, are also tangible and biological beings with psionic and interdimensional abilities, but they tend to have a greater degree of sentience. Unlike the grays they seem more emotional and less hive-minded. I'm not aware of any credible encounters with benevolent reptilians in my sphere of research. Instead, they universally seem to have a demonic aspect to them ranging from primal brutality to sophisticated psychopathic cold bloodedness. It's possible they are biological hosts for demonic energies. 
Mantis beings, which look like man-sized praying mantises, are even less common than reptilians but only because they seem to be higher in the command structure and more competent at hiding their presence. I don't have much data on them, other than that they are invested in and highly adept at mind programming and timeline manipulation. By that I mean the manipulation of consciousness, monitoring and steering how people and events affect the future, and making tweaks to our reality from beyond linear time.

Hybrids vary in how human or alien they are. Of special concern are those who could pass for human yet retain an alien mind with telepathic powers. They may be among us. There seems to be a crossover between them and the shadow government personnel encountered by MILABs (military abductees). Either the latter are humans who have augmented themselves with alien technology and abilities, or they are hybrids created by aliens to act as liaisons in the human shadow projects. In other words, the MILAB phenomenon blends into the alien phenomenon with quasi-alien human personnel who look like us but have alien intellectual and psychic abilities. Judging by history, Ufology, and the rise of the shadow military after WWII, it's likely that what was once a human military intelligence operation has come under hybrid and alien control since at least the 1960s. Therefore, this so-called "breakaway civilization" may today be populated at the middle and upper levels by individuals who don't qualify as human. The lower levels may still be comprised of non-hybrid humans consisting of black ops military personnel, non-public science groups, organized crime rings, human traffickers, and certain secret societies.

"Nordic aliens" is a catch-all term for beings that look like us, with many but not all having a Scandinavian or Slavic appearance. Some may be gray hybrids or clones, but others have demonstrated a degree of sentience, curiosity, and independence of mind missing in typical hybrids or clones. They are theorized to be ancient advanced offshoots of the human race, perhaps our progenitors, or maybe time travelers from our future, higher dimensional humanoids, or merely genetically engineered meat suits for some non-human intelligence. I think these possibilities are not mutually exclusive and there are different types with different origins. One thing I can say with certainty is that some are benevolent but not all, as some seem very cold, fascist, cunning, and arrogant in their orientation. The benevolent ones seem interested in our becoming more aware, informed, evolved, and consciously awakened, and they engage in telepathic and/or physical contact with certain people to seed them with knowledge and training (sometimes subconsciously) so that they can help improve mankind's situation here. The benevolent ones are wary of the negative groups and their agendas and are working to undermine them. If they are time travelers, perhaps they are engaged in a time war against aliens and other time travelers trying to rewrite history toward a more totalitarian outcome. It stands to reason that abductions by positive humanoids are not kidnappings per se, but a covert kind of contact with positive intentions. Of course, there are impostors and screen memories as well so we can't always take such accounts at face value. 

Bill Konkolesky

It is not uncommon for those who come into contact with extraterrestrial life-forms to encounter a variety of different types of entities, especially for those abductees with a lifetime of experiences.  I have personally experienced four different kinds of beings and they were all working together.  While the initial descriptions here are perhaps a bit remedial, things take an interesting turn when scratching beneath the surface.

Small grays are the beings I’ve seen the most (and, by far, the most of).  They’re about three feet in height with nearly rope thin bodies and a large head beset with two wrap-around gleaming black eyes.  They’re the away team, coming to pick me up and take me away.  They’re the minions.  My first recollected encounter with them was 1973.  I was two years old when one walked into my room to briefly observe me.

Tall grays are roughly similar in appearance to the small grays but about two feet taller.  They are the doctors and messengers.  My first recollection of them is from 1978.  When I was seven years old, one of them cut my arm onboard in some sort of surgical procedure.  I still have the scar.

Mantises are seven-foot-tall beings that look like giant praying mantises dressed like wizards (absurd but accurate).  They run the show.  They’re the overseers.  My first memory is from 1988 when I was sixteen years old.  The small grays brought me to one of these beings onboard so that it could chastise me for resisting the program they’d laid out for me.
Hybrids are part human, part gray, with a mostly human appearance (though degrees of humanity may vary).  They seem to be off any chain of command and pretty much do whatever the other beings demand.  In 1993, when I was twenty-two, a trio of small grays brought one to my bedroom in the middle of the night to gauge our reactions to each other.  This was my first of only two encounters with a hybrid, and it was the same on both times.

Now, here’s where things go down the rabbit hole a bit.  While many of my encounters have been purely physical (with additional witnesses and physical evidence for support), a number of them have not.  There have been several encounters I’ve had that seem to be in a non-physical environment, as in, I’ve been out of body with these same aforementioned beings who were also out of body.

I believe that the beings are actually likely native to a form of pure consciousness and take physical form primarily when required.  This would be of tremendous benefit to them in a logistical sense.  In situations where they don’t need to physically interact with humans or our environment, just need to interact with us mentally, then coming to us astrally, if you will, saves them from having to deal with “landing the ship” and covertly performing their tasks.  They just pluck you out of body.
This admittedly begs the question, “Is there a mantis consciousness that is separate from gray consciousness or is it one consciousness adopting different forms based upon whatever task is required?”  I have no idea.  The fact that they all work together, yet with apparently species-specific roles, is somewhat curious, though.  For starters, “Why do the mantises get to be in charge?  Are there craft with small gray captains?”

I always advise other experiencers to be comfortable with the mystery of this phenomenon, though, because nobody ever seems to know anything about our visitors for certain.

Please visit my website experiencer.me for more on my personal experiences.

Susan Swiatek

People in the UFO field and outside the field are frequently asking, "Who are the aliens? What do they look like? What do we know about them?" Books have been written about this topic, such as "The Field Guide to Extraterrestrials" (1996) by Patrick Huyghe with Harry Trumbore as illustrator. But aside from how they physically look, what else can we say about them? I was reminded of a close friend and his struggles as an abductee from a young age, fully awake as an 11-year old, washing his hair at the kitchen sink in the family cape cod. He was precociously responsible and his parents had stepped out for a few hours and this was the first time he was alone at night. He heard the heavy door jangle, normally requiring an oversized skeleton key to open. In walked three odd, small figures and he found himself stammering, "Who are you?" before they whisked him away.

The Who to this question gets varied answers. I've worked with those that think the greys are irrefutably an alien race from far, far away who need to intervene in human affairs because of our own good. To help us evolve. To save us from ourselves. To save our DNA before the great cataclysm that's predicted to overtake the earth. We should be grateful. But I have far more experiencers that are terrified of the beings -- they don't care if they're an alien race from another star system or just something from our nightmares. They want them out of their life! The majority of experiencers wish they could turn back the clock, to a simpler time before they became aware that they were "abductees." Notice I did not say to turn back the clock before their first abduction, because that would be non-sensical, as many have faint memories of being taken in their cribs or even earlier. No, the idea would be to stay blissfully unaware. But now it's as if Adam and Eve have eaten the apple, eyes are opened and all innocence is now gone. They say knowledge is power -- but many of my abductees wished they didn't know.

There are so many theories, that aliens are extraterrestrials who have been doing the abducting -- and the military has gotten involved because it's a matter of national security to determine the threat. And perhaps the military has determined there's something to exploit here for our nation's benefit, or mankind's benefit. Or perhaps the military felt they had no choice but to cooperate with and appease the aliens, because we are woefully inadequate to battle them. I have worked with abductees who are sincere and believable when they say that military men are seen in conjunction with aliens. I believe they truly perceived this.

If you read "Above Black" by Dan Sherman, you'll find a story of a man who claims that he was an intuitive communicator in the USAF, who was trained to communicate telepathically with the aliens. He was told that his mother had some genetic manipulation while he was in the womb in 1963 and "his abilities will be needed in the future when all electromagnetic communications will be rendered useless." Sherman ultimately pulled out of the program and out of the military as he began to feel details and coordinates of abductions were being conveyed to him, which disturbed him immensely. The book has the ring of truth about it. A friend and author who writes books and articles about the radio spectrum engaged the author by email. To his surprise, many things Sherman said about his classified service checked out. My expert friend came away feeling this man was the real thing. How do we integrate this scenario into our cosmology, into our knowledge of the abduction/military matrix and the "Who" question? It's something I fear we will wrestle with for a long, long time.