When we look at alien encounters, a lot of the time it’s difficult to keep track of who saw what and when. Often the most widely reported first-time abductees were Betty and Barney Hill. But while theirs was one of the earliest widely reported on UFO sightings, and the creatures who would later become known as the “Greys,” there were several alien encounters before them – sometimes with incredibly strange creatures. Who reported seeing an alien long before Betty and Barney Hill? Here is a sampling of some of the strangest cases on record.
One of the earliest encounters to receive national attention of the 19th century was the Aurora Texas Incident. While the residents of that town described encountering what they considered a “Martian” after a mysterious ship crashed there, there is still very little as far as descriptions are concerned. While the creature reportedly was mysterious, it was never determined just how different it looked. The grave to this being is said to be somewhere in the graveyard among the other graves from the 1890’s.
Next on the list, while it isn’t a direct face to face encounter, still had a witness on the ground spotting what appeared to him to be extraterrestrials. It was 1946 in Angelholm, Sweden when Gosta Karlsson reported seeing a strange craft with wide windows appearing over the edge of the horizon. The craft reportedly had occupants in it that were unlike anything he had seen previously. Once again, however, the description of the beings is somewhat limited.
The following year, in 1947, a mysterious craft would descend on Roswell New Mexico and make history. For decades people have been questioning whether Roswell was a downed weather balloon, an alien craft, or something else entirely. One of the most disturbing elements of the Roswell incident was the discovery of several bodies. Later, it would become public that the appearance of the creatures were similar to the “Greys” that Betty and Barney Hill described in their abduction experience. Shortly after the incident the story of a weather balloon sufficed, and the public would lose interest until several decades later.
Next, the Flatwoods Monster would appear before terrified witnesses in West Virginia, 1952. The creature was massive, over ten feet tall with a red glowing face that appeared to be shedding light from within. Its arms were short, with long clawed fingers at the ends of each hand. Multiple witnesses reported the creature when it first touched down on the planet’s surface.
It was not until 1961 that the appearance of alien greys started shifting the public direction toward a more unified opinion of what aliens look like. Since their description was first recalled under hypnosis, there have been hundreds – if not thousands – of witnesses who have described seeing similar creatures. Greys are most widely considered the most popular description of alien beings visiting our planet. But occasionally the other mysterious entities are spotted and reported on – rekindling an interest in such early beings as the Flatwoods monster and that mysterious “martian” buried in Aurora, Texas.