Published: 12:34 PM 2/7/2010

Note: (HID is an acronym for high intensity discharge)

In the 20th and 21st century reports of “close encounters” with extraterrestrial beings have skyrocketed. Some alien sightings have been disproven as hoaxes or hallucinations brought on by stress or drugs, but some are still hard to clarify.

Here is a list of some of the most famously described alien beings that have frightened even those with the brightest handheld hid lights, flashlights and unbreakable emotions.

Small Green Men

One of the most well-known types of extraterrestrials and by now a Hollywood cliché, the small green men are humanoid looking creatures with green skin and large heads and antennae on their heads.

The small green men look and description can largely be attributed to Orson Welles’ well-known “War of the Worlds” broadcast which described the alien beings as “small green men from Mercury.”

Since then, various people who have said to have had contact or been abducted by aliens describe them in similar terms.

Nordic aliens

This group of humanoid aliens is often described because they resemble Nordic or Aryan people, extremely human in appearance, but with pale white skin and either light blonde or white hair.

Most are described as being very tall and attractive looking, with more being reported as male than female. They have originally been said to have come from Venus because of the claims of one man, George Adamski, who reported to have spoken with one of the Nordic Aliens named Orthon in Arizona.

Reptilians

The Reptilians or Reptoids are reported to be humanoid/reptile looking aliens that are often said to be able to shape-shift. They have reached a certain amount of infamy thanks to writer David Icke who has written extensively about a reptilian conspiracy and how many of our world’s leaders are in fact alien reptilians that control us through negative emotion and dread, which they feed off of.

Critics have attributed the reptilian movement to the television show “V” which debuted in 1983 and gave Icke his thoughts.

Greys

The Grey aliens are beings which said to be small bodied, sexless beings with smooth grey skin and large head and eyes. The most well-known Grey encounter is in the reports from the Betty and Barney Hill abduction that got national attention.

The Hills claim to have been abducted on an isolated road in New Hampshire where they were taken up into the spacecraft and subsequently had nightmares and dreams about her experience on the alien shift being tested and probed.

Analysis and hypnosis has critics suggesting the entire tale was a hallucination brought on by the stress of the Hills being an interaction couple in early 60s America.

Others have said that they made the tale up based around the show “The Outer Limits,” which had a similar looking alien on the program 12 days before they had gone public.

Hopkinsville Goblin

Also known as the Kelly Green Men - was an account of several reported encounters in Hopkinsville, Kentucky with small green, goblin men with long arms and claw-like hands.

A family in a rural farmhouse reported to have seen a flying saucer in the sky and afterwards heard weird and unexplainable noises outside.

Two of the family members then reported seeing a weird creature emerge from the trees, “a luminous, three-and-a-half-foot-tall being with an oversized head, huge, floppy pointed ears, glowing eyes, and hands with talons at their ends.

The figure, either made of or simply dressed in silvery metal, had its hands raised.” They shot at the creature but were unable to find it.

The fascinating thing about the case is that the family was not interested in seeking fame but were deemed genuinely frightened by the incident.

Alan McGee is a freelance writer from MN.