Little Green Men

During the 1950s and 1960s, when science-fiction stories often depicted aliens as having green skin, the phrase little green men was typically used to refer to extraterrestrials. Prior to that time, the phrase was used in reference to leprechauns, elves, fairies, gnomes, dwarfs, and other beings of folklore who were often described as being dressed entirely in green.

Today, however, some experts in the paranormal use the phrase little green men, or LGMs, to refer to green-skinned or green-clad men, usually under 2 feet (.61m) tall, that have been reported in various places around the world. One of the most recent sightings occurred in 1996, when members of an Israeli collective community called Moshav Amihud reported finding a 2-inch-tall (5.1cm) green-skinned man, oozing green liquid, whose body collapsed when they touched it. A similar story surfaced in 1978, though the events contained in the story were said to have taken place in 1913, when a group of boys in Texas supposedly discovered some dogs tearing apart an 18-inch-tall (45.7cm), green-skinned man whose remains were gone by the next day.

Sceptics say that such creatures are actually frogs, either living or decomposing, rather than so-called little green men. Sceptics also dismiss LGM stories involving green-clothed rather than green-skinned beings, saying that witnesses are simply making these stories up or having some kind of hallucination based on remembered tales of elves, fairies, leprechauns, dwarfs, or gnomes. People who believe the reports of LGM sightings, however, say that beings mentioned in folklore are not necessarily fictional, suggesting that LGMs really might be elves, fairies, leprechauns, or the like. Some of these believers have instead suggested that the LGMs, whether green-clothed or green-skinned, are extraterrestrials, though all but a handful of people have reported the aliens as being grey-skinned and clad in white, silver, grey, or black clothing.

SEE ALSO:

• Descriptions of Aliens
• Fairies
• Leprechauns, Elves, Dwarfs, Gnomes, and Goblins

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning