THINK ABOUTIT’S ALIEN TYPE SUMMARY

THE MANTIS BEINGS

This network’s own glossary has carried a description of the Mantis Beings since the early 2000s, and it is worth reading in its original words: not an insect, but “an intelligent, gentle-spirited, but somewhat ‘hyper’ and jerky-moving, human-life form.” That entry — the actual source for nearly everything genuinely known about this type — calls them “the anesthesiologists of the contact experience,” a phrase that has circulated ever since. Nearly everything else attached to this page in recent years is new, and none of it traces to that original description.

Name: Mantis Beings

AKA: Mantids, Praying Mantis Types. A taxonomic-sounding name (“Docta Gryllus tegimen”) and “The Preceptors” do not appear in this network’s original source material or in the secondary literature reviewed for this correction, and have been removed as unsupported invention.

Location – Home System: Undocumented. This network’s own original entry gives no home system, planet, or origin point for this type.

Distance from Earth: Undocumented

Attitude: Per this network’s own original entry, intelligent and gentle-spirited, though notably “hyper” and jerky in movement

Motives: Per the source, a protective and stabilizing role during contact experiences — specifically, preventing panicked humans from injuring themselves or others during encounters with other beings (most often described in association with Zeta-type Greys)

Physical Appearance: Per this network’s own original entry: long, narrow faces; large eyes sharply slanted upward and outward in a narrow-V position; extremely thin, long torsos; thin arms bent sharply at the mid-joint with the hand sloping downward from the wrist; legs bent at a near right angle, creating a crouched, characteristic “praying mantis” pose

Average Height: Reported at over 6 feet tall, per this network’s original entry
Average Weight: Undocumented
Body Temperature: Undocumented
Pulse/Respiration: Undocumented
Blood Pressure: Undocumented
Life Expectancy: Undocumented with a specific figure; the source states only that the type is believed to have “evolved over a million years”
Hair: Undocumented
Skin: Undocumented with a specific color or texture in this network’s original entry
Eyes: Large, sharply slanted upward and outward in a narrow-V position, per the source
Sex: Both males and females are described in the source

Other Physical Information: Described in the source as an organ located in the midsection, capable of sensing fear (as an animal might) and amplifying it before radiating it back toward the person experiencing it

Special Traits and Abilities: Per the source, a documented role in briefly immobilizing frightened humans during contact experiences involving other beings, using the fear-amplification process described above — explicitly framed in the source as a protective measure performed “with great love and care,” not an act of predation

Communication Type: Distinctive clicking sounds are documented in the case material associated with this type (see Witnesses Reports below); the source does not describe a formal telepathic communication method in detail

Origin: Per this network’s own original entry, understood by experiencers to be a genuine life form rather than a true insect, believed to have evolved over roughly a million years

Life Form Type: Described in the source as an insect-appearing but non-insect life form

Subspecies: Undocumented; “Santari” as a named subspecies does not appear in this network’s original entry or in the secondary literature reviewed for this correction

Most Common Species: Undocumented; a “Golden Mantid (Command Class)” designation does not appear in the source material

Level of Species: Undocumented (no numbered or graded classification appears in the source)

Habits: Per the source, a consistent presence alongside Zeta-type Greys during contact and abduction accounts, with a specifically documented role in managing the human nervous system’s fear response during those encounters

Transportation Type: Undocumented in the sources reviewed for this correction

Witnesses Reports: Mike Shea (Cooksville, Maryland, 1973); Derrel Sims of F.I.R.S.T., who documented a 1998 abduction case in Houston, Texas involving a Mantis-type figure, corroborated by other reported abductees in Dallas, Texas; Whitley Strieber’s book Confirmation, which describes a Mantis-type figure in an account titled “Jesse’s Story”; Joe Lewels

Special Features/Characteristics: Documented association with the phenomenon of humans reporting they were “frozen” or paralyzed during contact experiences; a documented note that experiencers have been told humans are unusual among species encountered for showing their teeth in both happiness and anger, which is described as confusing to some of these beings

Summary/Description: An insect-appearing but reportedly non-insect life form, encountered consistently alongside Zeta-type Greys in contact and abduction accounts, and described by this network’s own original source material as functioning protectively — managing human fear responses during encounters to prevent self-injury, a role its original entry calls “the anesthesiologists of the contact experience.”

Source: This network’s own original “Mantis Type Aliens?” article by Robert M. Collins (1998) and the corresponding “Alien Types” glossary entry, archived since the early 2000s (© Think About It Enterprises, 1997–2006); Derrel Sims, F.I.R.S.T.; Whitley Strieber, Confirmation; Joe Lewels

Related Cases: The 1998 Houston, Texas abduction case documented by Derrel Sims, corroborated by other reported abductees in Dallas, Texas; “Jesse’s Story” in Whitley Strieber’s Confirmation

DETAILED REPORT

This network’s own original material on the Mantis Beings, dating to the late 1990s and early 2000s, is unusually specific for its time and remains the best-grounded source for this entry. Robert M. Collins’ 1998 article “Mantis Type Aliens?” references an artist’s sketch, provided by researcher Derrel Sims of F.I.R.S.T., of a Mantis-type figure observed during a Houston, Texas abduction case, which Sims reported was corroborated by other abductees in Dallas. Collins also connects this to Whitley Strieber’s then-new book Confirmation, which describes a similar figure in an account titled “Jesse’s Story.”

The companion glossary entry from the same period gives the physical description and the behavioral account that anchors most of what circulates about this type today: a long, narrow, insect-appearing face and body; a documented role in briefly paralyzing frightened humans during contact experiences, achieved through an organ in the midsection capable of sensing and amplifying fear; and a specific, quotable framing of this behavior as protective rather than predatory, performed “with great love and care.” The source also states plainly that the type is believed to have evolved over roughly a million years, and notes a specific, curious detail: that showing teeth — whether smiling or angry — is reportedly confusing to some of these beings, since humans are said to be unusual in doing so under both emotional states.

Almost none of the material added since — the taxonomic name, the collective “planet of total cooperation” homeworld, the named subspecies, and the entire 2026 “Santari Alliance” narrative — traces to this original source or to any secondary literature located for this correction.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

The Original Entry Already Said the Important Part

Source Chain Assessment: This network’s own original 1998–2000s material on this type is specific, well-attributed (Derrel Sims, Whitley Strieber, Robert M. Collins), and already contains the core claims — the fear-amplification organ, the “anesthesiologist” framing, the million-year evolution estimate — that later versions of this page built on. The correction here is mostly about removing what was added beyond that original material, not replacing a blank slate.
Fabricated Taxonomy and Biometric Panel: A Latin-sounding taxonomic name (“Docta Gryllus tegimen”), precise weight, body temperature, blood pressure, and a specific life expectancy range do not appear in this network’s original source and have been marked Undocumented or removed.
Fabricated “Santari Alliance” and Homeworld: The entire “2026 Mandate,” the Santari sub-sect, the “Level XXIX” rating, and the collective “planet of total cooperation” homeworld description do not appear in any source reviewed and have been removed in full, including the fabricated citation to “reports from the Andromedan Council.”
“Soul Gazing” Reframed: The previous version’s elaborate “Soul Gazing” ritual — described as a deliberate, high-bandwidth consciousness-scanning process — goes well beyond the source’s own account, which describes humans being “frozen” in place as a protective measure, not a mystical data-transfer ritual. This entry keeps the documented “frozen” detail and removes the embellishment built on top of it.
Genuine Detail Preserved: The teeth-showing detail, the million-year evolution estimate, and the specific “great love and care” framing are all part of this network’s own original source material and have been kept, properly attributed rather than presented as generic “Think About It Alien Database” content.

What this entry actually has going for it is a genuinely specific, decades-old original source that already did the work of describing a distinctive physical type and a consistent, oddly gentle behavioral pattern across multiple witness accounts. That material didn’t need a fabricated 2026 alliance or an invented taxonomic name to be worth reading — it needed to be left as it was written.

“You might say the Mantis beings are the anesthesiologists of the contact experience.”

— this network’s own original Alien Types glossary, Mantis Beings entry.