Dogon

The Dogon were a thirteen-eyed reptilian race.

Biology
The Dogon were a reptilian species who evolved on a world with a climate colder than that of Earth. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)

Dogon eyes
Four of the eyes of a Dogon were for sight, six for show, but one of the other three eyes (referred to as the Dogon Sixth Eye) had special abilities. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)

This sixth eye was located on the back of the head and was nearly the size of a golf-ball, though looking more like a shifting blue marble. This eye allowed a person to look back clearly on their life and allowed them to make better choices, especially if ingested. Oddly enough, Eugene Jones steadily gained more physical contact with the world after swallowing a sixth eye and then dying. He was able to influence the mind of Gwen Cooper and eventually became corporeal and seemed to float into an afterlife. (TW: Random Shoes)


 * What the other two eyes could do is unknown, though Dr. Rajesh Singh believed they also had special powers.

History
The Dogons developed space travel at some point during their history and occasionally travelled to Earth, first visiting it at least in 1666 at the time of the Great Fire of London, usually leaving behind their so-called Sixth Eyes. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)

In the 1980s, Mr Garret found a Dogon Sixth Eye while golfing. He later gave it to Eugene Jones as a consolation prize for a science competition. (TW: Random Shoes)


 * Though unstated, it is likely that the eye came to Earth via the Rift.

In 2005, a Dogon spaceship with a crew of twenty crashed in the river Humber and were studied by the crew of Torchwood 1. After the Battle of Canary Wharf, Dogon Sixth Eyes appeared on eBay and became very popular in Belgium. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)

In 2007, Eugene Jones decided to sell his Dogon eye on eBay. His friends Gary and Josh planned to buy the eye and resell it at a greater price. When they tried to take the eye by force, Eugene swallowed it and ran away. Though he was later killed, the eye brought him back as a ghost-like being, allowing him to help Gwen Cooper investigate his death. (TW: Random Shoes)

The collector Henry Parker also had a Dogon eye. (TW: A Day in the Death)

Behind the scenes

 * The name Dogon may be a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which there is an alien species known as the Vogons.