Men In Black

Many witnesses to UFO phenomena claim to have been contacted by "officials" who have tried to persuade them to keep silent about their experiences. This new aspect of the phenomenon became prevalent in the United States beginning in the 1940's, carried heavily into the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, and, though to a much lesser extent, continue up to the present day. These entities usually claim to be from the government, or branches of the military. (There have been many cases where genuine military personnel dressed in black have intimidated UFO witnesses, but this other "MIB" aspect involving real human beings will not be covered here.)

The term "Men in Black" was coined because witnesses who encountered these abnormal "men" (and on rare occasions, "women") all reported the same details, no matter how scattered they were across America and completely unfamiliar with anyone else's experiences: they were almost always dressed in black suits & pants, and black ties, and wore black hats. Their shiny black shoes usually had unusually thick soles. Some MIBs were very tall, but the vast majority were short, with darkly tanned skin, and odd oriental features to their faces. Some were reported to be ghostly white and hairless, but with bright red lips.

They usually drove up to witnesses at their homes or in public places in shiny brand new black Cadillacs or Lincolns. Both the cars as well as the clothes they wore were always a bit outdated, despite their mint condition.

Their behavior is bizarre, and usually becomes apparent moments after they begin interacting with the UFO witnesses. They behave like they're "drunk", their speech either slurs and they talk slowly or quickens like a speeded-up record player, and they often use slang that is no longer in keeping with the times. Physically, their limbs or faces twitch or jerk, they make requests for something to drink or eat and never take a sip or bite, they become "paralyzed" before being able to move again, and they make ridiculous statements, or ask questions that have absolutely nothing to do with the wtiness's UFO sighting. The majority of information given to the witnesses by these entities are pure lies.

However comical these facts are to us, the witnesses end up being thoroughly spooked by the time these MIBs leave them. They are then often visited multiple times afterward, and in a good many documented cases, there are other people at home when the MIBs come calling and two, three, sometimes four or more people are all witnesses to this strange phenomenon. They oftentimes appear suddenly from around a corner and take the witness's picture and then disappear. Sometimes the witnesses are given a pill, powder, or substance of some sort that the MIB insists they must take (usually with ill effects to the witness ).

Although the MIB phenomenon has been world-wide, in America it has received a high profile due nearly single-handedly to the efforts of author and paranormal investigator, John Keel. Two of Keel's classic works, The Mothman Prophecies and Our Haunted Planet delve deeply into the MIB phenomenon, and cause it to take on a whole new dimension and credibility, because Keel himself has repeatedly been visited and then later harassed by phone and mail by these bizarre entities. When he spent a year in Point Pleasant, W. Virginia investigating MOTHMAN and related phenomena pertaining to it, he either encountered them, or, in many cases, witnesses he was working with were contacted by MIBs who had the express purpose of finding out where Keel could be located because they had "messages" for him. Anyone even remotely interested in the MIB phenomenon who have not already done so should make it a priority to read The Mothman Prophecies for a good crash course in the subject.

One of the most famous cases involving these Men in Black is that of American ufologist Albert K. Bender. In 1952 he began a civilian UFO organization called the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB). During the one short year it existed it spread rapidly around the world. But suddenly Bender closed the bureau, claiming he was threatened by unnamed, outside sources. However, the full story emerged ten years later in a book entitled Flying Saucers and the the Three Men.

The intimidation began when a man with glowing eyes followed Bender around town. He was later visited by three entities who appeared to him inside his locked home and was warned by them to cease his activity in UFO investigations because they, the aliens, were carrying out a secret ten-year project on Earth. After allegedly taking Bender to a secret alien base under the Antarctic and being given explanations of the alien abduction phenomenon (which was not being publicly reported by the victims until the 1960's), Bender became so frightened that he dismantled his International Flying Saucer Bureau much to the disappointment of family and friends, not to mention the world-wide members.

Captain E. L. Plunkett, former British representative of the IFSB, was personally informed of the closure by Bender, and he testified that Bender was so badly frightened that he had been violently sick for three days. And not only did Bender close the Bureau, but he completely ceased all personal involvement from any ufological investigations or activities.

Even skeptics, such as researcher Hilary Evans, who favors hallucinations as the cause of the phenomenon, agree that many MIB incidents are not hallucinations by the witnesses, particularly when more than one witness is present during a MIB encounter. The MIB don't seem to mind the presence of other people as they "interview" the UFO witness.

The MIB pretend to be "officials", encourage people to believe they are from secret departments within the government, or sometimes even that they are extraterrestrials in disguise attempting to suppress "accidental sightings" of their spacecraft. Some of the encounters are so meaningless that it is hard to make any sense from them at all, such as the numerous sightings in and around Point Pleasant, W. Virginia during the Mothman phenomenon where in broad daylight many people saw MIBs putting strips of glossy tape (the kind found in any drug or hardware store) on telephone poles or other public facilities.

Hopefully the upcoming Hollywood movie of The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere will do justice to the Point Pleasant MIB encounters. If it is faithful to the book, it is going to be a very chilling movie, "A Classic True Story of Modern Horror" to quote from the back of the best-selling book!