MIB's - Men in Black

[zorgon]

It was February 1st, 2012 and I was out paying bills and running errands. I was out near my old neighborhood bar when I looked across the street and saw a well dressed man.

He was wearing a black hat, a black overcoat, white shirt and black tie. He had no eyebrows and a dead looking expression on his face.

He also appeared to have no hair as he had no hair to the collar. At first I was polite to him and said hello. He stopped and turned to look back at me in passing.

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I kept going and then realized that the man looked very much like a mythical MIB. I decided to turn back and follow him. I took a picture of him with my cell phone and he did not appear in my picture. I lost track of him and wondered if he stepped into the bar. I wasn't about to bother or stalk the man because I was late for an appointment.

When I arrived at my appointment I told the person at my interview what had happened. She had said that it sounded like I was watching to much Fringe and that I may have seen "an observer."

I giggled and agreed until we saw three men in black overcoats approach the Starbucks where we were having coffee. I said "look I am not imagining this" and she said they are probably Mormons. I laughed and said; well at least they had hair.

My first written account of this can be found in the article "Signposts."

Later that night I presented a show with H. Michael Sweeney about less than lethal weapons and psionic weaponry. During the show a strange thing had occurred. My entire body was taken over in pain. I had stumbled on the console and I immediately notified David my producer to call 911.

The paramedics showed up and found that my blood pressure had risen to a lethal level. I was weakened and unable to do my show. They transported me by ambulance. After further tests the doctors had said I had stabilized. All of my tests came back normal and I was okay to do another show.

I am still curious as to what really happened on that day. The day after there were reports of UFOs and a strange Contrail over the city of Portland. I was completely curious about just what happened to me that night.

Juts to let you know, and all of my fans and friends will attest to this, I have done Ground Zero radio shows with bad toothaches, stomach aches, back aches.

I even did a Ground Zero lounge after I was released from Cancer surgery; I also did the show while the radio station's basement was in flames due to dumpster fires. To be taken by ambulance off the air is something that has never happened before and I still wonder why this happened to me.

In my life I have encountered many strange things. In most cases these strange things can be rationalized with some logic. I know that there are a lot of people who probably think that I am gullible and believe every story I hear or report.

I merely say to people that I believe that it is healthy to have curiosity it is important to have healthy skepticism and I also despise uninformed debunkers who do not do their homework, and claim that they use critical thinking as a tool to mask the fact that they are ignorant.

Men With Black Hats

[zorgon]

Do Men In Black Use Time Travel And Transporters?
Jun 25 2010 01:23 AM
Written by Majestic  in Men In Black

I was watching the UFO Hunters episode "The Silencers" on the History Channel today and several things really stuck out to me. Three people make statements about their encounters with the Men in Black, and they all seem to have some very disturbing similarities. These similarities seem to suggest that the Men in Black make use of a type of transporter technology, and perhaps even suggest an ability to time travel.

The first instance is the report of Timothy Beckley who claims to have taken a photo of one of the Men in Black (See Photo). Mr. Beckley states in video Part 2 at 0:15, that the Man in Black he was observing, and his car, simply disappeared into thin air. While Beckley apparently did not actually see the individual disappear, his account does correspond with later accounts of the Men in Black's ability to suddenly disappear.

The second item that stuck out in my mind is from Johnny Sands' account of an eyewitness encounter with the Men in Black that occurred in 1976. Mr. Sands states that when the Men in Black turned to walk away from him, "there was a flash of light and they were gone." This occurs in the video below in Part 2 at 4:10. Mr. Sands reports a similar type effect in a seconds encounter at 5:30 in the Part 2 video. Mr. Sands states that the security officer was escorting the the Men in Black out of a hotel and was only a couple of feet behind them. The security officer then informed Mr. Sands that the Men in Black simply disappeared into thin air as he was walking behind them.

The third item that stuck out in my mind was the account of Mr. John Rhodes. He gives his story at the end of video Part 2 and the beginning of video Part 3. He states that he encountered the Men in Black in a remote area, and they seemed to be waiting on him when he pulled onto a side road. Almost as though they knew he would be there. Further he states that the Men in Black's car was pristine with no dust on it, and his shoes were totally clean and polished. This I find extremely odd. As a person that has owned a black car and worn polished shoes in a dusty area, I can assure you that it is extremely difficult to keep both items clean in that type of environment.

Mr. Sands' story reminds me a lot of the Star Trek transporter effect that we all are familiar with. The flash of light, and suddenly disappearing sounds a great deal like transporter or teleporter type technology. Mr. Rhodes account also would tend to suggest a type of transporter technology. Furthermore Mr. Rhodes' story tends to suggest a type of time travel with the Men in Black knowing exactly where Mr. Rhodes would be at specific time that would seem to be totally random.

There is definitely a lot of details here that warrant our attention. Hopefully in the future more light will be shed on this phenomenon, and some truth will come out. There are many things that we don't understand or can't imagine. I think this is an example of one of them. We should all keep an open mind. Simply because something sounds fantastic does not mean that it is not true.

Do Men In Black Use Time Travel And Transporters?

UFO Hunters - The Silencers (MIB)

Update 7-6-2010:
I ran across a video today that further confirms the Men in Black's ability to disappear instantly. Its part of an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. The section of interest is the story of Ray Muniz. Specifically the section of interest occurs at 2:36 into the video. The video is at the bottom of this article.

Unsolved Mysteries - Men in Black

[zorgon]

September 20, 2009
By: Jason Korbus

MIBs.  The Men in Black.  They arrive apparently with the intention to gauge the knowledge of UFO witnesses and to silence them.  But who are the Men in Black?  Where do they come from?  And, perhaps most importantly, why are they here?

First, a description.  Not to be confused with the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones comedy, these Men in Black are no laughing matter.  Initially reported back in the 50s and 60s, they are male, oftentimes with slightly strange features.  Sometimes they are described as appearing tanned but with an appearance that is almost Asian-like.  They are dressed entirely in black from head to toe; hat, sunglasses, suit, tie, slacks and shoes.  Often, they are said to have transported themselves to the locations at which they are witnessed via black automobiles as well.

Other odd traits of the MIB are there lack of knowledge of most modern slang; even everyday items such as pens and eating utensils.  They are often reported as using outdated words and appearing confused by forks or how to eat certain foods.

And what is it that these Men in Black do?  As previously stated, they tend to make their appearance in the aftermath of alien or UFO encounters, usually .  They arrive without making a scene and approach witnesses, many times even being reported to have a vast amount of knowledge about the people they approach; so much so, as a matter of fact, that many who have discussed encounters with the MIBs feel as if they must have been under intense surveillance.  They typically will announce themselves as being from a government intelligence agency though, strangely, if their credentials are later checked up on, the names they give are often found to be of known dead people or employees who don't even exist.  UFO witnesses often feel strong-armed or, at the least, intensely pressured to keep quiet about their sighting out of fear of being hurt.

But who are they?  Some, like the recently passed away Fortean author and researcher John Keel believed their existence could be tied to Folklore, as similar to early accounts of encounters with demons.  Still others think it is possible that these elusive Men in Black are aliens themselves, sent to cover up their activity here on Earth.  This, for instance, would explain their confusion with human customs.  However, clearly the most prevalent theory would be that the Men in Black truly are government agents sent to silence witnesses of UFOs. 

Why?  Again, theories are many.  However, one particular explanation that draws parallels between these sightings and psychological warfare seems to be gaining some prominence.  Let us assume for a moment that these MIBs are real.  Could it be that their appearance and behavior is odd on purpose?  That perhaps their encounters with people are so bizarre that anyone who tells the story is immediately believed to be making it up?  Think of it:  a person comes forward with an account of a close encounter with an extraterrestrial intelligent life form.  This alone is bizarre enough to many people.  But now add in a story about two asian-looking fellows dressed all in black who didn't know how to use a knife and fork, but  who drove up in a Cadillac and told me to stay quiet about my sighting or else?  Your account has now gone from bizarre to almost laughable.  And now you have no credibility whatsoever.  You are a joke.  And that means that the whole idea of your initial alien encounter is a joke too.

What is your take?  Who are the Men in Black?  Are they even real?  If so, where do they come from and what is their purpose?  Perhaps you have had an experience yourself.  Whatever the reason, please leave a comment below and share your thoughts and opinions on this strange, yet fascinating phenomenon.

Thanks for reading.

The Infamous Men in Black

[zorgon]

Source: Planeta UFO and Visión OVNI
Date: 07.17.12

Argentina: Thoughts on the MIB at the Concordia Aerodrome
By Andrea & Silvia Pérez Simondini

Many years have gone by in search of evidence that could give us a minimal glimpse into the reality and existence of the UFO phenomenon and all that the phenomenon entails. The Men-in-Black form part of the stories associated with the UFO phenomenon, and they appear every so often in isolated incidents. There were numerous cases in Argentina in the late 1960s and early '70s, resulting in truly interesting cases.

Let me start by telling you as story that affected us closely, since it was an experience that befell my husband, Jorge Pérez Simondini: On one occasion, while performing a audit for the Perez Companc company's fishing fleet, he came a cross the crewman, or more properly said, the ship's machinist, who told him that during a personnel transfer trip from the Port of Golfo San Jorge (a broad semi-circular gulf located on the Argentinean Atlantic, in Patagonia facing the waters of the Argentinean Sea) to the YPF undersea drilling platform, halfway there, something got the crew excited, prompting sailors and oil rig personnel to look over the sides of the vessel. One can imagine their surprise when they looked over the side to see a light underwater, running past the ship at high speed. A few kilometers ahead, it broke the surface, rising vertically and swiftly before vanishing into the skies.

The story is in itself remarkable, but what happened days later, when the personnel reached the port with the relief crew, they encountered some men dressed in black waiting to interview each of them, using harsh and intimidating measures, threatening them with job loss should they attempt to share their experiences with others. This story, from 1968, was buried for years and it is the first time it is being told, given the number of years gone bay and the fact that majority of the witnesses died several years ago.

On August 29, 1962, the event that has become known as the "Necochea Incident" took place. The main witness, Osmán Alberto Simonini, saw a UFO and was chased by it along the road linking La Dulce with Necochea as he traveled toward this seaside city.

Senior Officer Juan Jose La Terza investigated this case on the day after the events occurred. He submitted a report on the presence of a strange device, describing the witness as a man "of fine reputation and perfectly reliable in his statements." He ended his memorandum by certifying the event as a REAL INCIDENT, as told by the witness. It details the sighting of an object, its transit over the countryside, causing physical and/or physiological impact on the witness, the possible chase among other details. This case was investigated by [INEXPLICATA contributing editor] Guillermo Gimenez years later, who interviewed Simonini. The latter was afraid to discuss the events from 1962 because only days after the incident, and the investigation performed by Senior Officer J.J. La Terza, two men dressed in black appeared at his workshop. They warned him to forget all about the event, admonishing not to tell anyone else about it, since something might happen to him. The witness recalls that he was struck by the color of their clothing (black) and the similarity of these garments. They stood approximately 1.70 meters, were dark-haired, "foreign-looking" due to their Eskimo-like features. I wanted to set down these cases as examples, so readers who are encountering this description of the entities for the first time can have an idea that they represent a significant part of many of the stories that come across our desk.

We could define the Men-in-Black (MIB), according to a segment of UFO culture and the work done by UFO researchers, as alleged secret government or non-government agents, in charge of concealing a hypothetical extraterrestrial presence on Earth. It is sometimes understood that the MIB could be the aliens themselves.

Researcher Bill Moore believed that the Men-in-Black formed part of the Air Force Office of Special Investigation (AFOSI), an internal security department of the U.S. government established in 1948 and later adapted by the FBI to investigate criminal activities within the USAF and its arms contractors, given that one of AFOSI's missions it to protect technology, programs and staff against "external threats."

Hypotheses and theories on the subject are countless and remain so, but beyond marks in fields, lights in the sky and lights in the countryside, and a scattering of (apparently unknown) entity sightings, there is no evidence that attests to their nature.

Today we are facing a case that for the first time (and it is only my personal opinion) makes me consider a possibility, one that has been repeated often, especially in Spiritist circle, that all of these sightings that we see with increasing frequency are not materially before us, but rather in another dimension. I have never perceived this so clearly as in this case. The fact that [the entity] appeared out of nowhere, walked only a few meters from the witnesses, who realized that he could not see them (or their large dog), that it moved robotically as if alone in the world, standing nearly 2.50 meters tall (clearly beyond human height), noticeably white skin, completely dressed in black, bespeaks a character that has little to do with our own reality.

All of these elements, when brought into my analysis, prompted a door to open. Through that door I was able to see things so clearly that not even I could believe it: the fact was that the entity wasn't really there. It was in another dimension. I don't know if it was due to the same nature that somehow allows humans to peer into that other world at a given time. Perhaps they bring it about themselves. It has no explanation, as far as I can tell, but I want to express my feelings, because never before – in the vast number of investigations I've been on – was I ever as certain of something as I am of this. I'm conveying here as I always do, because communication is also part of my history. it's a need I feel, to mark the progress I'm making, and above all, to share a vocation that will allow us all to discern the possibility of real evidence. As I said earlier, this has been discussed many times, but never did I feel it or see it as clearly as now. Perhaps Claudia's testimony made it so clear that I was unable to see it otherwise. Thank you for reading this, even if it's only a personal truth.


Up to this point we have made available to our readers the various elements that involve sightings of the infamous Men-in-Black, who are in some cases linked with the UFO phenomenon.
While the sighting of the strange being in Concordia does not involve a sighting of any strange aerial craft, its strangeness quotient resides in the entity described by Claudia and her husband in the vicinity of the city's aerodrome.

Aside from seeing the tall individual (standing 2.50 meters) with a very pale complexion and robotic movements, another of the singular aspects of the case is the observation by witnesses of the airplane [the entity] boarded, carrying two briefcases. However, the witnesses are unable to describe how the airplane vanished, which adds to the high strangeness.

The essential item of information, then, was to confirm the traffic in and out of the aerodrome on that day and time.

Silvia managed to contact Manuel, the operator on duty at the control tower on the day of the event. He confirmed that no aircraft operated in the aerodrome's vicinity on that day. This is to say, no aircraft had taxied, taken off or landed. None whatsoever, on the date that Claudia claims having had her experience.

However this was not the only source of confirmation. Journalist Matías Hojman of the "Las 5 Patas" program he hosts with Noelia Lage on Fridays from 9 to 12 o'clock on 88.9 Mhz in the city of Concordia, and who brought the case to light, confirmed he had contacted Police Chief Sergio Mendoza requesting Claudia's contact information, in the likely event that she had made a police report. Faced with a negative reply, Hojman then asked Chief Mendoza about the information he had been able to gather, confirming that no aircraft operated in the region on the day of the event.

This information clarifies and confirms a relevant point. However, it adds to an increase in the high strangeness quotient, especially when faced with a highly reliable witness. Let us hope that we will able to speak with the police chief, who may be able to give us some more precise information.

We would like to thank: Claudia, for coming forth with her experience; researcher Debora Goldstern for her interview with researcher Guillermo Gimenez
http://cronicasubterranea.blogspot.com.ar/; researcher Guillermo Gimenez for his research into the "Necochea Case" http://ar.groups.yahoo.com/group/planeta_ufo; Matías Hojman for making available all his information on the case, and Vicky Zeigler and Martín, Vision Ovni's Correspondents in Concordia, who made us aware of the earliest information on the case.

[Translation (c) 2012, Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Our thanks to Andrea & Silvia Perez Simondini and Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO]

posted by Inexplicata

[zorgon]

The Real Men In Black: Evidence, Famous Cases, and True Stories of These Mysterious Men and their Connection to UFO Phenomena
Nicholas Redfern

[zorgon]

There are those beings that exist in the darker regions of the paranormal. They are not necessarily evil, but they are reminders that there is something else in control of our world.

These beings are "maintenance men" they are the "custodians" who are known to do what they feel is necessary to move society forward. Where there is a break or a moment where things tend to stay in flux, they appear to remind us that perhaps we are not always in control of our fate or destiny.

These beings are known as the Dark custodians. They are the secret chiefs, the men with Black hats, the MIB's or Men in Black.

The beings are described as having the countenance of death. Pale faced and clothed in dark vestments. They are given the charge of bringing balance to all things and at times bring about abrupt changes.

The Man In Black mythos often straddles the post of science, occultism, revelation, and fantasy.

Their cunning is legendary; their purpose is both good and evil. All we have is speculative theories and most often we see them spun and defined by the now popular phrase "The Good Side or the Dark side of the force."

We may never know the whole truth about them.

Their whole story is not clearly defined at all. Are they destroying angels? Custodians of the black arts? Are they harbingers of the future?

There are many that claim that they are government agents, aliens, and creatures from another dimension.

They appear everywhere in our History and yet there are only a few who have pointed them out and have made an honest attempt at trying to figure out their purpose.

In Modern literature and in popular Culture the Men in Black have had their exclusive debut in matters surrounding Conspiracy theories, UFO's and Black helicopters.

But as you can see this is only the tip of the Iceberg and people will hold on to any story that they find most entertaining. UFO hobbyists can become delusional and give into paranoid fish stories that include contact with or witnessing Men in Black.

The Hollywood validation of the mythos demonstrated that The Men In Black are similar to the movie "The Adjustment Bureau" and yet the iconography exists in other movies like "Dark City" and "The Matrix" or in Television shows like "Fringe" or The "X-files" showing the truer personality of these nomads that carry out an agenda without questioning. They seem to be under the control of some unseen trickster.

They are the "Cosmic Time Cop" or "Sentinel" that keeps watch over our pathetic existence.

The Men in Black have been corralled with UFO's only because everything paranormal usually gets tied to them. But it is apparent that the Men In Black are associated with many significant events throughout History.

While Malcolm X was in prison in 1949 he encountered a man in black. The man had light brown skin, oily black hair, and appeared to be Asian. They exchanged stares and then he vanished. Malcolm thought that he was in the presence of Master Wallace Fard Muhammad the founder of the nation of Islam.

"He had on a dark suit I remember. I could see him as plainly as I see anyone I look at. He wasn't black, and he wasn't white. .He had an Asiatic cast of countenance, and he had oily black hair". -Malcolm X

It is believed in some circles that the AFSAC or the Air Force Special Activities Center may be behind the various sightings of the Men In Black in the 40?s and 50?s.

Originally designated the 1006th Air Intelligence Service Squadron, this unit has undergone frequent name changes in order to obscure their existence. Other known designations carried by this unit have been the 1127th Field Activities Group, and the 7602nd Air Intelligence Group.

This would explain why the "Men In Black" showed up conveniently after a UFO sighting to record what was seen or silence any witnesses.

More and more people who reported UFO sightings and strange occurrences would often speak of the Men in Black.

In the Mothman encounters where the residents of Point Pleasant West Virginia experienced paranormal anomalies, which included UFO sightings and weird animal sightings, the Men in Black eventually showed up and harassed residents.

The Men With Black Hats

[zorgon]

Men in Black
by
Robert A. Goerman

What do these words mean to you?

Aircel Comics published the debut issue of The Men in Black in January 1990. Creator and writer Lowell Cunningham had the inspiration for the graphic novel when a friend of his, Dennis Matheson, related Men in Black or MIB legends surrounding the UFO enigma. Matheson told fascinating stories about how mysterious men dressed in black menaced UFO witnesses and terrified UFOlogists. Playing "what if," Cunningham downplayed flying saucers and used selective mythology as a jumping off point to create an MIB organization that existed to suppress anything that could upset the normal flow of society.

"I thought UFOs every issue might get boring after a while," Cunningham confessed in an interview.

Perhaps the most insightful and telling fictional look at altered states and our perception of reality during Men in Black incidents in particular and UFO events in general took place on broadcast television during the third season of The X Files. Hinting that truth is subjective, Jose Chung's From Outer Space first aired on April 12, 1996.

One year later, director Barry Sonnenfield made Men in Black household words with his science fiction comedy starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as MIB agents protecting Earth from the scum of the universe. Loosely based on the Lowell Cunningham comic book series, these MIB represented an ultra-secret organization established to monitor and police extraterrestrial immigrants. Jones and Smith found themselves battling an alien terrorist on a one-bug mission to spark intergalactic war. Movie audiences found themselves battling sight gags and one-liners, entertaining special effects and plenty of action with constant references to popular alien and conspiracy theories. The film spawned a sequel and animated series, not to mention a universe of movie-related merchandise.

In 1998, The Shadow Men featured the talent of Eric Roberts, Sherilyn Fenn, and Dean Stockwell. In this tale, the Wilsons are stalked by deadly nonhumans dressed in black intent on silencing the family and confiscating videotaped evidence of their alien abduction.

Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, real Men in Black are no laughing matter. Genuine visits by enigmatic strangers are among the rarest episodes of our extraordinary encounter continuum. The term Men in Black has evolved to include any individuals that harass accidental eyewitnesses to so-called "UFO" and "paranormal" events, that serve to intimidate investigative researchers of these unexplained occurrences or that appear in active areas of high strangeness. MIB cases worldwide range from curious to bizarre to incredible.

One bizarre Pennsylvania case began on the night of January 20, 1967, when Mrs. Walter Kushner and her two daughters, Susan (17) and Tanya (14) and a close friend of the girls, Marianne Williamson (16), witnessed a brilliant UFO drop below the cloud cover and maneuver at high speed while the four were returning to the Kushner's Pittsfield residence. Hours later, as the three girls enjoyed a ritual teenage slumber party, they spotted a peculiar light shimmering through the closed curtains of Susan's bedroom.

Without warning, the drapes parted of their own volition and a small triangular object hovering a few feet from the house began beaming brilliant light into the bedroom. When the triangle moved to the another window, the curtains repeated their opening act and the intensity of light emanating from the object increased. At this point, the girls became quite frightened and decided to retreat.

"It" had different ideas.

All three girls found themselves unable to move or cry out. Sheer terror escalated to fervent prayers for help. After what seemed like an eternity, the siege ended. Although their freedom of movement was restored, a weird dizzy sensation haunted the girls for an hour.

The girls awoke Mrs. Kushner and tearfully described the party crasher and their fear that "it" might return. Mother eventually got the trio settled down and after much discussion, decided that it would be for the best if everyone simply forgot an incident that nobody would believe anyway.

All agreed.

Things were back to normal when shortly after the dinner hour on Saturday, exactly one week following the horrific pajama party, two men arrived at the Kushner household. They identified themselves as military investigators and flashed what appeared to be United States Air Force identification.

Both men wore tan trenchcoats which they kept buttoned from knee to collar. The taller of the two, who, according to the family's testimony, did all the talking, was described as having blond hair, green eyes, was thin and deeply tanned. The other gentleman was heavyset with dark hair, piercing blue eyes and was also deeply tanned.

Mrs. Kushner explained that both men wanted every shred of information regarding the UFO that the girls claimed had intimidated them

Neither parent can explain to this day why they allowed their children to be so intensely grilled by these "government agents."

These characters moved about the house with apparently total knowledge of the whereabouts of rooms, furniture, objects, et cetera.

When asked how the Air Force learned of the UFO sightings, the taller one responded with, "We know a lot of things, a lot of things."

Although compelled to accept the situation, the family felt that something seemed off-center, something that, for whatever reason, they couldn't quite put their finger on until after the officers departed.

Sue noted that their clothes looked as if they had purchased them in a clothing store ten minutes before and even the bottom of their shoes seemed unwalked on in appearance. The cigarette pack held by the taller one was unopened (and stayed that way) and even his wallet was brand new.

While the taller of the two showed his captive audience a loose-leaf notebook with professionally printed schematic diagrams and photos of both the exterior and interior views of various types of UFO-type craft, Sue watched the shorter officer secretly write in an elongated notebook not unlike those used by stenographers. Catching him off guard, she was amazed to see him writing strange symbols in vertical columns, starting from the left, going down one column, up the next, down the third, up the fourth, et cetera. Being accustomed to standard shorthand, Sue had no idea of the graphic's origin.

Meanwhile, the talkative officer continued to mystify his audience, telling them that UFOs were nothing more than secret U. S. experimental devices which have never harmed persons or property and that public disclosure of seeing one up close could result in criminal prosecution.

When Tanya asked how the family could get in touch with them should there be another sighting, the officer replied, "I can find you anywhere, any time."

When these military men finally left, they backed their vehicle out onto the roadway, extinguished the headlights and zoomed off into the night. It is against Pennsylvania commonwealth traffic laws, and all common sense and safety, to drive after sunset without suitable lighting.

These gentlemen probably had no connection with the United States Air Force.

1967 - Year of the MIB

In January of 1967, Colonel George P. Freeman, Pentagon spokesman for Project Blue Book, the Air Force investigation into reports of Unidentified Flying Objects, revealed that our government was concerned over increasing reports that persons unknown passing themselves off as USAF personnel or bearing credentials from various official agencies were visiting and coercing UFO witnesses into silence, sometimes even confiscating UFO photographs and every trace of physical evidence.

"We haven't been able to find out anything about them," Colonel Freeman admitted. "By posing as Air Force officers and government agents, they are committing a federal offense. We would sure like to catch one."

On March 1, 1967, Lieutenant General Hewitt T. Wheless, USAF, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, sent a confidential letter to all commands concerning impersonations of Air Force officers that read:

"Information, not verifiable, has reached Hq USAF that persons claiming to represent the Air Force or other Defense establishments have contacted citizens who have sighted unidentified flying objects. In one reported case an individual in civilian clothes, who represented himself as a member of NORAD, demanded and received photos belonging to a private citizen. In another, a person in an Air Force uniform approached local police and other citizens who had sighted a UFO, assembled them in a school room and told them that they did not see what they thought they saw and that they should not talk to anyone about the sighting. All military and civilian personnel and particularly Information Officers and UFO Investigating Officers who hear of such reports should immediately notify their local OSI officers."

In his address to the 1967 Congress of Scientific UFOlogists, (during which he was chosen as "UFOlogist of the Year") noted author John A. Keel told of his personal mission to track down the Men in Black. He said that these mystery men often silenced saucer sighters even before the witnesses had time to report their experience. On occasion, Keel said, he arrived on the scene within moments after the mysterious silencers had departed. His "Open Letter to all UFO Researchers" summarized the situation:

"All of this has been brought upon us because we have wasted twenty years chasing lights in the sky and fussing with the Air Force. We have allowed a serious and volatile situation to develop under our noses while we played with aimless speculations about the origin and nature of those rather insignificant vehicles overhead. We must switch our attention from the vehicles to the occupants. The menace is not in our skies. It is on the ground and at this moment it is spreading like a disease across the country and the world."

Men in Black encounters often involve people totally unaware of this phenomenon. In 1967, sketchy MIB tales were published in paltry mimeographed newsletters and read by a handful of hardcore UFO enthusiasts. Obvious patterns would not find their way into books until years later. The situation has not improved. Even today, with the vast resources of the Internet at our disposal, these MIB incidents continue and many people have little knowledge of the relatively obscure Men in Black modus operandi.

Curious cases

Curious MIB cases today are defined as those where the visitor offers false identity or displays an uncanny knowledge of exactly what the witness saw. People tell of these Men in Black knowing when they were being lied to and when they were being told the truth. The most disturbing aspect was that the MIB appeared to know intimate family details without any logical explanation of how they had come by this knowledge.

That case where "an individual in civilian clothes, who represented himself as a member of NORAD, demanded and received photos belonging to a private citizen" concerned California highway inspector Rex Heflin.

On August 3, 1965, Heflin snapped a series of daylight Polaroid photos of a UFO while parked in his truck near the Santa Ana freeway. These pictures received a great deal of publicity and there was always the possibility that the photos had been faked, but this was difficult to prove or disprove without the original prints. Polaroid cameras produced no negatives for evaluation.

Heflin said that he was approached by a representative of the North American Air Defense Command who requested and received the original prints for "official study."

NORAD denied any involvement and the original prints were never returned.

In April, 1966, two Norwalk, Connecticut, schoolboys were pursued by a low-flying UFO. The next day, a man appeared at the school and introduced himself to the principal as a representative of a "government agency so secret that he couldn't give the name." This mysterious agent interrogated the boys for nearly three hours.

In July of 1967, Robert Richardson, of Toledo, Ohio, informed the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization that he had a "collision" with a UFO while driving at night. Coming around a bend, he was startled to find a strange object blocking the road and hit it, though not very hard. Immediately on impact, the UFO vanished. Police accompanied Richardson to the scene and found only his skid marks as evidence. Richardson made a later visit and discovered a small lump of metal that he believed might have come from the UFO.

Three days later, at 11:00 PM, two men in their twenties visited Richardson and questioned him briefly. They never identified themselves, and Richardson, to his own subsequent surprise, did not ask who they were. He noted that they left in a black 1953 Cadillac. The license number, when checked, had not yet been issued. What are the chances of making up a number and having this happen?

Richardson then received a visit from two different men. Both wore black suits and were dark-complexioned. Richardson felt there was something vaguely foreign about them. They first tried to persuade him that he had not hit anything at all. Failing at that, they demanded the piece of metal. When he told them it had gone for analysis, they threatened him: "If you want your wife to stay as pretty as she is, then you'd better get the metal back."

On June 21, 1993, Peter Gregory of Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire filmed several seconds of video footage of a huge flattened triangular UFO with red and yellow lights that left a "trail of light" during departure. Three days later, two smartly dressed men arrived at his home and promised full analysis and computer enhancement of the video. They put the subject at ease by claiming to belong to a UFO research organization from his hometown of Grimsby. He surrendered the video for professional examination only to eventually discover that this UFO group did not exist. His video was never returned.

Bizarre cases

The Kushner case has a counterpart among the Pennine ridges in England.

On January 23, 1976, at 5:30 PM, 17-year-old Shirley Greenfield (a pseudonym) was returning home from work and noticed lights cavorting over a reservoir. In seconds, the lights swooped down on her to become a metallic disc directly overhead, possibly thirty feet across and spinning like a top. An invisible force pressed her hard to the ground. Metal fillings in her teeth "vibrated" and a tangy taste filled her mouth. Shirley feared that this unseen "force" would crush her. One half hour of "missing time" was noted when she arrived home, terror-stricken and unable to speak from the shock of the experience.

The event was reported to the police, who refused to investigate and turned the story over to the media. Not seeking publicity, Shirley refused to cooperate with the local press and turned down a lucrative offer for a filmed television interview. Her health had deteriorated and she took to her bed for several days with muscle aches and nausea and vomiting. Her eyes hurt and watered and were quite red. She had unexplained burn marks on her arm and side, as well as a strange purple rash on her neck and shoulders. In her mouth, top dental fillings crumbled into powder and fell out, while some bottom fillings became embedded into the gums.

On Monday, February 2nd, Shirley's mother intercepted a telephone call from a man who would only identify himself as "someone who investigates these things" that asked about her daughter's health and whether any marks had been left on the girl's body as a result of her ordeal. The mother put the caller off.

At 7:00 PM on the following evening, two men arrived at the Greenfield home and demanded "to interrogate" the girl. Both men appeared about 40 and wore crisp black suits and denied being either UFOlogists or journalists. The father initially refused to let them in. One man, tall and fair, almost blond, did all the talking and sternly responded with, "If you do not let us in now, we will come back later and make Shirley speak to us."

Neither man used names. Both had an air of authority and conducted themselves as if they had every right to do and say whatever they chose. The silent partner sat on a chair and held a square black box with no visible moving parts. It was said to be a high-tech recording device. Although this intense grilling session lasted three hours, at no time was any recording tape changed.

The tall one was rude to the point of aggression.

This visit ended with a threat to be silent.

"You must not talk about this matter. It is in your interests not to do so. Nobody will believe you, in any case. In particular, you must not talk to UFO investigators."

The pair left in a large black car.

Mr. Greenfield still wonders, "You know, I have never been able to understand why I did not throw them out. Why I let them hound Shirley for hour after hour. I would normally not tolerate something like this. Why did I let them do this thing?"

The mother was creeped out by the man who had not spoken all night. He continually stared intently at her daughter the entire evening.

These mystery men telephoned the very next day and again a week later. They were still concerned about whether or not the girl had any unusual marks on her body following her ordeal. Shirley finally admitted that, yes, there were marks, but they were gone now. This seemed to satisfy the visitors. They did not contact the family again.

Under the auspices of Dr. Albert Kellar in Manchester, Shirley was hypnotized and asked to relive both the UFO sighting and the visit by the two Men in Black. She reacted in absolute terror to the visit by the MIB and the doctor was forced to abandon the experiment because her vital signs rose to dangerous levels. Even so, Shirley offered a possible clue:

"I don't understand... He's talking to me twice."

This MIB had supposedly interrogated her on two different levels. During the visit, messages had acted upon her subconscious mind in a form of subliminal communication. This advances notions of mental hypnotic suggestion and those Experiments in Distant Influence documented by Dr. Leonid L. Vasiliev.

On January 9, 1967, Mr. Edward and Mrs. Arline Christiansen and family returned home after a trip to Florida to their new house in Wildwood, New Jersey. A UFO sighting made the previous November was the last thing on their minds.

At 5:30 PM, there was a knock at the door.

A representative of the "Missing Heirs Bureau" said that he was looking for an Edward Christiansen who had inherited a great deal of money. This investigator dressed in black and stood at least six-foot-six with an enormous frame, with thyroid eyes, dead white skin, and pipe-stem limbs. His shoes featured unusually thick rubber soles. Despite his size, the visitor spoke in a high "tinny" voice that issued in an emotionless monotone, in clipped phrases, "like a computer." When he removed his jacket, he disclosed an official-looking gold badge on his shirt pocket which he instantly covered with his hand and removed.

As he sought personal information to determine if he had located the missing heir, this investigator wheezed with labored breathing and his face got redder by the minute. He asked for a glass of water and swallowed a large yellow pill. He returned to normal after taking it.

Arline and her seventeen-year-old daughter Connie both noticed that the inquisitor's too-short trousers had ridden up his skinny leg and saw a thick green wire that came out of his sock and disappeared under his pants. The wire seemed to be indented into his leg at one point and was covered by a large brown spot.

Although UFOs were never mentioned, this case is pure MIB.

When the visitor left the house and reached the road, he gave a hand signal and a 1963 black Cadillac pulled alongside with its headlights out. The stranger climbed into the car and it drove off, its headlights still off.

On May 3, 1975, Carlos de los Santos Montiel was flying his Piper light aircraft on approach to Mexico City when two small gray discs appeared off his wingtips and took "control" of his airplane. A third disc came at him head-on and flew beneath him so close that it bumped the bottom of the plane. Mexico City airport allegedly tracked the "bogeys" on radar. Carlos was treated for shock following his ordeal.

Driving en route to the Mexico City TV studio be interviewed by Pedro Ferriz for television, Montiel was intercepted by two black limousines "like a diplomat's car," hemming him in front and back and forcing his automobile to the side of the road before he had time to react. Both vehicles looked as though they were on the road for the very first time. Four tall men with very pale skin and wearing dark suits got out. One of the MIB prevented Carlos from leaving his vehicle and another threatened the pilot's life in a robotic voice.

"Look, boy, if you value your life and your family's too, don't talk any more about this sighting of yours."

Two things really struck Carlos about his dark-garbed antagonists: they were so very absolutely pale and at no time did they seem to blink but only stared straight ahead. Our witness abandoned all television interview plans.

Farmer James McCleary of County Tipperary in Ireland had little regard for the flattened circles in his oats and potato fields during June and July of 1990.

One Sunday that fateful summer, as McCleary took his customary walk around the property, a man jumped out from behind a shed and blocked his route. Dressed in a dark suit some fifty years out of fashion, the stranger was tall and so thin and pale that he looked as if he had died and been dug up.

"Tell us about those designs in your crops," the man demanded. The voice was educated and without accent although the interloper had trouble fitting the proper words into place. He finally threatened the farmer to remain silent and to talk to him alone as it was "in your best interest" to do so "-- or else!"

Having never heard of the fearsome Men in Black, McCleary circumnavigated this stranger and went about his business, more perplexed than terrified.

Incredible cases

58-year-old Dr. Herbert Hopkins of Orchard Beach, Maine, experienced one of the best-documented MIB encounters. Hopkins had no particular interest in UFOs, but had been working, by referral, on the alleged alien abduction of David Stephens. He had performed extensive hypnotic regression and accumulated several hours of taped sessions and other written documentation.

At about 8:00 PM on the evening of Saturday, September 11, 1976, after his wife and children had gone out leaving him alone, his telephone rang. A man who identified himself as the vice-president of the New Jersey UFO Research Organization asked Hopkins if he could drop by and discuss certain details of this UFO case. The man asked if he was alone and the doctor admitted that he was. Despite concerns about drug-related robbery, Hopkins, for reasons that he was later unable to fathom, agreed. He hung up the phone and walked to the back hallway to switch on the outside light so that his visitor would be able to find his way from the parking lot. When he got to the door, he was startled to see a stranger climbing the back steps.

"I saw no car, and even if he did have a car, he could not have possibly gotten to my house that quickly from any phone," Doctor Hopkins puzzled later. Still, he opened the door and invited the gentleman in without asking him his name or what he wanted.

The five-foot-eight visitor was dressed in a black suit, with matching derby hat, tie and shoes, and a white shirt. His clothes were "brand new" and unwrinkled, sharply creased.

"I thought, he looks like an undertaker," Hopkins later told investigators.

When he took off his derby, he revealed himself as completely hairless. No hair on his head. No eyebrows or eyelashes. The man's skin was dead white except for a pair of fiery red lips.

During the course of the conversation, the MIB happened to brush his mouth with the back of the suede gloves that he wore. The good doctor was astonished to see the glove stained with lipstick and that there were no real lips at all.

The stranger spoke in a mechanical monotone and appeared to be far more interested in finding out what Hopkins knew or suspected about UFOs and abductions.

Apparently satisfied, the MIB changed the subject. He correctly stated that Hopkins had two coins in his pocket and asked him to remove one. Hopkins complied and produced a shiny new penny. The MIB told Hopkins to stare at the coin. After a few moments, the penny took on a "silvery" appearance and then seemed to go out of focus, and then it just slowly dematerialized. It just was not there any longer.

"Neither you nor anyone else on this plane will ever see that coin again." The visitor then asked Hopkins what he knew about the death of famed UFO abductee Barney Hill.

"Barney didn't have a heart; just like you no longer have a coin." Although the MIB inferred that Hill died because he knew too much, it should be noted here that death was due to a cerebral hemorrhage. It was suggested that Hopkins destroy all his notes and tapes related to the Stephens case.

The visitor's speech slowed. He rose unsteadily to his feet and, little by little, said, "My energy is running low... Must go now... Goodbye." Hopkins saw him to the door and watched him falteringly descend the stairs, placing both feet on each step before attempting to negotiate the next one.

Hopkins initially took the bright bluish-white light in the driveway to be car headlights, but his visitor walked in the opposite direction. Hopkins ran to a window to see where the man was going, but he was not there. He ran back to the door and looked out, but both the strange man and weird light were gone. Doctor Hopkins never saw nor heard an automobile depart.

He immediately gathered all the material from the Stephens case and thoroughly destroyed the audiotapes of the hypnotic sessions and all notes and records as instructed.

When his wife and children came home, they found this respected professional severely shaken, with every light in the house blazing, and seated at the kitchen table with a pistol.

As for the New Jersey UFO Research Organization, it never existed.

Now consider the next case.

On Monday, January 19, 1997, four days after his UFO sighting in Essex, William Shearer had returned from working the night shift and gone to bed as usual. His wife and daughter had stepped out and he had the house to himself. Unable to sleep, he went downstairs and thought that he heard a faint knock at the door.

Shearer opened the door and faced a strange sight. One visitor was tall, about six-foot-four, and dressed in an immaculate dark gray suit and full-length coat. He wore a brilliant white shirt and a red tie, and was holding a brimmed hat. A shorter but identically dressed man stood aloof and appeared to be looking up and down the road, as if to see if anyone was coming. The tall man said, "Can I speak to you please?" His deep voice seemed to be coming from his chest rather than his mouth. At this point, the visitor's gaze was lowered to the ground and Shearer could not see his face. Shearer assumed the men were Jehovah's Witnesses and replied, "No, I'm not dressed." The man persisted. Shearer declined and asked him to come back later.

Then the man lifted his head and looked straight at Shearer. First impression was that the man was terminally ill, as he looked deathly pale. In contrast, the stranger's lips seemed to be tinged red with lipstick. Again the man asked to come in. Shearer stood his ground. After looking to the second man, the first finally relented and said they would return.

Shearer stated that it was "almost as if the two men were talking to each other, but I couldn't hear them." The shorter man kept looking at his tall friend and nodding and gesturing. They left in a black car "like something straight out of a gangster movie, yet it looked brand new." Both men walked awkwardly, as if suffering from arthritis.

Despite the unusual aspects of this encounter, Shearer was convinced that he was dealing with religious types.

On February 12th, at 1:15 AM, Shearer received his second visit while he was at work. He immediately recognized this individual as the one looking up and down the road on the previous occasion, who was again dressed in the dark suit and coat and wore a hat. Shearer managed a closer look at the face. There was no eyebrows or eyelashes, no signs of stubble. The caller acknowledged Shearer by name, and specified that they wanted to discuss his UFO sighting, giving exact date and time. Shearer was perplexed as to how they had gotten this information, but refused to let him in. Shearer asked to see some identification, but the visitor ignored him and repeatedly asked to come in. It was almost as if this character could only utter a limited selection of set phrases. This verbal fencing lasted for about two minutes before the office phone rang. Shearer turned to pick up the phone and turned back. The MIB was gone.

It is also interesting to note here that both Hopkins and Shearer found themselves suddenly plagued by telephone problems (annoying clicking sounds and static, connections mysteriously broken in the middle of a conversation, strangers sharing their private phone line, finding the line dead) for some time following their encounters. This telephone harassment is common among UFO percipients and investigators.

In still another British case, one East Midlands UFO witness told investigative researcher Derek James that his house was being stalked by a black Jaguar automobile following a visit by two men in dark suits who claimed to be from the Ministry of Defence. Two men parked outside his home at night and he became convinced that they were watching him. According to noted UFO author Jenny Randles, "I had sufficient association with this case to confirm that this story is genuine."

It was decided not to directly ask local law enforcement to investigate Men in Black. However, this witness lived quite near a major toy manufacturing company. What if the men in the Jaguar were "casing the joint" in order to pull off a robbery? The police took the bait.

At 9:05 PM, October 21, 1971, after the vehicle registration and other details were recorded and all subsequent checks revealed that the Jaguar did not exist, the police officers on patrol were ordered to bring in the occupants of the Jaguar for questioning by the CID. The patrol car parked out of sight so as not to alert these potential perpetrators.

According to Randles: "Following standard procedure the two bobbies walked toward it -- one either side -- and got to within a few inches. They were just about to knock on the window and question the driver and his passenger. Although they could see little in the dark, the two men inside were smartly dressed.

"Suddenly, the car disappeared. It literally just melted away into nothingness in front of the two terrified police officers."

Don Worley, a patriarch among investigators, tells us that on a warm day in April of 1973, two "men" entered Reed Thompson's auto parts store in Milan, Indiana. The shepherd dog on duty cowered in the corner.

These grotesque-looking characters were thin, longhaired and wore tan jumpsuits and heavy gloves. A local newsman later coined the term "Plastic-Facers" to describe their rather unsettling appearance. Speaking in a mechanical monotone, one of them referenced a close-up photo of a "monitor-type" UFO that Thompson had taken as the object slowly moved through trees thirty feet from his home. They demanded the photo and negative.

Thompson stubbornly replied that the picture was in a bank vault.

"Plastic-Face" said that did not matter, they would get it anyway.

Meanwhile, a friend hurried outside to check out the bright yellow Buick LeSabre the weird twosome had arrived in. Peering through the dark glass, he was stunned by the absence of seats or steering wheel. As the visitors returned to their car, Thompson brushed one of them with his elbow and this seemed to disturb it.

Later that evening, as Thompson was en route to a welding shop at Versailles, his nemesis appeared inches from his bumper and a wild twilight chase ensued. The "Plastic-Facers" parked right behind him at the welding shop and shadowed him up to the door.

As he opened the door and whirled to confront his antagonists, Thompson discovered that the unwelcome pair and their phantom car were nowhere to be found.

In his 1983 book, China and Extraterrestrials, Shi Bo relates an encounter from May of 1963. UFOs have until only recently been a taboo subject in mainland China.

The day after six-year-old Li Jing-Yang from the Shanxi Province had seen "a shining, silvery disc" hanging in the sky while playing with his friends, he was accosted in the street by "a very tall man dressed entirely in black." The man, while pointing to the exact spot where Li had seen the disc, asked the boy whether he had seen anything unusual in the sky recently. Jing-Yang nodded. The stranger then seized the youngster by the arm and refused to release him until a vow was made never to tell anyone else what he had seen. The terrified boy promised. The man vanished into thin air as he turned toward a corner.

Li Jing-Yang claims to this day that this encounter was witnessed by several passers-by who observed the stranger's robotic gait and mechanical movements, his automated-sounding voice and lips that never moved when he spoke.

Men In Black are neither hallucinations nor hoaxes.

But what do these visitations represent?

Role-playing covert government operatives?

Nonhumans acting human?

Maybe a little of both.

Maybe something beyond our comprehension.

Odd appearance and bizarre behavior does not certify the existence of nonhumans among us. However, dissolving coins and cars raise interesting questions.

Our failure to understand these events in no way negates their validity.

These visitations represent entity contact at its most accessible in that entire families have endured grueling visits by these mystery men and many witnesses are harassed more than once.

These visitations represent entity contact at its most elusive. Parents wonder why they allowed their children to be so intensely grilled by these strangers. Victims speak of being unable to think or react normally until after the mysterious visitors leave. To some, this suggests altered states of consciousness or subliminal hypnotic techniques.

What if the MIB visit you?

Will you be witty and clever and insist they pose for a snapshot?

Or will you be a deer in headlights and spend your tomorrows wondering why?

Men in Black by Robert A. Goerman

[zorgon]

A Review of MIB (Men in Black): A History

Summary: A lot of people have heard of something about "MIBs" without really knowing any of the details. The purpose of this article is to acquaint readers with MIBs history, how they are related to the cover-up allegations, along with associated reference material and names of files which contain more current thoughts on the subject.

Rex Heflin

Often the MIB cases that we know of are not quite as sensational as Albert Bender's three visitors, but they are unsettling nevertheless. Take the case of California highway inspector Rex Heflin. On August 3, 1965, Heflin claimed to have taken a series of Polaroid photos of a UFO from his car while parked near the Santa Ana Freeway. The pictures were quite clear and they showed an object shaped rather like a straw hat apparently floating above the ground. These pictures got a great deal of publicity, and are still among the most frequently reprinted UFO photos. Heflin's story was investigated by the Air Force shortly after it became known. It was also looked into by investigators for the Condon Committee during their inquiry. (The committee investigator produced a pretty fair imitation of the photos by suspending the lens cap of his camera in front of his car with a thread and photographing it through the car window.) In addition, a host of unofficial UFO groups tackled the case in their own way.

There was considerable suspicion on the part of official investigators that the photos had been faked, but this was difficult to prove of disprove without the original pronts. Being Polaroid photos, there were no negatives.

Heflin said that he had turned over three of the four originals to a man (or two men - the stories differ) who claimed that he represented the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD). NORAD denied that they had ever sent out an investigator, or indeed, that they had the slightest interest in the photos. The mysterious person who is alleged to have taken the photos has never been identified.

On October 11, 1967, over two years after Heflin's original sighting, but while the Condon investigation was going on, Heflin reported another encounter with mysterious visitors. A man who said that he was Captain C.H. Edmonds of the Space Systems Division, Systems Command, a unit of the Air Force that had been involved in the first investigation of his UFO photos, came to his home. During the interview the man who called himself Captain Edmonds asked Heflin if he wanted his original photos back. When Heflin said no, the man was "visibly relieved". Inexplicably, the man then began discussing the Bermuda Triangle. This is an area near the island of Bermuda where a number of mysterious disappearances of airplanes and ships have been reported. These disappearances have been linked by some to UFOs, though the connection does not seem very convincing.

While this strange interview was going on, Heflin said that he saw a car parked in the street. It had some sort of lettering on the front door but he could not make it out. To quote the Condon Report description of the incident, "In the back seat could be seen a figure and a violet (not blue) glow, which the witness attributed to instrument dials. He believed he was being photographed or recorded. In the mentime his FM multiplex radio was playing in the living room and during the questioning it made several loud audible pops." All attempts by the Air Force, various civilian researchers and the Condon Committee itself to find "Captain C. H. Edmonds" failed. As far as can be determined, no such person has ever existed.

A Review of MIB (Men in Black): A History



Heflin UFO Photos
Santa Ana, California
August 3, 1965



The Heflin photographs in panorama






UFO sighting by Rex Heflin Copy photo taken in 1965 PXX 9/26/97 Photo by Rex Heflin


Heflin gets out of his truck and photographs a ring of black smoke left in the wake of the craft.

OC's moment in UFO history

Orange County's Moment in UFO History - Heflin Photos

[zorgon]

A Review of MIB (Men in Black): A History

Close Encounters with Mysterious 'Men in Black' - Nexus[/b][/size][/color]

Summary: In 1953, American UFO research pioneer Al Bender was visited by three strange men, dressed entirely in black, who transported him to their craft but warned him against making any of their revelations public. This article is an excerpt from his classic book: Flying Saucers and the Three Men, first published in 1963.

Close Encounters with Mysterious 'Men in Black': Part 1

Close Encounters with Mysterious 'Men in Black': Part 2



About Mothmen and Men in Black

Summary: What may well have been the most notorious of all "scares" involving reptilian beings, involved a combined "invasion" of pterodactylin-hominoid "Mothmen" and "Men In Black".

About Mothmen and Men in Black



Agents of the Dark
'The Unexplained' No. 39

Summary: Rarely - if ever - do the threats of the mysterious Men In Black, following a close encounter, come to anything. So what could be the purpose behind their visits?

In September 1976, Dr Herbert Hopkins, a 58 year-old doctor and hypnotist, was acting as consultant on an alleged UFO teleportation case in Maine, USA. One evening, when his wife and children had gone out leaving him alone, the telephone rang and a man identifying himself as vice-president of the New Jersey UFO Research Organisation asked if he might visit Dr Hopkins that evening to discuss certain details of the case. Dr Hopkins agreed; at the time, it seemed the natural thing to do. He went to the back door to switch on the light so that his visitor would be able to find his way from the parking lot, but while he was there, he noticed the man already climbing the porch steps. "I saw no car, and even if he did have a car, he could not have possibly gotten to my house that quickly from any phone," Hopkins later commented in delayed astonishment.

At the time, Dr Hopkins felt no particular surprise as he admitted his visitor, The man was dressed in a black suit, with black hat, tie and shoes, and a white shirt, "I thought, he looks like an undertaker," Hopkins later said. His clothes were immaculate - suit unwrinkled, trousers sharply creased. When he took off his hat, he revealed himself as completely hairless, not only bald but without eyebrows or eyelashes. His skin was dead white, his lips bright red. In the course of their conversation, he happened to brush his lips with his grey suede gloves, and the doctor was astonished to see that his lips were smeared and that the gloves were stained with lipstick!

It was only afterwards, however, that Dr Hopkins reflected further on the strangeness of his visitor's appearance and behaviour. Particularly odd was the fact that his visitor stated that his host had two coins in his pocket. It was indeed the case. He then asked the doctor to put one of the coins in his hand and to watch the coin, not himself. As Hopkins watched, the coin seemed to go out of focus, and then gradually vanished. "Neither you nor anyone else on this plane will ever see that coin again," the visitor told him. After talking a little while longer on general UFO topics, Dr Hopkins suddenly noticed that the visitor's speech was slowing down. The man then rose unsteadily to his feet and said, very slowly; "My energy is running low - must go now - goodbye." He walked falteringly to the door and descended the outside steps uncertainly, one at a time. Dr Hopkins saw a bright light shining in the driveway, bluish-white and distinctly brighter than a normal car lamp. At the time, however, he assumed it must be the stranger's car, although he neither saw nor heard it.

MYSTERIOUS MARKS

Later, when Dr Hopkins family had returned, they examined the driveway and found marks that could not have been made by a car because they were in the centre of the driveway, where the wheels could not have been. But the next day, although the driveway had not been used in the meantime, the marks had vanished.

Dr Hopkins was very much shaken by the visit, particularly when he reflected on the extraordinary character of the stranger's conduct. Not surprisingly, he was so scared that he willingly complied wdith his visitor's instruction, which was to erase the tapes of the hypnotic sessions he was conductiog with regard to his current case, and to have nothing further to do with the investigation.

Subsequently, curious incidents continued to occur both in Dr Hopkin's household and in that of his eldest son. He presumed that there was some link with the extraordinary visit, but he never heard from his visitor again. As for the New Jersey UFO Research Organisation, no such institution exists.

Dr Hopkins' account is probably the most detailed we have of a MIB (Man in Black) visit, and confronts us with the problem at its most bizarre. First we must ask ourselves if a trained and respected doctor whould invent so strange a tale, and if so, with what conceivable motive? Alternatively, could the entire episode have been a delusion, despite the tracks seen by other members of his family? Could the truth lie somewhere between reality and imagination? Could a real visitor, albeit an impostor making a false identity claim, have visited the doctor for some unknown reason of his own, somehow acting as a trigger for the doctor to invent a whole set of weird features?

In fact, what seems the LEAST likely explanation is that the whole incident took place in the doctor's imagination. When his wife and children came home, they found him severely shaken, with the house lights blazing, and seated at a table on which lay a gun. They confirmed the marks on the driveway and a series of disturbances to the telepnone that seemed to commence immediately after the visit. So it would seem that some real event occurred, although its nature remains mystifying.

The concrete nature of the phenomenon was accepted by the United States Air Force, who were concerned that persons passing themselves off as USAF personnel should be visiting UFO witnesses. In February 1967, Colonel George P. Freeman, Pentagon spokesman for the USAF's Project Blue Book, told UFO investigator John Keel in the course of an interview:

"Mysterious men dressed in Air Force uniforms or bearing impressive credentials from government agencies have been silencing UFO witnesses. We have checked a number of these cases, and these men are not connected with the Air Force in any way. We haven't been able to find out anything about these men. By posing as Air Force officers and government agents, they are committing a federal offence. We would sure like to catch one. Unfortunately the trail is always too cold by the time we hear about these cases. But we are still trying."

But were the impostors referred to by Colonel Freeman, and Dr Hopkin's strange visitor similar in kind? UFO sightings, like sensational crimes, attract a number of mentally unstable persons, who are quie capable of posing as authorised officials in order to gain access to witnesses; and it could be that some supposed MIBs are simply psuedo-investigators of this sort.

One particularly curious recurrent feature of MIB reports is the ineptitude of the visitors. Time and again, they are described as incompetent; and if they are impersonating human beings, they certainly do not do it very well, arousing their victims' suspicions by improbable behaviour, by the way they look or talk, and by their ignorance as much as their knowledge. But, of course, it could be that the only ones who are spotted as impostors are those who are no good at their job, and so there may be many more MIB cases that we never learn about simply because the visitors successfully convince their victims that there is nothing to be suspicious about, or that they should keep quiet about the visit.

UNFULFILLED THREATS

A common feature of a great many MIB visits is indeed the instruction to a witness not to say anything about the visit, and to cease all activity concerning the case. (Clearly, we know of these cases only because such instructions have been disobeyed.) One Canadian UFO witness was told by a mysterious visitor in 1976 to stop repeating his story and not to go further into his case, or he would be visited by three men in black. "I said, 'What's that supposed to mean?' 'Well,' he said, ' I could make it hot for you... it might cost you certain injury." A year earlier, Mexican witness Carlos de los Santos had been stopped on his way to a television interview by two large black limousines. One of the occupants - dressed in a black suit and 'Scandanavian' in appearance - told him: "Look, boy, if you value your life and your family's too, don't talk any more about this sighting of yours."

However, there is no reliable instance of such threats ever having been carried out, though a good many witnesses have gome ahead and defied their warnings. Indeed, sinister though the MIBs may be, they are notable for their lack of actual violence. The worst that can be said of them is that they frequently harass witnesses with untimely visits and telephone calls, or simply disturb them with their very presence.

While, for the victim, it is just as well that the threats of violence are not followed through, this is for the investigator one more disconcerting aspect of the pnenomenon - for violence, if it resulted in physical action, would at least help in establishing the reality of the phenomenon. Instead, it remains a fact that most of the evidence is purely hearsay in character and often not of the highest quality; cases as well-attested as that of Dr. Herbert Hopkins are unfortunately in the minority.

Another problem area is the dismaying lack of precision about many of the reports. Popular American writer Brad Steiger alleged that hundreds of ufologists, contactees and chance percipients of UFOs claim to have been visited by ominous strangers - usually three, and usually dressed in black; but he cites only a few actual instances. Similarly, John Keel, an expert on unexplained phenomena, claimed that, on a number of occasions, he actually saw phantom Cadillacs, complete with rather sinister Oriental-looking passengers in black suits; but for a trained reporter, he showed a curious reluctance to persue these sightings or to give chapter and verse in such an important matter. Such loose assertions are valueless as evidence; all they do is contribute to the myth.

And so we come back once again to the possibility that there is nothing more to the phenomenon than myth. Should we perhaps write off the whole business as delusion, the creation of imaginative folk whose personal obsessions take on this particular shape because it reflects one or other of the prevalent cultural preoccupations of out time? At one end of the scale, we find contactee Woodrow Derenberger insisting that the "two men dressed entirely in black" who tried to silence him were emissaries of the Mafia; while at the other, there is theorist David Tansley, who suggested that they are psychic entities, representatives of the dark forces, seeking to prevent the spread of true knowledge. More matter-of-factly, Dominick Lucchesi claimed that they emanated from some unknown civilisation, possibly underground, in a remote area of Earth - the Amazon, the Gobi Desert or the Himalayas.

But there is one feature that is common to virtually all MIB reports, and that perhaps contains the key to the problem. This is the possession, by the MIBs, of information that they should not have been able to come by - information that was restricted, not released to the press, known perhaps to a few investigators and officials but not to the public, and sometimes not even to them. The one person who does possess that knowledge is always the person visited, In other words, the MIBs and their victims share knowledge that perhaps nobody else possesses. Add to this the fact that, in almost every case, the MIBs appear to the witness when he or she is alone - in Dr Hopkin's case, for example, the visitor took care to call when his wife and children were away from home, and established this fact by telephone beforehand - and the implication has to be that some kind of paranormal link connects the MIBs and the persons they visit.

Agents of the Dark

[zorgon]

A Review of MIB (Men in Black): A History

Exploring The Myth of The Men In Black

Andrew Lunn, British UFO Research Assoc. and ISUR[
This article explores the myth of the MIB(Men In Black). It is mainly based on MIB research regarding incidents after 1976 in England. R

Men in Black - The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial

Jerome Clark, excerpt from 'The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial'
The following in-depth article on Men in Black is an excerpt from the book The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial by Jerome Clark. R

Men in Black - Where Do They Come From
James A Hill
It has often been reported after making an unidentified flying object report that those, that have made the report have often been harassed and intimidated by the enigmatic, Men in Black or M. I. B. as they are more commonly known. R

Men in Black Facts

An overview of common aspects of Men in Black, including appearance, typical encounters, and examples of cases. R

Men In Black, An Investigation

BoB Oechsler (reprinted on totse.com)
Among the attachments included here are responses to questions submitted regarding CURSE.TXT, Guardian, "Original Guardian", Alien Liaison book reference authored by Timothy Good, etc. and the following file listings. R

Men in Black: The UFO Terrorists

Anne Jablonicky, UFO UNIVERSE Vol.1, No.3, Nov.,1988
The "Men in Black" - or "MIB" for short - have had this ominously evil effect on dozens of other level-headed individuals. But let me explain in more detail for those not aware of the regin of terror that has gone on in the UFO field, almost totally undetected for so many years. R

MIBs, UFOs, and the Carlos Allende Letters

Ever since organised flying saucer research began in the early 1950`s a disturbing number of serious UFO investigators have suffered personal harassment, unusual accidents and even mysterious deaths. In some cases, sinister voices have whispered threats over the telephone and warned certain researchers to terminate specific investigations.  R

Sightings: Men in Black

Paul Greenberg
A professor of humanities and folklore at New York's Julliard School by the name of Peter Rojcewicz didn't tell anybody about his encounter with the Men in Black for years -- for fear of how people would react.  R

The KRILL papers: Men in Black]

O.H. Krill (pseudonym)

The most intriguing and controversial sideshow skirting the edges of UFO research today is the question of the "silencers," or the mysterious "Men in Black." There is a strong subliminal appeal in these accounts of visits by mysterious dark-suited figures (I have been visited myself, as have others I've known) attempting to silence UFO witnesses.  R

The Men in Black

Andrew Mann
While attempting to do a bit of research on the MiB, I have had quite a bit of trouble. Everywhere I looked, I kept getting sites that were all about the Movie "Men in Black." Well, guess what. This article is about the real deal.  R

The Men in Black Phenomenon
Space 2001
One of the most unusual aspects of the UFO mystery is the Men in Black (MIB) phenomenon. It involves the subtle intimidation of UFO witnesses by strange visitors dressed almost entirely in black. The recent movie on the subject trivialised the whole issue, but what is the truth concerning MIB? Is it all just a baseless fantasy or is there really an agency that sends out darkly dressed men to secure peoples silence?  R

The Men-In-Black of Legend

The Men in Black are beings who appear anywhere major UFO sightings take place. They go about threatening people who have claimed to have seen UFOs into not asking about what they witnessed. They wear sunglasses. They wear black suits. They have olive complexions. They drive black mint-condition vintage luxury cars or fly in black helicopters. Some think that they are government agents. Some think that they are alien agents. R

The Sinister Men In Black

'The Unexplained' No. 10. Orbis Publishing. 1991
As UFO sightings increase, so does the harassment of witnesses - by the sinister Men In Black. Albert Bender, director of the International Flying Saucer Bureau, once claimed to have discovered the secret behind UFOs. But unfortunately, the rest of the world is still none the wiser - for Bender was prevented from passing on his discovery to the world by three sinister visitors: three men dressed in black, known as 'the silencers'. R

Who are the Men In Black?

Bufo Calvin
The movie opening this week is based indirectly on a sub-plot of the UFO story. At its most basic, it concerns mystery men who visit UFO witnesses and investigators and advise silence. The variations are many, as are the theories. R[/b][/size][/color]

[zorgon]

The Tacoma Incident

We wonder how many of you readers know that at one time Project Blue Book...named your editor as the 'hoaxer' who started this whole flying saucer thing? —Rap

Raymond Palmer

Martin Gardner in his book Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science brushes off the Tacoma Incident, aka the Maury Island Mystery, like it was lint on his collar:

"The entire Maury Island episode later proved to be a hoax elaborately planned by two Tacoma men who hoped to sell the phony yarn to an adventure magazine. Both men eventually made a full confession." End of story. The key word here is "elaborately," because Crisman was definitely a pro. Elaborately means he reserved a hotel room for his victim before the victim arrived. Crisman also secured an empty house to set up a phony "secretary" who lived there and "worked on the books" for his phony log-salvaging company. This was a lot of work just to sell a penny-a-word pulp yarn to some adventure magazine; but hey, strange things happen. In any case, let the tale begin.

On June 21, 1947, three days before airplane pilot Kenneth Arnold spied a formation of nine bright objects "skipping like rocks" across water, a very strange event was unfolding near Tacoma, Washington. Featuring all the key elements of future flying saucer lore, it had intrigue, a bugged hotel room, inquisitive newspaper reporters, tragic deaths, Military Intelligence officers, potential Cold War spies, weird saucer debris that was somehow "switched" with phony metal slag, unannounced visits by government secret service agents, and an after-hours burglary of saucer evidence, sinister warnings over the phone, and finally the disappearance of the two men who started the whole thing.

Following the Maury Island incident (detailed above), Dahl, on returning home, gave a report to his "boss" Fred L. Crisman. Yes, the very same Fred L. Crisman who sent the letters to Rap a year earlier. He was now in charge of a log salvaging operation in Tacoma Washington! Small world. Or was it a large conspiracy?

Back in Chicago, Rap sat at his desk pondering newspaper reports of Kenneth Arnold's "flying saucer" sighting near Mt. Rainier. It was June 1947, the same month Rap published Amazing's highly anticipated all-Shaver Mystery issue.

Then, as was the pattern in Rap's charmed life, "it" happened. He got a phone call from Tacoma, Washington. Fred L. Crisman was calling. At this point we can only ponder why Rap would even consider Crisman's story if he suspected those previous letters were a hoax, though Rap's son explains it thusly: "Ray Palmer [was] a skeptic, but he was not the type of skeptic that would laugh at you and then change your story to make you look foolish," he said. "He would listen and get as much information as he could and then try to find out how your story is true. Sometimes you find out and sometimes you don't, but either way you learn more."

Robert Bloch, Raymond Palmer, and Louie Samplner.

Rap went right to his typewriter and hammered out a letter to Kenneth Arnold, pleading with him to get in his plane and head to Tacoma to investigate Crisman's story. He offered him $200, but it took a second letter with even more pleas from Rap, before the world's most celebrated pilot since Charles Lindberg conceded.

Ken Arnold's first clue that he was not in control of his situation came when he discovered he had a room already reserved at the Winthrop Hotel in Tacoma. Neither he nor Rap made the arrangements. "Ah, yes," the desk clerk said to Arnold over the phone, "We have Room 502 reserved in your name!" Maybe it was a different Kenneth Arnold, he thought, since no one other than Rap and Arnold's family knew he was flying to Tacoma.

Arnold contacted Harold Dahl, who arrived at Room 502 to tell the strange tale of saucer debris, a dead dog, danger, and incredulity. Dahl was full of angst, and seemed reticent to tell the story, warning Arnold that he should just forget the whole thing and fly home.

Next day at 9:30 AM, Fred L. Crisman was banging on the door of Room 502. Arnold described him as a "short, stocky fellow, dark complexioned, a happy-go-lucky appearing person...and extremely alert." 21 After Crisman's grand entrance, Dahl faded into the woodwork, spending much of the rest of this story at a local movie theater watching episodes of The Crimson Ghost.

Crisman confirmed Dahl's story to Arnold and added even more. He said he went to retrieve some of the saucer debris at Maury Island. While there, he too saw one of the doughnut-shaped craft circling the area, and there was no doubt about it, he knew what he saw.

Arnold, feeling overwhelmed by all the details Crisman was firing at him, called an old friend and commercial pilot, Captain E.J. Smith, for backup. Smith arrived the next day, and heard more of the same from the two "loggers." Nonetheless, Arnold began to feel uneasy about the two men.

Kenneth Arnold and Raymond Palmer.

Smith and Arnold suspected a hoax, or even that Russian espionage was at play. Cold War jitters being what they were, everyone believed it was a good bet the saucers were Soviet secret weapons taken from the Nazis. Arnold's paranoia edged a notch further when he got a phone call from an United Press reporter named Ted Morello, who informed him that, "Some crackpot has been phoning us here, telling us verbatim what has been going on in your hotel room for the last day." Naturally, Crisman and Dahl were the prime suspects, but when both men were present in the hotel room when Morello called again, confirming what had just transpired in the room, Arnold and Smith were dumbfounded. Who was it? How was the information getting out, and to what end?

After a thorough search of the room, Rap's two saucer investigators were unable to locate the bug they knew must reside in Room 502. Finally, with growing concern for his safety, Arnold called in Military Intelligence. Within hours, Air Force First Lt. Frank M. Brown and Capt. William L. Davidson arrived from Hamilton AFB in California. After interviewing all concerned, Crisman nearly forced a cardboard box full of the so-called saucer debris on the two officers, which was then loaded onto their B-25 bomber.

Talk of sabotage hit the Washington papers next morning when news that the plane's left engine had caught fire, and the safety extinguisher failed to operate. Brown and Davidson died when they crashed near Kelso, Washington. The saucer debris was never found in the wreckage. Mysteriously, Crisman and Dahl were never prosecuted for promoting what they later confessed ("allegedly" confessed, say conspiriologists) to FBI agents was a complete hoax that indirectly led to the loss of a newly refurbished B-25 bomber. AF officials said they had traced Crisman's saucer debris to a Tacoma smelter.

Back in Room 502, Arnold was totally freaked and wanted out. He called Rap and briefed him on the situation. Rap told him to get on his plane and bail.

Raymond Palmer and Richard Shaver

"He told me to keep the money and...not to carry any of the fragments aboard my plane. He advised me to prevent Smith from taking any fragments. He didn't tell me why, but I felt the advice was good. Mr. Palmer told me not to become too upset and then I gave the phone to Crisman." Crisman talked briefly with Rap confirming the plane crash. Arnold claimed later that "Raymond Palmer told me that he recognized Crisman's voice. He was positive that it was the same voice that had called him long distance on other occasions from various parts of the country. Brother, what a mess."

A witness was said to have spotted Crisman boarding an Army Air Corps plane, destination—Alaska. Dahl simply vanished. Back in Chicago, Rap was left holding the bag. He was now being blamed for perpetrating the greatest hoax since the Shaver Mystery. The new round of criticism only made him dig in his heels. He was convinced something very strange was going on. If the whole thing was a hoax, he wondered why his samples of the so-called smelter slag were stolen from his Ziff-Davis office one night after a visit from an intelligence agent? The agent, he said, was asking questions about the Shaver Mystery.

It was pretty clear that Rap was going to take the hit for Maury Island, and when Edward J. Ruppelt, former head the Air Force's Project Blue Book, published his "Report on Unidentified Flying Objects" in 1956, Rap endured further public humiliation when Ruppelt declared:

"[Crisman and Dahl] admitted that the rock fragments had nothing to do with flying saucers. They had sent in the rock fragments [to Palmer] as a joke...and said the rock came from a flying saucer because that's what [Ray Palmer] wanted him to say."

Rap was pissed. "If the Maury Island Incident was a hoax, there is basis to lay it at the door of Fred L. Crisman" he sputtered. But it moved Rap's name to the top of the government's list of "people to keep an eye on," as Palmer's son explained to this writer.

"There was a joke at the shop that the way to identify a G-man was to look at his shoes; so whenever one would come we would all lean over and look at the shoes. They came to look at our rocket launching base and radar (which we didn't have); they came to audit his taxes; they came as postal inspectors and spent three days here only to give him back about 38¢ that was overpaid (but they did look at every name on the mailing list). They planted a false story in the news and all the authorities came down on him only to have them mysteriously leave and never explain to the news why they left with nothing being done."

Yet, Rap continued his investigating, as well as his crusade against injustice. He also came up with a new slant to his beloved science fiction.

The Coming of the Saucers

The cover of the issue of Amazing Stories that was cancelled.

"We are adding a kind of science fiction ... that deals with the new kind of space ship. After all, it's just not modern to talk of spaceships these days, or of Bob Crosby; but of flying saucers and Elvis Presley!" –Rap

Rap revealed years later that prior to the Tacoma Incident, he was about to release new "evidence" concerning the saucers and much more in a special Amazing Stories flying saucers issue, but never got the chance, thanks to a visit from a Federal agent.

"The Tacoma incident intervened," he grouched. "The owner of the magazine ordered the special issue halted, killed the Shaver Mystery, and tossed aside a bit of business that had netted him a half million dollars in four years—all the day after a man with a gold badge paid him a visit." 28

Yes, the Tacoma affair did little to endear Rap to Ziff-Davis. So, in 1949, two years after Maury Island, Kenneth Arnold and Room 502, Rap left Amazing Stories to strike out on his own as an independent publisher. In fact, he started his new career on the sly even before he left Amazing. He founded an sf pulp—Other Worlds Science Stories—and he gambled on Fate magazine, a mystical digest that Rap bet would fill a niche in the publishing field. He was right. Fate struck a chord with a new readership, while newsstand sales for science fiction slowly dried up. TV and the newly emerging paperback houses were blamed.

The Maury Island Incident

[zorgon]

UFO and Landing Incident
And Close Encounter
by Jack Arneson



June 15, 1970

I haven't talked about this since it happened. Not out of fear of ridicule but out of a misguided sense of loyalty. Maybe others who were involved may see this and step forward. I've had my web site for a few years and decided this is where to start. I believe this incident happened to me because of one piece of paper I saw in 1969.

  While in the Army and stationed in Thailand from Aug, 1968 to Sep. '69, I had a friend in the Air Force who was also an amateur photographer and his occupation was in radar. On a few occasions he took me to radar tracking rooms and  showed me around in the non-sensitive areas. And on other occasions to the photo lab on off-duty hours and showed me some very interesting photos of UFO's taken by reconnaissance aircraft and F-4 Phantom fighters on patrol. Although they were not very good photographically speaking, one could tell they weren't conventional aircraft.

  One day when we both had the same day off, he visited me at my base because we had a good beach to R & R, with an outdoor bar and open air theater. The two bases were only a couple of miles apart on the southern coast of Thailand. My base was Camp Samae San and his was Utapao Air Base. 

  We were talking about the photos of the UFO's and tracking them when he said: " I'm going to tell you something that's up and coming and I just might be able to get clearance for you to be in the room. He and I took a walk down the beach and he pulled out a mimeographed copy of a carbon copy of a memo. It was a planned launch in a couple of months at a Marshall Islands launch site. Nothing really interesting at first I thought, until he told me what it was for.

  The memo was addressed to a Colonel with a description of a planned experiment on a launch vehicle and cargo transport for a Moon mission. No other info in it about when or what mission.

  At the top in the heading it was addressed as:

  Memo to some Colonel and no TS or EO designation for secret, just a bunch of abbreviated location codes in the To and From lines.

Subject: Heavy Lift Launch

The last line in the heading read: 
Code Name: AQUILA

I remember this name because I pronounced it wrong. I know some "Street Spanish" (my polite term for Mexican swear words and phrases) and kept saying: ________ It looked Mexican to me. 

  He said: "Just remember Tequila". And then it came out "Aquila".

  This really interested me because of the upcoming Apollo 11 mission and I was going to miss it! (I would still be in Thailand) No TV in Thailand at that time, only Newsreels when they showed a movie. And they were 3 months older than current events. So I knew I wouldn't see the transmissions until I rotated back to the US.  I asked him if they were going to track the A11 too and he said: "We track everything"! 

  I couldn't get clearance to join in the tracking of the experimental launch and it really disappointed me. He did tell me the launch went as planned and was successful. The A11 launch wasn't for two more months and he thought we could figure something out by then for that one. When the time neared, he told me he tried to help with the paper work at his end but was told I have no affiliation with any of their projects, so no dice. We were both upset about it and he told me: "When the time is right, I'll show you something that will probably change your life".

  That day was the last time I heard or saw of him. No info on his whereabouts when I looked for him, nobody new nothin'. I didn't have his home address or anything. Just that he was from Texas. (not his real home State) And he has or had, a common last name. So I'll use a fictitious name for his protection, lets call him... Johnson, Barry. Airman E-4, Sergeant.

  This was the old designation for E-4 in the AF back then and not his real rank anyway. I was E-4 Specialist at that time. (this was my real rank) If I had stripes, I would be a Corporal. I always thought that was unfair: E-4 in the AF is Sergeant and E-4 in the Army was Corporal. I thought he either got caught doing something or was part of something and transferred. I didn't want to think the 3rd alternative.

  When I rotated back to the US, I was assigned to Ft. Carson CO., outside Colorado Springs. Assigned to a heavy equipment engineering company. My job was conversions of all kinds of heavy equipment. We retro-fitted equipment for use in terrain where they were going, either jungle, desert areas or mountains. I was an E-5 by this time. I contacted the AF to find Barry and was told in words something along: "Fat chance of finding him now if you couldn't after only a few days". (6 months had passed)

  I liked to visit NORAD whenever possible because of it's mission and operation and would do this in full dress uniform for appearances. It's always good to be at your best when trying to extract information. And military personnel did get a better tour to a couple of more levels. When I got to know some of the NORAD personnel, one TSGT attempted to locate him. Nothing on file. And I was standing right there watching him. Crude computers the size of a house in a couple rows but impressive. Magnetic tape reels, circuits going on and off constantly, lots of lights and teletype machines drowning-out anything below yelling!

  No record of him. That was the first time (Dec-1969) I realized our own government could be hiding things. People don't disappear!...Oh Yeah?

  When I pressed to find out if the Aquila (test and experiment) was a success and launched... again... nobody knew nothin'. It started to sink in about secret projects and "the need to know" and I was warned to "tread softly" in these areas if you don't have clearance. But I kept searching for any reference to it and asking questions. Someone must have noticed because I was called into my C.O. and he told me too: "keep my mouth shut and stop asking questions where I have no business"!

  Well...this didn't sit well with me and I continued being inquisitive, only a little more aggressively. And then I found myself transferred to the desert. White Sands Missile Range. Ft Bliss, Texas, TDY (Temporary Duty) and I didn't know what for until I was in the desert at the site... it was for training and exercises in.... Space craft recovery!... as we all know, has never happened on land. But at that time it could have been a possibility if any had unplanned or miscalculated re-entry and would miss the ocean.

  Maybe the Army thought sending me to the desert was a punishment for being nosy. But they gave me a duty I was going to like and being close to areas most personnel never get too see. I did think I was being transferred because TDY usually ends up being permanent. But I had only five more months active duty by this time and I took Basic Training at Bliss and liked the area. (El Paso/Juarez)

  But after a few runs in the training it didn't make sense. There were no medical teams, which you think would be a big part of a crash or hard landing. No Bio training for contamination. No special suits, just white coveralls which at the time we didn't think unusual for being in the blistering desert. No simulated capsule to practice on. No ambulances. No fire teams. And no scientists to teach us the capsules physics and lifting procedure.

  Just heavy equipment, two 10 ton tractors with tandem low-boy trailers each 60 feet long. (Just how many capsules were we going to train in retrieving)? Two 50 ton cranes on tracks, not wheels. (that part of White Sands was concrete hard) And an Apollo capsule could be picked up with a 5 ton cherry picker. Maybe even a large forklift. Three Deuce-and-a-half's pulling 500,000 candle power spotlights and full of spare parts for them. Three, 1-1/2  ton utility trucks pulling 10K watt generators and parts. And a bus that took us to and from the base. All equipment stayed on site.

  It didn't take us long to figure out it was for another type of recovery. Just not divulged to the team. And there were officers involved whom you could tell, didn't have a clue what the difference between a nut and a bolt was. They stood around not knowing what to do and not giving orders! A Master Sergeant was the team leader and was bossing them around and we loved it. I was the crew chief having the rank and knowledge of heavy equipment.

  We practiced on huge boulders in the area, on strapping, different lifting techniques for different terrain, securing in a certain way on the trailers using bracing so they wouldn't move around and getting good at it as well as fast. We would load the trailers with two or three then relocate them where the second crane would be. We off-loaded them in a gentle manner as if they were actual capsules. We did this in all types of terrain and sometimes just a single huge boulder that was close to crushing the bed of the trailer. After becoming proficient in this, it got old in a hurry. Not to mention the rattlesnakes and scorpions that sometimes where among the rocky terrain. We also did about a third of these maneuvers at night. Hence, the spotlights and generators.

  After four weeks we got orders to bring equipment needed and weapons and too bivouac 5 miles away from the training area on June 15, 1970. (that's another unusual piece of equipment for recovery...automatic weapons) After setting up camp we radioed to a frequency we were given to notify whoever was on the other end that we were ready. It was about 10am. No exercises that day but were told to be ready in case they decided to do another night run. All there was to do was check and re-check all our equipment.

  The MS kept walking around our near area mumbling things like:...."this isn't right...something's going on...we should be told"...and acting pretty strange. He even radioed to the frequency we were given throwing his rank around demanding some answers. He told us he was told: ..."just too be ready".

  I asked him what he thought was happening and he said: "I don't know but whatever it is, we should be told! We don't need to set-up here all day and night just to do another night run! It's too damn hot for this crap"! Now that made sense. So now I was wondering.

  We also had to maintain guard duty after sunset in case we were radioed or if someone showed up with orders. The team was more than ready but the officers weren't with us. They didn't show that day and nobody knew where they were. This involves me and 12 others, including the MS, in seeing what we are sure was a UFO landing and close encounter.

  About 2am the two personnel on guard woke us all up to the brightest light I've ever seen. The entire area in the valley (about 15 square miles) was as daylight. It was just cruising about a quarter mile away at no more than 100 knots and about 1000 feet, no sound but a slight low frequency vibration was in the air and I could feel it through the ground. But we couldn't tell if it was coming directly from the craft but it had to be. The vibration was omni-directional, like a modern high-powered sub-woofer. It was all around us.

  We couldn't tell it's size because you couldn't look directly at it but we estimated at least 200 feet in diameter. We couldn't see a definitive outline because of its brightness but was a relatively flat oval shaped light. And it was heading to the area where we had been training.   

This illustration I made depicts what I remember about it's physics, only it was much brighter.

So bright, it lit-up the side of the mountains five miles across the valley.


© 2007 Boomslanger.com

  That's why I think we were there, in case it didn't go well. And they would have had to tell us, had it crashed and we got involved in the recovery. But this craft wouldn't have fit on all four low-boys even if they were side by side! Let alone be lifted with the cranes. They must have been expecting something much smaller.

  But we weren't told anything because it had to have been a successful landing. Radio was silent and we couldn't reach anyone. The frequency we had wasn't answering. And the radio's range couldn't pick up anything else. The Army knew just where to place us to keep us out of range of any other receivers. After it cruised out of sight we started to get a little nervous and we all retrieved our weapons.

  The MS told us to stay put and he would go check it out. I volunteered to go with him as I pulled the bolt back on my M-16 and locked and loaded. He realized the implication this could mean and agreed. We unhooked a generator truck and headed towards the area. We didn't speak much, we were both shaken at this and wanted to be ready for anything.

  About a mile from our training area was a road block by the AF. They were nowhere around before that night. And we couldn't see the training area because it was around a hillside another mile away. The MS got out to talk to the two AP's stationed there. I got out to get in better hearing range. the AP's said; "We have orders to allow no one past this point"!

  They had auto weapons too. Me being the way I am said; "Look, we saw this craft and it may have crashed and someone could be hurt".

  He saw my weapon and said: "What are you going to do...operate with an M-16"?

  Smart ass! Then he said: "You guys are part of the recovery team aren't you"? We said yes and might be needed.

  He said: "We have orders to go get you if needed, only then, and we haven't been notified". I looked at the MS and he knew as well as I did something was going on.

  So I said to the AP: "You had to have seen this, it lit-up the whole valley and would have passed right by you".

  This guy was a real AF lifer and said: "I don't see anything until I'm told too"!

  I tried one more time, this time to appeal to his sense of, comrades in arms and said: "Just tell us were not wrong and we'll leave it at that".

  He said: "OK, you're not wrong but you don't know about what and that's what you want to know. So you best head back to your camp and wait until someone comes with new orders. We were informed you may investigate and were telling you what we were told to tell you".

  What was I going to do, shoot him? I felt like it. The MS told me to drive and he didn't talk at all on the way back and didn't want too. I was going over the whole incident and he finally said: "I just want to forget about the whole thing".

  I said: "What? Probably the most historic event this century or possibly of all time and we're part of it and you want to forget it"?

  He said: "I have one more year for 30 and I don't want to blow it. Just drive"! Nobody wanted too or could, sleep after that and we sat around a fire discussing it, except for the MS. He went to his tent and didn't come out until day break. All of us who stayed up kept weapons locked and loaded and next to us. I even walked down the road and up a hillside to see if I could see anything. Just blackness because of hills obscuring anything in the distance. It was really eerie... 

  In the morning, about 9am it was already 95 degrees. An Army Captain pulled up in a jeep from the direction of the training area, whom we had never seen up to that point either, and informed us the exercise was over, "go back to your units".

  Well....You probably have a pretty good idea about me by now, and I said: "C'mon Captain, we all saw that thing last night, and it wasn't any kind of aircraft we've ever seen. What was it...and who's"? We all were looking directly at him, then curiously, like something's not right with this guy, like he didn't seem to be alive. Kind of a waxy face, almost plastic or mannequin like and strange light green color eyes and wearing black gloves in 95 degree heat in a full dress uniform with no name tag. And not sweating!

  He said: "I don't know what you're talking about, now get back to your units"! After what we saw the night before and the crap from the AP's, I was getting pissed. And when I saw he wasn't armed, when everybody we saw was, I wanted answers. I still had my M-16 in my hands. I made a kind of threatening move by wrapping my hand around the grip and trigger and said point blank: "Why are you wearing black leather gloves in this heat and not sweating"?

  He didn't answer. I clicked off the safety. It seemed like if you were a mile away, you would have heard that click. He twitched at this and looked at the weapon then me. He knew I wasn't impressed with his rank. Nobody moved. Like time stopped. It was uncannily quiet. He was about five feet in front of me. And I thought: "If he makes a move towards me, I'm going to cut him in half".



  He took two slow steps backwards and turned to head back to his jeep. First, he would have jumped down my throat for not saying "Sir" if he was a Captain. Then I would have been standing before a court martial for handling a weapon in a threatening manner. Third, he started back to his jeep (with no driver) and no response.

  I was going to stop him but the MS was really freaked out by this time and ran up to me and said: "Are you crazy? What are you doing"?

  I protested and said: "Sarge, this guy's an impostor, can't you see that? Everybody else might be dead"!

  He said: "You may be right but I'll find out what's going on when we get back. Don't take the chance of a court martial for threatening an officer"!

  I remember say something like: "I already did that and if he's an officer, then I'm an alien"! The "Captain" heard that and turned back and looked at me with black eyes! It sent a shivering chill up my spine upon seeing this and said: "Did you see that? Look at him! His eyes are black now"!

  I started to raise my weapon at him and tell him to stop and the MS got in front of me and said: "Stand down soldier, that's an order"!

  As the Captain drove off back towards the training area I told the MS: "We'll never know now, that's the last time we'll see him and you aren't going to find out anything when we get back and know it".

  He said: "I know, but we saw something special and can't repeat it, can we? Who would believe us? And someone would stop us one way or another. And if I let you shoot him, and he is what he looks like, where would we be then? And what makes you think he didn't have a weapon? Because you couldn't see one? He may have had something that could vaporize all of us, the size of a lighter"!

  I said: "You've been watching too much Star Trek and when did you get philosophical? Last night you wanted to forget the whole incident"?

  He said: "I thought hard about it last night and came to only one conclusion: We're being visited and we'll be told when they want to tell us. They are obviously much more advanced than us and don't seem to be a threat. Otherwise we would have been in the middle of it last night. So let's get back safely without shooting anyone".

  I told him I thought we should follow him and if the AP's are still there, we'll know everyone's still OK. The MS had enough and want to get the hell out of there. And he wouldn't let anyone else go back there either. I should have gone with my instincts and stopped him anyway. I would have gaiven warnings and shot low if I had too... maybe. And we would have had proof if we had survived the incident. I really wished I had, to find out what was under those gloves. I'm convinced I was talking to someone from somewhere else.

  Needless to say, we hit roadblocks wherever we tried to get information. Nothing happened that night or morning unusual and we were all hallucinating from the heat. Where's my gun? The MS and I were the only ones interested in finding out more but didn't have any success. And he told me the C.O. made him rewrite his report to exclude the craft and Captain.

I submitted a report also because I was the crew chief but didn't get it returned. When I inquired to the C.O. on it's status he just said; "I don't know where it went after being sent to Battalion. I tried to find out but it was the same story: "I don't know". It most likely ended in the shredder. It didn't dawn on me to make copies until too late.

  The MS thought the "Captain" was probably a test, to see if any of us thought he was strange or different. Or could "pull-off" being a Captain to trained soldiers. He couldn't. And when the Captain drove back, I hope he said: "One of your men almost shot me"!

  The other members of the team seemed to disappear and go back to their original units at different locations. Then I finally got new orders to return to Ft Carson to what's called a holding unit until discharge. These units were no more than "detail units" assigning personnel to various details around the base like picking up trash or cleaning up the rifle ranges after training. Not a good duty in any sense of the word. Fortunately, I had just a couple of months too go. More punishment? Probably.

  And just around this time everyone gets a "Re-Enlistment" interview to find out if you want to do just that. I told the Staff Sergeant conducting the interview: "Only if I can continue training in UFO recovery before I sign"!

  He looked at me like I was crazy and smirked and started writing in his notes, out-loud: "Not-interested-in-re-enlisting".

  I said: "Check on it! You'll be surprised. I just came from one of these exercises". He said he would but I doubt if he did. I received my interview report a week later stating: "Not recommended for re-enlistment". It's too bad, I would have been a loyal soldier that could have contributed some sound mechanical aspects of these crafts. And could have learned tons more.

  And here is something else I found out one year after discharge when I requested my personnel files from the MPRC back then, now the NPRC...There is no record of my TDY for that exercise included on the page for Duty Assignments. There is only the Ft Carson assignments. Somehow I'm not surprised.

  I tried a few more times over the years to locate Barry with no results. I even joined Vet Friends when it came online just for that reason. And I can't stop thinking he had something to do with me being on that team.

  He said he would "show me something when the time was right". And this incident did change my life and conventional way of thinking.

Thanks Barry, you were a good friend and I hope you're well and I'll miss you.

- Jack Arneson

[zorgon]

Thanks, Ron.  I got a kick out of reading your note!  YES..MIB's do exist.  Did you get a chance to read my story about the 'visitor' I met at MacDill?  He had 2 sets of eyelids...honestly...reptilian!  I about sh!t my pants when I saw his eyes... never forget them!

Joe

That was a note from Dr Joe Resnick... the 'MacDill' Is MacDill AFB and this MIB was wearing an AF Officer;s uniform. The 'story' is part of a 500 page report he sent me that I will see if I can add later.

[SarK0Y]

Just several dimes of mine: Serious Guys don't need to act like in $h!tty movie they run target as puppet (remotely), but puppet thinks (s)he has free will however, Universe always been so damned tricky creature & SGs cannot foresee everything so if ye get some mibs close to you -- know they're only yet another fetch-doggies 

[zorgon]

UPDATE

Here is a picture of Bush and Obama sharing a precious moment... with Dick Cheney in his MIB Guise behind... reminds me of that guy in the Indiana Jones Lost Ark movie

And you thought it mattered who you voted for



Jack Abramoff;