Men in black....who are they?

PaJeRoMiNi Ver 1.0 SG

"Men in Black. Who are they? What are they? Certainly, they are not the film-friendly alien chaperones portrayed by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Instead, the truth paints a much more sinister picture. In fact, the Men in Black are mysteriously black-clothed individuals who turn up at the homes of people who have witnessed UFO activity, and strongly discourage them from discussing what they have experienced. It is believed by some that these 'people' are employees of the goverment, and by others, that they are alien in origin. Make your own mind up...

The first reported occurrence of Men in Black was made in 1953 by Albert K. Bender, founder member of the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB) and the editor of a flying saucer publication called the "Space Review". In October of that year, the magazine contained an announcement he had placed, stating that he had come across information that would solve the flying saucer mystery but could not print it because he was ordered not to by a 'higher source'. He ended the announcement warning others involved in flying saucer work to be very cautious. He then stopped publication of the "Space Review" (Co-incidentally, 'Space Review' and the IFSB were losing money quickly up until this point). Later in an interview Bender stated that three men "...wearing dark suits" had ordered him to stop publishing flying saucer material after fully briefing him on the subject, and that he had complied with the order because he had been "scared to death" of them. Apparently, they had threatened him with prison.

For the best part of a decade, Bender remained tight-lipped on the subject until, in 1963, he published a book called 'Flying Saucers and the Three Men'. The book itself was completely implausible, with Bender going as far to say that he had been taken to the South Pole by aliens aboard their flying saucer. However it did go a long way to giving the Men In Black a supernatural air as he described how they suddenly materialised in his bedroom.

TheMen in Black have a very distinguished look which is a common factor in the 40 plus cases which have been documented so far (We can assume that there are just as many undocumented cases which have not been reported). While some MIB are decidedly more human-looking than others, they have been quite consistently described as being olive in complexion. They have thin lips. High cheekbones, and bizarrely slanted eyes. There have been cases where the witness has described the eyes as 'glowing'. A good trick for a human being. Their height varies from short to tall and they often wear makeup and wigs in an attempt to look more "normal." As you can imagine, this adds even more intrigue into this phenomenon. What need would a human man have for makeup? We're not talking about a touch of foundation here. In some instances it is as if their entire face is painted on, like a mask and their faces are remarkably inanimate throughout their questioning. As a result of their 'disguise', it is understandably difficult to estimate their age. They're movements have been described as being almost robotic or mechanical and their voice has a machine/metallic-like mono-tone quality devoid of emotion.

They frequently appear to have respiratory difficulties and seem to be drained of energy over short periods of time and they sometimes experience great difficulty in simple things such as sitting down or standing up. They are of course dressed in black and most often in out of date suits that appear to be brand new and cut from some strange type of fabric.

It is usual for the MIB to appear in groups of three, although cases with twos and even singles are popular.

The preffered method of transport for the MIB's tend to be large black and (often American cars) estimated to be usually at least twenty to thirty years old, yet strangely in mint condition. Often, these cars display strange, unidentifiable markings. A glow is often seen to be illuminating the interior of the vehicle. On the occassions when the cars do have license plate numbers (and sometimes they don't), they are usually obscured or missing altogether, but in some instances plate numbers have been recorded and checked out only to show that they had never been issued.

A typical MIB encounter may go something like this;

Having witnessed a UFO, you would be visited by one or more strange men. These men often flash badges, give names, and claim to be from one government agency or another. After investigation however, you would find that the names given are invariably absent from the mentioned agency's records and often the agency itself is found not to exist. The "agents" usually display not only an uncanny knowledge of exactly what the witness has seen, but intimate personal knowledge of the witness as well. They collect any physical evidence of the encounter that the witness may have, such as photographs or residue from a landing site. They may threaten you outright not to speak of your experience, or they may merely make it transparently clear that doing so would be to your detriment.

Other times, however, the MIB claim to be insurance salesmen, portrait photographers, or something equally unconnected with the subject of UFOs and never mention the UFO event in question, yet somehow leave the impression that they are associated with it none the less.

The MIB display incompetence and bizarre behaviour during their visitation. Seemingly mystified by human ways, they are extremely poor taskmasters in the area of imitation. For instance, they often express amazement at the most mundane objects, and have been known to ask inappropriate and downright rude questions. MIB encounters, as one might expect, are actually quite rare.

The majority of reports on the MIB are made by people who had never even heard of the MIB phenomenon...."