HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/ufo2/menin-b1.txt

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                   A REVIEW OF MIB (MEN IN BLACK)
                           A History
                        By Linda Murphy

    From 'Astronet Review' No. 1 February 1992.

    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.
    When the Condon Committee was sampling public attitudes
toward UFOs they gave this statement to a cross-section of the
American Public:  "A government agency maintains a Top Secret
file of UFO reports that are deliberately withheld from the
public." The respondents were supposed to answer TRUE or FALSE. A
substantial majority, sixty-one percent, thought that the
statement was true while only thirty-one percent said it was
false. Among teenagers, the credibility gap was even wider - 73
percent believed the statement to be true. General opinion
studies conducted by the Condon Committee, and other surveys
about UFOs came up with the rather paradoxical facts that there
were more people who believed in a conspiracy of silence about
UFOs than believed in UFOs in the first place.
    It has ofen been said that we Americans today are a bit
paranoid; that we always tend to believe that something is out to
get us, or something is being kept from us. It certainly seems
that we were a bit paranoid about UFOs.
    Most people thought vaguely in terms of an Air Force
conspiracy or a CIA conspiracy or even of a world-wide scientific
conspiracy. It was generally acknowledged that the reason behind
such a conspiracy was a desire on the part of those in power to
hide the "truth" from the public because people would panic if
they kney that we really were being visited by superior creatures
from another world. Conspiracy theorists constantly hearkened
back to the old "War of the Worlds" broadcast, and the panic it
started.
    Such a belief, however, is rather too simple for the true
connoisseur of conspiracies. He has long ago rejected the simple,
straightforward Air Force-CIA-science establishment cover-up as
too obvious, and really rather ridiculous. The conspiracy
connoisseur pointed out quite correctly that no government or
group, no matter how powerful, could possibly suppress so much
sensational information for so long - no earthly group that is.
    If the extraterrestrials WANTED to make themselves known then
they would land in a central place, and all the feeble earthly
cover-up would simply be blown away. It is out of this sort of
background that the legend of the Men In Black arose. It concerns
strange little men in dark suits who drive around in big shiny
cars and harass people who claimed to have seen a UFO.
    The origin of the Men In Black legend can be pinpointed
fairly exactly. Back in 1953 a man by the name of Albert K.
Bender was running an oranisation called the International Flying
Saucer Bureau (IFSB) and editing a little publication  called
Space Review that was dedicated to news of flying saucers.
    The IFSB had a small membership despite its rather grandiose
title, and Space Review reached at best, no more than a few
hundred readers. But they were all deeply devoted to the idea
that flying saucers were craft from outer space. In common with
other true believers, these saucer buffs were convinced that they
were in possession of a great truth, while most of the rest of
the world remained in darkness and ignorance. They felt very
important, and thus it was with a sense of surprise, even shock,
that they opened up the October 1953 issue of Space Review and
found two unexpected announcements: "LATE BULLETIN. A source
which the IFSB considers very reliable has informed us that the
investigation of the flying saucer mystery and the solution is
approaching its final stages. This same source to whom we had
referred data, which had come into our possession, suggested that
it was not the proper method and time to publish the data in
Space Review."
    The second and more shocking item read:  "STATEMENT OF
IMPORTANCE: The mystery of the flying saucers is no longer a
mystery. The source is already known, but any information about
this is being withheld by order from a higher source. We would
like to print the full story in Space Review, but because of the
nature of the information we are very sorry that we have been
advised in the negative."
    The statement ended with the ominous sentence, "We advise
those engaged in saucer work to please be very cautious." Bender
then suspended the publication of Space Review, and dissolved the
IFSB.
    The tone of the announcements would have been familiar to
anyone who had much experience with occult organizations.
Occultists often claim they are in the possession of some great
secret which, for equally secret reasons, they cannot reveal.
Even the appeal, "please be very cautious" was not unique. It
made those engaged in "saucer work" feel more important. After
all, who is going to bother to persecute you if you are just
wasting your time?
    Shortly after Bender closed down his magazine and
organization he gave an interview to a local paper [in] which he
asserted that he had been visited by "three men wearing dark
suits" who had ordered him "emphatically" to stop publishing
material about flying saucers. Bender said that he had been
"scared to death" and that he "actually couldn't eat for a couple
of days.". Some of Bender's former associates tried to press for
a more satisfactory explanation, but to all questions he replied
either cryptically or not at all.



    This state of affairs created considerable confusions among
the flying saucer buffs. What were they to think about such a
strange story? Some were openly skeptical of Bender's tale. They
said that his publication and organization were losing money and
the tale of the three visitors who "ordered" him to stop
publishing was just a face-saving gesture. Yet, as the years went
by the "Three Men In Black" began to sound more respectable and
they took on a life of their own. Some of Bender's friends first
thought that the Men In Black were from the Air Force or the CIA,
and indeed Bender's original statements do seem to sound like
[the men could have been] government agents. But after a while
the Men In Black began to assume a more extraterrestrial, even
supernatural air.
    Finally in 1963, a full decade after he first told of his
mysterious visitors, Albert Bender elaborated further in a book
called "Flying Saucers and the Three Men In Black". It was a
strange, confused and virtually unreadable book that revealed
very little in the way of hard facts, but did significantly
enhance the reputation of the Men In Black as extraterrestrials.
The book also introduced into the lore "three beautiful women,
dressed in tight white uniforms." Like their male counterparts in
black, the women in white had "glowing eyes".
    But even before the publication of Bender's book in 1963, the
Men In Black (or MIBs as they were known to insiders) had already
been reported to be visiting others besides Alber Bender. By now
they have been reported so often that they have become an
established part of the UFO history. The Men In Black, naturally
enough,wear black suits. They also usually wear sunglasses,
presumably to disguise their "glowing eyes".  Most of them  are
reported to be short and delicately built with olive complections
and dark, straight hair. They are often described as "Gypsies" or
"Orientals". Most MIBs are reported to travel in groups of three
and usually ride around in shiny, new, black cars - often
Cadillacs. These cars are even supposed to "smell new". Sometimes
the MIBs pose as investigators from the CIA or some other
government agency. They may flash official-looking credentials.
but these can never be checked out. Occasionally the MIBs display
badges withstrange emblems on them, or have unrecognizable
symbols painted on their cars. The purpose of the visits seems to
be to get people who have seen UFOs to stop talking about them,
of somehow to confuse and frighten the witnesses.
    People who worry about MIBs tend to lump all sorts of
mysterious visitors into the category, even if they don't wear
black, have no glowing eyes nor show any of the familiar MIB
characteristics. The primary qualification for the Men In Black
is that they be of unknown origin, and that they appear to act
oddly and vaguely menacing.
    Some of those who write about UFOs and other strange
phenomena rather casually mention "countless" cases where people
have been visited by Men In Black. In reality these "countless
cases" are difficult to pin down. In fact, there really seems to
be a rather small number of MIB cases where there are any details
availabe at all.
    The impression given by the writers is that the publicized
cases represent only "the tip of the iceberg". Beyond these, say
the writers, are many "more sensational" cases, the details of
which cannot be revealed for a variety of reasons. In any event
solid evidence for a vast number MIB cases is lacking. But we
are, after all, dealing with beliefs as much as with reality, and
'impression' is an important one.
    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 much more bizarre story was supposedly told by an unnamed
family who had sighted a UFO. Sometime after the sighting they
said that they were visited by a very strange individual. Ivan
Sanderson, who reported the incident in his book "Uninvited
Visitors", described the individual thus: "almost seven feet
tall, with a small head, dead white skin, enormous frame, but
pipe-stem limbs."  This oddity said he was an insurance
investigator and that he was looking for someone who had the same
name as the husband of this family. He indicated that the man he
was looking for had inherited a great deal of money. Continued
Sanderson; "This weird individual just appeared out of the night
wearing a strange fur hat with a visor and only a light jacket.
He flashed an official-looking card on entry but put it away
immediately. Later on when he removed his jacket he disclosed an
official-looking gold shield on his shirt which he instantly
covered with his hand and removed."
    The strange visitor asked some personal questions about the
family, but nothing at all about the UFOs. The creepiest part of
the whole affair came when the eldest daughter of the family
noticed that the "investigator's" tight pants had ridden up his
skinny leg, and she saw a green wire running out of his sock, up
his leg and into his flesh at two points. After the interview,
the "investigator" got into a large, black car which contained at
least two other persons, and seemed to disappear on an old dirt
road that led from the woods. The car drove off into the night
with its headlights off.
    In addition to scaring and intimidating people, visits of
MIBs are also supposed to produce a variety of unpleasant
physical symptoms. Bender said he suffered from headaches, lapses
of memory and was plagued by strange odours following the first
visit of the Men In Black. Others who say they have had similar
visitations have made similar complaints.
    Another eerie thing attributed to MIB types, is the ability
to look like anyone they want to. Some UFO researchers claim that
MIBs have been posing as THEM in order to silence potential
witnesses. John Keel, who has written a number of UFO books ,
said that he had encountered people who refused to believe that
he was who he said he was. "Later contactees (those who say they
are, somehow or other, in contact with the space people) began to
whisper to local UFO investigators that the real John Keel had
been kidnapped by a flying saucer and that a cunning android who
looked just like me had been substituted in my place. Incredible
though it may sound, this was taken very seriously, and later
even some of my more rational correspondents admitted that they
carefully compared the signatures on my current letters with
pre-rumour letters they had received."
    As we said earlier, each era tries to explain strange
encounters in terms of its own system of beliefs. I have been
struch by the similarity of some of these MIB cases with medieval
tales of encounters with the devil or some of hes demons. The
devil, for example, was very often described as a man dressed in
black. The ability to change shape and appear in any form was
commonly attributed to demons, who were able to take the shape of
a victim's friends and neighbors and even assume the likeness of
angels and saints. Many of those who said that they had met the
devil complained of the same range of physical symptoms reported
by those who encounered the MIBS.
    The shiny new cars associated with MIBs is reminiscent of the
Haitian belief in an evil society of sorcerers called "zobops".
Haitians say that if you see a big, new car going along the road
without a driver, it's under the control of the "zobops", and you
had better not try to interfere with it.
    Now, I am not trying to imply that the MIBs are agents of the
devil, or vice versa, anymore than I would try to say that the
little green men from Mars were really the fairy folk of past
generations. It is just that our visions and fears often remain
the same over the ages, and only our explanations for them
change.
    Of course, encounters with the devil during the Middle Ages
were generally more frightening and overpowering experiences than
current experiences with MIBs. Everbody believed in the devil,
while today everybody does not believe in the creatures from
outer
space. Mideval society took devil stories in dead earnest, and
anyone who made such a report might find himself facing a painful
death at the stake. The worst one can expect from reporting a MIB
encounter is a certain amount of disbelief and ridicule. In
general, MIB tales are considered too bizarre even to be reported
in local newspapers. They are published only in magazines and
books put out for and by UFO enthusiasts.
    Usually such publications are provately printed and are read
by only a few hundred. A few books however, have been issued by
major publishers and have reached a far wider audience. These
cases are also occasionally discussed on radio and TV talk shows,
so the information gets around more widely than one might think.
A  lot of people have heard of "something" about MIBs without
really knowing any of the details.

    There is one incident which bared certain similarities to the
traditional MIB case that did receive very wide publicity. This
is the story of the "kidnapping" of Betty and Barney Hill. While
most of the MIB cases do not appear directly to involve a UFO,
this one does. The couple was driving to their home in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from Canada on the night of September
19, 1961. They were on an isolated stretch of road when they
spotted what they thought was a flying saucer abouve them. Then
followed two completely blank hours in their lives. They could
remember nothing from the time they saw the UFO until a time two
hours later when they found themselves in their car several miles
down the road from where they had seen the UFO. For months after
this experience both of the Hills suffered from severe
psychological distress. Finally they consulted a psychiatrist,
who hypnotized them, and under hypnosis the Hills revealed a
strange story of being kidnapped and taken aboard a flying
saucer.
    The Hills didn't rush out and try to get publicity about
their experience or write a book about it. In fact, they were
remarkably quiet. But the incident did ultimately come to the
attention of author John Fuller, who had already written an
extremely popular UFO book. With the co-operation of the Hills
and of their psychiatrist, Fuller produced another best seller,
"The Interrupted Journey", which was first serialized in the now
defunct 'Look' magazine.
    Though the book is carefully hedged with qualifications that
the experience described might be a hallucunation or a dream
rather than a "totally real and true experience", the distinct
impression left by The Interrupted Journey on thousands of
readers was that the experience was a "totally real and true"
one.
    The people or entities that were supposed to be controlling
the spaceship that kidnapped the Hills can be squeezed into the
Men In Black lore. Barney Hill described one of his captors as
looking like "a red-headed Irishman", hardly a MIB type. But
another wore "a shiny black coat", with a black scarf thrown
about his neck.
    Under hypnosis Hill drew a picture of "the leader" of his
abductors. It is a strange insect like face with a wide, thin
mouth and huge slanting eyes that seem to go halfway around the
creatures' head. The eyes were the most frightening part of the
saucer inhabitant's strange physiognomy. Once during a hypnotic
session with the psychiatrist Barny Hill cried out in terror,
"Oh, those eyes! They're in my brain!" Glowing eyes, you will
recall, are considered some of the key characteristics of the
typical Man In Black.
    Unlike many of the books written by or about people who say
that they had encountered the inhabitants of UFOs, The
Interrupted Journey carries real conviction. One gets the feeling
that the Hills and Fuller are intelligent, sincere and sane
people who really believe that what they described is what
actually did happen.
    So this idea was planted in the minds of thousands of readers
of The Interrupted Journey: UFOs can land, the extraterrestrials
can kidnap ordinary people, subject them to a degrading and
almost brutal examination and then wipe all memory of the
incident from their minds, leaving behind only an unexplained
sense of anxiety bordering on panic.
    Well, what does all of this mean? Are we being invaded by
some weird bunch of extraterrestrials who have in the words of
the "Shadow" radio show, "the power to cloud men's minds"?
Frankly the evidence does not support such an alarming
conclusion.
    Are all the stories hoaxes and hallucinations? Psychiatrists
could certainly have a field day with many of these accounts.
Symptoms such as loss of memory, severe anxiety and other
unpleasant reactions strongly suggest that many of those who
report such experiences are in a disturbed psychological state,
though they would claim the disturbance was caused by the
encounter with the strange visitor. In any event they do not make
the most reliable of witnesses. Some of the other stories are
almost certainly sheer fiction, made up either by some practical
joker or by a writer of sensational books.
    Whether all the stories are real of unreal is not a question
that we can answer conclusively here. The point is that we
Americans are building a mythology for ouselves, just as the
Europeans did with their tales of dragons, ogres and elves, and
just as all people have done in all parts of the world in all
ages.
    We have often prided ourselves on being a practical,
hardheaded, no-nonsense sort of people who were immune to the
irrational fears and superstitious notions of less clear-sighted
and realistic folk. This proposition is demonstrably untrue and
perhaps we are better off for it. Our monsters, our space people,
even if they don't exist, if indeed they are rather silly, also
make life more interisting and exciting.

                      ***:::::::::***

REFERENCES:

 Excalibur Briefing, Thomas E. Bearden, Strawberry Hill Press
1980.
 UFOs and Their Mission Impossible, Dr. Clifford Wilson, Signet
Press.
 Flying Saucers on The Attack, Harold T. Wilkins, Ace Books 1954.
MONSTERS: Giants and Little Men From Mars, Daniel Cohen, DELL
Publications (paperback) 1975.