” A lot of people of heard of “something” about MIBS without really knowing any of the details.”
“MONSTERS: Giants and Little Men From Mars”
DELL Publications (paperback) (C) 1975
Written by: Daniel Cohen
The purpose of this file is to acquaint users with MIBs history, how they are related to the cover-up allegations, along with associated reference material and names of files that contain more current thoughts on the subject. Sysops are encouraged to add in the files contained on their systems at the bottom of the file, and any other additional reference material which would be useful in helping others in their personal research.
Chapter 10 “The Men in Black and Other Terrors”
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 UFO’s came up with the rather paradoxical fact that there were more people who believed in a conspiracy of silence about UFOs than believed in UFOs in the first place.
It has often 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” fro the public because people would panic if they knew that we really were being visit by superior creatures from another world.
Conspiracy theorists constantly harkened 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 pin-pointed fairly exactly. Back in 1953, a man by the name of Albert K. Bender was running an organization 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 that asserted that he had been visited by “three men wearing dark suits” who, order 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 were Bender’s friends first thought that the Men in Black were from Air Force or the CIA, and indeed Bender’s original statements do seem to sound like government agents. But after a while the Men in Black begun to assume a more extraterrestrial, even supernatural air.
Finally, in 1963, a full decade after he first told of his mysterious visitors, Alber 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 MIBSs as they are known to insiders) had already been reported to be vising others besides Albert 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 complexions 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 with strange 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, or 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 glowing eyes or 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 UFO’s 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 available 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 of 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 recently 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 photograph 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 or disprove without the original prints. Being Polaroid photos there were no negative.
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 Defense 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 shops 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 meantime 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.