Excerpt from Branton’s CASUALTIES OF A COSMIC WAR:
The following account, taken from the May 1946 issue of AMAZING STORIES (pp. 171-173) seems to contain information that would explain many of the ‘missing pieces’ of the overall ‘Men In Black‘ phenomena. At least some of the ‘MIB’ have been variously described as ‘androidal‘ like beings, although as John Keel has stated some seem to portray reptilian aspects, and in a few cases obviously human entities have been described. Christa Tilton allegedly encountered some ‘MIB‘ in a black auto near Boynton Canyon, near Sedona, Arizona. She described them as follows:
“The men did not look right. Their faces had no expression on them whatsoever. They looked like they were wearing chalky tan makeup. Their movements were robot-like and unearthly.”
The AMAZING STORIES letter, which was quite lengthy and excerpts of which we quote below, was submitted by a Mr. Edward John of (at the time) 475 Fell St., San Francisco, CA.:
“Sirs… I have enjoyed your stories for many years as I have read AMAZING since the first issue back in 1928 if I remember right.
“…I think I can show you an entrance to this subterranean city that he (Shaver) has written about several issues back. Here is what happened to me and you may judge for yourself. In 1931 my mother and I took up a section of land as a cattle-raising homestead from the U.S. Government and naturally it was not a choice piece… a person who turned out to be our nearest neighbor gave us some hints and as the place was only six miles from his we stayed at his ranch until we built our house. Then we moved into our own and all in all we stayed there about two years before we quit; and now I will relate the things that caused us to quit, which at the time I did not know much about, but since Mr. Shaver wrote, now I know and marvel that we managed to stand two years without getting killed by these things from below.
“As a note of interest I have had to use 30,000 rounds of ammunition in the period and perhaps that is why we are still here. At night I would sit up fully dressed all night with a rifle in my hands, ready, and an extra one by my side. In about five hours after dark I would hear things moving outside the house and after a while something would try to open the door quietly and I would wait until I saw the knob turn, then let go a clip right through the door and then pull it open and look around outside and there was nothing to be seen. After a couple of nights like that, that performance would stop and something new would be tried.
“There are too many incidents to be told in one letter, the best one was the two disappearing automobiles, which happened at about ten at night over at the neighbor’s place. It was as follows: the neighbor and we were sitting on the porch after supper when he saw headlights come over the hill to the fence then along the fence for about half a mile, then go out and that was all that night. So next morning we went to the trail along the fence and there were tire tracks of seven inch width tires and they went along the fence into the box canyon and right up against a smooth boulder about 20 feet in diameter and ended there. Now the car could not turn around anywhere in that place because the road is a trail five feet wide and one side is against our neighbor’s fence, which was not damaged and the other was a steep hill that no car could even make in compound low. You know, we have a few mountains here, and as far as backing out I tried that myself in the daytime with help and I could not steer a straight enough path without crossing my other marks so they did not back out or we would have trailed them as my neighbor has lived around there since 1848 and he sure knew his tracking. We never did get an answer to the question of where did the cars go.
“The cars were very large and black and very heavy and now that I compare them they were about twenty years ahead of anything I have ever seen anywhere and I had worked in the auto business for about five years before we took up the land. They were silent, smooth, no wavering of the lights and the trail is extremely rough; in places it has hollows a yard deep, but these cars went through at about 25 mph, and it would even wreck a jeep to do that, so you figure it out and let me know the answer if you can. By wavering of lights, I mean that the beams were steady and not flashing up and down as an ordinary car would do when a rough road is traveled.
“I have been away from there since 1933, but just about three months ago, I drove through with a friend for safety and my place is razed to the ground and everything that was made by human hands has been carried off even the old tin cans, and the place would not be noticed unless you knew where is was. The Coast and Geodetic survey had a marker near my house in the front yard and even that is gone; who would want to take a concrete marker and carry it away?
“…after two weeks, you can hear insects running on the ground, (also) forest fires will not burn there. They burnt 250,000 acres, then burnt all around this area; and that stopped the forest rangers. They never could understand because most of it is on the slope of a mountain and it should have gone, but they saw that the wind came down and blew from the top down and blew North, South, East and West at once and that was the only time that the wind ever blew there.
“Also you can detect an atmosphere of fear within 30 miles of the area and you will not get a statement from anyone who lives around there and the people in the valleys are afraid of the people in the hills. One farmer erected 20 foot barbed wire fences and a heavy gate across the road that leads to my old place. The gate would take a tank to knock down, so maybe there is something there, after all.
“It is located 110 miles north of San Francisco in Mendocino county and is directly on the old Pieta toll road that ran between Hopland and Lakeport in Lake county of which Clear Lake is quite a summer resort. If you care to look it up on a map get a good auto road map and look due south off the road midway between towns and you will note an area with no roads bounded by Sonoma Lake and lower Mendocino counties and there is it. If you wish to go there, be sure that enough people know where you went. Maybe they will be able to find you. There have been several disappearances along that stretch of road, even trucks have vanished. All the U.S. Government’s.
“The U.S. Government has noted the area as rough, unsurveyable and UNEXPLORED…
“Personally I do not care to go near the place, but if there is some way of driving the things out I would help if I can so that someone else could live there safely.
“…Also I forgot to mention there is a cave on the property that has steps leading down and there is no sound when a rock is thrown in. I have never seen it, but I understand that it is there… Also, several people have died of heart failure and some have gone insane, I found out later.
“I think the thing that saved us was the fact that I am not surprised at anything and that I am quick to shoot and I can shoot without sighting and by ear and not having the thought of shooting fixed so that the things would be warned. After that place, I was able to outshoot U.S. Marine sharpshooters. I tried competing in a match and I just never missed any target at any range. If I could see it, I could hit it, 5 out of 5. I have tried practice machine guns at plane models and I hit 3 out of 5 at speeds up to 700 mph scale without using the sights. So the old ranch gave me something worthwhile after all.
“Due to my physical condition, I cannot get into any armed forces, so that talent is wasted, for you see I have a bad leg and cannot walk more than a mile at a time. Since I left the ranch I have been in the radio business and have not owned a gun since ’34, because as long as I stay away from there I don’t need one…”