The Real Men in Black Read online

  THE REAL MEN IN BLACK

  Nick Redfern

  Author of Contactees

  THE REAL MEN IN BLACK

  Evidence, Famous Cases, and True

  Stories of These Mysterious Men

  and Their Connection to UFO Phenomena

  Copyright © 2011 by Nick Redfern

  All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

  THE REAL MEN IN BLACK

  EDITED AND TYPESET BY KARA KUMPEL

  Cover design by Lucia Rossman/Digi Dog Design

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  Image on page 22 © Simon Wyatt; Image on page 32 © Nick Redfern; Image on page 48 © Brad Steiger; Image on page 54 © Simon Wyatt; Image on page 62 © Timothy Green Beckley; Image on page 65 © Jim Moseley; Image on page 68 © Allen Greenfield; Image on page 70 © Allen Greenfield; Image on page 74 © Loren Coleman; Image on page 96 exists in the public domain.; Image on page 107 © Marie Jones; Image on page 118 © Raven Meindel; Image on page 125 © Claudia Cunningham; Image on page 132 © Nick Redfern; Image on page 160 © Greg Bishop; Image on page 212 © Nick Redfern; Image on page 222 © Ray Boeche

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Redfern, Nicholas, 1964-

  The real men in black : evidence, famous cases, and true stories of these mysterious men and their connection to UFO

  phenomena / by Nick Redfern.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-1-60163-157-2 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-669-0 (ebook) 1. Men in black (UFO phenomenon) I. Title.

  BF2055.M45R43 2011

  001.942--dc22

  2011010847

  For Brad Steiger, whose books I eagerly

  devoured as a child,

  and whom I am now very pleased

  to call a friend.

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to offer my very sincere thanks to all of the following, without whom The Real Men in Black could never have been written:

  Simon Wyatt, for his superb artistic renditions of Mothman and of the Men in Black; Rich Reynolds, of The UFO Iconoclast(s) blog, for truly going above and beyond the call of duty, and chasing down for me countless old, and now very hard-to-find, magazine articles on the Men in Black; Loren Coleman, for granting me permission to relate the story behind his own head-to-head with a Man in Black; Jim Moseley, the editor and, in his own words, “Supreme Commander” of Saucer Smear, for sharing with me his photographs and his many and varied memories on Albert Bender, Gray Barker, and John Keel; Brad Steiger, who very generously took valuable time out of his hectic schedule to speak at length about his tireless efforts to investigate and chronicle the activities of the MIB; my good friend and fellow New Page author, Marie D. Jones, who enthusiastically said Yes! when I asked her if she would be willing to have the details of her MIB experience published in these pages; fellow researcher Regan Lee, who provided crucial data on some of the more bizarre aspects of the Men in Black mystery; Micah Hanks, for demonstrating that sometimes a Man in Black is just a man in black clothes!; Chris O’Brien, without whose fine research our knowledge of the whole Trickster phenomenon would be sorely lacking; my close friend and co-host on the Exploring All Realms show, Raven Meindel, for having the courage to tell her MIB-themed account of truly disturbing proportions; Irene Bott, formerly of the Staffordshire UFO Group, for the data on a 1995 Man in Black alien abduction case in central England; Daryl Collins, for an absolute treasure-trove of material of decades-old correspondence and research files on Albert Bender and the MIB; Ray Boeche, without any shadow of doubt one of the most learned figures, and careful thinkers, when it comes to addressing the connections among UFOs, MIB, Christianity, demonology, and much more; Timothy Green Beckley, who kept me entertained for hours with his stories of the early years of MIB research, and who, after decades in the business, I am very pleased to say still retains his enthusiasm and passion for pursuing the Men in Black; Sharon, whose MIB confrontation in England in 1994 made me recognize that the phenomenon was very much ongoing; Allen Greenfield, for generously providing his photograph of a Man in Black, and whose sheer depth of knowledge on the Men in Black, Gray Barker, John Keel, Tulpas, and a wide range of other issues made his words very welcome indeed; Colin Bennett, for revealing the startling facts relative to his own early-1980s encounter with a Man in Black in London, and for thoughtfully and carefully answering my many and varied questions on all manner of MIB-related issues; Joshua P. Warren, a first-class researcher and author, whose fascinating theories pertaining to the MIB and time-travel provide definite food for thought; Claudia Cunningham, who was a delight to chat with, and whose recent MIB encounter is prime evidence that these dark characters are still roaming among us; Jerome Clark, who provided first-class insight and commentary on the experiences of Albert Bender and the characters of Gray Barker and John Keel that proved invaluable; Nick Pope, now retired from the British Ministry of Defense, for taking time out to give me his personal opinions and thoughts on the nature of the Men in Black controversy; Greg Bishop, without doubt one of my closest friends, and someone whose encyclopedic knowledge on the early years of and players within the UFO field made his input to the book significant in the extreme; Amanda Marino and the rest of the staff at Warwick Associates for the fine promotion and publicity work; and, finally, everyone at New Page Books and Career Press, but particularly Michael Pye, Laurie Kelly-Pye, Kirsten Dalley, Adam Schwartz, Gina Talucci, and Kara Kumpel for her fine job of editing the original manuscript of this book.

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Introduction

  ~PART I: THE CASE FILES~

  Chapter 1:

  The Mystery Begins With Albert Bender (1945)

  Chapter 2:

  Gray Barker Joins the IFSB (1953)

  Chapter 3:

  FBI Involvement (1950s)

  Chapter 4:

  Brad Steiger’s Tales (1960s)

  Chapter 5:

  Mothman Arrives in Point Pleasant (1967)

  Chapter 6:

  Photographic Evidence (Late 1960s)

  Chapter 7:

  Madmen and Monsters (Early 1970s)

  Chapter 8:

  Doctors, Dead Ponies, and a Man in Brown (Late 1970s)

  Chapter 9:

  Colin Bennett Meets Mr. X (Early 1980s)

  Chapter 10:

  Modern Men in Black (Late 1980s and 1990s)

  Chapter 11:

  MIB in the New Millennium (2000s)

  Chapter 12:

  Women in Black (2000)

  ~PART II: THE THEORIES~

  Chapter 13:

  Hallucinations

  Chapter 14:

  Hoaxes

  Chapter 15:

  Tulpas and Vampires

  Chapter 16:

  Tricksters

  Chapter 17:

  Civilian Investigators

  Chapter 18:

  G-Men

  Chapter 19:

  Time Travelers

  Chapter 20:

  Demons and the Occult

>   Conclusion

  Bibliography

  Index

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Throughout the pages of this book, I have used the terms Man in Black, Men in Black, and MIB. Whereas the first two terms are self-explanatory, the reader should note that the latter term, MIB, is solely used here to describe more than one such dark-suited character.

  Except where otherwise noted in the text, all quotations were taken from my personal interviews with those speaking. The dates of each interview are given following the Bibliography at the end of this book.

  Introduction

  The door banged really slowly, but hard, like someone was hitting it with their fist instead of knocking. When I opened it, there was this horrible little man about 5 feet tall. He was dressed in a black suit and tie, and had a funny little black hat on. His face was really strange; he looked like someone with anorexia, you know? His cheeks were all gaunt; his eyes were all dark, and his skin was almost white. I didn’t know what to do, and just stared; it was really frightening. Then he just suddenly gave me this horrible grin, and I could tell his lips had been colored, like lipstick or something. He took off his hat and had this really bad black wig on. He looked about 60 but the wig was jet-black.

  All he said was, “We would ask you cease your studies.” I said, “What?” Then he repeated it, exactly the same, and I had to ask what he meant. “The sky lights; always the sky lights,” he said. Then it dawned on me: I’d seen a UFO, a flying saucer thing, late at night about a week before, when me and my husband had been driving home, and we both had a really weird dream after about some little men standing around the car on the edge of the trees.

  Then he said something like, “Cease and dream easy.” And he gave me a really long stare like he was going to attack me or something. But he didn’t; he just walked away, down the drive. I started to feel dizzy and slammed the door. I just crawled into bed and fell asleep for about three hours. But when I woke up there was this horrible smell like burning rubber all through the house. We had to have the windows open for days and get the carpets cleaned to get rid of [the smell]. It really shook me up.

  The eerie statements you have just read were related to me in 1994 by a mother and housewife named Helen who to this day lives in a small, centuries-old hamlet situated within the heart of an area of central England called the Cannock Chase. During the day, the Chase is a pleasant and picturesque area of woodland. When night falls, however, it becomes a decidedly unsettling locale that reeks of hard-to-define, ethereal, and surreal foulness. And, for decades, the area and its immediate surroundings have been the dark domain of UFOs, ghosts, werewolves, Bigfoot-type beasts, and large, black, glowing-eyed cats. Helen’s encounter, however, was with an entity of a nature and status that is arguably far stranger and much more ominous than any of the other anomalies could ever hope to collectively achieve (although, as will become apparent later, that very same entity may be tied in with all of the aforementioned bizarre critters). It was an entity that, within UFO and paranormal research circles, has become known as a Man in Black.

  For years—or perhaps even for centuries, as I will later demonstrate—the Men in Black have been elusive, predatory, fear-inducing figures, hovering with disturbing regularity upon the enigmatic fringes of the UFO subject, nurturing their own unique brand of terror and intimidation. Like true specters from the outer edge, the MIB appear from the murky darkness, and roam the countryside provoking carnage, chaos, paranoia, and fear in their wake, before returning to that same shrouded realm from which they originally oozed.

  Very often traveling in groups of three, the MIB are a trinity of evil that seemingly appears and vanishes at will. They are often seen (in the United States) driving 1950s-style black Cadillacs and (in the British Isles) 1960s-era black Jaguars, both of which are almost always described as looking curiously brand-new. The preferred mode of dress of these sinister characters is a black suit, black Fedora- or Homburg-style hat, black sunglasses, black necktie, black socks, black shoes, and a crisp, shining, white shirt. Very little wonder, therefore, that they have been given the name with which they are today most associated.

  But who—or, far more likely, what—are the MIB? In the 1997 blockbuster movie Men in Black and its 2002 sequel, starring Hollywood crowd-pullers Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, the MIB are portrayed as the secret agents of a covert arm of the U.S. government, whose role it is to hide the dark truth about the massive alien presence on the Earth. As will become undeniably clear later, however, whereas some MIB are indeed the secret eyes and ears of government departments, the majority of MIB appear to be of a very different breed altogether. According to certain sensational witness testimony and numerous case studies, the real MIB may well be alien entities themselves, carefully working to ensure that we never successfully uncover the truth about their presence, or the goal of their unearthly agenda, upon our world.

  On the other hand, some students of MIB lore and legend suggest these creatures are utterly occult-based— supernatural beings that originate in, inhabit, and with disturbing regularity surface from, strange and enigmatic netherworlds very different from that of our own 3D reality. A number of individuals suspect the MIB are nothing less than demons—the literal minions of Satan himself. Meanwhile, an investigator of the UFO phenomenon suggests that the Men in Black may be time travelers from humankind’s far-flung future. Whatever their point—or points—of origin, however, there is one thing we can say with confidence and certainty about the Men in Black: They are, most assuredly, among us, and there is absolutely nothing positive or welcoming about them.

  If your personal, particular area of fascination is the UFO and all its many attendant puzzles, then that trio of mysterious black-garbed men may one day be coming for you, too. If, late on some dark, thunderous, and chilled night, you are awakened from an uneasy slumber by a slow, deliberate pounding on your front door, I strongly urge you not to open it, lest you allow into your life one of the most terrifying, soulless, and macabre creatures that has ever been unleashed upon us, the Human Race. So, with that all now said, before you dare to proceed any further, carefully remember that you have been duly warned. Beware, always, the Men in Black...

  PART I:

  The Case Files

  1

  The Mystery Begins With Albert Bender (1945)

  At around 3 p.m. on June 24, 1947, a pilot by the name of Kenneth Arnold was searching for an aircraft that had reportedly crashed into the southwest side of Mt. Rainier, a better-than-14,000-foot peak situated on Washington State’s huge Cascade mountain range. His search that day was destined to discover something far different than an ordinary airplane. “I hadn’t flown more than two or three minutes on my course when a bright flash reflected on my airplane,” Arnold said. “It startled me, as I thought I was too close to some other aircraft. I looked every place in the sky and couldn’t find where the reflection had come from until I looked to the left and the north of Mt. Rainier, where I observed a chain of nine peculiar-looking aircraft flying from north to south at approximately 9,500 feet elevation and going, seemingly, in a definite direction of about 170 degrees” (Federal Bureau of Investigation 1947).

  Beware of the Men in Black.

  Arnold added that the mysterious craft were closing in quickly on Mt. Rainier, and he admitted to being mystified by their overall unconventional design: “I thought it was very peculiar that I couldn’t find their tails, but assumed they were some type of jet plane. The more I observed these objects, the more upset I became, as I am accustomed [to] and familiar with most all objects flying whether I am close to the ground or at higher altitudes. The chain of these saucer-like objects [was] at least five miles long. I felt confident after I would land there would be some explanation of what I saw” (Federal Bureau of Investigation 1947).

  So began the first ever widely reported account of a UFO sighting in the United States. No one could offer Arnold the explanation he sought, and
as the United States became a stronger magnet for strange aerial objects throughout the summer months of 1947, the military quickly swung into action, hoping to answer these vital questions: Who, exactly, was flying the saucers? Where were they from? And why were they here? It was not just the military that wanted definitive answers, either. The frenzied summer of 1947 also succeeded in firing up the minds and imaginations of everyday folk across the United States and the world, many of whom ultimately embarked upon lifelong quests to find the truth behind the saucers for themselves. Not all of them were happy with the data they unearthed, however.

  In the case of a man named Albert Bender, that’s putting things mildly. It was Bender, in fact, who almost singlehandedly ushered in the plague of the Men in Black—just as Arnold inaugurated the era of the UFO. For Bender, it all began with excitement and intrigue, but his story ultimately became dominated by horror, paranoia, and ill health, leaving behind a trio of cold-hearted, darkly dressed figures that have systematically mentally tortured whole swathes of the population since.

  A resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Albert Bender had a fascination with strange and unearthly phenomena that actually predated the Kenneth Arnold affair of June 1947 by approximately a year and a half, and that ultimately spiraled downward into a full-blown, unhealthy obsession. The phenomenon that started Bender on his paranormal path occurred on December 5, 1945, when a squadron of Avenger-class aircraft vanished (under circumstances that still provoke controversy to this day) after taking to the skies from the Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The disappearance of this Flight 19, as well as a Mariner flying boat that then went in search of the ill-fated planes and their nine crew members, has today become near-legendary, and is now an integral part of the lore of the so-called Bermuda Triangle. (A far more down-to-earth theory suggests that the pilots of Flight 19 simply got lost, became catastrophically disoriented in the process, ran out of fuel, and ditched in the Atlantic, which became their final resting place.) Whatever the truth of the matter, the story immediately caught the attention of the 23-year-old Albert Bender. Using this case as a starting point, he began to dig deeply into the collective works of one of the most renowned chroniclers of all things weird and paranormal: Charles Fort, after whom the equally renowned magazine Fortean Times takes its name.