Urban Legends and More

Men in Black

Thanks to Will Smith, and Tommie Lee Jones everybody has seen the movie Men in Black. It says in the movie that the Men in Black, or MiB, are an organization the was created to get rid of the "scum of the Earth." This however, is just a movie production. The truth of these mystery men is a whole lot harder to handle. No one is sure whether or not they're government agents, aliens in disguise, or just a group of intelligence operatives trying to keep a secret. 

Here's what we do know: They're real. They generally show up when ordinary citizens have an extraordinary sighting or encounter with a flying saucer or its occupants. They seem bent on intimidating those individuals into not talking about what they have seen. They even attempt to do this with law-enforcement officers and military personnel. There have been hundreds if not thousands of incidents reported about these men in black.

"Black" can mean covert, not seen, or under cover. When a person enters the intelligence community and becomes involved in operations and projects, all their government files basically disappear. They are no longer accessible through the normal channels. When this happens it is said the person has "gone black."

Complicating matters is the fact that many times it appears that the men in black are humanoid-type aliens masquerading as humans. Many people in the military are aware that this may the be case (in some instances).

Dr. Hopkins was actively investigating a UFO abduction case in 1976 when one evening during the summer a stranger called him on the phone and asked if he could come by and talk to him about the case. This was despite the fact that the case had not been publicized at all. Hopkins agreed, hung up the phone, and immediately walked to his door to turn on the porch light so the caller could see the steps when he arrived. Hopkins was surprised to see a man walking up the stairs of the porch as he was turning on the light. He was shocked when the man introduced himself as the person who had just called him. (There were no cellular phones in 1976.)

The man was dressed in black suit, black tie, black hat, and gray gloves. In the summertime! The man's skin was a pale sickly color and he appeared to be wearing bright red lipstick, a fact which turned out to be true as Hopkins later watched some of the lipstick rub onto the man's gray glove.

The man asked Hopkins to take out the two coins that were in Hopkins' pocket. Stunned, Hopkins did it. He told Hopkins to watch the coins in his hand. The two coins simply vanished into thin air! Then the man told him, "Neither you nor anyone else on this planet will ever see those coins again."

The man then said his "energy was running low" and left. Shortly after stepping off Hopkins' porch, the man himself disappeared.

The first widely acknowledged case of Men In Black intimidating UFO witnesses occurred in 1953. A fellow by the name of Albert K. Bender was the editor of a magazine called Space Review. He was also the founder of an organization called the International Flying Saucer Bureau.

During the summer of 1953 Bender apparently discovered some vital information pointing to the cover-up of the existence of flying saucers by the U.S. government. He had written several articles scheduled to appear in the next issue of his magazine. The next thing he knew, three guys show up at his door all dressed in black: black suits, black hats, and sunglasses. They told him they had read his article, even though it had not yet been published. They told him his information was accurate, but that he better not publish the article. In fact, they told him that he'd better not publish anything more about flying saucers. They said, "We advise those engaged in saucer work to please be very cautious." They basically scared him so badly that Bender officially retired from UFO investigations.