FIntroduction to Men in Black                                          F                                                                      F    When the Condon Committee was sampling public attitudes           Ftoward UFOs they gave this statement to a cross-section of            Fthe American Public:  "A government agency maintains a Top            FSecret file of UFO reports that are deliberately withheld             Ffrom the public." The respondents were supposed to answer             FTRUE or FALSE. A substantial majority, sixty-one percent,             Fthought that the statement was true while only thirty-one             Fpercent said it was false. Among teenagers, the credibility           Fgap was even wider - 73 percent believed the statement to be          Ftrue. General opinion studies conducted by the Condon Com-            Fmittee, and other surveys about UFOs came up with the rather          Fparadoxical facts that there were more people who believed            Fin a conspiracy of silence about UFOs than believed in UFOs           Fin the first place.                                                   F    It has ofen been said that we Americans today are a bit           Fparanoid; that we always tend to believe that something is            Fout to get us, or something is being kept from us. It                 Fcertainly seems that we were a bit paranoid about UFOs.               F    Most people thought vaguely in terms of an Air Force              Fconspiracy or a CIA conspiracy or even of a world-wide                Fscientific conspiracy. It was generally acknowledged that             Fthe reason behind such a conspiracy was a desire on the part          Fof those in power to hide the "truth" from the public                 Fbecause people would panic if they kney that we really were           Fbeing visited by superior creatures from another world.               FConspiracy theorists constantly hearkened back to the old             F"War of the Worlds" broadcast, and the panic it started.              F    Such a belief, however, is rather too simple for the              Ftrue connoisseur of conspiracies. He has long ago rejected            Fthe simple, straightforward Air Force-CIA-science establish-          Fment cover-up as too obvious, and really rather ridiculous.           FThe conspiracy connoisseur pointed out quite correctly that           Fno government or group, no matter how powerful, could                 Fpossibly suppress so much sensational information for so              Flong - no earthly group that is.                                      F    If the extraterrestrials WANTED to make themselves known          Fthen they would land in a central place, and all the feeble           Fearthly cover-up would simply be blown away. It is out of             Fthis sort of background that the legend of the Men In Black           Farose. It concerns strange little men in dark suits who               Fdrive around in big shiny cars and harass people who claimed          Fto have seen a UFO.                                                   F/                                                                     FUSA 1953 Bender, Albert                                               F                                                                      FIn 1953 a man by the name of Albert K. Bender was running an          Foranisation called the International Flying Saucer Bureau             F(IFSB) and editing a little publication  called Space Review          Fthat was dedicated to news of flying saucers.                         F    The IFSB had a small membership despite its rather                Fgrandiose title, and Space Review reached at best, no more            Fthan a few hundred readers. But they were all deeply devoted          Fto the idea that flying saucers were craft from outer space.          FIn common with other true believers, these saucer buffs were          Fconvinced that they were in possession of a great truth,              Fwhile most of the rest of the world remained in darkness and          Fignorance. They felt very important, and thus it was with a           Fsense of surprise, even shock, that they opened up the                FOctober 1953 issue of Space Review and found two unexpected           Fannouncements: "LATE BULLETIN. A source which the IFSB                Fconsiders very reliable has informed us that the                      Finvestigation of the flying saucer mystery and the solution           Fis approaching its final stages. This same source to whom we          Fhad referred data, which had come into our possession,                Fsuggested that it was not the proper method and time to               Fpublish the data in Space Review."                                    F    The second and more shocking item read:  "STATEMENT OF            FIMPORTANCE: The mystery of the flying saucers is no longer a          Fmystery. The source is already known, but any information             Fabout this is being withheld by order from a higher source.           FWe would like to print the full story in Space Review, but            Fbecause of the nature of the information we are very sorry            Fthat we have been advised in the negative."                           F    The statement ended with the ominous sentence, "We                Fadvise those engaged in saucer work to please be very                 Fcautious." Bender then suspended the publication of Space             FReview, and dissolved the IFSB.                                       F    The tone of the announcements would have been familiar            Fto anyone who had much experience with occult organizations.          FOccultists often claim they are in the possession of some             Fgreat secret which, for equally secret reasons, they cannot           Freveal.  Even the appeal, "please be very cautious" was not           Funique. It made those engaged in "saucer work" feel more              Fimportant. After all, who is going to bother to persecute             Fyou if you are just wasting your time?                                F    Shortly after Bender closed down his magazine and                 Forganization he gave an interview to a local paper [in]               Fwhich he asserted that he had been visited by "three men              Fwearing dark suits" who had ordered him "emphatically" to             Fstop publishing material about flying saucers. Bender said            Fthat he had been "scared to death" and that he "actually              Fcouldn't eat for a couple of days.". Some of Bender's former          Fassociates tried to press for a more satisfactory explana-            Ftion, but to all questions he replied either cryptically or           Fnot at all.                                                           F    This state of affairs created considerable confusions             Famong the flying saucer buffs. What were they to think about          Fsuch a strange story? Some were openly skeptical of Bender's          Ftale. They said that his publication and organization were            Flosing money and the tale of the three visitors who ordered           Fhim to stop publishing was just a face-saving gesture. Yet,           Fas the years went by the "Three Men In Black" began to sound          Fmore respectable and they took on a life of their own. Some           Fof Bender's friends first thought that the Men In Black were          Ffrom the Air Force or the CIA, and indeed Bender's original           Fstatements do seem to sound like [the men could have been]            Fgovernment agents. But after a while the Men In Black began           Fto assume a more extraterrestrial, even supernatural air.             F    Finally in 1963, a full decade after he first told of             Fhis mysterious visitors, Albert Bender elaborated further in          Fa book called "Flying Saucers and the Three Men In Black".            FIt was a strange, confused and virtually unreadable book              Fthat revealed very little in the way of hard facts, but did           Fsignificantly enhance the reputation of the Men In Black as           Fextraterrestrials.  The book also introduced into the lore            F"three beautiful women, dressed in tight white uniforms."             FLike their male counterparts in black, the women in white             Fhad "glowing eyes".                                                   F    But even before the publication of Bender's book in               F1963, the Men In Black (or MIBs as they were known to                 Finsiders) had already been reported to be visiting others             Fbesides Alber Bender. By now they have been reported so               Foften that they have become an established part of the UFO            Fhistory. The Men In Black, naturally enough,wear black                Fsuits. They also usually wear sunglasses, presumably to               Fdisguise their "glowing eyes".  Most of them  are reported            Fto be short and delicately built with olive complections and          Fdark, straight hair. They are often described as "Gypsies"            For "Orientals". Most MIBs are reported to travel in groups            Fof three and usually ride around in shiny, new, black cars,           Foften Cadillacs. These cars are even supposed to "smell               Fnew". Sometimes the MIBs pose as investigators from the CIA           For some other government agency. They may flash official-             Flooking credentials, but these can never be checked out.              FOccasionally the MIBs display badges withstrange emblems on           Fthem, or have unrecognizable symbols painted on their cars.           FThe purpose of the visits seems to be to get people who have          Fseen UFOs to stop talking about them, of somehow to confuse           Fand frighten the witnesses.                                           F    People who worry about MIBs tend to lump all sorts of             Fmysterious visitors into the category, even if they don't             Fwear black, have no glowing eyes nor show any of the                  Ffamiliar MIB characteristics. The primary qualification for           Fthe Men In Black is that they be of unknown origin, and that          Fthey appear to act oddly and vaguely menacing.                        F    Some of those who write about UFOs and other strange              Fphenomena rather casually mention "countless" cases where             Fpeople have been visited by Men In Black. In reality these            F"countless cases" are difficult to pin down. In fact, there           Freally seems to be a rather small number of MIB cases where           Fthere are any details available at all.                               F    The impression given by the writers is that the                   Fpublicized cases represent only "the tip of the iceberg".             FBeyond these, say the writers, are many "more sensational"            Fcases, the details of which cannot be revealed for a variety          Fof reasons. In any event solid evidence for a vast number             FMIB cases is lacking. But we are, after all, dealing with             Fbeliefs as much as with reality, and 'impression' is an               Fimportant one.                                                        F/                                                                     FENG 1976 Bowles, Joyce                                                F                                                                      FJoyce Bowles claimed to have seen a landed UFO as well as             Fits occupant near Winchester in England.  Shortly there-              Fafter, she allegedly received several telephone calls from            Fsomeone in the government who threatened her and told her             Fto remain silent about her sighting.                                  FShe replied to the threats that "This is a free country               Fand I shall talk to whom I please."                                   FThis is one of the few incidents of Men In Black to have              Foccurred in England.  As in the case of the American Men              FIn Black, no actual government intervention ever occurred.            F/                                                                     FUSA 1965 Heflin, Rex                                                  F                                                                      FOn August 3, 1965, California highway inspector Rex Heflin            Fclaimed to have taken a series of Polaroid photos of a UFO            Ffrom his car while parked near the Santa Ana Freeway. The             Fpictures were quite clear and they showed an object shaped            Frather like a straw hat apparently floating above the ground.         FThese pictures got a great deal of publicity, and are still           Famong the most frequently reprinted UFO photos. Heflin's              Fstory was investigated by the Air Force shortly after it              Fbecame known. It was also looked into by investigators for            Fthe Condon Committee during their inquiry. (The committee             Finvestigator produced a pretty fair imitation of the photos           Fby suspending the lens cap of his camera in front of his car          Fwith a thread and photographing it through the car window.)           FIn addition, a host of unofficial UFO groups tackled the              Fcase in their own way.                                                F    There was considerable suspicion on the part of official          Finvestigators that the photos had been faked, but this was            Fdifficult to prove or disprove without the  original prints.          FBeing Polaroid photos, there were no negatives.                       F    Heflin said that he had turned over three of the four             Foriginals to a man (or two men - the stories differ) who              Fclaimed that he represented the North American Air Defence            FCommand (NORAD). NORAD denied that they had ever sent out an          Finvestigator, or indeed, that they had the slightest                  Finterest in the photos. The mysterious person who is alleged          Fto have taken the photos has never been identified.                   F/                                                                     FUSA 1967 Heflin, Rex                                                  F                                                                      F    On October 11, 1967, over two years after Heflin's                Foriginal sighting, but while the Condon investigation was             Fgoing on, Heflin reported another encounter with mysterious           Fvisitors. A man who said that he was Captain C.H. Edmonds of          Fthe Space Systems Division, Systems Command, a unit of the            FAir Force that had been involved in the first investigation           Fof his UFO photos, came to his home. During the interview             Fthe man who called himself Captain Edmonds asked Heflin if            Fhe wanted his original photos back. When Heflin said no, the          Fman was "visibly relieved". Inexplicably, the man then began          Fdiscussing the Bermuda Triangle. This is an area near the             Fisland of Bermuda where a number of mysterious disap-                 Fpearances of airplanes and ships have been reported. These            Fdisappearances have been linked by some to UFOs, though the           Fconnection does not seem very convincing.                             F                                                                      F    While this strange interview was going on, Heflin said            Fthat he saw a car parked in the street. It had some sort of           Flettering on the front door but he could not make it out. To          Fquote the Condon Report description of the incident, "In the          Fback seat could be seen a figure and a violet (not blue)              Fglow, which the witness attributed to instrument dials. He            Fbelieved he was being photographed or recorded. In the mean-          Ftime his FM multiplex radio was playing in the living room            Fand during the questioning it made several loud audible               Fpops.  All attempts by the Air Force, various civilian                Fresearchers and the Condon Committee itself to find "Captain          FC. H. Edmonds" failed. As far as can be determined, no such           Fperson has ever existed.                                              F/                                                                     FUSA ???? Unknown Family                                               F                                                                      F    A bizarre story was supposedly told by an unnamed family          Fwho had sighted a UFO. Sometime after the sighting they said          Fthat they were visited by a very strange individual. Ivan             FSanderson, who reported the incident in his book "Uninvited           FVisitors", described the individual thus: "almost seven feet          Ftall, with a small head, dead white skin, enormous frame,             Fbut pipe-stem limbs."  This oddity said he was an insurance           Finvestigator and that he was looking for someone who had the          Fsame name as the husband of this family. He indicated that            Fthe man he was looking for had inherited a great deal of              Fmoney. Continued Sanderson: "This weird individual just               Fappeared out of the night wearing a strange fur hat with a            Fvisor and only a light jacket.  He flashed an official-               Flooking card on entry but put it away immediately. Later on           Fwhen he removed his jacket he disclosed an official-looking           Fgold shield on his shirt which he instantly covered with his          Fhand and removed."                                                    F    The strange visitor asked some personal questions about           Fthe family, but nothing at all about the UFOs. The creepiest          Fpart of the whole affair came when the eldest daughter of             Fthe family noticed that the "investigator's" tight pants had          Fridden up his skinny leg, and she saw a green wire running            Fout of his sock, up his leg and into his flesh at two points.         FAfter the interview, the "investigator" got into a large,             Fblack car which contained at least two other persons, and             Fseemed to disappear on an old dirt road that led from the             Fwoods. The car drove off into the night with its headlights           Foff.                                                                  F/                                                                     FUSA ???? Keel, John                                                   F                                                                      F    In addition to scaring and intimidating people, visits            Fof MIBs are also supposed to produce a variety of unpleasant          Fphysical symptoms. Bender said he suffered from headaches,            Flapses of memory and was plagued by strange odors following           Fthe first visit of the Men In Black. Others who say they              Fhave had similar visitations have made similar complaints.            F    Another eerie thing attributed to MIB types, is the               Fability to look like anyone they want to. Some UFO                    Fresearchers claim that MIBs have been posing as THEM in               Forder to silence potential witnesses. John Keel, who has              Fwritten a number of UFO books, said that he had encountered           Fpeople who refused to believe that he was who he said he              Fwas.  "Later contactees (those who say they are, somehow or           Fother, in contact with the space people) began to whisper to          Flocal UFO investigators that the real John Keel had been              Fkidnapped by a flying saucer and that a cunning android who           Flooked just like me had been substituted in my place.                 FIncredible though it may sound, this was taken very                   Fseriously, and later even some of my more rational                    Fcorrespondents admitted that they carefully compared the              Fsignatures on my current letters with pre-rumour letters              Fthey had received."                                                   F    As we said earlier, each era tries to explain strange             Fencounters in terms of its own system of beliefs. I have              Fbeen struck by the similarity of some of these MIB cases              Fwith medieval tales of encounters with the devil or some of           Fhis demons. The devil, for example, was very often described          Fas a man dressed in black. The ability to change shape and            Fappear in any form was commonly attributed to demons, who             Fwere able to take the shape of a victim's friends and                 Fneighbors and even assume the likeness of angels and saints.          FMany of those who said that they had met the devil complain-          Fed of the same range of physical symptoms reported by those           Fwho encounered the MIBS.                                              F    The shiny new cars associated with MIBs is reminiscent            Fof the Haitian belief in an evil society of sorcerers called          F"zobops".  Haitians say that if you see a big, new car going          Falong the road without a driver, it's under the control of            Fthe "zobops", and you had better not try to interfere with            Fit.                                                                   F    Now, we are not trying to imply that the MIBs are agents          Fof the devil, or vice versa, anymore than I would try to say          Fthat the little green men from Mars were really the fairy             Ffolk of past generations. It is just that our visions and             Ffears often remain the same over the ages, and only our               Fexplanations for them change.                                         F    Of course, encounters with the devil during the Middle            FAges were generally more frightening and overpowering                 Fexperiences than current experiences with MIBs. Everbody              Fbelieved in the devil, while today everybody does not                 Fbelieve in the creatures from outer space. Mideval society            Ftook devil stories in dead earnest, and anyone who made such          Fa report might find himself facing a painful death at the             Fstake. The worst one can expect from reporting a MIB                  Fencounter is a certain amount of disbelief and ridicule. In           Fgeneral, MIB tales are considered too bizarre even to be              Freported in local newspapers. They are published only in              Fmagazines and books put out for and by UFO enthusiasts.               F    Usually such publications are provately printed and are           Fread by only a few hundred. A few books however, have been            Fissued by major publishers and have reached a far wider               Faudience. These cases are also occasionally discussed on              Fradio and TV talk shows, so the information gets around more          Fwidely than one might think.  A  lot of people have heard of          F"something" about MIBs without really knowing any of the              Fdetails.                                                              F/                                                                     FUSA 1961 Hill, Betty & Barney                                         F                                                                      FMost MIB cases do not appear directly to involve a UFO  This          Fone, however, does. The couple was driving to their home in           FPortsmouth, New Hampshire, from Canada on the night of                FSeptember 19, 1961.  They were on an isolated stretch of              Froad when they spotted what they thought was a flying saucer          Fabouve them. Then followed two completely blank hours in              Ftheir lives. They could remember nothing from the time they           Fsaw the UFO until a time two hours later when they found              Fthemselves in their car several miles down the road from              Fwhere they had seen the UFO. For months after this                    Fexperience both of the Hills suffered from severe                     Fpsychological distress.  Finally they consulted a                     Fpsychiatrist, who hypnotized them, and under hypnosis the             FHills revealed a strange story of being kidnapped and taken           Faboard a flying saucer.                                               F    The Hills didn't rush out and try to get publicity about          Ftheir experience or write a book about it. In fact, they              Fwere remarkably quiet. But the incident did ultimately come           Fto the attention of author John Fuller, who had already               Fwritten an extremely popular UFO book. With the co-operation          Fof the Hills and of their psychiatrist, Fuller produced               Fanother best seller,  "The Interrupted Journey", which was            Ffirst serialized in the now defunct 'Look' magazine.                  F    Though the book is carefully hedged with qualifications           Fthat the experience described might be a hallucunation or a           Fdream rather than a "totally real and true experience", the           Fdistinct impression left by The Interrupted Journey on                Fthousands of readers was that the experience was a "totally           Freal and true" one.                                                   F    The people or entities that were supposed to be                   Fcontrolling the spaceship that kidnapped the Hills can be             Fsqueezed into the Men In Black lore. Barney Hill described            Fone of his captors as looking like "a red-headed Irishman",           Fhardly a MIB type. But another wore "a shiny black coat",             Fwith a black scarf thrown about his neck.                             F    Under hypnosis Hill drew a picture of "the leader" of             Fhis abductors. It is a strange insect like face with a wide,          Fthin mouth and huge slanting eyes that seem to go halfway             Faround the creatures' head. The eyes were the most                    Ffrightening part of the saucer inhabitant's strange                   Fphysiognomy. Once during a hypnotic session with the                  Fpsychiatrist Barny Hill cried out in terror, "Oh, those               Feyes! They're in my brain!" Glowing eyes, you will recall,            Fare considered some of the key characteristics of the                 Ftypical Man In Black.                                                 F    Unlike many of the books written by or about people who           Fsay that they had encountered the inhabitants of UFOs, The            FInterrupted Journey carries real conviction. One gets the             Ffeeling that the Hills and Fuller are intelligent, sincere            Fand sane people who really believe that what they described           Fis what actually did happen.                                          F    So this idea was planted in the minds of thousands of             Freaders of The Interrupted Journey: UFOs can land, the                Fextraterrestrials can kidnap ordinary people, subject them            Fto a degrading and almost brutal examination and then wipe            Fall memory of the incident from their minds, leaving behind           Fonly an unexplained sense of anxiety bordering on panic.              F    Well, what does all of this mean? Are we being invaded            Fby some weird bunch of extraterrestrials who have in the              Fwords of the "Shadow" radio show, "the power to cloud men's           Fminds"?  Frankly the evidence does not support such an                Falarming conclusion.                                                  F    Are all the stories hoaxes and hallucinations?                    FPsychiatrists could certainly have a field day with many of           Fthese accounts.  Symptoms such as loss of memory, severe              Fanxiety and other unpleasant reactions strongly suggest that          Fmany of those who report such experiences are in a disturbed          Fpsychological state, though they would claim the disturbance          Fwas caused by the encounter with the strange visitor. In any          Fevent they do not make the most reliable of witnesses. Some           Fof the other stories are almost certainly sheer fiction,              Fmade up either by some practical joker or by a writer of              Fsensational books.                                                    F    Whether all the stories are real of unreal is not a               Fquestion that we can answer conclusively here. The point is           Fthat we Americans are building a mythology for ouselves,              Fjust as the Europeans did with their tales of dragons, ogres          Fand elves, and just as all people have done in all parts of           Fthe world in all ages.                                                F    We have often prided ourselves on being a practical,              Fhardheaded, no-nonsense sort of people who were immune to             Fthe irrational fears and superstitious notions of less clear          Fsighted and realistic folk. This proposition is demonstrably          Funtrue and perhaps we are better off for it. Our monsters,            Four space people, even if they don't exist, if indeed they            Fare rather silly, also make life more interisting and                 Fexciting.                                                             F/                                                                     FUSA 1967 Richardson, Robert                                           F                                                                      FRobert Richardson, of Toledo, Ohio, informed the Aerial               FPhenomena Research Organisation (APRO) in July 1967 that he           Fhad collided with a UFO while driving at night. Coming round          Fa bend, he had been confronted by a strange object blocking           Fthe road. Unable to halt in time, he had hit it, though not           Fvery hard. Immediately on impact, the UFO vanished. Police            Fwho accompanied Richardson to the scene could find only his           Fown skid marks as evidence; but on a later visit, Richardson          Fhimself found a small lump of metal which might have come             Ffrom the UFO.                                                         F    Three days later, at 11 pm, two men in their twenties             Fappeared at Richardson's home and questioned him for about            F10 minutes. They did not identify themselves, and Richardson          F - to his own subsequent surprise - did not ask who they              Fwere. They were not unfriendly, gave no warnings, and just            Fasked questions.  He noted that they left in a black 1953             FCadillac. The number, when checked, was found not yet to              Fhave been issued.                                                     F    A week later, Richardson received a second visit, from            Ftwo different men, who arrived in a current model Dodge.              FThey wore black suits and were dark-complectioned. Although           Fone spoke perfect English, the second had an accent, and              FRichardson felt there was something vaguely foreign about             Fthem. At first, they seemed to be trying to persuade him              Fthat he had not hit anything at all; but then they asked for          Fthe piece of metal. When he told them it had gone for                 Fanalysis, they threatened him: "If you want your wife to              Fstay as pretty as she is, then you'd better get the metal             Fback".                                                                F    The existence of the metal was known only to Richardson           Fand his wife, and to two senior members of APRO. Seemingly,           Fthe only way the strangers could have learned of its                  Fexistence would be by tapping either his or APRO's                    Ftelephone. There was no clear connection between the two              Fpairs of visitors; but what both had in common was access to          Finformation that was not freely and publicly available.               FPerhaps it is this that is the key to the MIB mystery.                F/                                                                     FUSA 1961 Miller, Paul                                                 F                                                                      F    One inclement evening in November 1961, Paul Miller and           Fthree companions were returning home to Minot, North Dakota,          Fafter a hunting trip when what they could only describe as            F'a luminous silo' landed in a nearby field. At first they             Fthought it was a plane crashing, but had to revise their              Fopinion when the 'plane' abruptly vanished. As the hunters            Fdrove off, the object reappeared and two humanoids emerged            Ffrom it. Miller panicked and fired at one of the creatures,           Fapparently wounding it. The other hunters immediately fled.           F   On their way back to Minot, all of them experienced a              Fblackout and 'lost' three hours. Terrified, they decided              Fnot to report the incident to anyone.  Yet the next morning,          Fwhen Miller reported to work (in an Air Force office), three          Fmen in black arrived.  They said they were government                 Fofficials - but showed no credentials - and remarked                  Funpleasantly that they hoped Miller was 'telling the truth'           Fabout the UFO. How did they know about it? 'We have a                 Freport,' they said vaguely.                                           F    'They seemed to know everthing about me; where I worked,          Fmy name, everthing else,' Miller said. They also asked                Fquestions about his experiences as if they already knew the           Fanswers. Miller did not dare tell his story for several               Fyears.                                                                F/                                                                     FUSA 1976 Hopkins, Dr. Robert                                          F                                                                      F    In September 1976, Dr Herbert Hopkins, a 58 year-old              Fdoctor and hypnotist, was acting as consultant on an alleged          FUFO teleportation case in Maine. One evening, when his wife           Fand children had gone out leaving him alone, the telephone            Frang and a man identifying himself as vice-president of the           FNew Jersey UFO Research Organisation asked if he might visit          FDr. Hopkins that evening to discuss certain details of the            Fcase. Dr Hopkins agreed; at the time, it seemed the natural           Fthing to do. He went to the back door to switch on the light          Fso that his visitor would be able to find his way from the            Fparking lot, but while he was there, he noticed the man               Falready climbing the porch steps. "I saw no car, and even if          Fhe did have a car, he could not have possibly gotten to my            Fhouse that quickly from any phone," Hopkins later commented           Fin delayed astonishment.                                              F    At the time, Dr Hopkins felt no particular surprise as            Fhe admitted his visitor, The man was dressed in a black               Fsuit, with black hat, tie and shoes, and a white shirt, "I            Fthought, he looks like an undertaker," Hopkins later said.            FHis clothes were immaculate - suit unwrinkled, trousers               Fsharply creased. When he took off his hat, he revealed                Fhimself as completely hairless, not only bald but without             Feyebrows or eyelashes. His skin was dead white, his lips              Fbright red. In the course of their conversation, he happened          Fto brush his lips with his grey suede gloves, and the doctor          Fwas astonished to see that his lips were smeared and that             Fthe gloves were stained with lipstick!                                F    It was only afterwards, however, that Dr Hopkins                  Freflected further on the strangeness of his visitor's                 Fappearance and behaviour. Particularly odd was the fact that          Fhis visitor stated that his host had two coins in his                 Fpocket. It was indeed the case. He then asked the doctor to           Fput one of the coins in his hand and to watch the coin, not           Fhimself. As Hopkins watched, the coin seemed to go out of             Ffocus, and then gradually vanished.  "Neither you nor anyone          Felse on this plane will ever see that coin again," the                Fvisitor told him. After talking a little while longer on              Fgeneral UFO topics, Dr Hopkins suddenly noticed that the              Fvisitor's speech was slowing down. The man then rose                  Funsteadily to his feet and said, very slowly; "My energy is           Frunning low - must go now - goodbye." He walked falteringly           Fto the door and descended the outside steps uncertainly, one          Fat a time.  Dr Hopkins saw a bright light shining in the              Fdriveway, bluish-white and distinctly brighter than a normal          Fcar lamp. At the time, however, he assumed it must be the             Fstranger's car, although he neither saw nor heard it.                 F    Later, when Dr Hopkins family had returned, they                  Fexamined the driveway and found marks that could not have             Fbeen made by a car because they were in the centre of the             Fdriveway, where the wheels could not have been. But the next          Fday, although the driveway had not been used in the mean-             Ftime, the marks had vanished.                                         F    Dr Hopkins was very much shaken by the visit,                     Fparticularly when he reflected on the extraordinary                   Fcharacter of the stranger's conduct. Not surprisingly, he             Fwas so scared that he willingly complied wdith his visitor's          Finstruction, which was to erase the tapes of the hypnotic             Fsessions he was conductiog with regard to his current case,           Fand to have nothing further to do with the investigation.             F    Subsequently, curious incidents continued to occur both           Fin Dr Hopkin's household and in that of his eldest son. He            Fpresumed that there was some link with the extraordinary              Fvisit, but he never heard from his visitor again. As for the          FNew Jersey UFO Research Organisation, no such institution             Fexists.                                                               F    Dr Hopkins' account is probably the most detailed we              Fhave of a MIB (Man in Black) visit, and confronts us with             Fthe problem at its most bizarre.  First we must ask                   Fourselves if a trained and respected doctor whould invent so          Fstrange a tale, and if so, with what conceivable motive?              FAlternatively, could the entire episode have been a                   Fdelusion, despite the tracks seen by other members of his             Ffamily?  Could the truth lie somewhere between reality and            Fimagination? Could a real visitor, albeit an impostor making          Fa false identity claim, have visited the doctor for some              Funknown reason of his own, somehow acting as a trigger for            Fthe doctor to invent a whole set of weird features?                   F    In fact, what seems the LEAST likely explanation is that          Fthe whole incident took place in the doctor's imagination.            FWhen his wife and children came home, they found him                  Fseverely shaken, with the house lights blazing, and seated            Fat a table on which lay a gun. They confirmed the marks on            Fthe driveway and a series of disturbances to the telepnone            Fthat seemed to commence immediately after the visit. So it            Fwould seem that some real event occurred, although its                Fnature remains mystifying.                                            F/                                                                     FCAN 1976 Unknown Canadian                                             F                                                                      FOne Canadian UFO witness was told by a mysterious visitor in          F1976 to stop repeating his story and not to go further into           Fhis case, or he would be visited by three men in black. "I            Fsaid, 'What's that supposed to mean?' 'Well,' he said, ' I            Fcould make it hot for you... it might cost you certain                Finjury."                                                              F/                                                                     FMEX 1975 De Los Santos, Carlos                                        F                                                                      FUFO witness Carlos de los Santos was stopped on his way to a          Ftelevision interview by two large black limousines. One of            Fthe occupants - dressed in a black suit and 'Scandanavian'            Fin appearance told him: "Look, boy, if you value your life            Fand your family's too, don't talk any more about this                 Fsighting of yours."                                                   F    However, there is no reliable instance of such threats            Fever having been carried out, though a good many witnesses            Fhave gome ahead and defied their warnings. Indeed, sinister           Fthough the MIBs may be, they are notable for their lack of            Factual violence.  The worst that can be said of them is that          Fthey frequently harass witnesses with untimely visits and             Ftelephone calls, or simply disturb them with their very               Fpresence.                                                             F    While, for the victim, it is just as well that the                Fthreats of violence are not followed through, this is for             Fthe investigator one more disconcerting aspect of the                 Fphenomenon - for violence, if it resulted in physical                 Faction, would at least help in establishing the reality of            Fthe phenomenon. Instead, it remains a fact that most of the           Fevidence is purely hearsay in character and often not of the          Fhighest quality; cases as well-attested as that of Dr.                FHerbert Hopkins are unfortunately in the minority.                    F/                                                                     FUSA 1969 Unknown UFO witness                                          F                                                                      FUFO investigator Ramona Clark tells of an unnamed                     Finvestigator who was confronted by three MIBs on 3 July               F1969. "On the window of the car in which they were riding             Fwas the symbol connected with them and their visitations.             FThis symbol had a profound psychological impact upon this             Fman. I have never encountered such absolute fear in a                 Fhuman being."                                                         F    The first meeting was followed by continual harassment.           FThere were mysterious telephone calls, and the man's house            Fwas searched. He began to hear voices and to see strange              Fshapes. "Black Cadillacs roamed the street in front of his            Fhome, and followed him everwhere he went. Once he and his             Ffamily were almost forced into an accident by an oncoming             FCadillac.  Nightmares concerning MIBs plagued his sleep. It           Fbecame impossible for him to rest, his work suffered and he           Fwas scared of losing his job."                                        F    Was it all in his mind? One is tempted to think so. But           Fa friend confirmed that, while they talked, there was a               Fstrange-looking man walking back and forth in front of the            Fhouse. The man was tall, seemed about 55 years old - and was          Fdressed entirely in black.                                            F/                                                                     FUSA 1976 Hopkins, Maureen                                             F                                                                      F    On 24 September 1976 - only a few days after Dr. Herbert          FHopkin's terrifying visit from a MIB - his daughter-in-law            FMaureen received a telephone call from a man who claimed to           Fknow her husband John, and who asked if he and a companion            Fcould come and visit them.                                            F    John met the man at a local fast-food restaurant, and             Fbrought him home with his companion, a woman. Both appeared           Fto be in their mid-thirties, and wore couriously old-                 Ffashioned clothes. The woman looked particularly odd; when            Fshe stood up, it seemed that there was something wrong with           Fthe way that her legs joined her hips. Both strangers walked          Fwith very short steps, leaning forward as though frightened           Fof falling.                                                           F    They sat awkwardly together on a sofa while the man               Fasked a number of detailed personal questions. Did John and           FMaureen watch television much? What did they read? And what           Fdid they talk about? All the while, the man was pawing and            Ffondling his female companion, asking John if this was all            Fright and whether he was doing it correctly.                          F    John left the room for a moment, and the man tried to             Fpersuade Maureen to sit next to him. He also asked her "how           Fshe was made", and whether she had any nude photographs.              F    Shortly afterwards, the woman stood up and announced              Fthat she wanted to leave. The man also stood, but made no             Fmove to go.  He was between the woman and the door, and it            Fseemed that the only way she could get to the door was by             Fwalking in a straight line, directly through him. Finally             Fthe woman turned to John and asked: "Please move him; I               Fcan't move him myself." Then, suddenly, the man left,                 Ffollowed by the woman, both walking in straight lines. They           Fdid not even say goodbye.                                             F/                                                                     F/                                                                     