Date: 1956–Present
Location: Worldwide
The Conspirators: Unknown government or alien agencies
The Victims: UFO eyewitnesses
Ever since the flying saucer phenomenon became a part of pop culture in the 1950s, there has been a parallel belief in Men in Black. Their descriptions vary somewhat, but all share the black clothing, usually a plain black suit. Often they are very large, and often their facial features have something just a little bit unusual. Some believe they are government agents; others believe they are alien beings trying to look like humans. All believe their purpose is to intimidate UFO witnesses into staying silent, to protect the secret knowledge of alien visitors to the Earth.
Although some government agents have no doubt worn black suits at certain times in their career, there has never been any reliable evidence of anyone matching the descriptions and described behavior of Men in Black. At least, that is, not outside the realm of blockbuster movies.
The stories often go something like this:
Standing at the door were two tall men, but only one spoke, while the other made only odd twitches of his head. The strange man repeatedly asked in broken sentences to come in and discuss Peter’s UFO sighting. Peter asked who they were, but instead of identifying themselves they simply repeated the request to come in. They had no eyebrows, no stubble, no blemishes, almost as if their skin was plastic. No matter what Peter asked them, they could only repeat the same broken sentences.
Or this:
They were young men, tall, and dressed poorly in very cheap suits that didn’t quite match. They wore black sunglasses and their hair was so greased it appeared to be a single mass. I refused their request to come in and they seemed to quickly get nervous, and when I asked another question or two, they suddenly turned and scurried back to their car. It looked like a long black Cadillac, but made no noise as it drove away. I ran out and copied the license plate number, which I gave to the police to report the men as suspicious. The next day when the police came by, they told me that plate number was invalid, and to call again if the men ever came back. I am certain I copied it down correctly.
Or this:
The visitor would only stand in the middle of the lawn, and ignored our invitation to come up into the light. He seemed to be having trouble breathing, and kept asking to learn about the UFO we reported. As we spoke I noticed he had some kind of red wire coming out of his leg which appeared to go up under his shirt. Soon my wife went back into the house, and right away he began backing away toward the street. A dark car came along with no headlights and stopped precisely when he stepped backward off the curb. He reached behind himself to get into the car, which seemed to be illuminated inside with a green light. The car drove away into the night, still with no headlights.
The reports have come from eyewitnesses to UFOs, and even to some who only heard about UFO sightings, since the 1950s. There don’t seem to be any reports of people being harmed, only frightened, called upon, and followed. There are no photographs of Men in Black; something seems to go wrong with security cameras whenever they appear.
These foreboding characters were first reported in the 1956 book They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers, a nonfiction collection of stories, compiled and published by UFO writer Gray Barker. The book tells of a number of UFO researchers, once prominent, who went silent, one by one, after being visited by the Men in Black.
Barker had been in a unique position to collect these stories. In 1952 he began writing for a periodical called Space Review, which had previously been the one-man show of a UFO writer named Albert K. Bender, who referred to himself as the International Flying Saucer Bureau.
In 1953 the CIA released the Robertson Panel Report, which analyzed the Air Force’s Project BLUE BOOK, an effort in the 1950s and 1960s to collect and classify as many UFO reports as possible. The report concluded that UFOs did not appear to constitute any threat to national security. However, the Robertson Panel Report did make an ominous mention of UFO researchers:
The Panel took cognizance of the existence of such groups as the “Civilian Flying Saucer Investigators” (Los Angeles) and the “Aerial Phenomena Research Organization” (Wisconsin). It was believed that such organizations should be watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking if widespread sightings should occur. The apparent irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups for subversive purposes should be kept in mind.
It was like a switched flipped in Bender’s mind. He notified the newspapers that he was closing his International Flying Saucer Bureau immediately, and he withdrew from the publishing of information about UFOs. In November 1953 the Bridgeport Sunday Herald newspaper reported:
Bender said “three men wearing dark suits” came to his home, flashed credentials showing them to be representatives of the “higher authority,” and asked him many questions about the IFSB . . . . They told him “not roughly, but sternly and emphatically,” to stop publishing flying saucer information.
At that point, Barker took over from Bender. Bender’s story, and the stories of others who reported similar experiences, became the centerpieces of Barker’s They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers.
Coupled with the publicly known fact that Project BLUE BOOK actually was sending Air Force personnel out into the world to personally interview UFO eyewitnesses, the revelations in Barker’s book became the foundation of modern Men in Black conspiracy theories.
Sadly for the legend, it turns out that Gray Barker never believed a word that he wrote—he made most of it up and exaggerated the rest. He was also something of an unsavory character who didn’t mind making crank calls to provoke reports, and if his crank call didn’t produce any interesting reports, he’d invent something and write it up anyway. He once telephoned UFO author John Keel and disguised his voice to make a false UFO report. How do we know he did this?
John Sherwood is an author who got his start under Barker’s tutelage, and he later wrote a series of articles for Skeptical Inquirer magazine after Barker’s death revealing the lengths Barker would go to for a great story. Barker would often encourage Sherwood to make up or sensationalize his stories. Sherwood wrote that Barker:
hawked his books and magazines by embellishing stories and encouraging others to fabricate more. He launched hoaxes, joined others’ deceptions, and manipulated people’s beliefs.
Barker’s book, though it claimed to be nonfiction, was in fact anything but. It was indeed inspired by Bender’s report of what happened to him, but “inspired by” should be taken pretty loosely. After publishing his own version of Bender’s experience, Barker persuaded Bender to write his own book about it (which Barker then published). It was titled Flying Saucers and the Three Men. In it, Bender revealed what he really meant when he told the newspapers about his visit from the Men in Black.
Their visit, he wrote, had not been an actual one by three men dressed in black suits. Instead, it had been a psychic visitation. They came from Antarctica, where the aliens had their secret base. The aliens came in three genders. Bender learned of all this by astrally projecting himself there. Sadly, Bender probably suffered from delusional disorders and might have even needed psychiatric treatment. Barker unfortunately took advantage of the situation to make some money.
Are strange Men in Black—who might be from the government, or might be aliens—actually going around to the homes of UFO witnesses and trying to compel them to remain silent? Nope. It was the fictional invention of a fraudulent author, who highlighted a mentally ill man’s delusion to make it even more sensational. If you ever are lucky enough to have a UFO sighting, you can focus on the extraterrestrials and not the Men in Black.