Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Men In Black (MIB): Real or Myth?

In popular culture and UFO conspiracytheories, men in black (MIB) are supposed men dressed in blacksuits who claim to be quasi-government agents who harass, threaten orsometimes even assassinate UFO witnesses to keep them quiet aboutwhat they have seen. It is suspected that that they may be aliensthemselves. The term is also frequently used to describe mysteriousmen working for unknown organizations, as well as various branches ofgovernment allegedly designed to protect secrets or perform otherstrange activities. The term is generic, used for any unusual,threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on thescene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting. Severalalleged encounters with the men in black have been reported by UFOresearchers and enthusiasts.

Stories about allegedly real-life menin black inspired the semi-comic science fiction Men in Blackfranchise of comic books, films and other media.

Folklore

Folklorist James R. Lewis comparesaccounts of men in black with tales of people encountering Luciferand speculates that they can be considered a kind of "psychologicaldrama."

Ufologists

Men in black figure prominently inufology and UFO folklore. In the 1950s and 1960s, UFOlogists adopteda conspiratorial mindset and began to fear they would be subject toorganized intimidation in retaliation for discovering "thetruth of the UFOs."

In 1947, Harold Dahl claimed to havebeen warned not to talk about his alleged UFO sighting on MauryIsland by a man in a dark suit. In the mid-1950s, the ufologistAlbert K. Bender claimed he was visited by men in dark suits whothreatened and warned him not to continue investigating UFOs. Bendermaintained that the men in black were secret government agents whohad been given the task of suppressing evidence of UFOs. Theufologist John Keel claimed to have had encounters with men in blackand referred to them as "demonic supernaturals" with"dark skin and/or 'exotic' facial features."According to the ufologist Jerome Clark, reports of men in blackrepresent "experiences" that "don't seem tohave occurred in the world of consensus reality."

Historian Aaron Gulyas wrote, "duringthe 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, UFO conspiracy theorists wouldincorporate the Men in Black into their increasingly complex andparanoid visions."

Ufologist John Keel has argued thatsome men in black encounters can be explained as miscast entirelymundane events perpetuated through local folklore. In his 1975 bookThe Mothman Prophecies, Keel describes a late night outing in 1967rural West Virginia where he himself was taken for a man in blackwhile searching for a phone to call a tow truck.

In his article, "Gray Barker:My Friend, the Myth-Maker," John C. Sherwood claims that, inthe late 1960s, at the age of 18, he cooperated when Gray Barkerurged him to develop a hoax—which Barker subsequentlypublished—about what Barker called "blackmen," threemysterious UFO inhabitants who silenced Sherwood's pseudonymousidentity, "Dr. Richard H. Pratt."

In popular culture

The 1997 science fiction film Men InBlack, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, was loosely based onThe Men in Black comic book series created by Lowell Cunningham andSandy Carruthers. Cunningham had the idea for the comic once afriend of his introduced him to the concept of government "Menin black" upon seeing a black van riding the streets.

In the 1998 anime series SerialExperiments Lain, there is the presence of men in black, very similarto the men in black from the original conspiracy theory. In thestory, they have the work to track down and assassinate the membersof a hacker group called the Knights of the Eastern Calculus, whoseobjective is to merge the real world and the Wired (An internet-likecommunication system) into one.