The Men in Black are found in nearly every facet of paranormal and fortean phenomena. While there are plenty of stories of government agents wearing black suits and visiting people's homes just after they reported a UFO in order to confiscate the evidence, there appears to something much more eerie involved, and something far less human.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_NAr...33493A&index=5
The stories are typically pretty similar: a person will witness something paranormal or investigate something paranormal (majorly UFOs and aliens but not exclusively) and visitors will arrive at their front door (typically later at night) and begin interrogating them, often intimidating them to remain quiet on the subject.
These men are often described as wearing all black save for white dress shirts, including black fedoras or homburg hats. They are typically shorter than average, ranging from under 5 feet to 5'6" or so. They are described as gaunt, pale with strange or bulging eyes beneath their sunglasses and cold, blank, even robotic expressions. The visited often report extreme intimidation that verges on mind control, allowing these guests into their house and answering their questions honestly, only later to wonder exasperated why they would allow such a thing. In fact it seems as though their power over the human mind is what has enabled them to escape capture. Either that or they don't exist. Another attribute they typically possess appears to be a complete lack of emotion. To the visited, it almost appeared as though the Men in Black were not even listening during these interrogations, because they did not appear to register information.
Something I find particularly peculiar is that they do not strictly visit people who have witnessed or investigated UFO phenomenon, but historically have confronted people investigating an assortment of paranormal phenomena including the Loch Ness Monster, the Mothman Prophecy and Occult practices. In fact many of the witnesses Nick Redfern interviewed for his book "The Real Men in Black" admitted to practicing with ouija boards.
So this is where the question presents itself, what are they? There are several theories I'd like to bring up.
Government Agents: While the government may employ similar tactics, I'm not fond of this theory because the men in black have far too many oddities surrounding them to be human. Witnesses claim they appear to lack basic social understanding, dress like they're from the 40s or 50s and are apparently capable of disapparating. Not to mention they are not merely silencing UFO phenomena but an assortment of paranormal investigations. They also appear to be able to sense when they're being investigated, almost as though they can be unconsciously summoned like beetlejuice, and have reportedly visited people so recently after witnessing a UFO that they haven't even told anyone about it yet.
Aliens: Another common theory is that they're aliens trying to keep their presence secretive by silencing witnesses. While this makes a little more sense than government agents, it still does not explain why they do not specifically intimidate UFO investigators. There seems to be some connection regarding UFOs, cryptozoology and the occult. And they appear to be the strongest link as well as the strongest evidence that there is more to the paranormal than meets the eye.
Demons or Demonic entities: My problem with this theory is the same as my problem with the alien theory, it's too reductive and doesn't take into account the probable complexity of the situation. There appears to be an extra-dimensional aspect to this: UFOs are not strictly visitors from across space-time and demonic entities are not strictly the minions of the dark prince from biblical authority. The fact that the second most reported phenomenon regarding Men in Black visitations, after UFOs, is experience with a Ouija board, tells me there is definitely an occult aspect to this interconnected with UFOs. It is not strictly one or the other.
Time Travelers: A lot of people like this theory because it explains why they appear so out of fashion as well as socially inept. However, they do not appear merely social inept, they appear to lack emotion entirely. I surely hope we do not evolve to become like them. The theory also considers the possibility that they're time cops, trying to protect the timeline from UFOs which, for all we know, are like time bandits or something. I have a problem with this on two levels. For one, I think time cops would be friendlier, these guys just creep the fuck out of people, and appear to do so deliberately. Secondly, it contradicts the theory I've bought into regarding time travel, which is that the universe will make it physically impossible for you to kill your own grandfather, in a nutshell. This would be physically impossible for the same reason all physical laws exist, because in the universe, it is possible to manifest anything except that which defies the arbitrary parameters set at the birth of existence. In other words you cannot create impossible paradox, but you can experience an assortment of the bizarre and improbable in your attempt.
Tulpae: This is another theory that I find relevant but incomplete. Some say they are mental demons or some sort of qualia that the obsessive invite into existence. This would make sense considering they appear to anyone involved in subject matter the majority of the population would consider batshit insane. However, I still believe the matter is more complex, but I do believe that the dreamworld, astral plane, afterlife or whatever, is more a telepathic existence than a physical one and manifests through the interaction of systems of information i.e. the power of thought. While I do not believe entities residing in this realm are strictly tulpa, meaning strictly created from our own minds, I neither believe they are strictly independently sustained. I believe there is a complex relationship regarding a style of existence that we do not yet understand well enough to even name with any accuracy. I do believe there is something to be said about mental invitations. Ignorance is almost like a shield against much of the unknown, which cannot effect us until we open up to the possibility of its existence. As long as you truly believe curses do no exist, you cannot be afflicted by them. The Men in Black seem to follow the same pattern, until you witness something yourself or make a connection yourself that makes whatever phenomenon you're investigating appear more real, they do not arrive.
There is a lot about reality we do not understand, but what fragment of it we do believe to understand could be shattered for any of us, were we to encounter these entities directly. Whatever they are, they allude to a much deeper truth than we may be prepared to discover.
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