The Real Men in Black

[Original Poster]

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.

[blackbirdrising]

I'd rather not go into why, but I will admit that I've seen UFO's my entire life. I've reported only four of the sightings, and that was through the MUFON website in the last 5 years. I'm happy to say, no men in black suits have ever visited me and forced me to stay quiet. When I was 10 (I don't remember exactly, but I think its was around that age), i remember seeing the cigar shaped one, and my mother's mother telling me to not make a big fuss over it - that there was nothing we could do about it and that it was best if we just pretended like we didn't see it. The sightings became expected, and normal by the time I was a teenager. I saw them so frequently, at least twice a year for many years, that by the time I was 30 (pregnant with my 4th child at the time), I could feel when they were near by without seeing the ship first. This particular time, I was in the living room, and "knew" they were close by, so much that I had the urge to get off the couch and go outside to look up. Sure enough, there was a triangular craft flying very slowly, close to the ground (about 40 feet up it looked like) right over the yard, and when I came out and made eye contact with it, it paused and then darted off (and up) at a very fast speed. In a weird way, it felt like I had been visited by a familiar, almost "friend". In another way, I felt like I was protecting my children. The last time I saw one was 3 years ago now. That was the "737" that sat parked, in the sky, about 30-40 feet off the ground, with the orb floating around it that was checking out the nearby trees/creek. That time I pulled over in my car, got out, and verbally said "Guys, if you're going to do that, you need to be invisible. Use your brains....."

[Original Poster]

I'm pretty doubtful there's much substance to this men in black phenomenon. I'm currently researching it because I find it so intriguing, not because I think it's true. I listened to another coast2coast show with art bell interviewing jim keith. It's also very good, I'd say Jim Keith and Nick Redfern are two experts on the subject that have thankfully not bought into any particular theories which has enabled them to keep an open mind and continue researching without falling into traps like confirmation bias. In the Jim Keith interview Art posits that perhaps the Men in Black do not show up unless you are getting close to whatever specific truth they are trying to protect. The US military will copy-cat the men in black suits in order to keep some of their secret aircraft under wraps, and there's plenty of eye-witness reporting for that. But I frankly don't find government conspiracy nearly as intriguing as phenomena that tamper with your sense of reality, which the men in black seem to do. I'm currently reading the mothman prophecies, I saw the movie a long time ago and remember thinking it was meh but the book is actually really fascinating. Either way I'm on a hunt for truth, dramatically envisioning myself as some sort of agent mulder. It would be pretty fucking awesome to get some creepy MiB agents at my door with their mind control shit. I don't know if that'll ever happen, though. Maybe I'll have to play with a ouija board. But anyways it seems to me like you have what is described in the mothman prophecies as the ability to perceive more than the extremely limited spectrum most human beings are capable of seeing. While some refer to these people as psychics or intuitives, I find it casts a stigma against what is actually a pretty normal variation. The fact that you're able to witness UFOs so easily leads me to this conclusion because John Keel basically made the same claim in the book. I figured as much was true regarding ghosts and tulpae, etc. Some people can see them, most cannot. However, I did not apply this to UFOs until I started researching the subject more deeply. I mean I always assumed UFOs were extra-dimensional in some way, because crossing space-time just seems too daunting to be realistic, but for some reason I never considered that the ability to see them would require the same variation as the ability to see non-corporeal entities.

[juroara]

I think its a mix of these three: 1. lawful agents dressed in black doing genuine ufo research 2. unlawful suits hired by the military industrial complex breaking all rights 3. something unhuman and creepy I think the most famous non-human mib account I can think of has to do with the mothman cases. The reporter working on the cases was harassed by the mib, who as she described, seemed like they were from outerspace because they didn't know what a pen was. Either way, none of it really makes any sense! I'm not really convinced that its government agents. Maybe a few cases were government agents, but I think for the most part were dealing with something outside of law. Their cars are unmarked. Their license plates, if they have one, are usually duplicate numbers. They never show a badge of any kind. They never say who they work with. They've threatened the lives of witnesses. They're thugs. If they're human, theyre hired suits for the military industrial complex and they have no actual lawful authority to treat witnesses the way they do. Yet they get away every time because they're damn untraceable. But there are a lot of stories about the mib that suggest they aren't. What would that mean?

[Supernova]

Someone's about to be paid a visit by men in black suits...