Government Files on the Men in Black

That's the subject of a new article from me, which you can find here...

John Keel, Mothman & Albert Bender

Picked up these at last weekend's Mothman Festival: (A) a DVD collection of old and rare John Keel lectures (many on Mothman); and (B) a 1962 collection of Albert Bender's "Space Review" newsletter. Not bad!

Trevor James Constable, MIB, and the Occult

 
There's a new article from me at Mysterious Universe what starts like this...

Over at his Twilight Language blog, Loren Coleman has a new post on the March 31, 2016 death of UFO investigator/author Trevor James Constable. The article is titled “‘Space Critters’ Ufologist Trevor James Constable Has Died. It includes the following from Loren: “Another early researcher and writer in ufology has passed away. Native New Zealander Trevor James Constable, 90, died on March 31, 2016, in California. This news comes after only recently learning of the death of Albert K. Bender, 94. Not too surprising, because Bender and Constable were from a special era, there’s an overlap between their lives.”

There most assuredly was an overlap. Constable was deeply interested in the Albert Bender/Men in Black saga of the early 1950s. As I mentioned to Loren: (QUOTE) “Constable contributed a letter to the book Bender Mystery Confirmed. Not many people know of this book. It was a follow-up to Bender’s Flying Saucers and the Three Men. It was published by Gray Barker. The Confirmed book is a collection of about 20 letters from people who had read Bender’s book and who wanted to comment on it.” (END OF QUOTE) In his 1962 letter (which was mailed to Gray Barker) Constable makes it very clear that he believed Bender encountered something straight out of the world of the occult.

And here's the link...

Men in Black...In Sci-Fi

In a new article at Jim Harold's website I take a look at how Albert Bender's creepy-looking Men in Black influenced the world of on-screen science-fiction.

Here's the link.

My Albert Bender Obit

You can find an obit from me for Albert Bender - the man who began the Men in Black mystery - at this link. And here's how the article starts:

Over at Wikipedia you can find a new page for Albert Bender, the man who pretty much kick-started into existence the mystery and controversy surrounding the Men in Black. As you’ll note, it reveals that Bender died just recently, specifically on March 29, 2016, at the good old age of 94. Given that there have been claims Bender died in the early 2000s, a few people have already asked me if the Wiki page is accurate. Yes, it is. Bender had a full life and outlived just about everyone else who got involved in Ufology in the late 1940s and early 1950s. And, he was the creator of the International Flying Saucer Bureau, a body that provoked a lot of interest – both within the United States and overseas.

If you know your UFO history, you’ll know that it was Bender’s encounters with a creepy trio of MIB at Bridgeport, Connecticut in the early 50s which prompted author Gray Barker to pen a book on the matter. Its title: They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. Bender’s MIB were nothing like the Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith kind, however. Rather, they were ghoulish characters with shining eyes, and who were far more Bram Stoker-meets-H.P. Lovecraft than The X-Files-meets-Dark Skies. It’s highly appropriate, then, that Bender’s encounters with the MIB occurred in his attic, which he had transformed into his so-called “Chamber of Horrors.” It was a room filled with all manner of paintings of demons, black cats, skeletons, vampires, bats, and skulls. Even an “altar” of sorts. Indeed, Bender had a deep interest in the worlds of the paranormal, UFOs, and the occult, in both fact and fiction.

Loren Coleman on the Death of Albert Bender

Loren Coleman has written a good, informative article on the death of Albert Bender and his links to the mystery of the Men in Black. You can find it right here.

Albert Bender RIP

Over at Wikipedia, you can find a new entry on Albert Bender, the man who pretty much kick-started the Men in Black controversy in the early 1950s.

Given that there have been inaccurate reports of Bender's death going to back 2002, a few people have asked me if the Wiki page (showing Bender's death as having occurred just very recently) is correct. Yes it is. He lived to a good age, well into his 90s.

A fascinating and complex character, Bender is someone I have written extensively about over the years, and who played a major role in the early years of Ufology.

MIB, Dragons, Secret Aircraft and More

There are four new articles from me at Mysterious Universe:

1. I take a look at an old movie that may have influenced some of Albert Bender's experiences with the Men in Black.

2. A strange story of a "secret aircraft" that may have crashed in the UK.

3. UFOs, two researchers and the Government.

4. A review of Karl Shuker's book on dragons.

Men In Black Weirdness

Well, this is a bit weird...

I was just finalizing the Word document of my new Men in Black book, to finish up the edit before it goes to publication when, at that very moment, I heard a bang from one of my rooms, so I checked it out.

The maintenance people had been working on something on the outside of one of my exterior walls the last hour. And, the vibration of their hammering and tools had shaken a framed picture off my interior side of the wall and it had fallen to the ground and shattered the glass. 

It just happened to be a framed, old letter written by Albert Bender, the man who pretty much kicked off the whole Men in Black thing in the early 1950s. 

I know it was the vibration of the maintenance tools that caused it to fall off and shatter, but the coincidental timing of me closing the MIB file and the MIB picture falling to the ground and the glass breaking at the exact same time was, er, "interesting." 

But shit like this happens all the time LOL.

A Woman In Black

If you know your Men in Black lore and history, the name of Albert Bender will be instantly familiar to you.

But, what of the Woman in Black of the Bender family?

That's the subject of my new Mysterious Universe feature.

The WIB are also the subject of a full-length book I'm now close to completing.

More on the MIB Audio

My latest Mysterious Universe article expands on the new audio-version of Albert Bender's MIB-themed book of 1962, Flying Saucers and the Three Men.

Flying Saucers & the 3 Men

For those who may be interested, Albert Bender's Men in Black-themed book, Flying Saucers and the Three Men, is now available in an audio edition. 5-hours-plus!

When Men In Black Attack

Just published by New Saucerian Press is When Men in Black Attack: The Strange Case of Albert K. Bender, by Gray Barker.

Here's the link, and here - below - is the publisher's write-up on the book:

In the year 1984, many Americans began to fear that the "surveillance state" predicted by George Orwell might be coming to pass. As a result, legendary writer and ufologist Gray Barker decided to revisit - and hopefully encapsulate - the strange case of Albert K. Bender, who was famously "hushed up" by three Men in Black in 1953 - despite heading up the largest and most successful civilian UFO organization in the world.

Barker had discovered that the three MIB were under the employ of a race of "bisexual" space people from the planet "Kazik," who were harvesting Earth's seawater from an underground base near the South Pole. These alien humanoids had gained control of Bender and spirited him off to Kazik, where he was forced to submit to three sexy, shapeshifting space "women."

Drawing from articles in Saucer News and his three previous books on Bender and the Men in Black ("They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers," "Bender Mystery Confirmed," and "Men in Black: The Secret Terror Among Us"), Barker weaves a fantastic, unique, and memorable tale - one that came to influence several generations of saucer buffs and sci-fi enthusiasts, and inspired themes in popular television shows such as The Jetsons, X-Files, and Futurama.

This special 2015 edition of "When Men in Black Attack: The Strange Case of Albert K. Bender" features an introduction from Jim Moseley, correspondence from Saucerian readers, previously unpublished transcripts of rare audiotapes (such as Bender's one and only public lecture), and fascinating contributions from a variety of Barker cohorts, including author William S. Burroughs. 

Albert Bender and the MIB - Again

As per my post of yesterday on Albert Bender and the Men in Black, here's my lengthier piece on the latest development, at Mysterious Universe.

It begins as follows and you can find it right here...

"Back in the early 1950s, a new aspect was added to the growing UFO phenomenon: the Men in Black. Yes, there were one or two pre-1950s MIB encounters (such as the saga of the sinister character that terrorized a certain Harold Dahl, one of the key figures in the notorious UFO event at Maury Island in June 1947). But, overall, it was the 1950s that saw the rise of the MIB.

"We pretty much have one person to thank for that rise. His name was Albert Bender. From his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bender created the International Flying Saucer Bureau, and went on to publish a newsletter/journal called Space Review. It was filled with information on then-recent UFO encounters, letters from fellow researchers, and much more of a flying saucer nature."

MIB, Albert Bender, and Space Review

For those who may be interested, there's a new, bound collection of Albert Bender's early 1950s newsletter, Space Review, now available. Bender being the guy who played a major role in the development of the Men in Black mystery.

Here's the link...

I have written a more extensive piece on all this for the Mysterious Universe website and which will be published in the next day or two.

In the meantime, I can go one better than Bender's journals: here's one example of a number of Bender's letters I own.

This one (framed on my office wall) was sent from Bender to New Zealand researcher Harold Fulton in November 1953, and makes references to Bender's phone being "tapped," and things that will "disturb the learned ones."

"Bender Mystery Confirmed"

That's the title of a new book from Andy Colvin's New Saucerian Books, on the matter of Albert Bender's controversial claims concerning the Men in Black.

Here (below) is the info on Bender Mystery Confirmed from NSB, which is a "must buy" if you're fascinated by the MIB enigma!


In 1952, Gray Barker became a state representative in the first civilian UFO group, the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB), headed by a World War II veteran named Albert K. Bender. Bender, who had been stationed at Fort George Meade (home of the NSA), and Langley Field (today's aerial drone headquarters), seemed to be genuinely interested not only in UFOs, but also in the strange psychic phenomena surrounding their appearances.

After heading the IFSB for one year, Bender abruptly closed the organization, citing encounters with dancing blue lights and terrifying Men in Black, who could appear and disappear at will, and could teleport objects and people around the galaxy.

In 1956, Barker wrote a book featuring Bender's story, "They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers," which brought the horror of the Men in Black into public consciousness, and became popular around the world. In 1962, Barker published Bender's own book, "Flying Saucers and the Three Men," which also elicited an excited response from saucer enthusiasts. Controversy also ensued, as opinion became divided into different camps, ranging from those who believed Bender's account completely, to those who thought he had concocted the story for psy-ops purposes.

Later that same year, in an effort to come to some sort of conclusion about Bender's claims, Barker collected correspondence from Saucerian subscribers into this book, "Bender Mystery Confirmed." By reading these letters, one can examine the different theories about Bender, and come to one's own conclusion.

As the title infers, Barker came to believe that Bender was telling the absolute truth. Whatever Bender's original intentions, he had stumbled onto the real paranormal phenomena underpinning the UFO experience, and had paid a price for it.

This special 2014 reprint features Barker's original full-color cover design, which was impossible to print at the time, due to high printing costs. The interior is an exact facsimile of the original, which had become so scarce that only a handful of copies were known to exist prior to this republication. Get it while you can!

Classic Forteana Reprinted

I got a package of review books yesterday from New Saucerian Books. 

NSB are doing a great job of reprinting a bunch of old, classic, and rare titles. 

Here's the latest ones: John Keel's Our Haunted Planet; Keel's Strange Creatures From Time And Space; Albert Bender's Flying Saucers And The Three Men; Gray Barker's Serpents of Fire; Barker's They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers; and Searching for the String, which is a collection of Keel's writings.

The MIB: A New Article

An interesting new article on the Men in Black, Gray Barker and Albert Bender...

Strange Tales of the MIB

As some of you (but probably not many, at this stage) will know, I am currently working on yet another book on the Men in Black puzzle, for which I've got about 30,000 words complete so far. And in terms of final word-count, this is likely to be a very big one, and is significantly different to my earlier MIB-themed output.

Its title: Strange Tales of the Men in Black.

My earlier MIB-based titles have all been filled with files, witness reports, and data, but it was very much the case that I interviewed people, transcribed their accounts, and then presented the data in chapter format, partly in their words, and partly with me relating their accounts in summarized format.

But, it’s fair to say that my latest book on the Men in Black is somewhat of a radical departure from that format, in the sense that I am specifically letting the witnesses – certainly, the most important people when it comes to trying to understand the nature of the MIB phenomenon – tell their own stories, solely in their own words, and regardless of whether that's 500 words or 5,000.

And there won't be any chapters, as such. Rather, each case will have its own section - whether long or short. After all, there's no rhyme or reason to the MIB, so I figured why not have that reflected in the layout of the book?!

My role, in this new book - Strange Tales of the Men in Black - is merely to introduce you to the plethora of players in the seemingly never-ending saga of the Men in Black, have them relate the amazing facts - in wholly unedited and uninterrupted form - and then I;ll try and come to some form of conclusion with respect to each and every case cited in post-case "Comments from Nick"-style sections.

So, if you have (A) had a MIB experience, (B) have a theory about who or what they might really be, and/or (C) want to offer a comment or observation on anything MIB-linked, and are willing to share that info, do let me know, and I will be very pleased to hear from you.

I wish I could afford to pay each and every one who is willing to have their account included, but (despite what some have said and even written!), the field of a freelance writer is not a rich one! I will, however, send every contributor a free, signed copy of the book on publication, thank them in the Acknowledgments, and include any web links/blog links etc that the person may like to have included.

And if that appeals: You can reach me right here.

And for a bit of background about how I got interested in the MIB controversy and my previous output on the subject, here you go:

I was eleven years old when I was introduced to the menacing and macabre world of the enigmatic Men in Black. It was a typically bleak and windswept English evening in the late autumn of 1976 when they first darkened my door.

On the night in question – wide of eye and full of youthful excitement and anticipation - I eagerly began reading the disturbing pages of John Keel’s classic title, The Mothman Prophecies, which told of distinctly strange goings-on at Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the mid-to-late 1960s.


Strange goings-on? Hell, outright supernatural foulness and malignancy would be far more apt terminology! A glowing-eyed, winged-monster, surreal reports of contact with enigmatic alien intelligences on lonely, moonlit, tree-shrouded roads, occult phenomena plaguing the town, and lives manipulated and transformed in ways near-unimaginable were the order of the day - as was the brooding, predatory, and repeated manifestation of the dreaded MIB.

For reasons that I have never truly been able to fathom, from that very day onwards I became particularly fascinated by the Men in Black, their silencing of UFO witnesses, their near-ethereal presence in our world, and, of course, their overwhelming and mysterious elusiveness.

Who, or what, were they? From where did they originate? What did they want of us? Why were they so deeply intent on preventing Flying Saucer-seekers from learning the truth about UFOs? Even as a child, such questions plagued and tormented my mind. And, the further and deeper I dug into the world of Forteana, the more I found myself attempting to penetrate the veil of unsettling darkness and hostility that seemed to forever surround the MIB.

In the immediate years that followed my reading of John Keel’s legendary study of Mothman, I sought out just about as many works on the MIB as was conceivably possible. And, at the absolute top of my list – in joint first-place - were Gray Barker’s 1956 title They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers and a small, overwhelmingly bizarre book titled Flying Saucers and the Three Men. It was penned in 1962 by a curious and undeniably paranoid character named Albert Bender, without who there simply would be no MIB puzzle – period.

Barker, a skilled, atmospheric writer with a flair for all-things dramatic, gothic, dark and stormy, was the perfect person to address the MIB mystery. But, he would never have been in a position to do so had it not been for the eccentric Bender – who, in 1953, was allegedly silenced by a trio of black-garbed, glowing-eyed entities from some strange netherworld after getting too close to the truth about Flying Saucers.

For someone now just barely in their teens, I found both Barker’s and Bender’s books and tales to be even more captivating than those of Keel. Of course, as my teens became my twenties, and then my thirties, my views on the MIB phenomenon changed, in some ways subtly, but in other ways far less so. But there was one thing that never did alter: My earnest wish to solve the puzzle of the true nature, origin and intent of the Men in Black.

Since those now-long-gone days of my childhood, I have pursued the MIB on a scale that has far exceeded my quests for Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, and the truth about Roswell combined.


My first book, A Covert Agenda, which was published in 1997, detailed a number of curious MIB-style encounters in the British Isles from the 1950s onwards.

One year later, my follow-up title The FBI Files, detailed what the Bureau knew about the MIB puzzle.

My 2003 title, Strange Secrets, included a chapter on the little-known issue of government documents on the Men in Black.

Three years later, I penned On the Trail of the Saucer Spies, which was a full-length study of the secret surveillance of certain elements of the UFO research community by MIB-type characters in government.


In 2010, I contributed material to Curse of the Men in Black: Return of the UFO Terrorists, penned by John Stuart and Tim Beckley.

Then, in 2011, my The Real Men in Black hit the bookshelves. This latter title specifically addressed the paranormal side of the MIB phenomenon, with a great deal of page-space focused upon the possibility that the darkly-clad ones might be time-travelers, energy-sucking vampires, Tulpas, Trickster-style entities, or even demons from Hell – or maybe all of the above!

And, in that same year, I was very pleased to be asked to write a new Foreword to an updated edition of Gray Barker’s 1983 book: M.I.B.: The Secret Terror Among Us.

In other words, while I have never been fortunate enough to have received a late-night visit from the MIB (Yes, I would consider such a visit to be fortunate, as I might then be able to finally answer the riddle of who they really are!), they have certainly got their grips into me in other ways.

Having written about, and pondered so extensively on, the Men in Black, would I consider my research in this area to be a full-blown obsession? Maybe so; I can’t really deny such a possibility, as much as I would dearly prefer to.

But, if an obsession it is, then I’m certainly not the first – nor will I probably be the last – to be pulled, magnet-like, into the eye of the MIB hurricane. Bender, Barker, Keel: they all came before me, and all three became truly enveloped by MIB high-strangeness.

Will Strange Tales of the Men in Black be my last word on the MIB mystery? I'm 100 percent certain it won't!

   

MIB, Coast to Coast, and Crazy Phones!

Well, Saturday night's Coast to Coast show on the Men in Black mystery went very well. It was a 3-hour-long episode (1AM to 4AM) in which I discussed with the show's host, John B. Wells, the many and varied complexities of the legend of the Men in Black.

We covered a lot of ground, such as the saga of Albert Bender, Gray Barker's significant part in the MIB controversy, the MIB-Mothman connection, the many and varied theories for who - or what - the Men in Black might be, and much more.

But, there was something else too...

Normally, whenever I do a radio show, it goes ahead without a hitch. But, not when I'm talking about the MIB.

On many occasions now, when that subject surfaces, we seem to encounter endless telephone interference - which is, as many will know, a staple part of MIB lore.

And, indeed, the Coast to Coast show was no different. On four occasions, the landline dropped. Then, so did my cell phone, which I use for an emergency back-up. And, it was an hour or so after the show began that normality was finally restored.

If this happened only once or twice, I would put it all down to glitches in the phone connection. But, as listeners to some of my previous shows on the MIB may know, this happens frequently - even to the point of where I pretty much anticipate it occurring!

Tricksters? A warning? Maybe time will tell!

And for those who may want to listen to Saturday's show, or read a recap of the episode, you can do so right here.