An Excellent Paper on Sleep Paralysis - For Free!

 Check out this from Robert Goerman, completely free for download at Amazon:

An excellent paper from Robert on sleep paralysis. 

 You can get it for five days, from Saturday, November 7th until Wednesday, November 11th. 

Don't miss it!

Robert Goerman Reviews "The Alien Book"

A great new review from Robert Goerman of my new book, The Alien Book.


The Alien Book: A Guide To Extraterrestrial Beings On Earth
by Nick Redfern
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Visible Ink Press (September 1, 2019)
Review by Robert A. Goerman

Visible Ink Press caters a feast for the mind with The Alien Book: A Guide To Extraterrestrial Beings On Earth by Nick Redfern. Forty-four delicacies are alphabetically presented over the course of four hundred pages. Many entrees are plated beautifully with illustrations. Connoisseurs will appreciate the rich bibliographical references and index. Trust our colleagues at Visible Ink Press to deliver a banquet for the price of a good meal.
The beings, creatures, mysteries, et cetera in this book are indeed alien to the norm of our everyday lives and spatiotemporal reality. Whether they are actually extraterrestrial, that is, originating from some other physical world in our universe, will be a matter of conjecture and debate. Whatever they are, they are here. They are not going away today. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.
Every single entree is seasoned with Redfern's secret blend of horrifying herbs and sinister spices.
Do human crop circle makers attune to a higher intelligence? Sacred geometry and intent are two things that a magician or cabalist needs to create magic. Are these metaphysical artists working with large emblems on a living canvas to rediscover the ancient art of natural magic? Does this automatic drawing summon paranormal forces? Matthew Williams is convinced.
We completely agree with Nick Redfern that Men (and Women) in Black “are clearly not residents of our world.” We also agree with researcher Steve Ash when he wonders if these UFO Silencers with their alleged agenda to scare people away from the subject often have the opposite effect. Maybe the MiB mission is to purposefully highlight and “advertise” high strangeness. Are MiB the “teaser trailers” of the paranormal realm?
We ask ourselves if these MiB and WiB understand their own actions. Are the Men in Black at the mercy of something else? They can appear after a “sighting” or Active Paranormal Event before the witness has told anyone. They relate details known only to the witness. MiB manifestations can appear out of nowhere and vanish in plain sight as if they are inserted and extracted geographically and chronologically into and out of our reality.
Men in Black show signs of interacting with humans on both a physical and psychic level. The consciousness of the witness can be altered and manipulated during the encounter. Meeting the witness in person seems to be their primary goal and conversation appears to be of secondary importance. Maybe the intelligences behind the MiB manifestations are curious as to how lower lifeforms imprisoned by linear time exercise “free will” and make “choices.”
The variety of paranormal phenomena examined in this book is impressive. Redfern writes that “aliens come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some are friendly. Others are anything but friendly. They all have one thing in common: the human race has encountered them.”
Chasing UFOs and cryptids with nuts-and-bolts and flesh-and-blood mindsets might be a matter of “barking up the wrong tree.” Yet other researchers take these stands to appear more “scientific.”
While all forty-four entrees are delicious, we did find an occasional forkful that left us feeling frustrated. Redfern refers to Mothman's “glowing, self-illuminating red eyes.” This is certainly not his fault. Our basic knowledge of West Virginia's "Mothman" begins as flawed folklore thanks to author John Keel. The original eyewitness accounts state that the creature has “fiery-red eyes that glow when the lights hit it. There was no glowing about it until the lights hit it” (from Linda Scarberry's handwritten report made a few days after the encounter). “The young men said they saw the creature’s eyes, which glowed red, only when their lights shined on it” (from the Point Pleasant Register, Wednesday, November 16, 1966). Mothman today has evolved into weapons-grade “balonium.”
One thing is certain. Now is the best time to discover Nick Redfern.

Flying Saucers from the Kremlin: Reviewed

Robert Goerman does a great review of my new book: Flying Saucers from the Kremlin: UFOs, Russian Meddling, Soviet Spies & Cold War Secrets.


Flying Saucers from the Kremlin: UFOs, Russian Meddling, Soviet Spies & Cold War Secrets
by Nick Redfern

Paperback: 242 pages
 
Publisher: Lisa Hagan Books (June 9, 2019)
 
Review by Robert A. Goerman

Some governments need enemies. There must be reasons for keeping vital secrets and building invincible armies. Enemies justify propaganda and deception. Nowhere was this more apparent than during the Cold War (1947-1991) between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Humanity feared extinction from nuclear war. American schoolchildren practiced surviving atomic weapons by diving under their desks in futile "Duck and Cover" drills. Many countries constructed fallout shelters. The antics of America's CIA and Russia's KGB mirrored Mad magazine's "Spy vs. Spy" comic strip created by cartoonist Antonio Prohías.

Rich and powerful men avoid losing wealth and influence.

Flying Saucers from the Kremlin documents whether the USSR used the mythos of "flying saucers" to further the communist agenda and provoke hysteria and paranoia in the western world. It also explores the countermeasures of the United States and its allies. But this book is not a skeptical look at the UFO mystery. Nick Redfern begins with an important disclaimer: "There are real UFOs and there are deliberately-crafted lies concerning UFOs."

Learning the cloak-and-dagger accounts in this book is important for readers eager to finally set the UFO record straight. Governments on both sides of this Cold War were not suppressing knowledge and evidence of extraterrestrial visits to Earth. These clandestine activities developed to perpetrate and prevent espionage and psychological warfare.

So-called "contactees" and flying saucer clubs were covertly scrutinized, infiltrated, and intimidated. Official records verifying these facts were not created as part of a disinformation culture by agents with the foresight to know that future citizens could examine classified materials using a Freedom of Information Act. Reports were composed to be pertinent to the attitudes, perceptions, and context of the relevant time periods. These documents are honest glimpses into our past.

It did not help that the "space people" loved communists and communism.

Have we been deliberately misled about many prominent UFO mysteries?

Nick Redfern is constantly blazing new trails to research. Flying Saucers from the Kremlin held my interest captive. Redfern is the hottest ticket in town.

Robert Goerman Reviews My "Area 51" Book

Area 51: The Revealing Truth of UFOs, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups & Conspiracies by Nick Redfern identifies Who's Who and What's What in that little corner of the conspiracy theory universe. Reading this opus is like being thrown out of an airplane without a parachute. The wild exhilaration of the freefall is offset by the horror of the ground rushing up to greet you. Redfern can be both today's casual read and tomorrow's well worn reference with a creased spine and dog-eared pages.

Creating the definitive reference book about the shadowy Area 51 hydra and its many tentacles of smoke and mirrors is a herculean task. Pulling no punches, Redfern jumps into the fray with forty-six chapters and four hundred pages. Readers are escorted through a labyrinth of murky passages and secret chambers that range from historical to hysterical and all points in between. Is there anything about the most controversial military base in the world that should be discounted out of hand? We may well be on fringes not only beyond belief, but beyond comprehension. The nets are cast far and wide.

One of the many fascinating chapters, "Termination and Terror," gruesomely illustrates the convoluted nature of our subject matter. Redfern chronologically relates the bizarre behavior of some employees and persons associated with the top-secret work of a defense company known as Marconi Electronic Systems. Where officialdom "sees" accidents and suicides, objective journalists and researchers might "see" murders made to look like accidents and suicides. Nineteen deaths are acknowledged in this chapter: three by car accident; one by shotgun; one by drug overdose; three by fatal falls; four by carbon monoxide poisoning; two by electrocution; one by suffocation; and two by drowning. Add to this the Marconi scientist that dies as a result of tying one end of rope to a tree and looping the other end around his neck and driving off at high speed. Yet another crashes his car, loaded with extra containers of gasoline, into the brick wall of an empty cafeteria and completes our death toll.

Here is a sampling of those suicides and accidents...

November 1985 - Jonathan Walsh, 29, "fell" from his hotel room in Abidjan, West Africa. He had expressed a fear for his life. Verdict: Open.

August 1986 - Vimal Dajibhai, 24, found below the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. Verdict: Open.

January 1987 - After narrowly escaping a 1986 Christmas accident when his car violently, and inexplicably, left the roadway, Dr. John Britton, 52, was found in his garage, a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. Verdict: Accident.

January 1987 - Richard Pugh, 37, found dead with his feet bound and a plastic bag over his head. Rope was tied around his body, coiling four times around his neck. Verdict: Accident.

February 1987 - Peter Peapell, 46, found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in his Oxfordshire garage. Verdict: Open.

April 1987 - Shani Warren, 26, found face down in Taplow Lake, a noose around her neck, her mouth gagged with a blue scarf, her feet bound with tow rope, and her hands tied behind her back with spark plug cables. Verdict: Suicide.

April 1987 - David Greenhalgh, 46, suffered multiple injuries after a fall from a 40 foot high railway bridge on his way to work at Maidenhead, Berkshire. He died a few days later in the hospital.

August 1988 - Retired Army Brigadier Peter Ferry, 60, electrocuted in his company flat with electrical leads in his mouth. Verdict: Open.

August 1988 - Alistair Beckham, 50, found dead after being electrocuted in his garden shed with wires connected to his body and a handkerchief stuffed in his mouth. Verdict: Open.

It must be asserted here that "verifying" any "conspiracy theory" involves producing evidence, authenticating documentation, and evaluating statements and testimony.

Nick Redfern examines whistleblower testimony and deathbed confessions, official documents and secret memos, all in an effort to guide the reader safely beyond the warning signs, surveillance cameras, motion sensors, and armed guards at Area 51. Each page and chapter reveals history and secrets. Researchers and sleuths will find the bibliography and comprehensive index very useful.

There are primarily three types of enthusiasts studying the unknown and unexplained. "First Person" researchers seek to personally encounter paranormal phenomena. "Second Person" researchers directly contact other persons who have encountered the mysterious and often conduct on-site field investigations where these incidents have occurred. The largest group or "Third Person" researchers examine published accounts of mysteries. Some people fit into two or all three classifications of enthusiast.

Whatever your level of interest in the unknown and unexplained, you will find Area 51: The Revealing Truth of UFOs, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups & Conspiracies a compelling and worthwhile read. Highly recommended.

For more information on Robert Goerman and his writings and research, click here.

My New Book, "Paranormal Parasites," Reviewed

A cool new review of my latest book, Paranormal Parasites, from Robert Goerman:

Paranormal Parasites: The Voracious Appetites of Soul-Sucking Supernatural Entities by Nick Redfern Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (September 8, 2018) Review by Robert A. Goerman Nick Redfern's latest chilling paperback is Paranormal Parasites: The Voracious Appetites of Soul-Sucking Supernatural Entities. That swollen title alone triggers some mental gag reflex at the back of my mind. I feel violated. The tagline and blurb on the back cover shove me down his rabbit hole:

"The terrifying truth is that THE EARTH IS ONE BIG FARM. And to paranormal parasites . . . WE ARE THE CATTLE. "Most people remain oblivious to the truth — there's a monstrous menagerie of supernatural entities that feed upon human victims without our knowledge. Fueling themselves with our psychic energy, high states of emotion, and essential lifeforce, these dark entities attack as we sleep and even in our waking hours, terrifying and tormenting unsuspecting souls whenever and wherever they can."

These are bold statements. Has Nick bitten off more than he can chew? Paranormal Parasites is a spooky and unsettling journey. Its arguments are as disturbing as watching maggots feed on a carcass. It is, quite honestly, a springboard to nightmares. Unfortunately, this book is not simply grandiose speculation. Redfern hits the ground running and covers a lot of territory. His menagerie includes Black-Eyed Children, Shadow People, djinn, thought-forms, Men in Black, aliens, hungry ghosts, incubi and succubi, Bigfoot, zombies, vampires, and spectral nameless things that haunt and hunt humans. Paraphysical creatures that literally kill and eat us are bad enough.

What defense do we have against supernatural entities that secretly feast upon us? How much soul can a soul eater eat? Chapter 7 involves Mind Monsters. I also imagine that a tulpa or mind-creature can be created by human thought. Not in the same way that Nick and others think this is possible. After all, millions of children fervently believe in Santa without effect or consequence. No. The necessary catalyst for creation might be the intervention of a watchful nonphysical intelligence. The tulpa or poltergeist is a reflective decoy. Belief and emotion feed the original source, not the distraction. This book makes me wonder about my own research.

How often do paranormal prowlers carry out their agenda in your home while you sleep peacefully in your bed? Men, women, and children everywhere awaken and discover that they are not alone. I continue to accumulate accounts of nonhuman beings that terrify vulnerable humans at night. These are not innocent hallucinations associated with Aware Sleep Paralysis. Many victims are immediately compelled back to sleep or rendered unconscious. The motive for these paranormal home invasions has always escaped me. Are these entities enjoying a late-night snack?

Paranormal Parasites is an appetizer. This ideal portion gives readers that perfect taste of food for thought. There will always be a place for you at the table. Whether you are guest or entree is up to you. Highly recommended.

Robert Goerman reviews "The Black Diary"

 

Robert Goerman's great new review of my latest book, The Black Diary: 

 

 

The Black Diary: M.I.B., Women in Black, Black-Eyed Children, and Dangerous Books

by Nick Redfern

Publisher: Lisa Hagan Books (May 13, 2018)

Paperback: 258 pages

Reviewed by Robert A. Goerman

http://robertgoerman.wixsite.com/paranormal

It is an absolute fact that credible people encounter incredible beings. Some of these entities can rather successfully impersonate the human inhabitants of Earth.

I usually designate these counterfeits as "Mysterious Strangers." This may include those mimics that harass eyewitnesses to so-called "UFO" and "paranormal" events or any that intimidate investigative researchers of unexplained phenomena. Quite often, the "high strangeness" of the stranger is only realized during pensive hindsight. This is after the "enchantment" has broken. Enchantment here refers to the manipulation of human perception, consciousness, and memory. It also refers to their exploitation of our time and space continuum.

I have organized these encounters into three distinct categories based on weirdness: Curious, Bizarre, and Incredible.

The "Curious" level contains those cases where the strangers display an uncanny knowledge of exactly what the witness saw or sometimes appear on the scene before that witness had a chance to report the experience to the authorities or media.

"Bizarre" cases may include these things and more. The visitors may appear odd or act very strangely. They may speak in a monotone "like a computer" or with an unidentifiable accent; try to drink Jell-O; move in a mechanical manner; have no visible body hair; males might wear bright red lipstick and cosmetics; resemble a cadaver; appear to have respiratory difficulties; "run out" of energy... all as if poorly imitating human beings.

"Incredible" cases add an extraordinary touch to the aforementioned categories. For instance, the interlopers may disappear in one of two ways. There is a difference between vanishing in plain sight and disappearing in the blink of an eye. The former indicates that the witness sees the entity vanish during unbroken vigilance. Disappearing in the blink of an eye means that the witness looked away or blinked and the visitor was gone. Irish folklore tells us to never take our eyes off a leprechaun during a pursuit or he will vanish. Our strangers might also walk through a muddy field and leave no tracks. The laws of our spatiotemporal "reality" do not deter certain visitants.

Personally researching encounters with nonhuman beings for more than five decades, it is my distinct honor and privilege to read, review, and recommend the MiB/WiB trilogy by my colleague Nick Redfern. The Black Diary: M.I.B., Women in Black, Black-Eyed Children, and Dangerous Books is his grand finale to the series. To call it "grand" is an understatement.

There are, first and foremost, mesmerizing accounts of meetings with nonhuman beings.

On July 19, 2012, Gloria (a senior citizen from Decatur, Texas) was just minding her own business and reading a book, with her two dogs for company. Both pets began barking at the sky. She looked up in time to observe what can only be accurately described as a classic flying saucer before it suddenly dematerialized, rather than having shot away at high speed. It was a case of "here-one-second-and-gone-the-next-second." Animal reactions are part and parcel of many paranormal mysteries.

Gloria had a brief peek into the unknown. She took no photos or video. She recovered no physical evidence of the "UFO" existence. She did not report her sighting to the media or the authorities.

And yet, there was a knock on her door the following afternoon. It was a pale-faced skeletal woman of about thirty, wearing a long black wig and dressed in a black jacket, a white blouse, and a flowing, black skirt (in July in Texas). She also sported huge sunglasses. The WiB smelled of dirt. This stranger warned Gloria not to talk about the UFO she had encountered the previous day, due to the claim that "the government is concerned." After asking what the time was, the WiB turned, walked down Gloria's driveway and vanished into nothingness.

Nick and I both know that these strangers are not from any government agency. While MiB/WiB visits can turn "ho-hum" UFO sightings into memorable cases, these entity encounters can also be quite hazardous to your health.

Kent Senter described his physical reactions to a visit from three MiB. "I looked up and immediately felt numbness and somewhat of a tingling electric shock in my stomach. I have never felt this sensation before or since. It was similar to a funny bone hit, but in the stomach only... It all seemed so strange and I felt like I was in a stupor."

Could Kent be describing some type of invisible assault to his Solar Plexus? Interestingly enough, the Solar Plexus chakra is associated with the following psychological and behavioral functions: willpower, clarity of judgement, and making decisions. Perhaps these beings, from realms unknown, recognize more than our crude biological vulnerabilities.

Reactions to visits from these strangers may include mind-numbing fear, perceived evil, confusion, electrifying energy racing up the spine, sickness in the stomach, loss of will, and even loss of consciousness. These effects might be a reaction to purposefully directed energies and the localized environment created by the close proximity of these "beings."

One witness summed up his feelings to Nick: "I don't know if you've ever eaten anything that's made you really sick and then afterwards, just the thought or smell or even sight of that food will bring back the symptoms again? That's how it is with these MiB things, pretty much exactly. You know when they're around. You can feel it like the oncoming symptoms of a flu or food poisoning attack." Redfern reports that others have fallen ill after their encounters with these Mysterious Strangers.

It is all here in The Black Diary: M.I.B., Women in Black, Black-Eyed Children, and Dangerous Books. There are strange and threatening telephone calls. There are "phantom photographers" and "grinning men." There are even phantom Black Helicopters that morph into the weirdest things!

The Black Diary (2018) by Nick Redfern joins the honored tradition of The Mothman Prophecies (1975) by John Keel, The Mysterious Valley (1996) by Christopher O'Brien, and Hunt for the Skinwalker (2005) by Colm A. Kelleher Ph.D. and George Knapp. Each of these amazing authors documented, in a chronological journal style of sorts, the mayhem and mystery, synchronicity and "Trickster" phenomena that interacted with their research and the lives of those within the scope of their investigations.

The Black Diary: M.I.B., Women in Black, Black-Eyed Children, and Dangerous Books is a tantalizing and dangerous roller coaster. Ride it at your own risk. For those that do, I offer this advice:

1.) Not every idea in your head belongs to you.

2.) These cosmic forces know what you think and do.

3.) Some synchronous events are orchestrated for your benefit or detriment.

 

 

Robert Goerman Reviews "The Slenderman Mysteries"

An excellent new review from Robert Goerman of my recently published book, "The Slenderman Mystreries."

The Slenderman Mysteries: An Internet Urban Legend Comes to Life
by Nick Redfern
Publisher: New Page Books (February 19, 2018)
Paperback: 288 pages
Reviewed by Robert A. Goerman
http://robertgoerman.wixsite.com/paranormal

Well, soak me in gasoline and hand me a lighter... I must confess to originally never giving all this "Slenderman" business a second thought. Nick Redfern changes all that. The Slenderman Mysteries: An Internet Urban Legend Comes to Life leaves readers feeling like helpless bugs trapped in a violently shaken jar.

Eric Knudsen has an epiphany. Prompted by a Photoshop contest to manipulate ordinary photos into scary paranormal images, he "creates" The Slender Man (now known simply as Slenderman) during a "boring" afternoon at work. Knudsen admits to throwing together the two original images in about fifteen minutes and that "it was pretty spontaneous." The black-and-white photographs depict a very tall and emaciated "man" in a black suit. His arms and legs are way too long and spiderlike. He has no hair or face. Tentacles protrude from his back. He is lurking behind a group of children. Using the pseudonym of "Victor Surge," Knudsen downloads the doctored photos, accompanied by some tantalizing text, to the Something Awful (SA) website forum and The Slender Man is born on June 10, 2009. Wednesday's child is full of woe.

In an interview, Knudsen adds, "You’ve seen him, now you can’t unsee him."
As I independently research each aspect while reading Nick Redfern's book, I am amazed and alarmed as to how effortlessly Knudsen's nightmarish contagion is crafted and the efficient incubation period of the psycho-virus. "Slendermania" spreads like wildfire. Redfern writes that "None of this occurred in weeks or even months. It all happened within days."

It gets weirder.

On the night of November 6, 2009, George Noory, host of the hugely popular paranormally themed talk-show Coast to Coast AM, takes a number of calls from people who claim to have personally encountered an entity resembling Slenderman. Some claim the Slenderman invades their dreams. Others see the Slenderman in the real world.

My colleague, the Reverend Robin Swope, has many narratives concerning encounters with Slenderman. Many of these predate the invention of the mythos. These are detailed in his 2012 book Slenderman: From Fiction to Fact.

What is happening here?

Who or what is the Slenderman? Is he a mind-created Tulpa or thought-form that can stride out of our darkest imaginations and into reality if enough people believe in him? Is Eric Knudsen a creator or conduit? Is the Internet awake and tormenting us with equivalents of our very own online nightmares? Is he summoned by Chaos Magic? Is Slenderman the "reborn face of an ancient evil?" There are far more questions and theories and synchronicities than answers.

On May 31, 2014, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, both twelve, lure their friend, fellow sixth-grader Payton “Bella” Leutner, into the woods near their Waukesha, Wisconsin suburb. What happens next becomes international news. Geyser and Weier stab Leutner nineteen times and then leave her to die, hoping that her death will make them worthy of becoming servants or "proxies" of Slenderman. Their victim survives the attack and Geyser and Weier are arrested, tried, and sentenced. Slenderman becomes a household word. The horrific tragedy now haunts every attempt to research this topic.
I do not envy Nick Redfern on this endeavor. The Slenderman Mysteries: An Internet Urban Legend Comes to Life covers a lot of territory. Interviews are conducted with the likes of Jenny Coleman, Mike Huberty, Allison Jornlin, Tea Krulos, Olav Phillips, Kimberly Rackley, Robin Swope, and Ian Vincent.

Whenever I examine any reported encounter with the paranormal, I attempt to ascertain the temperature of the witness. In a COLD encounter, the witness is minding their own business, with nary a thought about the unknown and unexplained. During WARM encounters, the witness has a temporary involvement with the paranormal spurred by mild curiosity or social pressure. They may be playing with a Ouija board or participating in an amateur hunt for ghosts or cryptids. HOT encounters involve individuals who are in active pursuit of the paranormal.

One of my favorite cases in The Slenderman Mysteries: An Internet Urban Legend Comes to Life is very HOT. "Lacy," a trainee flight attendant from Erie, Pennsylvania becomes overwhelmingly obsessed with the the saga of the Slenderman, reading all that she could about the subject. One book that she reads is Slenderman: From Fiction to Fact.

Lacy always keeps her laptop computer on a coffee table in her living room. On three occasions in 2016, her device, which was in sleep-mode, wakes up. The first time it briefly displays an image looking like a cross between a man and a long-legged bug. The second time it clearly displays Slenderman's non-face. On the final occasion, a voice announces: "We are friends." Lacy immediately drops her research into the Slenderman, deletes all her files on the subject, and burns her copy of Reverend Swope's book in a metal container in her mother's yard. Slenderman did not return.
There is a history of paranormal phenomena emanating from telephones, radios, and televisions. Haunted computers seems to be the next phase.

There is also a history of "psychic backlash." Sometimes, when a person becomes too deeply immersed in paranormal investigation and research, the phenomena appears to realize that it is being watched and responds. Usually, not in a positive manner. John Keel and others, warn us, time and time again, about the dangers of contemplating supernatural entities.
Be careful what you wish for.

We may want to prepare ourselves for a new wave of "Slendermania." Slender Man is an upcoming supernatural horror film directed by Sylvain White and written by David Birke. The film stars Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso and Talitha Bateman. The monster is portrayed by Javier Botet. A brief summary reads: "Slender Man tells the story of a tall, thin, horrifying figure with unnaturally long arms and a featureless face, who is reputed to be responsible for the haunting and disappearance of countless children and teens." It will be released by Screen Gems on August 24, 2018.

Nick Redfern's book will be a great place to start.

Robert Goerman Reviews My Book, "Men in Black"

Robert Goerman, a long-time observer - and investigator - of the Men in Black mystery, reviews my latest book on the subject...

Fate Forum Book Reviews
MEN IN BLACK: Personal Stories & Eerie Adventures
By Nick Redfern
Lisa Hagan Books
September 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9764986-6-7
(Reviewed by Robert Goerman)

Back in the nineteen-sixties, I had the naiveté to create the Excalibur Commission, a working group of teens assembled to collect anecdotes about personal encounters with those mysterious Men in Black. I still have the original October 1967 issue of SAGA magazine featuring John Keel's "UFO AGENTS -- The Mysterious Men in Black." This groundbreaking article introduced the "Silence Group" to the average person.

In January of 1967, Colonel George P. Freeman, Pentagon spokesman for Project Blue Book, the Air Force investigation into reports of Unidentified Flying Objects, revealed that our government seemed concerned over increasing reports that persons unknown passing themselves off as USAF personnel or bearing credentials from various official agencies were coercing UFO witnesses into silence, sometimes confiscating photographs and every trace of physical evidence. On March 1, 1967, Lieutenant General Hewitt T. Wheless, USAF, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, sent a memo to all commands concerning these impersonations of Air Force officers.

In the meantime, privately printed newsletters from UFO research groups everywhere documented MIB encounters.

It was during my early years of research that I remember visiting a casual female acquaintance at her home in the Middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania when her young brother came rushing in to announce that men in dark suits were sitting in a shiny black Cadillac at the end of the long driveway, just watching the house. The father immediately left to confront these strangers. The smartly dressed intruders waited until the last moment to back onto the deserted country lane and depart. No one in that family had ever heard of the Men in Black.

For many reasons, I am convinced that Men in Black exist. Families have endured grueling visits by these mystery men. Some witnesses are harassed more than once. Victims speak of being unable to react normally until after their "guests" leave.

MEN IN BLACK: Personal Stories & Eerie Adventures is a collection of thirty-one contributions from the personal files of Nick Redfern. In his own words: "It's fair to say that my latest book on the Men in Black is somewhat of a radical departure for me, in the sense that I have specifically let the witnesses and the theorists -- 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."

Some of the names are quite familiar: Rich Reynolds, Brad Steiger, David Weatherly, Jason Offutt, and Micah Hanks. This reviewer had the distinct honor of being contributor number thirteen. Then my colleague Nick Redfern introduces us to total strangers.

To quote Manfred Mann's Earth Band: "But mama, that's where the fun is."

It is here that we get into the gritty business of men and women meeting nonhumans. Witnesses become "enchanted." Consciousness is altered. Minds struggle to make sense of nonsense. MIB can look odd or retro, sometimes with whiter than white skin that looks artificial, sometimes with olive complexion and dark eyes, sometimes as bony as a cadaver, but always exuding, if not malice, then, at least, indifference to human beings. Look away for one second and they are gone. Never vanishing in plain sight, but disappearing just the same. Men in Black control each encounter.

One might say that the writing and the chapters are uneven. That happens when thirty-one different people (not all of them polished and professional authors) "tell their own stories, solely in their own words." Some essays may interest and impress you. Others, not so much. Each story is important to the person who wrote it. Our failure to understand these events in no way negates their validity.
What if the MIB visit you? Will you be cunning and insist they pose for a snapshot? Or will you be a "deer in headlights" and spend your tomorrows wondering why?