Redfern - The real men in black: evidence, famous cases, and true stories of these mysterious men and their connection to UFO phenomena

T HE R EAL M EN IN B LACK

Nick Redfern

Author of Contactees

Evidence, Famous Cases, and True
Stories of These Mysterious Men
and Their Connection to UFO Phenomena

Copyright 2011 by Nick Redfern

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

T HE R EAL M EN IN B LACK

E DITED AND T YPESET BY K ARA K UMPEL

Cover design by Lucia Rossman/Digi Dog Design

Printed in the U.S.A.

Image on page 22 Simon Wyatt; Image on page 32 Nick Redfern; Image on page 48 Brad Steiger; Image on page 54 Simon Wyatt; Image on page 62 Timothy Green Beckley; Image on page 65 Jim Moseley; Image on page 68 Allen Greenfield; Image on page 70 Allen Greenfield; Image on page 74 Loren Coleman; Image on page 96 exists in the public domain.; Image on page 107 Marie Jones; Image on page 118 Raven Meindel; Image on page 125 Claudia Cunningham; Image on page 132 Nick Redfern; Image on page 160 Greg Bishop; Image on page 212 Nick Redfern; Image on page 222 Ray Boeche

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Redfern, Nicholas, 1964

The real men in black : evidence, famous cases, and true stories of these mysterious men and their connection to UFO

phenomena / by Nick Redfern.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60163-157-2 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-669-0 (ebook) 1. Men in black (UFO phenomenon) I. Title.

BF2055.M45R43 2011

001.942--dc22

2011010847

For Brad Steiger, whose books I eagerly
devoured as a child,
and whom I am now very pleased
to call a friend.

I would like to offer my very sincere thanks to all of the following, without whom The Real Men in Black could never have been written:

Simon Wyatt, for his superb artistic renditions of Mothman and of the Men in Black; Rich Reynolds, of The UFO Iconoclast(s) blog, for truly going above and beyond the call of duty, and chasing down for me countless old, and now very hard-to-find, magazine articles on the Men in Black; Loren Coleman, for granting me permission to relate the story behind his own head-to-head with a Man in Black; Jim Moseley, the editor and, in his own words, Supreme Commander of Saucer Smear, for sharing with me his photographs and his many and varied memories on Albert Bender, Gray Barker, and John Keel; Brad Steiger, who very generously took valuable time out of his hectic schedule to speak at length about his tireless efforts to investigate and chronicle the activities of the MIB; my good friend and fellow New Page author, Marie D. Jones, who enthusiastically said Yes! when I asked her if she would be willing to have the details of her MIB experience published in these pages; fellow researcher Regan Lee, who provided crucial data on some of the more bizarre aspects of the Men in Black mystery; Micah Hanks, for demonstrating that sometimes a Man in Black is just a man in black clothes!; Chris OBrien, without whose fine research our knowledge of the whole Trickster phenomenon would be sorely lacking; my close friend and co-host on the Exploring All Realms show, Raven Meindel, for having the courage to tell her MIB-themed account of truly disturbing proportions; Irene Bott, formerly of the Staffordshire UFO Group, for the data on a 1995 Man in Black alien abduction case in central England; Daryl Collins, for an absolute treasure-trove of material of decades-old correspondence and research files on Albert Bender and the MIB; Ray Boeche, without any shadow of doubt one of the most learned figures, and careful thinkers, when it comes to addressing the connections among UFOs, MIB, Christianity, demonology, and much more; Timothy Green Beckley, who kept me entertained for hours with his stories of the early years of MIB research, and who, after decades in the business, I am very pleased to say still retains his enthusiasm and passion for pursuing the Men in Black; Sharon, whose MIB confrontation in England in 1994 made me recognize that the phenomenon was very much ongoing; Allen Greenfield, for generously providing his photograph of a Man in Black, and whose sheer depth of knowledge on the Men in Black, Gray Barker, John Keel, Tulpas, and a wide range of other issues made his words very welcome indeed; Colin Bennett, for revealing the startling facts relative to his own early-1980s encounter with a Man in Black in London, and for thoughtfully and carefully answering my many and varied questions on all manner of MIB-related issues; Joshua P. Warren, a first-class researcher and author, whose fascinating theories pertaining to the MIB and time-travel provide definite food for thought; Claudia Cunningham, who was a delight to chat with, and whose recent MIB encounter is prime evidence that these dark characters are still roaming among us; Jerome Clark, who provided first-class insight and commentary on the experiences of Albert Bender and the characters of Gray Barker and John Keel that proved invaluable; Nick Pope, now retired from the British Ministry of Defense, for taking time out to give me his personal opinions and thoughts on the nature of the Men in Black controversy; Greg Bishop, without doubt one of my closest friends, and someone whose encyclopedic knowledge on the early years of and players within the UFO field made his input to the book significant in the extreme; Amanda Marino and the rest of the staff at Warwick Associates for the fine promotion and publicity work; and, finally, everyone at New Page Books and Career Press, but particularly Michael Pye, Laurie Kelly-Pye, Kirsten Dalley, Adam Schwartz, Gina Talucci, and Kara Kumpel for her fine job of editing the original manuscript of this book.

Chapter 1:
The Mystery Begins With Albert Bender (1945)

Chapter 2:
Gray Barker Joins the IFSB (1953)

Chapter 3:
FBI Involvement (1950s)

Chapter 4:
Brad Steigers Tales (1960s)

Chapter 5:
Mothman Arrives in Point Pleasant (1967)

Chapter 6:
Photographic Evidence (Late 1960s)

Chapter 7:
Madmen and Monsters (Early 1970s)

Chapter 8:
Doctors, Dead Ponies, and a Man in Brown (Late 1970s)

Chapter 9:
Colin Bennett Meets Mr. X (Early 1980s)

Chapter 10:
Modern Men in Black (Late 1980s and 1990s)

Chapter 11:
MIB in the New Millennium (2000s)

Chapter 12:
Women in Black (2000)

Chapter 13:
Hallucinations

Chapter 14:
Hoaxes

Chapter 15:
Tulpas and Vampires

Chapter 16:
Tricksters

Chapter 17:
Civilian Investigators

Chapter 18: