FOXSYLVANIA

After a long hiatus, Monsters and Mysteries in America is back, with a fresh episode on Men in Black (S2/Ep 13).  Now these men in black have nothing to do with the popular Will Smith movies, but are depending on which account of them you follow either secret deep government operatives, aliens themselves, or supernatural demonic creatures. 

Hundreds of reports of the Men in Black have come in since 1947.  In their conspiracy incarnation, they are government UFO clean-up agents working at a high level of secrecy.  These gents look rather like the Blues Brothers, wearing dark suits, fedoras, narrow black ties, and sunglasses.  An early report of Men in Black from 1947 concerned the alleged explosion of a UFO in Pudget Sound, Washington, an event which supposedly rained debris down into the harbor and a ship there.  Men in Black then appeared to the crew, calling the object seen a weather balloon and threatening the observers.  A wave of UFO activity was reported to have occurred in Pennsylvania in the 1970’s, with an incident focused on happening in August 1973 in Derry, Pennsylvania.  There a woman and her son in a trailer heard scratching and crying baby type sounds, investigating to find a tall humanoid creature apparently attracted to their electrical supply.  The creature vanished, but Men in Black came thereafter, taking evidence in the form of goo left on the doorknob and a Polaroid photograph taken of unusual footprints, the imprints of which were also destroyed…

…in October of 1973 at a Pennsylvania farm, a red saucer about 100′ in diameter was seen from which emerged two huge figures 7′ -9′ tall with self-illuminating eyes.  Of course they were shot at, causing no damage to the figures but causing them and the saucer to disappear.  The ground appeared to glow where the UFO had landed.  Men in Black came soon thereafter, and hypnotized the farmer, who was never the same thereafter.  

In November of 1996 in West Virginia, a salesman called Woody Derenberger was traveling on Interstate 77 when a spacecraft reportedly appeared in front of his truck.  A humanoid was said to appear out of the craft, sporting a spooky grin as if the creature was trying to approximate a human appearance, but not quite mastering it.  He communicated telepathically with the salesman, calling himself a “searcher,” and promising the man, “We will see you again.”  In this version of Men in Black as aliens, the grinning man and companions did appear to the human repeatedly, with such contacts causing him to develop ESP.  The aliens were seen as trying to shape human development.

The most malevolent Men in Black resemble pale-faced ghouls or vampires.  In a 1987 case reported from Lincoln, Nebraska, a psychiatrist investigating UFO cases reported that a Man in Black visited him, and compelled him to burn his records and tapes of UFO investigations.  A Rev. Baeche also reported a manifestation of a demonic or spiritual MIB who seemed to be supernatural, leaving him traumatized.  Lastly, a Clyde Lewis reported seeing a MIB who could not be photographed with a cell phone camera.

Whether they are deep undercover government clean-up operatives, observing aliens, or supernatural entities, visitation from Men in Black leaves those visited feeling disturbed and deeply shaken…so watch the skies!