MIB? Yes! (Competition entry)
by: Goerman
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Word Count: 1078
Aircel Comics published the debut issue of "The Men in Black" in January 1990. Creator and writer Lowell Cunningham had the inspiration for the graphic novel when a friend of his, Dennis Matheson, related Men in Black or MIB legends surrounding the UFO enigma. Matheson told fascinating stories about how mysterious men dressed in black menaced UFO witnesses and terrified civilian UFO researchers. Playing "what if," Cunningham downplayed flying saucers and used selective mythology as a jumping off point to create an MIB organization that existed to suppress anything that could upset the normal flow of society.
"I thought UFOs every issue might get boring after a while," Cunningham confessed in an interview.
Perhaps the most insightful and telling fictional look at altered states and our perception of reality during Men in Black incidents in particular and UFO events in general took place on broadcast television during the third season of The X Files when "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" aired on April 12, 1996.
One year later, director Barry Sonnenfield made Men in Black household words with his science fiction comedy starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as MIB agents protecting Earth from the scum of the universe. Loosely based on the Cunningham comic book series, these MIB represented an ultra-secret organization established to monitor and police extraterrestrial immigrants. Jones and Smith discovered an alien terrorist on a one-bug mission to spark intergalactic war. Movie audiences discovered sight gags and one-liners, entertaining special effects and plenty of action with constant references to popular alien and conspiracy theories. The film spawned a sequel and animated series, not to mention a universe of movie-related merchandise.
Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, real Men in Black are no laughing matter. Genuine visits by enigmatic strangers are among the rarest episodes of our extraordinary encounter continuum. The term Men in Black has evolved to include any individuals that harass accidental eyewitnesses to so-called "UFO" and "paranormal" events, that serve to intimidate investigative researchers of these unexplained occurrences or that appear in active areas of high strangeness.
Some Men in Black are vaguely foreign: slight in stature, olive complexion or heavily tanned with pointed features and slanted eyes that give them a somewhat oriental appearance. Many are pale and cadaverous with no hair or eyebrows. Others appear normal. But their general demeanor is always cold, often menacing.
MIB cases worldwide range from curious to bizarre to incredible.
Curious MIB cases today are defined as those where the visitor offers false identity or displays an uncanny knowledge of exactly what the witness saw. People tell of these Men in Black knowing when they were being lied to and when they were being told the truth. The most disturbing aspect was that the MIB appeared to know intimate family details without any logical explanation of how they had come by this knowledge.
Bizarre cases might include aspects where the visitor speaks in a monotone "like a computer," often with an indefinite accent; tries to drink Jell-O; moves in a mechanical manner; wears bright red lipstick; appears to have respiratory difficulties; "runs out" of energy... as if poorly impersonating human beings.
At the incredible extreme lie unbelievable cases where the strange visitors and their cars have dematerialized in plain sight.
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 was concerned over increasing reports that persons unknown bearing bogus credentials from various official agencies were visiting and coercing UFO witnesses into silence, sometimes even confiscating UFO photographs and every trace of physical evidence.
"We haven't been able to find out anything about them," Colonel Freeman admitted. "By posing as Air Force officers and government agents, they are committing a federal offense. We would sure like to catch one."
On March 1, 1967, Lieutenant General Hewitt T. Wheless, USAF, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, sent a confidential letter to all commands concerning impersonations of Air Force officers that read:
"Information, not verifiable, has reached Hq USAF that persons claiming to represent the Air Force or other Defense establishments have contacted citizens who have sighted unidentified flying objects. In one reported case an individual in civilian clothes, who represented himself as a member of NORAD, demanded and received photos belonging to a private citizen. In another, a person in an Air Force uniform approached local police and other citizens who had sighted a UFO, assembled them in a school room and told them that they did not see what they thought they saw and that they should not talk to anyone about the sighting. All military and civilian personnel and particularly Information Officers and UFO Investigating Officers who hear of such reports should immediately notify their local OSI officers."
Men in Black encounters often involve people totally unaware of this phenomenon. In 1967, sketchy MIB tales were published in paltry mimeographed newsletters and read by a handful of hardcore UFO enthusiasts. The situation has not improved. Even today, with the vast resources of the Internet at our disposal, these MIB incidents continue and many people have little knowledge of the relatively obscure Men in Black modus operandi.
Men in Black are neither hallucinations nor hoaxes.
But what do these visitations represent?
Role-playing covert government operatives?
Nonhumans acting human?
Maybe a little of both.
Maybe something beyond our immediate comprehension.
Odd appearance and bizarre behavior does not certify the existence of nonhumans among us. However, dissolving coins and cars raise interesting questions.
Our failure to understand these events in no way negates their validity.
These visitations represent entity contact at its most accessible in that entire families have endured grueling visits by these mystery men and many witnesses are harassed more than once.
These visitations represent entity contact at its most elusive. Parents wonder why they allowed their children to be so intensely grilled by these strangers. Victims speak of being unable to think or react normally until after the mysterious visitors leave. This suggests altered states of consciousness or subliminal hypnotic techniques.
What if the MIB visit you?
Will you be witty and clever and insist they pose for a snapshot?
Or will you be a deer in headlights and spend your tomorrows wondering why?
COMPETITION ENTRY
About the Author
You've seen Robert A. Goerman on Unsolved Mysteries and The History Channel found him working on both sides of the camera. His writings have appeared in national magazines and served as source material for several popular books on the paranormal.
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