Shortly after Bender closed down his magazine and organization he gave an interview to a local paper (in) which he asserted that he had been visited by "three men wearing dark suits" who had ordered him "emphatically" to stop publishing material about flying saucers. Bender said that he had been "scared to death" and that he "actually couldn't eat for a couple of days". Some of Bender's former associates tried to press for a more satisfactory explanation, but to all questions he replied either cryptically or not at all.
This state of affairs created considerable confusions among the flying saucer buffs. What were they to think about such a strange story? Some were openly skeptical of Bender's tale. They said that his publication and organization were losing money and the tale of the three visitors who ordered him to stop publishing was just a face-saving gesture. Yet, as the years went by the "Three Men In Black" began to sound more respectable and they took on a life of their own. Some of Bender's friends first thought that the Men In Black were from the Air Force or the CIA, and indeed Bender's original statements do seem to sound like (the men could have been) government agents. But after a while the Men In Black began to assume a more extraterrestrial, even supernatural air.
According
to Thomas Grey this farmer had seen a shiny dome-shaped UFO
sitting in his field and assumed it was a tank truck
spraying his crops. Two days later he went down to the field
on a
routine check and discovered that all the
tobacco plants in a twenty foot circle had been damaged and
burned. The police found no signs of vandalism.
The UFO investigators arrived and photographed the damaged area and took samples of plants and of the blue-green substance. When the photographs were later processed they found that the twenty foot area had a blue tint, not noticed before. When the substance was tested, it was found to contain sand and an oily silicon-based substance of unknown composition.
The farmer had not reported the damage to police right away and was surprised to see a limousine with Arizona license plates arrive at this farm and proceed directly to the damaged area without stopping for permission or directions. Upset by the intrusion, Mr. Borda followed the limo and it's three occupants to the site and found them gathering samples. When he asked them what they were doing, he was told to return to his work as it was none of his business. For some reason the farmer could not explain, we immediately complied and returned to his work without argument.
What puzzles UFO
investigators most is how these strange men knew exactly
where to go when the event had not yet been reported. And
also Mr. Borda's strange reaction to them ordering him
around on his own property.
After a close
encounter on the 29th of January, 1968, the woman was
visited by two strange men
dressed in dark coveralls. Identifying
themselves as employees of the power company, the two men
offered to put up the witnesses' stovepipe! The two visitors
behaved very strangely, moving very slowly, with one man
referring to the other as "Master."
On May 2, 1968, one of the two visitors returned, this time with another man. The two men stared strangely at the woman, who understandably did not invite them in.
Murphy observed three individuals, seemingly dressed alike in black overcoats and hats. The witness slammed on the breaks to avoid a collision. The Cadillac was traveling across country, over rugged ground, making no sound. Furthermore, it did not seem to leave any tracks, flattened vegetation, or any other physical evidence.
Three days after
the sighting, the Men In Black paid the witnesses a visit.
They first paid a visit to N.B., while he was
working at a gas station. They had very blond hair, and wore
dark suits. They approached the station on foot, asking N.B.
for "petrol." N.B., noticed the men had no fingernails while
the beings stared curiously at the change they were given
for the gas (they had grossly overpaid). The men refused to
give their names (store policy required attendants to ask
for customer names for the receipt). The two men walked away
as if "mechanically." Fifteen minutes later the strange men
returned, giving back the (full) can of gas. The MIB asked
N.B. where he lived, who in turn responded by only giving
the men the general area of the city he lives in.
Approximately three hours later, Breiland was visited. While using a pay phone outside of the local K-Mart, Breiland was approached by two strange looking men. They wore very dark blue clothes, were very sun-tanned, had dark eyes, and lacked eyebrows and fingernails. They stared at him intensely for a moment, and then, in a mechanical, monotone voice, one of the gentlemen (without moving his lips) asked Breiland for his name, phone number, and address. Breiland refused to answer, and the men turned around, as if joined at the hip, and began to "mechanically" walk away.
Breiland watched until he heard someone repeatedly call his name. He turned around to see who it was, saw no one (in fact, the whole K-Mart parking lot was seemingly empty), and when he turned his attention back to the MIB, they had disappeared. Despite walking into a muddy field, the MIB seemingly left no footprints.
Breiland himself began to walk into the field, only to get bogged down by the mud.
That night,
Breiland had a dream that he followed the men into the
field, only to get abducted. In his dream, he was
interrogated by the men about his UFO sighting, and was
threatened. In the morning, Breiland awoke and discovered a
strange red mark on his thigh.
Three days
later, Grant was approached by two very odd men dressed in
strange, near-black clothing (including their shirts,
which were fastened tightly at the neck, although no buttons
were visible). They had no fingernails, deep
suntans, lips the same color as the rest of their
skin, rectangular ear lobes, no eyebrows and
perfect, regular teeth. They spoke to Breiland in
monotones without moving their mouths, asking
his name, where he lived and what his number
was. When he refused to answer, they walked
stiffly (without bending their knees) into the
rain and across a muddy field (where they left
no footprints) and seemed to vanish. During the
encounter (which took place in the vestibule
of a busy K-Mart store near Breiland's house),
he observed that all activity seemed to have
inexplicably ceased.
Grant
apparently suffered a time loss. That night he dreamed that
the strangers had abducted
him, taken him to a circular room and told him
to forget his experience. The next day, he
discovered an odd, inexplicable welt on his
leg. He later received crank phone calls.
A few hours
earlier, the other witness had received a similar pointless
visit by two weird men
(dressed identically to Breiland's visitors,
also without fingernails but with extremely pale skin)
at the gas station where he worked. They asked
for "petrol", grossly overpaid for it and then
brought it back unused. No car was ever seen.
Dr. P. M. H. Edwards, who investigated the
affair and wrote an article for "Flying Saucer
Review", also received crank calls.
The men were
dressed in dark clothes. Their shirts were buttoned to the
collar but they wore
no ties. They had dark tan skin and dark,
dull, expressionless eyes. They had short, black
hair; no eyebrows and were missing
fingernails.
With a
monotonous, robot-like voice, one of the MIBs asked him
"What is your name?"
The young man replied "I'm not going to tell
you that!" The other MIB asked him "What is
your number?." He thought it was an unusual
question, as he did not say phone number. He
did not answer the question.
The two MIBs
continued to stare at him in silence for a while. Then they
turned in unison, like
robots and marched outside. It was raining
heavily and the two MIBs walked past the parking
lot and into a nearby, muddy field. As they
approach a fence on the far side they disappeared
into thin air. The young man went into the
field and found they had not even left footprints. At this
point, he ran to the nearest bus stop to take him home.
IF YOU HAVE STORIES OF ENCOUNTERS WITH THE MEN IN
BLACK, PLEASE SEND THEM IN!
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