By Nick Redfern
For years – or perhaps even for centuries – the Men in Black have been elusive, predatory, fear-inducing figures, hovering with disturbing regularity upon the enigmatic fringes of the UFO subject, nurturing and weaving their very own unique brand of terror and intimidation. Like true specters from the outer edge, the MIB appear from the murky darkness, and roam the countryside provoking carnage, chaos, paranoia and fear in their notorious wake, before returning to that same shrouded realm from which they originally oozed.
Very often traveling in groups of three, this definitive trinity of evil seemingly appears and vanishes at will, and is often seen – in the United States – driving 1950s-style black Cadillac’s, and – in the British Isles – 1960s-era black Jaguar’s, both of which are almost always described as looking curiously brand new.
The preferred mode of dress of these sinister characters is a black suit, black Fedora- or Homburg-style hat, black sunglasses, black necktie, black socks and shoes, and crisp, shining white shirt. Very little wonder, therefore, that they have been given the name with which they are, today, most associated.
But, it’s those aforementioned cars that the MIB drive which I’m focusing on right now, rather than the MIB themselves. Just like the dark-suited characters that drive them, the creepy vehicles also display evidence of deep and bizarre high-strangeness, including vanishing into complete oblivion!
Dr. Josef Allen Hynek was provided with the details of a fantastically-strange MIB encounter, that occurred in a small Minnesota town in late 1975, and that falls firmly into just such a category. Ironically, no UFO was seen on this particular occasion, but the chief witness was harassed by the driver of a large, black Cadillac on a particular stretch of highway, and who nearly forced the man into an adjacent ditch. The irate man quickly righted his vehicle and headed off in hot-pursuit, only to see the black Cadillac lift into the air and, quite literally, disappear in the blink of any eye!
Long-time UFO authority, Jenny Randles, the author of The Truth Behind Men in Black, has investigated an extremely similar case that occurred in Britain in August of 1981.
In this particular incident, the witness, one Jim Wilson, had seen an unidentified – but not overly-fantastic – light in the sky, and was later blessed with a visit from a pair of suit-wearing characters flashing ID cards that demonstrated they came from the British Ministry of Defense. The two suggested to the man that he had merely viewed a Russian satellite – Cosmos 408 – and that he should forget all about the experience.
That would indeed have been the end of things, were it not for the fact that the witness found to his concern that, on a number of occasions and shortly after the visit occurred, his home seemed to be under some form of surveillance by two men sitting in a black Jaguar – which is the preferred mode of transport in most British Men in Black cases. The police were called, and, across the course of several nights, stealthy checks of the immediate vicinity were made.
After seeing the car parked outside the man’s home on several occasions, and then managing to get a good look at his license plate – which the police were quickly able to confirm as being totally bogus – they carefully closed in, with the intention of speaking with the pair of MIB and finding out the nature of their game.
Just like the Men in Black themselves, even their vehicles are seemingly able to perform disappearing acts of a near-ghost-like nature…
Feature image sourced from Bob Jagendorf
