March 16, 2026

Terrifying & True | The Real Men in Black: UFO Witness Threats, Government Conspiracy, and Paranormal Cases

Terrifying & True | The Real Men in Black: UFO Witness Threats, Government Conspiracy, and Paranormal Cases
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What are the Men in Black really — secret government agents, UFO cover-up operatives, paranormal enforcers, or something even stranger? In this episode of Terrifying & True, we dig into the chilling history of the real Men in Black phenomenon, from the earliest UFO-era intimidation reports to later encounters that made witnesses fear for their lives. 
We trace the legend back to the Maury Island incident, the terror and sudden silence surrounding Albert K. Bender, the disturbing Point Pleasant / Mothman-era warnings, the threatening visit to Robert Richardson in Ohio, the bizarre and unforgettable Dr. Herbert Hopkins encounter, and the unsettling Niagara Falls Men in Black hotel case tied to alleged security footage. Along the way, we ask the question that keeps this mystery alive: are these stories evidence of a real pattern of intimidation, or has the Men in Black myth grown into a self-sustaining piece of modern folklore? 
Inside this episode:

  • The earliest Men in Black cases linked to UFO witnesses and sudden threats
  • Albert Bender’s shutdown and the moment the legend exploded into UFO culture
  • Point Pleasant, Mary Hyre, and John Keel-era paranoia
  • Threats against witnesses and their families
  • Dr. Herbert Hopkins and one of the strangest MIB stories ever reported
  • The 2008 Niagara Falls hotel encounter and the question of whether Men in Black were finally caught on camera
  • The reality checks separating documented history, folklore, and high strangeness

If you love true UFO stories, Men in Black reports, unsolved paranormal mysteries, government conspiracy lore, Mothman-adjacent high strangeness, and the unnerving edge where witness testimony collides with urban legend, this episode is built for you. These are the stories of black-suited strangers, unblinking eyes, cold warnings, and people who came too close to something they were never supposed to talk about. We’re telling that story tonight.

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👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
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WEBVTT

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They show up after the sighting, after the questions, after

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you get just a little too close to something you

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were never meant to understand. Dressed in black, speaking in

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dead flat tones, they don't ask for silence. They make

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you feel like silence is the only way you'll survive.

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What you were about to do is proved to be

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based on witness accounts, testimonies, and public record. This is

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terrifying and true truth.

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When you hear men in black, you probably think of

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the popular film from the nineteen nineties, a fun science

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fiction romp with a little bit of horror imagery. But

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imagine this. You witness something impossible in the sky. Maybe

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it's a strange craft, Maybe it's a light moving in

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ways no aircraft. Should you tell a friend, You call

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a reporter, You keep a photograph, a scrap of metal,

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a note in a file, and then not long after,

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there's a knock at your door. Standing there are men

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in dark suits. Their clothes are immaculate, their expressions are blank,

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their questions are precise, and somehow they already know far

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too much about you. For decades, witnesses across America have

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reported encounters with these figures, The so called men in black.

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Some say they were government agents sent to suppress UFO reports.

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Others insist they were something far stranger, beings only pretending

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to be human and not quite getting it right. Their

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skin looked wrong, their voices sounded rehearsed. Their eyes, witnesses say,

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were sometimes so piercing they felt less like eyes than instruments. Tonight,

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we follow the trail of one of the most enduring

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and unsettling legends in paranormal history, from the earliest Ufo

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era Panic to terrifying modern encounters, including a hotel incident

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in Niagara Falls that some believe may have captured these

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mysterious visitors on camera. The stories are bizarre, the fear

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is real, and if even part of it is true,

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then somewhere in the shadows someone may still be making

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sure certain secrets never see the light of day. So

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get comfortable and make sure you're subscribed. As we tell

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that story tonight. In October of two thousand and eight,

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staff at a hotel in Niagara Falls said their security

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cameras recorded something unsettling. Two tall, identically dressed strangers walked

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through the lobby doors, both wearing impeccable black suits, long

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coats and old fashioned fedoras. They moved in unnerving lock step.

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Employees later recalled unnaturally pale faces and eyes that seemed

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to bore in to anyone who glanced their way. More

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than one person described the pair as looking exactly alike,

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like twin silhouettes cut from the same uncanny mold. The

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men asked for a specific manager by name. When told

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he wasn't in, they lingered in the lobby and corridors,

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speaking quietly about government secrets and leaving employees deeply unsettled.

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By the time the staff regrouped, the visitors were gone.

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That grainy CCTV clip has been circulated online as a

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rare visual tied to men in Black lore, but the

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phenomenon itself lives mostly in witness reports. For decades, people

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across the world have described encounters with similar dark suited

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figures after witnessing strange lights in the sky or digging

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into UFO reports. Unlike the charming Hollywood versions, these real

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world accounts paint the visitors as ominous and sometimes deeply

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bizarre individuals who arrive unannounced to pressure witnesses into silence.

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We're going to go on a guided journey through some

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of the most famous and unsettling men in black cases,

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starting from their shadowy roots and building back to that

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modern encounter said to be caught on camera in Niagara.

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But here's the question that makes it even more than

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a spooky costume. Are these visits evidence of an organized

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intimidation pattern, something human and bureaucratic, or are we watching

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a folklore contagion that spreads the moment of community starts

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hunting for answers. We're going to tell the story as

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it's been reported, then will pause at key moments to

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separate what's documented, what's disputed, and what remains unknowable. The

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legend of the men in black began as early as

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the dawn of the Ufo Age. One of the first

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known encounters occurred in June of nineteen forty seven, just

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days after the modern flying saucer era began. In Washington State.

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A harbor patrolman named Harold Dall claimed he saw strange

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disc shaped objects in the sky over Maury Island, followed

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by a reign of metallic debris that damaged his boat.

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The very next day, Doll was approached by a man

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driving a brand new black sedan dressed in a dark suit.

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The stranger invited Doll to a local diner, where he

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somehow knew every detail of doll sighting. In a calm

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but firm tone, he warned all never to speak of

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the incident again. Dahl took the warning seriously. He later

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reported that the man implied terrible consequences would befall his

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family if he didn't stay quiet. This frightening meeting is

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often cited as the first encounter with what would come

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to be known as the Men in Black. A few

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years later, a far more influential case would cement the

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phenomenon's place in UFO lore. In nineteen fifty two and

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nineteen fifty three, Albert K. Bender, a Connecticut researcher, found

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himself at the epicenter of a series of bizarre events.

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Bender was no ordinary UFO enthusiast. He was the founder

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of the International Flying Saucer Bureau, one of the world's

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first major UFO research groups. He ran his organization from

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the attic of his stepfather's house, a space he had

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transformed into his personal chamber of horrors. The dim attic

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was decorated with faux skulls, monster masks, and occult imagery

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and dozens of clocks ticked at all hours. Bender loved

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a good scare, but in the autumn of nineteen fifty three,

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he encountered a terror beyond even his imagination. Late one night,

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as Bender poured over his notes, he was overcome by

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the stench of sulfur wafting through the attic. Before he

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knew it, three men materialized in the room. They were

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dressed in black suits and hats, their faces largely obscured

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by shadows. Years later, Bender would insist these visitors didn't

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walk in through the door. He claimed they simply appeared

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in low voices. The trio made it clear that Bender's

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UFO investigations had to end immediately. They knew all about

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his research and publications. One of them even collected copies

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of Bender's newsletter Space Review. As the room's lone light

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bulb dimmed and flickered. Terrified and convinced he was in

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real danger, Bender shuddered his entire organization shortly after the encounter.

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In the final issue of Space Review October nineteen fifty three,

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he printed a cryptic message, quote, we advise those engaged

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in saucer work to be very cautious the implication was

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unmistaken gable, something or someone had scared the leading UFO

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researcher of the day into sudden silence. Bender's experience spread quietly,

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at first, shared and hushed conversations among fellow researchers. It

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wasn't until nineteen fifty six that the wider public learned

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of it, when writer Gray Barker published a book titled

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They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers. Barker, who had

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corresponded with Bender, presented the story of sinister visitors in

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black who pushed him to stop. In Barker's book, the

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phrase men in Black appears in print, giving a name

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to these shadowy enforcers. From that point on, the idea

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of mysterious men sworn to silence UFO witnesses began to

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take root in the popular imagination. Whether that name captured

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a real pattern or helped create one is part of

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the mystery. Little did anyone know Bender's tale was only

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the beginning. Albert K. Benders shutdown of the International Flying

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Saucer Bureau is a documented moment in early UFO history,

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but the most dramatic details of the Three Men encounter

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largely come through later retellings and secondary accounts. Gray Barker

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helped popularize the story in print, and his work is

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often criticized for blending reportage, rumor, and showman flair, which

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matters because the men in Black idea may have grown

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in the retelling. Keep that tension in mind, a real

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research community, a real sudden silence, and a legend that

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might have been shaped by the very people spreading it.

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Through the nineteen sixties, as UFO sightings swept the United States,

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whispers of the men in Black grew more frequent. It

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seemed that wherever extraordinary lights or objects were reported in

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the sky, the black suited strangers might not be far behind.

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In West Virginia, during the winter of nineteen sixty six

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and sixty seven, amid the famous Mothman sightings, locals in

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Point Pleasant spoke of odd visits from unknown men. A

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journalist named Mary Hyer, who was covering the strange occurrences,

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was unnerved by a small man in a black suit

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and thick glasses that came to her office. He claimed

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to be from out of town, asking puzzling questions about

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her articles. As he peered intently at her, he bluntly

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inquired what would you do if someone told you to

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stop writing about flying saucers? Higher, shaken by the encounter,

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felt that this was implicitly a warning, and she wasn't alone.

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Others in town reported two or three government looking men

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in black suits going around to witnesses, also urging people

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to forget what they had seen. The pattern was becoming

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clear someone or something was systematically trying to to snuff

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out UFO reports at their source. Around the same time,

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a case in Ohio offered an even more alarming example.

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In nineteen sixty seven, Robert Richardson of Toledo told authorities

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he literally collided with a UFO while driving at night.

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The mysterious craft was nowhere to be seen after the crash,

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but Richardson managed to retrieve a small piece of metal

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from the scene. Just a week later, two men in

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a shiny black sedan showed up unannounced at Richardson's home

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to question him. They were polite but persistent, wanting the

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piece of the wreckage. When Richardson informed them he had

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sent the medal off for analysis, their demeanor changed. One

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of the suited men leaned in and issued an unmistakable threat.

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If Richardson wanted his wife to stay as pretty as

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she was, he'd better get that metal back. Startled and furious,

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Richardson demanded identification, but the strangers claimed their credentials were

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secret and promptly left. He never saw them again. Richardson

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was left fearing not only for his own life, but

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for his family's safety, a fear that became a common

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refrain in many Men in Black encounters. In nineteen sixty eight,

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another bizarre episode hinted that the enforcers were keeping tabs

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on prominent UFO researchers. Jack Robinson, a New Jersey enthusiast,

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began noticing a mysterious man lurking near the entrance to

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his apartment building in Jersey City. The man was tall, pale,

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and always wore a black suit and hat. Day after day,

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Robinson's wife Mary, saw the figure loitering there, staring up

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at their window as if watching their every move. Soon,

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the Robinsons realized their apartment had been subtly ransacked, files

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rifled through, objects moved as though someone had been searching

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for something while they were out. Convinced they were being stalked,

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they mentioned it to a friend, Timothy Green Beckley Beckley

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decided to see for himself. One day, he drove over,

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and sure enough, the strange man in black was standing

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on the sidewalk in front of the building, summoning his courage.

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Beckley snapped a photograph of the lurker. That grainy photo,

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allegedly showing a thin man in a black coat and

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fedora on a city street in broad daylight, is one

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of the only known images of a supposed man in black.

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Not long after, the mysterious stranger stopped appearing, but the

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Robinsons had little doubt about who had been creeping around

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their home. The incident reinforced what many in the UFO

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community already suspected. The men in black were not just

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spooky anecdotes. They were an active, ongoing phenomena. By the

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end of the nineteen sixties, the term men in black

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was well established among UFO circles, and reports of these

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intimidating visitors had popped up across the country. Often the

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story shared common traits. The men arrived in groups of

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two or three, always unannounced, often driving pristine black cars.

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They typically came right after a sighting hit the news

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or a researcher dug up a promising lead. They would

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flash vague credentials or claim government affiliations that could never

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be verified, and they invariably pressed witnesses to drop the

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subject of UFOs entirely. While many victims were too frightened

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or embarrassed to go public, the legend of the Men

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in Black continued to grow through quiet, ever widening whispers.

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Even as the UFO craze of the fifties and sixties

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settled into the cultural background, the men in Black did

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not disappear. On the contrary, encounters continued into the nineteen

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seventies and beyond, sometimes involving highly respected people, even celebrities.

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In September of nineteen seventy six, for instance, a soft

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spoken doctor in Maine named doctor Herbert Hopkins allegedly received

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one of the most unnerving visits on record, a case

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we'll delve into later. Around that same decade, other ufologists

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whispered about odd late night phone calls with nobody on

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the line except strange electronic noises, calls they suspected were

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men in Black intimidation attempts. The phenomenon had become ingrained

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enough in the public mind that by the time Hollywood

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produced the Mofman prophecies in nineteen seventy five, based on

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the book by John Keel, and later the blockbuster Men

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in Black film in nineteen ninety seven. Audiences were already

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familiar with the concept of ominous suited figures silencing the truth.

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Of course, the real Men in Black stories were anything

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but lighthearted. Perhaps one of the most startling modern encounters

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came from someone who himself was world famous, but not

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for UFOs. In two thousand and two, actor and comedian

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Dan Ackroyd was working on a television documentary series about

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the paranormal tentatively titled Out There. Ackroyd, known for his

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role in Ghostbusters and an avid fan of UFO lore,

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had interviewed several experts and experiencers for the show. One

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brisk winter day in New York City, during a break

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in filming, Ackroyd stepped outside the studio to take a

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phone call. As he tells it, while on the phone,

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he noticed a tall man in black standing across the

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street staring intently at him. The man was dressed in

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a classic black suit and hat and stood next to

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a shiny black car. Ackroyd looked away for a moment.

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Some say it was because he was startled, others because

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his phone rang again, but when he glanced back, both

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the car and the mysterious man were simply gone. The

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very same day, Ackroyd received word that his TV show

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was being inexplicably and abruptly canceled. The series was scrapped

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before a single episode made air. Ackroyd later recounted this

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experience publicly, firmly believing that he'd been brushed by the

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Men in Black and that someone somewhere did not want

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his UFO investigations broadcast. The unnerving incident served as a

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reminder that the modern era was not free from the

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reach of these dark phantoms. Through the late twentieth and

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early twenty first century, credible encounters with the Men in

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Black remained relatively rare, but persisted just enough to keep

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the mystery alive. A handful of UFO researchers claimed they

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were followed on lonely roads by black cars that seemed

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to appear and disappear at will. Others told of unsettling

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face to face meetings with strangers who somehow knew personal

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details that no outsider ought to know. Each story added

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another layer to the mythology, but Beyond anecdotes and a

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few blurry photographs, hard evidence remained elusive, at least until

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that day in two thousand and eight, when a hotel

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security camera allegedly captured two of these men on video.

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Before we revisit that compelling final case in detail, it's

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important to un understand what exactly people claim the men

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in Black look and act like. Over decades of reports,

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a remarkably consistent picture has emerged in the many tales

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of men in black confrontations. The beings are consistently described

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00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:26.839
in ways that are as fascinating as they are frightening.

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Imagine a person who, at first glance seems human, tall,

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clean cut, dressed in a conservative black suit, white shirt,

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and a dark tie, often with a fedora style hat

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perched neatly on the head. They almost resemble undertakers or

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government agents from an old movie. But the longer witnesses look,

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the more something feels off. Something about them is not right. First,

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there's the physical appearance. Witnesses frequently mentioned that the men

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in black have unnaturally pale or olive tinted skin, sometimes

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described as like plastic or dead white. Their faces tend

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00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:29.319
to be devoid of normal human quirks. They often have

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00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:34.640
no facial hair at all, no stubble, no five o'clock shadow,

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no eyebrows or eyelashes. Many have reported that the men's hair,

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00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:46.720
if visible under their hats, appears to be artificial, like

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a wig. In one encounter, a terrified hotel clerk noted

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00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:57.079
that the men's identical black hair looked almost glued to

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their heads. Some say the skin on their cheeks and

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00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:08.759
hands appears oddly smooth or lacking any imperfections, more like

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00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:15.279
wax than living flesh. And then there are the eyes.

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Accounts vary, but a number of witnesses recall the men

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00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:27.359
in black having oversized, unblinking eyes that are strangely light

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00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:33.480
in color, sometimes a vivid blue. Those eyes may be

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00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:38.519
covered by dark sunglasses, but when the glasses come off,

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00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:45.279
they can be downright hypnotic. One woman swore that a

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00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:50.519
man in black's piercing blue gaze literally made her mind

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00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:55.279
go blank, as if he could somehow control her thoughts.

294
00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:01.279
Next is the manner of speaking and moving. The voices

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00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:05.480
of the men in black are often described as monotone

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00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:11.759
or mechanical, as if the speaker is unfamiliar with basic

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00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:18.559
human inflection. They speak flatly, choosing odd phrasings, and sometimes

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00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:25.440
using outdated or overly formal language. A common observation is

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00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:29.599
that their speech sounds as if someone learned English from

300
00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:34.519
a textbook or an old film and never quite mastered

301
00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:40.200
the nuances. In the nineteen seventy six Hopkins case, for example,

302
00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:46.400
the visitor spoke in a slow, emotionless cadence and repeated

303
00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:53.200
certain stock phrases over and over, as if by wrote.

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00:28:53.200 --> 00:29:00.160
Witnesses sometimes note long, uncomfortable pauses in conversation and attendency

305
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:05.559
of the men in black to interject peculiar, almost nonsensical

306
00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:11.839
small talk, like commenting on a mundane object with intense curiosity.

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00:29:12.839 --> 00:29:16.759
One famous account from the nineteen sixties described a man

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00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:21.559
in black who was fascinated by a ballpoint pen, as

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00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:27.079
though he had never seen one before. Their movements, too,

310
00:29:27.400 --> 00:29:31.920
can be peculiar. Many say the men in black walk

311
00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:37.599
in a stiff, deliberate way, almost as if they're unfamiliar

312
00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:42.200
with the act of walking itself. They rarely show any

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00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:47.799
warmth or emotion. Smiling is typically absent. When they do

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00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:55.200
attempt it, it comes off as forced and uncanny, deeply unsettling.

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00:29:56.200 --> 00:30:00.039
It's not unusual for witnesses to describe an aura of

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00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:05.720
of strangeness around these beings. People report feeling a sort

317
00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:10.200
of electric tingling or a sense of dread moments before

318
00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:15.640
a knock at the door heralds their arrival. Sometimes pets

319
00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:20.599
react with panic or aggression in their presence, as if

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00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:27.480
sensing something fundamentally not human. In Albert Bender's case, the

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00:30:27.559 --> 00:30:31.160
overwhelming smell of sulfur and a sudden chill in the

322
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:35.799
air preceded the appearance of the three dark figures in

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00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:40.759
his attic, an omen that he interpreted as a sign

324
00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:54.039
of other worldly evil. Perhaps most disconcerting is the way

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00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:58.559
the men in Black tend to end their encounters just

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00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:03.079
as quickly as they appear. They often depart in an

327
00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:10.480
unnatural fashion. After delivering their warnings or making their cryptic inquiries.

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00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:17.279
They leave swiftly, frequently driving off in spotless black cars

329
00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:22.240
that seem antique or out of date, yet brand new

330
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in condition. The classic image is a large black Cadillac

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00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:33.240
from the nineteen fifties or sixties gliding away without a sound.

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00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:38.359
In some stories, the cars themselves turn a corner and

333
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:44.079
then are simply gone, as if they evaporated into the ether.

334
00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:49.160
Other times, the men walk out the door, and moments

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00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:53.680
later the witness checks only to find nothing but an

336
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:58.960
empty street. It's almost as if these entities can dissolve

337
00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:04.119
into the shadow from which they came. All of these

338
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:11.319
consistent details, cloned looks, odd speech, impeccable attire, and seemingly

339
00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:17.759
paranormal comings and goings have led to wild speculation about

340
00:32:18.039 --> 00:32:22.000
the true nature of the Men in Black. Are they

341
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:28.480
covert government operatives, part of some ultra classified bureau tasked

342
00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:34.920
with quashing UFO evidence to prevent public hysteria, or could

343
00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:42.440
they be something far stranger, perhaps alien beings or humanoid

344
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:47.680
robots attempting to mimic humans and not quite getting it right.

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00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:53.680
While theories abound, one thing is certain. For those who

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00:32:53.799 --> 00:32:58.079
encounter them, the Men in Black are the embodiment of

347
00:32:58.119 --> 00:33:04.920
the uncanny. They appear human, but everything about them radiates

348
00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:12.599
an air of deep wrongness. Threats, implicit or explicit, are

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00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:15.960
the hallmark of the Men in Black, and this is

350
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where their method of operation comes into full, frightening focus.

351
00:33:22.440 --> 00:33:27.960
These mysterious figures don't just look strange, they engage in

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00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:34.160
behavior clearly aimed at scaring people into submission. From the

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00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:40.079
earliest cases to the more elaborate confrontations, Intimidation is their

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00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:46.359
weapon of choice. Consider again Albert Bender's predicament. He was

355
00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:51.599
a man so enthusiastic about UFO research that he rallied

356
00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:57.480
hundreds of people into joining his organization, Yet one visit

357
00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:00.519
from the men in Black was enough to make him

358
00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:07.920
abandon the pursuit entirely. Bender never publicly detailed exactly what

359
00:34:08.440 --> 00:34:11.079
the three men told him that night in his attic

360
00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:16.519
He saved the full explanation for a later book, which

361
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:23.360
itself raised more questions than answers, but the effect was obvious.

362
00:34:23.960 --> 00:34:30.000
He was thoroughly spooked. The message delivered was effectively stop

363
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:36.079
what you're doing or else. Bender's immediate compliance and his

364
00:34:36.360 --> 00:34:42.000
dire published warning to fellow UFO researchers illustrate just how

365
00:34:42.119 --> 00:34:47.519
profoundly these dark visitors could unnerve even the most passionate

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00:34:47.960 --> 00:34:54.280
of believers. Many others have received similarly dire warnings. In Ohio,

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00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:57.960
Robert Richardson faced a pointed threat about his wife's well

368
00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:00.599
being if he didn't hand over him his piece of

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00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:07.960
UFO evidence. Richardson had encountered something extraordinary and wanted to investigate,

370
00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:12.800
but the men in black made it personal. They let

371
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:18.239
him know they could hurt those he loved. That kind

372
00:35:18.280 --> 00:35:23.519
of intimidation strikes at a person's most vulnerable spot, and

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it worked. Richardson, fearing for his family, quietly backed down,

374
00:35:29.639 --> 00:35:34.920
and the mysterious metal fragment he'd found was never seen again.

375
00:35:35.800 --> 00:35:40.760
Another classic example of men in black harassment comes from

376
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:44.320
the UFO flap in Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the

377
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:49.199
nineteen sixties. Reporters like Mary Hyer and the author John Keel,

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00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:53.719
who was investigating the mothman sightings as well, were inundated

379
00:35:53.800 --> 00:35:59.000
with strange phone calls at odd hours. Sometimes a voice

380
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:04.559
described as as vaguely foreign or mechanical would deliver a

381
00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:10.239
menacing line and then hang up. One such call to

382
00:36:10.360 --> 00:36:14.719
Marry Higher simply stated we know what you have seen,

383
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:19.000
and we know that you have talked. You'd be wise

384
00:36:19.880 --> 00:36:25.360
to stop. These communications were accompanied by face to face

385
00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:29.920
visits from those odd threatening gentlemen in the dark suits

386
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:35.599
who made similarly veiled threats. Hire was so disturbed that

387
00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:39.360
she began to keep a gun in her desk. Keel,

388
00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:45.440
in his accounts, described feeling constantly watched and noted that

389
00:36:45.559 --> 00:36:51.480
many locals clammed up about their sightings after being visited.

390
00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:59.800
The pressure was palpable and effective. No case of intimidation

391
00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:04.519
is more famous, however, than that of doctor Herbert Hopkins,

392
00:37:05.239 --> 00:37:10.760
the quiet physician and hypnotist from Maine mentioned earlier. In

393
00:37:10.840 --> 00:37:14.840
the autumn of nineteen seventy six, Hopkins was studying a

394
00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:19.119
UFO encounter as a consultant, delving into a case of

395
00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:25.119
alleged UFO teleportation. One evening, while his wife and children

396
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:28.039
were out, he received a phone call out of the

397
00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:31.599
blue from a man who claimed to represent a New

398
00:37:31.679 --> 00:37:36.800
Jersey UFO research organization. The caller had heard of Hopkins'

399
00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:40.840
work and wanted to discuss the case, saying he was

400
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:47.079
in the area. Hopkins agreed, perhaps flattered or simply curious,

401
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:51.199
and gave the man his address. He hung up the

402
00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:54.639
phone and went to switch on his porch light, only

403
00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:58.559
to find the caller already walking up to his door

404
00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:04.719
within seconds. Hopkins later admitted his blood ran cold at

405
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:11.039
that moment. Somehow, the man had arrived almost instantaneously when

406
00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:16.400
the nearest payphone was miles away, inviting the stranger in.

407
00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:22.280
Doctor Hopkins quickly realized something was terribly off about him.

408
00:38:23.039 --> 00:38:26.719
The visitor wore a neatly pressed black suit and a

409
00:38:26.840 --> 00:38:31.599
tie with a black hat, which he removed to reveal

410
00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:36.039
a completely bald head. In the soft light of the

411
00:38:36.079 --> 00:38:41.079
living room, the man's skin looked disturbingly pale and smooth,

412
00:38:41.880 --> 00:38:47.599
almost like plastic. Hopkins noticed the man had no eyebrows

413
00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:53.360
and no eyelashes. Even more oddly, the stranger's lips were

414
00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:58.280
a vivid red, as if he were wearing lipstick. In fact,

415
00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:01.239
at one point, the man brushed his mouth with the

416
00:39:01.280 --> 00:39:04.639
back of a gloved hand, and a portion of the

417
00:39:04.679 --> 00:39:12.280
lipstick smeared, revealing a ghastly lack of any real lips underneath.

418
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:18.320
As Hopkins's heart pounded, the man began asking questions about

419
00:39:18.360 --> 00:39:24.599
the case Hopkins was investigating. His voice was flat, emotionless,

420
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:29.800
but he displayed an uncanny knowledge of the details, as

421
00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:33.760
if he already knew the answers to the questions he

422
00:39:33.880 --> 00:39:39.920
was posing. Each time Hopkins responded, the man would echo, yes,

423
00:39:40.559 --> 00:39:45.639
that is how I understand it, over and over the

424
00:39:45.800 --> 00:39:52.039
exact same phrase, like a tape recorder on loop. Then

425
00:39:52.199 --> 00:40:06.239
the encounter turned from strange to terrifying. The man in

426
00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:10.920
black politely asked doctor Hopkins to take a coin out

427
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:14.280
of his pocket and hold it in the palm of

428
00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:21.119
his hand. Puzzled but compelled, Hopkins did so, producing a

429
00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:28.639
shiny penny. Watched the coin the stranger requested. Hopkins did,

430
00:40:29.400 --> 00:40:35.119
and to his shock, the coin started to glow, then

431
00:40:35.159 --> 00:40:41.559
blur at the edges until it simply disappeared. The man

432
00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:45.880
then said, no one on this plane would ever see

433
00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:51.360
that coin again. He calmly steered the conversation to the

434
00:40:51.400 --> 00:40:56.239
famous Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction case, asking the

435
00:40:56.320 --> 00:41:02.159
doctor if he knew how Barney Hill had died. Hopkins

436
00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:06.679
replied that, as far as he knew, Barney had suffered

437
00:41:06.679 --> 00:41:11.199
a heart attack. The man in Black's response was delivered

438
00:41:11.239 --> 00:41:18.119
with an icy finality, No, that's not exactly true. Barney

439
00:41:18.199 --> 00:41:23.480
Hill died because he knew too much. Doctor Hopkins understood

440
00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:28.840
that message loud and clear. It was a threat his

441
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:33.039
own research, the stranger was implying could lead to the

442
00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:38.719
same fate if he didn't stop immediately. The blood drained

443
00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:43.239
from Hopkins's face. At that point, the visitor's speech began

444
00:41:43.320 --> 00:41:46.800
to slow, and he struggled to rise from his chair.

445
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:55.519
My energy is low, he said, each word, slow and toneless.

446
00:41:56.679 --> 00:42:01.719
I must go now, Unsteadily, the man made his way

447
00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:07.639
to the door and disappeared into the night. Hopkins, recovering

448
00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:10.760
from the shock, rushed to the window to watch the

449
00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:17.960
stranger's departure. He expected to see a car pulling away. Instead,

450
00:42:18.079 --> 00:42:22.800
he saw a bright blue light bathing the driveway, and

451
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:30.119
then nothing, just the darkness and an empty road. The

452
00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:33.679
man in the black suit was gone. In the wake

453
00:42:33.800 --> 00:42:38.000
of that encounter, doctor Herbert Hopkins was so shaken that

454
00:42:38.119 --> 00:42:43.440
he immediately halted all of his UFO research. He even

455
00:42:43.480 --> 00:42:47.480
erased the tapes of the hypnotic sessions he'd been conducting

456
00:42:47.559 --> 00:42:53.760
on the teleportation case, effectively burying the information the strange

457
00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:58.519
visitor had been so curious about. It wasn't just what

458
00:42:58.599 --> 00:43:01.559
the man in black had said. It was the utter

459
00:43:01.719 --> 00:43:06.800
strangeness of the whole experience that convinced Hopkins this was

460
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:12.599
no mere prank or ordinary threat. Quote. If it had

461
00:43:12.639 --> 00:43:15.639
been just a man telling me to stop, I might

462
00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:20.079
not have, Hopkins admitted later. But because of the high

463
00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:24.960
strangeness of it all, I complied. Hopkins felt, as many

464
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:28.840
others have before him, that he had been confronted by

465
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:34.119
something truly beyond the normal, something that could not only

466
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:39.920
threaten him, but defy the very laws of reality. The

467
00:43:39.960 --> 00:43:46.000
intimidation was complete. To this day, Hopkins's story stands as

468
00:43:46.039 --> 00:43:49.360
one of the clearest illustrations of how the Men in

469
00:43:49.440 --> 00:43:54.880
Black supposedly operate. They show up uninvited, they scare the

470
00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:59.880
living daylights out of people, using both words and inexplicable trick,

471
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:09.280
and then they exit mission accomplished, witness silenced. The Hopkins

472
00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:12.199
encounter is one of the most cited Men in Black

473
00:44:12.280 --> 00:44:16.159
stories because it plays like a perfect short horror film.

474
00:44:16.679 --> 00:44:20.679
A stranger, a coin, a threat, and a hard stop.

475
00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:25.199
But most versions trace back to Hopkins's own account, as

476
00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:30.079
repeated by UFO writers later down the line, and details

477
00:44:30.119 --> 00:44:34.559
can shift depending on who's telling it. What's consistent is

478
00:44:34.639 --> 00:44:41.519
the pattern an experiencer feels observed, then intimidated, then encouraged

479
00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:47.280
to disappear from the conversation. Whether that pattern is an

480
00:44:47.320 --> 00:44:52.400
external force or an internal pressure cooker is exactly what

481
00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:58.639
we're weighing here tonight. Across countless accounts, this pattern repeats

482
00:44:58.679 --> 00:45:03.639
in varying forms. Witnesses are frequently told one way or

483
00:45:03.679 --> 00:45:09.039
another to drop their involvement in UFO investigations or stay

484
00:45:09.159 --> 00:45:13.840
quiet about what they saw. Sometimes the warning is delivered

485
00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:19.920
with a smileless calm, other times with overt menace. There

486
00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:23.320
are cases where the men in Black hinted or even

487
00:45:23.360 --> 00:45:29.199
claimed outright that they could cause car accidents, make people disappear,

488
00:45:29.800 --> 00:45:34.400
or inflict harm if the person didn't comply, and whether

489
00:45:34.519 --> 00:45:40.000
by paranormal means or plain old fear, they usually succeed.

490
00:45:41.000 --> 00:45:46.559
People often heed the warning. They stop reporting, stop researching,

491
00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:52.199
or significantly tone down their public statements about their experiences.

492
00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:57.079
After all, who would want to invite another visit from

493
00:45:57.119 --> 00:46:03.119
these terrifying strangers. For all the frightening tales of the

494
00:46:03.159 --> 00:46:07.400
men in Black, one thing is always in short supply

495
00:46:08.239 --> 00:46:13.400
evidence that holds up outside the campfire circle. That's why

496
00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:17.679
the Niagara Falls incident in two thousand eight hit UFO

497
00:46:17.719 --> 00:46:22.119
forums like a lightning strike. As the story is told,

498
00:46:22.400 --> 00:46:26.480
it began with reports of strange lights over the falls,

499
00:46:26.719 --> 00:46:30.360
and then not long after a pair of men in

500
00:46:30.440 --> 00:46:34.119
black appearing at the hotel, with at least part of

501
00:46:34.159 --> 00:46:39.199
the encounter said to be captured on security video. Later,

502
00:46:39.400 --> 00:46:42.679
sovar pieced together what happened from the accounts of his

503
00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:47.360
employees and a review of the security footage. The hotel's

504
00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:51.840
bellman had been the first to encounter the strangers. He

505
00:46:51.960 --> 00:46:57.760
described them in almost cartoonishly unsettling terms. Both men were

506
00:46:57.920 --> 00:47:03.599
extremely tall, over six feet and exactly the same height.

507
00:47:04.280 --> 00:47:08.639
They wore identical black suits, black dress hats, and even

508
00:47:08.840 --> 00:47:14.760
black sunglasses. While indoors, their skin was chalky pale, and

509
00:47:14.840 --> 00:47:18.199
their faces were so alike they could have been twins.

510
00:47:18.920 --> 00:47:23.760
Moving an uncanny unison. The pair asked, in the bellman's words,

511
00:47:24.360 --> 00:47:28.880
a bunch of questions about Sovar, who was their apparent target.

512
00:47:29.559 --> 00:47:34.000
When told the manager wasn't available, the two men exchanged

513
00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:38.239
knowing glances and began to roam around the lobby and

514
00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:43.519
adjacent halls, as if searching for him, or perhaps for

515
00:47:43.960 --> 00:47:48.719
something else. A front desk employee later recounted the encounter

516
00:47:48.960 --> 00:47:54.719
in hushed, trembling tones. She said, these visitors were very,

517
00:47:55.679 --> 00:48:00.760
very scary. They spoke to her about things like governments

518
00:48:00.800 --> 00:48:05.639
and conspiracies in a way that made no sense, as

519
00:48:05.679 --> 00:48:10.800
if making bizarre small talk. But their voices were what

520
00:48:10.960 --> 00:48:17.119
frightened her most, cold and flat, completely devoid of warmth

521
00:48:17.440 --> 00:48:22.119
or inflection. She noticed they had no eyebrows or eyelashes

522
00:48:22.199 --> 00:48:26.679
at all, and that their unnaturally smooth black hair might

523
00:48:26.760 --> 00:48:32.280
actually have been wigs attached to their hats. At one point,

524
00:48:32.320 --> 00:48:36.800
she found herself transfixed by the men's eyes, visible just

525
00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:42.159
behind their dark glasses. Their eyes were a piercing, almost

526
00:48:42.400 --> 00:48:48.199
electrifying shade of blue. There was something hypnotic about them.

527
00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:52.239
She even confessed tearfully that she felt as though the

528
00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:57.719
strangers could read her mind. In a panic, she tried

529
00:48:57.760 --> 00:49:01.960
to think of anything other than the hotel or her boss,

530
00:49:02.679 --> 00:49:08.599
desperately hoping to block whatever mental intrusion she imagined was happening.

531
00:49:09.639 --> 00:49:14.519
Before leaving, she also observed one detail that sent a

532
00:49:14.559 --> 00:49:21.960
shiver down her spine. Neither man appeared to blink, not once.

533
00:49:29.559 --> 00:49:35.400
After two strangers eventually left, the shaken staff immediately called

534
00:49:35.480 --> 00:49:41.639
Savar to tell him what had transpired. Understandably skeptical yet alarmed,

535
00:49:42.079 --> 00:49:46.119
Savar rushed to review the security camera footage from that day.

536
00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:51.519
What he found astonished him. On the grainy, black and

537
00:49:51.639 --> 00:49:56.679
white feed, he saw exactly what his employees had described,

538
00:49:57.320 --> 00:50:01.440
two tall figures dressed in black suin uots and hats

539
00:50:01.480 --> 00:50:07.159
striding through the front entrance side by side. Even on video,

540
00:50:07.679 --> 00:50:13.280
there was something uncanny about their identical movements and appearance.

541
00:50:14.360 --> 00:50:18.880
They passed under the lobby camera, briefly scanned the room,

542
00:50:19.079 --> 00:50:23.880
and headed out of frame, as if on a mission. Strangely,

543
00:50:24.360 --> 00:50:28.599
SOVAR found no footage of the men leaving the building,

544
00:50:29.440 --> 00:50:34.320
only the segment showing their arrival. It was as if

545
00:50:34.360 --> 00:50:39.400
they disappeared inside the hotel. How they came and went

546
00:50:39.559 --> 00:50:44.880
without being caught on multiple other cameras remains a mystery.

547
00:50:46.320 --> 00:50:50.679
When the paranormal investigation team that Sovar had originally reported

548
00:50:50.679 --> 00:50:54.960
the UFO two learned of this incident, they went public

549
00:50:55.039 --> 00:50:59.599
with the story and released the lobby footage online. The

550
00:50:59.719 --> 00:51:05.239
video quickly made waves in UFO and paranormal circles. After all,

551
00:51:05.519 --> 00:51:09.800
it was touted as possibly the first real video evidence

552
00:51:10.199 --> 00:51:15.480
of the legendary Men in Black. Here, finally were two

553
00:51:15.559 --> 00:51:20.239
of these figures caught on tape for the world to see.

554
00:51:20.280 --> 00:51:28.559
They looked exactly as decades of eye witnesses had described, tall, pale, identical,

555
00:51:28.679 --> 00:51:35.360
and ominous in their old fashioned black garb. The Niagara

556
00:51:35.400 --> 00:51:40.440
Falls footage and witness testimonies revitalized interest in the Men

557
00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:44.360
in Black phenomenon. Some viewed it as a smoking gun

558
00:51:45.079 --> 00:51:51.679
proof that these mysterious agents truly exist. Others were more skeptical,

559
00:51:52.320 --> 00:51:55.960
suggesting it might have been a hoax or simply two

560
00:51:56.519 --> 00:52:03.400
peculiar salesmen with unusual fashion sense. However, the emotional accounts

561
00:52:03.440 --> 00:52:07.400
of the hotel staff, the genuine fear in their voices

562
00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:12.719
as they recounted the men's bizarre appearance and behavior, were

563
00:52:12.840 --> 00:52:18.000
hard to dismiss. These were ordinary people with nothing to

564
00:52:18.119 --> 00:52:24.400
gain from concocting such a story. In fact, sovar himself

565
00:52:24.519 --> 00:52:28.199
chose to stay mostly out of the limelight after initially

566
00:52:28.239 --> 00:52:33.039
sharing the evidence, perhaps wary of drawing any more attention

567
00:52:33.800 --> 00:52:38.960
from the dark suited visitors. The Niagara story is compelling

568
00:52:39.119 --> 00:52:44.079
because it involves a specific place, a specific date, and

569
00:52:44.199 --> 00:52:49.159
a video people can watch, but even their's footage doesn't

570
00:52:49.199 --> 00:52:56.199
automatically mean their's proof. The key questions are mundane but crucial.

571
00:52:56.960 --> 00:53:02.159
Who controlled the original video, what exactly is visible on it?

572
00:53:02.840 --> 00:53:07.639
And what can be independently confirmed about the manager's report,

573
00:53:08.360 --> 00:53:12.679
and how much of the tale comes from retellings after

574
00:53:12.760 --> 00:53:17.599
it went viral. Treat it like an investigation. The clip

575
00:53:17.960 --> 00:53:22.599
is a clue, the claims around it still need verification.

576
00:53:23.840 --> 00:53:28.320
So what can we conclude after this journey through the

577
00:53:28.360 --> 00:53:32.599
strange world of the Men in Black. We followed their

578
00:53:32.679 --> 00:53:36.840
trail from the first quiet threat in nineteen forty seven,

579
00:53:37.440 --> 00:53:41.239
through the silencing of Albert Bender in the nineteen fifties,

580
00:53:41.800 --> 00:53:45.800
the nationwide scare of the nineteen sixties, and up in

581
00:53:45.840 --> 00:53:49.480
two recent decades, where even an a list actor and

582
00:53:49.559 --> 00:53:54.599
a hotel security camera got a taste of their haunting presence.

583
00:53:55.559 --> 00:54:01.719
The pattern is unmistakable. Whenever curious eyes turn toward the

584
00:54:01.840 --> 00:54:08.039
unknown skies, the Men in Black just might materialize, ready

585
00:54:08.079 --> 00:54:14.199
to ensure that some secrets stay secret. They arrive without warning,

586
00:54:14.679 --> 00:54:20.679
They sow fear and confusion, and then disappear as quickly

587
00:54:21.159 --> 00:54:26.000
as they came, leaving us with more questions than answers.

588
00:54:26.760 --> 00:54:31.559
Who or what are they really? Some believe they are

589
00:54:31.800 --> 00:54:37.840
clandestine government operatives, part of an invisible bureaucracy that polices

590
00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:43.519
the UFO phenomena and keeps witnesses quiet. Others suspect they

591
00:54:43.639 --> 00:54:49.239
might not be human at all, but extraterrestrials or other

592
00:54:49.559 --> 00:54:55.639
entities in disguise, using human like bodies and behavior as

593
00:54:55.679 --> 00:55:02.159
a cover, albeit imperfectly the way they mimic humanity, but

594
00:55:02.280 --> 00:55:07.880
not quite well enough. Their odd speech their mechanical mannerisms,

595
00:55:08.480 --> 00:55:13.639
their eerie knowledge suggests beings trying to play a role

596
00:55:14.360 --> 00:55:18.559
that they don't fully understand. And there are those who

597
00:55:18.599 --> 00:55:21.519
think the Men in Black are a little of both,

598
00:55:22.280 --> 00:55:28.519
perhaps aliens working in tandem with shadowy government agencies, blending

599
00:55:28.599 --> 00:55:34.400
deception and other worldly abilities to conceal truths we aren't

600
00:55:34.440 --> 00:55:39.079
ready to learn. In the end, even with circulating clips,

601
00:55:39.440 --> 00:55:44.639
blurry photographs, and decades of first hand stories, the Men

602
00:55:44.719 --> 00:55:48.679
in Black remain an enigma. They are phantoms in the

603
00:55:48.679 --> 00:55:54.480
world of upology, sometimes seen, often felt, but never held

604
00:55:54.599 --> 00:55:59.480
still long enough to measure, and maybe that's the point.

605
00:56:00.239 --> 00:56:05.119
Whether they are agents, archetypes, modern folklore, or a shadow

606
00:56:05.280 --> 00:56:09.960
cast by our own need for answers, the effect is

607
00:56:10.079 --> 00:56:16.360
the same silence, fear, and the sensation that someone is

608
00:56:16.440 --> 00:56:22.960
listening just out of your side. Terrifying and True is

609
00:56:23.079 --> 00:56:26.920
narrated by Enrique Kuto. It's executive produced by Rob Fields

610
00:56:27.039 --> 00:56:30.719
and bobble Topia dot com and produced by Dan Wilder,

611
00:56:30.840 --> 00:56:33.800
with original theme music by Ray Mattis. If you have

612
00:56:33.880 --> 00:56:36.920
a story you think we should cover on Terrifying and True,

613
00:56:37.079 --> 00:56:40.960
send us an email at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com,

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624
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625
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We'll see you all right here next time on Terrifying

626
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and True