The Mysterious Agents known as The Men in Black

This show delves into cases involving witness interrogation by mysterious agents known as the "Men in Black" (MIBs), who sometimes appear suddenly after a UFO event, exhibit unusual behavior, know facts that have not been divulged by witnesses, and threaten the lives of those involved with severe consequences unless they remain silent about their encounter.





Men in Black (MIB), in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves. The term is also frequently used to describe mysterious men working for unknown organizations, as well as various branches of government allegedly designed to protect secrets or perform other strange activities. The term is generic, used for any unusual, threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on the scene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting.

Behavior

According to the accounts of those encountering them, Men in Black always seem to have detailed information on the persons they contact, as if the individuals had been under surveillance for a significant period of time. They have occasionally been described as seeming confused by the nature of everyday items such as pens, eating utensils or food, as well as using outdated slang, old cars or vintage styles of clothing. Reports indicate that they often claim to be from an agency collecting information on the unexplained phenomenon their subject has encountered. In other accounts, they seem to be trying to suppress information by trying to convince their target that the event in question did not happen. They have been described as behaving in either an exceedingly furtive manner or a completely outgoing one, with wide grins and disconcerting giggles. This observation might imply that the "gigglers" were possibly, though not necessarily, pranksters, as numerous forms of unexpected, inappropriate, or even bizarre (as in robotic) behavior seem to be hallmarks of these mysterious beings.

Folkloric explanations

Although the phenomenon was initially and most frequently reported in the 1950s and 1960s, some researchers -- John Keel and others -- have suggested similarities between Men in Black reports and earlier demonic accounts. Keel suggests that MiBs are a modern-day manifestation of the same phenomena that were earlier interpreted as the devil or encounters with fairies. Similarly, folklorist Peter Rojcewicz noted that many Men in Black accounts parallel tales of people encountering the devil: neither Men in Black nor the devil are quite human, and witnesses often discover this fact midway through an encounter. The meaning of this parallel, however, has been the subject of debate.