By Abigail Hyslop
The phenomenon of the ‘Men in Black’ that seemed to be an integral part of UFO lore has piqued my interest lately. Whilst researching the UFO/UAP topic I noticed that the men in black phenomenon seemed to more prevalent in the US than here in good old Blighty so I decided to delve a little deeper to see what I could dig up. I honestly thought with so many books on the subject by various authors that this would have been an article that would practically write itself, oh boy was I wrong.
My intent with the article was to discern whether the Men in Black phenomenon was more of a government or covert agency, that is far more reported in the US than here in the UK, rather than some other worldly interference. If it was other worldly surely there would be as many interactions here in the UK with the sightings and reports of UFO/UAP’s over the years, as there is in the USA. If it is of a more earthly origin then it would be much less statistically as our Government, while very secretive and closed mouthed about the UFO/UAP topic, are a little less inclined to send the suited and booted with the hat to match into the open, it is by far a smaller country and word would get out….or so you would think.
My first step was to reach out to various groups online asking for anyone who had an experience with the Men in Black. This was slow going, very few wanted to share openly about their experiences if they had one and others would tell me but strictly off the record, no names, no dates, some of my posts were deleted from the groups entirely. I even posted on #UFOTwitter, it got a couple of likes but no information. I thought “OK, maybe my theory is right, there is nothing of the Men in Black in the UK and this is more a US thing” which points more to Government interference… it’s not like that is surprise given historical activities and nefarious practices for example MK Ultra etc.
My next step was to gather some personal reading material from those who have put many hours of research into the topic, and in ufology in general as the two seem to go hand in hand, contact them personally, maybe get a quote, or an opinion on their beliefs on the subject, any difficulties they may have had researching and generally a helping hand in possibly pointing me in the right direction. I trawled the internet for days into the wee hours of the morning, every spare minute I had went into tracking down whatever source I could. I would have called in favours but as I’m fairly new at this writing business I didn’t have any to call in but still I tried. This is where things started to get weird and more than a little disturbing for me personally.
I emailed and messaged every lead and author of the relevant topic. I started with a reporter from a British newspaper I will not advertise, who had written a report about men in black and the disappearance of a Liverpool man, complete with photo capture of CCTV. I sent an email explaining what I was doing and the angle I was looking at asking if they could help me with some information but my email was returned by the mailer daemon. Perplexed, I rechecked the address and tried again, even copied and pasted but I still got the same result. Irritated I checked the reporter was still with the paper and the website stated she was current. I was getting frustrated so I picked up the phone and went old school…. I spoke to a real person (after several automated please press whatever number answers) they confirmed the reporter was still current and had no idea why the emails weren’t going through “would you like to leave a message” I did but to no avail, not a peep, not a word. Unperturbed by this I fired of a private message on Twitter, again my message was duly ignored.
The following morning, I went to work, the usual routine, drop my mutt at my Mum’s for the day before I go to my day job. I pull up and park on the grass and release the hound from my car, and noticed a white BMW parked, blocking some cars in and a man with his window down pointing his mobile phone camera at me. Shocked (but of a slightly militant nature) I pull up my phone to return the compliment but before I could take the picture the car sped away in a cloud of gravel and dust. The rest of my workday was uneventful but I was disturbed.
That night I emailed Nick Pope, for those who don’t know who he is, he is basically labelled the “British Fox Mulder” (and for those of a younger age that may have stumbled across this article by mistake and your screen has frozen….Fox Mulder is from the X Files, look it up you’ve missed a treat) He replied the next day, unfortunately he only had anecdotal information so couldn’t really help me as he had not experienced the phenomenon himself. However, he did suggest I speak to Nick Redfern, author and History channel regular. After a couple of frustrating hours, I managed to find a contact route. I messaged but got no reply. I was a little disappointed I will admit. I decided, grudgingly, to buy his book and a few others. Now this is where things get weirder. I created my account and placed an order for a couple of books, I received confirmation of my order and payment accepted and my order would be with me within the next day or two…standard response.
The next morning, however, things changed again. An alert from my bank states that someone had tried to buy a very expensive watch with my hard-earned cash! An hour and several “I’ll just pop you on holds” later I had the account sorted and new bank card issued. My workday started stressed and flustered. Regaining my composure, I carried out my duties to the best of my abilities and during a break I decided to check my emails (I have a separate one for UFO info and research). There had been unusual activity on my account “your account has been frozen.” I am not ashamed to say I used language that would make sailors blush and my boss a little scared. After several hours of clicking and confirming I managed to get it back. I spent the next few hours resetting passwords, changing settings and swearing but I finally managed to get back on track. However, when I checked my personal emails it seemed something had gone wrong with my book order, they were not dispatched and my details had been changed on the site, payment couldn’t be taken, no book delivery. Could this all be a coincidence? Was I letting my imagination run away with me?
The following morning I continued my search for credible witnesses, experts and basically anyone who would be willing to have their story told in print. Weeks later and still very little information had been gathered which in itself is, in my opinion, very telling but I am still no closer to a true and confirmed answer. It seems that if they are operating in the UK they are very good at their job because nobody is talking or that in reality it is, or was, a US Government construct in order to keep witnesses to sightings quiet about what they witnessed through fear and intimidation. A conclusion drawn from one of the few pieces of information I could gather, that there was a couple of instances in the UK but they were connected to the Rendlesham Forest incident which concerned the US forces.
I believe the reason that they, the MIB, were so successful in the US back in the day was the innocence of the population, their trust in their elected Government, and the lack of technology available at that time. With todays tech, there would be no mystery, no illusions, very little threat as social media and the internet would ensure their faces were seen globally. It also seems that there is very little need for the Men in Black to personally show up at the door and scaring people into silence anymore as the use of modern technology can cause havoc in an individual’s life in an instant without being caught on camera. Could this have been what happened to me or was it just coincidental that some criminal picked that time to try and separate me from my finances and mess with my life through technological interference? I may never find out.
