282 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
282 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: AGENTS OF THE DARK FILE: UFO2550
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AGENTS OF THE DARK
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From 'The Unexplained' No. 39.
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Rarely - if ever - do the threats of the mysterious Men In
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Black, following a close encounter, come to anything. So what
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could be the purpose behind their visits?
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In September 1976, Dr Herbert Hopkins, a 58 year-old doctor
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and hypnotist, was acting as consultant on an alleged UFO
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teleportation case in Maine, USA. One evening, when his wife and
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children had gone out leaving him alone, the telephone rang and a
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man identifying himself as vice-president of the New Jersey UFO
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Research Organisation asked if he might visit Dr Hopkins that
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evening to discuss certain details of the case. Dr Hopkins
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agreed; at the time, it seemed the natural thing to do. He went
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to the back door to switch on the light so that his visitor would
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be able to find his way from the parking lot, but while he was
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there, he noticed the man already climbing the porch steps. "I
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saw no car, and even if he did have a car, he could not have
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possibly gotten to my house that quickly from any phone," Hopkins
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later commented in delayed astonishment.
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At the time, Dr Hopkins felt no particular surprise as he
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admitted his visitor, The man was dressed in a black suit, with
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black hat, tie and shoes, and a white shirt, "I thought, he
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looks like an undertaker," Hopkins later said. His clothes were
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immaculate - suit unwrinkled, trousers sharply creased. When he
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took off his hat, he revealed himself as completely hairless, not
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only bald but without eyebrows or eyelashes. His skin was dead
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white, his lips bright red. In the course of their conversation,
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he happened to brush his lips with his grey suede gloves, and the
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doctor was astonished to see that his lips were smeared and that
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the gloves were stained with lipstick!
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It was only afterwards, however, that Dr Hopkins reflected
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further on the strangeness of his visitor's appearance and
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behaviour. Particularly odd was the fact that his visitor stated
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that his host had two coins in his pocket. It was indeed the
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case. He then asked the doctor to put one of the coins in his
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hand and to watch the coin, not himself. As Hopkins watched, the
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coin seemed to go out of focus, and then gradually vanished.
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"Neither you nor anyone else on this plane will ever see that
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coin again," the visitor told him. After talking a little while
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longer on general UFO topics, Dr Hopkins suddenly noticed that
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the visitor's speech was slowing down. The man then rose
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unsteadily to his feet and said, very slowly; "My energy is
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running low - must go now - goodbye." He walked falteringly to
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the door and descended the outside steps uncertainly, one at a
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time. Dr Hopkins saw a bright light shining in the driveway,
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bluish-white and distinctly brighter than a normal car lamp. At
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the time, however, he assumed it must be the stranger's car,
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although he neither saw nor heard it.
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MYSTERIOUS MARKS
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Later, when Dr Hopkins family had returned, they examined the
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driveway and found marks that could not have been made by a car
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because they were in the centre of the driveway, where the wheels
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could not have been. But the next day, although the driveway had
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not been used in the meantime, the marks had vanished.
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Dr Hopkins was very much shaken by the visit, particularly
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when he reflected on the extraordinary character of the
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stranger's conduct. Not surprisingly, he was so scared that he
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willingly complied wdith his visitor's instruction, which was to
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erase the tapes of the hypnotic sessions he was conductiog with
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regard to his current case, and to have nothing further to do
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with the investigation.
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Subsequently, curious incidents continued to occur both in Dr
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Hopkin's household and in that of his eldest son. He presumed
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that there was some link with the extraordinary visit, but he
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never heard from his visitor again. As for the New Jersey UFO
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Dr Hopkins' account is probably the most detailed we have of
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a MIB (Man in Black) visit, and confronts us with the problem at
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its most bizarre. First we must ask ourselves if a trained and
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respected doctor whould invent so strange a tale, and if so, with
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what conceivable motive? Alternatively, could the entire episode
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have been a delusion, despite the tracks seen by other members of
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his family? Could the truth lie somewhere between reality and
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imagination? Could a real visitor, albeit an impostor making a
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false identity claim, have visited the doctor for some unknown
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reason of his own, somehow acting as a trigger for the doctor to
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invent a whole set of weird features?
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In fact, what seems the LEAST likely explanation is that the
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whole incident took place in the doctor's imagination. When his
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wife and children came home, they found him severely shaken, with
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the house lights blazing, and seated at a table on which lay a
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gun. They confirmed the marks on the driveway and a series of
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disturbances to the telepnone that seemed to commence immediately
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after the visit. So it would seem that some real event occurred,
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although its nature remains mystifying.
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The concrete nature of the phenomenon was accepted by the
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United States Air Force, who were concerned that persons passing
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themselves off as USAF personnel should be visiting UFO
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witnesses. In February 1967, Colonel George P. Freeman,
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Pentagon spokesman for the USAF's Project Blue Book, told UFO
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investigator John Keel in the course of an interview:
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"Mysterious men dressed in Air Force uniforms or bearing
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impressive credentials from government agencies have been
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silencing UFO witnesses. We have checked a number of these
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cases, and these men are not connected with the Air Force in any
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way. We haven't been able to find out anything about these men.
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By posing as Air Force officers and government agents, they are
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committing a federal offence. We would sure like to catch one.
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Unfortunately the trail is always too cold by the time we hear
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about these cases. But we are still trying."
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But were the impostors referred to by Colonel Freeman, and Dr
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Hopkin's strange visitor similar in kind? UFO sightings, like
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sensational crimes, attract a number of mentally unstable
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persons, who are quie capable of posing as authorised officials
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in order to gain access to witnesses; and it could be that some
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supposed MIBs are simply psuedo-investigators of this sort.
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One particularly curious recurrent feature of MIB reports is
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the ineptitude of the visitors. Time and again, they are
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described as incompetent; and if they are impersonating human
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beings, they certainly do not do it very well, arousing their
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victims' suspicions by improbable behaviour, by the way they
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look or talk, and by their ignorance as much as their knowledge.
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But, of course, it could be that the only ones who are spotted
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as impostors are those who are no good at their job, and so
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there may be many more MIB cases that we never learn about
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simply because the visitors successfully convince their victims
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that there is nothing to be suspicious about, or that they should
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keep quiet about the visit.
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UNFULFILLED THREATS
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A common feature of a great many MIB visits is indeed the
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instruction to a witness not to say anything about the visit,
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and to cease all activity concerning the case. (Clearly, we know
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of these cases only because such instructions have been
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disobeyed.) One Canadian UFO witness was told by a mysterious
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visitor in 1976 to stop repeating his story and not to go
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further into his case, or he would be visited by three men in
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black. "I said, 'What's that supposed to mean?' 'Well,' he said,
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' I could make it hot for you... it might cost you certain
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injury." A year earlier, Mexican witness Carlos de los Santos
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had been stopped on his way to a television interview by two
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large black limousines. One of the occupants - dressed in a
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black suit and 'Scandanavian' in appearance - told him: "Look,
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boy, if you value your life and your family's too, don't talk
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any more about this sighting of yours."
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However, ther is no reliable instance of such threats ever
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having been carried out, though a good many witnesses have gome
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ahead and defied their warnings. Indeed, sinister though the
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MIBs may be, they are notable for their lack of actual violence.
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The worst that can be said of them is that they frequently
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harass witnesses with untimely visits and telephone calls, or
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simply disturb them with their very presence.
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While, for the victim, it is just as well that the threats
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of violence are not followed through, this is for the
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investigator one more disconcerting aspect of the pnenomenon -
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for violence, if it resulted in physical action, would at least
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help in establishing the reality of the phenomenon. Instead, it
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remains a fact that most of the evidence is purely hearsay in
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character and often not of the highest quality; cases as
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well-attested as that of Dr. Herbert Hopkins are unfortunately
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in the minority.
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Another problem area is the dismaying lack of precision
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about many of the reports. Popular American writer Brad Steiger
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alleged that hundreds of ufologists, contactees and chance
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percipients of UFOs claim to have been visited by ominous
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strangers - usually three, and usually dressed in black; but he
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cites only a few actual instances. Similarly, John Keel, an
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expert on unexplained phenomena, claimed that, on a number of
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occasions, he actually saw phantom Cadillacs, complete with
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rather sinister Oriental-looking passengers in black suits; but
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for a trained reporter, he showed a curious reluctance to persue
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these sightings or to give chapter and verse in such an important
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matter. Such loose assertions are valueless as evidence; all
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they do is contribute to the myth.
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And so we come back once again to the possibility that there
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is nothing more to the phenomenon than myth. Should we perhaps
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write off the whole business as delusion, the creation of
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imaginative folk whose personal obsessions take on this
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particular shape because it reflects one or other of the
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prevalent cultural preoccupations of out time? At one end of the
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scale, we find contactee Woodrow Derenberger insisting that the
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"two men dressed entirely in black" who tried to silence him
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were emissaries of the Mafia; while at the other, there is
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theorist David Tansley, who suggested that they are psychic
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entities, representatives of the dark forces, seeking to prevent
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the spread of true knowledge. More matter-of-factly, Dominick
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Lucchesi claimed that they emanated from some unknown
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civilisation, possibly underground, in a remote area of Earth -
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the Amazon, the Gobi Desert or the Himalayas.
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But there is one feature that is common to virtually all MIB
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reports, and that perhaps contains the key to the problem. This
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is the possession, by the MIBs, of information that they should
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not have been able to come by - information that was restricted,
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not released to the press, known perhaps to a few investigators
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and officials but not to the public, and sometimes not even to
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them. The one person who does possess that knowledge is always
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the person visited, In other words, the MIBs and their victims
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share knowledge that perhaps nobody else possesses. Add to this
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the fact that, in almost every case, the MIBs appear to the
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witness when he or she is alone - in Dr Hopkin's case, for
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example, the visitor took care to call when his wife and
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children were away from home, and established this fact by
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telephone beforehand - and the implication has to be that some
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kind of paranormal link connects the MIBs and the persons they
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visit.
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TRUTH - OR PARANOIA?
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To this must be added other features of the phenomenon that
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are not easily reconciled with everday reality. Where are the
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notorious black cars, for instance, when they are not visiting
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witnesses? Where are they garaged or serviced? Do they never get
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involved in breakdowns or accidents? Can it be that they
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materialise from some other plane of existence when they are
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needed?
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These are only a few of the questions raised by the MIB
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phenomenon. What complicates the matter is that MIB cases lie
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to the totally incredible. At one extreme are visits during
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which nothing really bizarre occurs, the only anomalous feature
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being, perhaps, that the visitor makes a false identity claim,
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or has unaccountable access to private information. At the other
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extreme are cases in which the only explanation would seem to be
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that the witness has succumbed to paranoia. In "The Truth
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About the Men In Black", UFO investigator Ramona Clark tells of
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an unnamed investigator who was confronted by three MIBs on 3
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July 1969. "On the window of the car in which they were riding
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was the symbol connected with them and their visitations. This
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symbol had a profound psychological impact upon this man. I have
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never encountered such absolute fear in a human being."
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The first meeting was followed by continual harassment.
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There were mysterious telephone calls, and the man's house was
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searched. He began to hear voices and to see strange shapes.
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"Black Cadillacs roamed the street in front of his home, and
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followed him everwhere he went. Once he and his family were
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almost forced into an accident by an oncoming Cadillac.
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Nightmares concerning MIBs plagued his sleep. It became
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impossible for him to rest, his work suffered and he was scared
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of losing his job."
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Was it all in his mind? One is tempted to think so. But a
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friend confirmed that, while they talked, there was a
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strange-looking man walking back and forth in front of the
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house. The man was tall, seemed about 55 years old - and was
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dressed entirely in black.
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CASEBOOK
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The Odd Couple.
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On 24 September 1976 - only a few days after Dr. Herbert
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Hopkin's terrifying visit from a MIB - his daughter-in-law
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Maureen received a telephone call from a man who claimed to know
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her husband John, and who asked if he and a companion could come
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and visit them.
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John met the man at a local fast-food restaurant, and
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brought him home with his companion, a woman. Both appeared to
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be in their mid-thirties, and wore couriously old-fashioned
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clothes. The woman looked particularly odd; when she stood up,
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it seemed that there was something wrong with the way that her
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legs joined her hips. Both strangers walked with very short
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steps, leaning forward as though frightened of falling.
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They sat awkwardly together on a sofa while the man asked a
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number of detailed personal questions. Did John and Maureen
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watch television much? What did they read? And what did they
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talk about? All the while, the man was pawing and fondling his
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female companion, asking John if this was all right and whether
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he was doing it correctly.
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John left the room for a moment, and the man tried to
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persuade Maureen to sit next to him. He also asked her "how she
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was made", and whether she had any nude photographs.
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Shortly afterwards, the woman stood up and announced that
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she wanted to leave. The man also stood, but made no move to go.
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He was between the woman and the door, and it seemed that the
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only way she could get to the door was by walking in a straight
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line, directly through him. Finally the woman turned to John and
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asked: "Please move him; I can't move him myself." Then,
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suddenly, the man left, followed by the woman, both walking in
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straight lines. They did not even say goodbye.
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***End***
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |