223 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
223 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: WHO ARE THE MEN IN BLACK? FILE: UFO2552
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From 'The Unexplained' No. 10. Orbis Publishing. 1991.
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As UFO sightings increase, so allegedly does the harassment
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of witnesses - by the sinister so-called Men In Black.
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Albert Bender, director of the International Flying Saucer
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Bureau, an amateur organisation based in Connecticut, USA, once
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claimed to have discovered the secret behind UFOs. But
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unfortunately, the rest of the world is still none the wiser -
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for Bender was prevented from passing on his discovery to the
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world by three sinister visitors: three men dressed in black,
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known as 'the silencers'.
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It had been Bender's intention to publish his findings in
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his own journal, Space Review. But before committing himself
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finally, he felt he ought to try his ideas out on a colleague.
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He therefore mailed his report. A few days later, the men came.
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Bender was lying down in his bedroom, overtaken by a sudden
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spell of dizziness, when he noticed three shadowy figures in the
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room. Gradually, they became clearer. All were dressed in black
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clothes. "They looked like clergymen, but wore hats similar to
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Homburg style. The faces were not clearly discernible, for the
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hats partly hid and shaded them. Feelings of fear left me... The
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eyes of all three figures suddenly lit up like flashlight bulbs,
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and all these were focussed upon me. They seemed to burn into my
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very soul as the pains above my eyes became almost unbearable.
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It was then I sensed that they were conveying a message to me by
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telelathy."
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Bender's visitors confirmed that he had been right in his
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speculations as to the true nature of the UFOs - one of them was
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actually carrying Bender's report, and provided additional
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information. This so terrified him that he was only too willing
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to go along with their demand that he close down his organisation,
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cease publication of his journal at once, and refrain from
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telling the truth to anyone 'on his honour as an American
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citizen.'
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But did Bender really expect anyone to believe his story? His
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friends and colleagues were certainly baffled by it. One of them,
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Gray Barker, even published a sensational book, 'They Knew Too
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Much About Flying Saucers'; and Bender himself supplied an even
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stranger account in his 'Flying Saucers and the Three Men' some
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of what had occurred from former colleagues.
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He told an extraordinary story, involving extraterrestrial
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spaceships with bases in Antarctica, that reads like the
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far-fetched contactee dream-stuff; and it has even been suggested
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that the implausibility of Bender's story was specifically
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designed in order to throw serious UFO investigators off the
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track.
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However, believable or not, Bender's original account of the
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visit of the three strangers is of crucial interest to UFO
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investigators, for the story has been parelleled by many similar
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reports, frequently from people unlikely to have heard of Bender
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and his experiences. UFO percipients and investigators are
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apparently also liable to be visited by men in black (MIBs); and
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although most reports are from the United States, similar claims
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have come from Sweden and Italy, Britain and Mexico. Like the UFO
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phenomenon itself, MIBs span three decades, and perhaps had
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precursors in earlier centuries.
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VISITATIONS
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Like Bender's story, most later reports not only contain
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implausible details, but are also inherently illogical: in
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virtually every case, there seems on the face of it more reason
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to disbelieve that to believe. But this does not eliminate the
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mystery - it simply requires us to study it in a different light.
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For whether or not these things actually happened, the fact
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remains that they were reported; and why should so many people,
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independently and often reluctantly, report such strange and
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sinister visitations? What is more, why is it that the accounts
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are so mimilar, echoeng and in turn helping to confirm a
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persistent pattern that, if nothing else, has become one of the
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most powerful folk myths of our time?
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The archetypal MIB report runs something like this: shortly
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after a UFO sighting, the subject - he may be a witness, he may
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occurs so soon after the incident itself that no official report
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or media publication has taken place: in short, the visitors
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should not, by any normal channels, have gained access to the
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information they clearly possess - names, addresses, and details
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of the incident, as well as those involved.
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The victim is nearly always alone at the time of the visit,
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usually in his own home. The visitors, usually three in number,
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arrive in a large, black car. In America, it is most often a
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prestigious Cadillac, but seldon a recent model. Though old in
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date, however, it is likely to be immaculate in appearance and
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condition, inside and out, even having that unmistakable 'new
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car' smell. If the subject notes the registration number and
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checks it, it is invariably found to be a non-existent number.
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The visitors themselves are almost always men: only very
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rarely is one a woman, In appearance, they conform pretty closely
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to the stereotyped image of a CIA or secret service man. They
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wear dark suits, dark hats, dark ties, dark shoes and socks, but
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white shirts: and witnesses very often remark on their clean,
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immaculate turn-out, all the clothes looking as though just
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purchased.
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The visitors' faces are frequently discribed as 'vaguely
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specified in many accounts. If not dark-skinned, the men are
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likely to be very heavily tanned. Sometimes there are bizarre
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touches: in one case, for instance, a man in black appeared to be
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wering bright lipstick! The MIBs are generally unsmiling and
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expressionless, their movements stiff and awkward. Their general
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demeanour is formal, cold, sinister, even menacing, and there is
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no warmth or friendliness shown, even if no outright hostility
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either. Witnesses often hint that they felt their visitors were
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not human at all.
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Some MIBs proffer evidence of identity; indeed, they
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sometimes appear in US Air Force or other uniforms. They may also
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produce identity cards; but since most people would not know a
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genuine CIA or other 'secret' service identity card if they saw
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one, this of course proves nothing at all. If they give names,
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however, these are invariably found to be false.
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The interview is sometimes an interrogation, sometimes simply
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a warning. Either way, the visitors, even though they are asking
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questions, are clearly very well-informed, with access to
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restricted information. They speak with perfect, sometimes too
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perfect, intonation and phrasing, and their language is apt to be
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reminiscent of the conventional villains of crime films.
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MENACING ENCOUNTERS
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The sinister visits almost invariably conclude with a warning
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not to tell anybody about the incident, if the subject is a UFO
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percipient, or to abandon the investigation, if he is an
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investigator. Violence is frequently threatened, too. And the
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MIBs depart as suddenly as they came.
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Most well-informed UFO enthusiasts, if asked to describe a
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typical MIB visit, would give some such account. However, a
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comparative examination of reports indicates that such 'perfect'
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MIB visits seldom occur in practice. Study of 32 of the more
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reliable cases on file reveals that many details diverge quite
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markedly from the archetypal story: there were, for instance, no
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visitors at all in four cases, only subsequent telephone calls;
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and, of the remainder, only five involved three men, two involved
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four, five involved two, while in the rest there was mention only
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of a single visitor.
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Although the appearance and behaviour of the visitors does
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seem generally to conform to the prototype, it ranges from the
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entirely natural to the totally bizarre. The car, despite the
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fact that in America it is by far the commonest means of
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transportation, is in fact mentioned in only one-third of the
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reports; and as for the picturesque details - the Cadillac, the
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antiquated model, the immaculate condition - these are, in
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practice, very much the exception. Of 22 American reports, only
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nine even include mention of a car; and of these, only three were
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Cadillacs, while only two were specified as black and only two as
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out-of-date models.
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On the other hand, such archetypal details tend to be more
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conspicuous in less reliable cases, particularly those in which
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investigators, rather than UFO percipients, are involved. The
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case that comes closest to the archetype is that of Robert
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Richardson, of Toledo, Ohio, who in July 1967 informed the Aerial
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Phenomena Research Organisation (APRO) that he had collided with
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a UFO while driving at night. Coming round a bend, he had been
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confronted by a strange object blocking the road. Unable to halt
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in time, he had hit it, though not very hard. Immediately on
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impact, the UFO vanished. Police who accompanied Richardson to
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the scene could find only his own skid marks as evidence; but on
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a later visit, Richardson himself found a small lump of metal
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which might have come from the UFO.
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Three days later, at 11 pm, two men in their twenties
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appeared at Richardson's home and questioned him for about 10
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minutes. They did not identify themselves, and Richardson - to
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his own subsequent surprise - did not ask who they were. They
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were not unfriendly, gave no warnings, and just asked questions.
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He noted that they left in a black 1953 Cadillac. The number,
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when checked, was found not yet to have been issued.
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A week later, Richardson received a second visit, from two
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different men, who arrived in a current model Dodge. They wore
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black suits and were dark-complectioned. Although one spoke
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perfect English, the second had an accent, and Richardson felt
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there was something vaguely foreign about them. At first, they
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seemed to be trying to persuade him that he had not hit anything
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at all; but then they asked for the piece of metal. When he told
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them it had gone for analysis, they threatened him: "If you want
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your wife to stay as pretty as she is, then you'd better get the
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metal back".
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The existence of the metal was known only to Richardson and
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his wife, and to two senior members of APRO. Seemingly, the only
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way the strangers could have learned of its existence would be by
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tapping either his or APRO's telephone. There was no clear
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connection between the two pairs of visitors; but what both had
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in common was access to information that was not freely and
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publicly available. Perhaps it is this that is the key to the MIB
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mystery.
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************
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[On the page is also a boxed article titled; IN FOCUS THE MAN WHO
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SHOT A HUMANOID, reproduced below.]
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One inclement evening in November 1961, Paul Miller and three
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companions were returning home to Minot, North Dakota, after a
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hunting trip when what they could only describe as 'a luminous
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silo' landed in a nearby field. At first they thought it was a
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plane crashing, but had to revise their opinion when the 'plane'
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abruptly vanished. As the hunters drove off, the object
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reappeared and two humanoids emerged from it. Miller panicked and
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fired at one of the creatures, apparently wounding it. The other
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hunters immediately fled.
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On their way back to Minot, all of them experienced a blackout
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and 'lost' three hours. Terrified, they decided not to report the
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incident to anyone. Yet the next morning, when Miller reported
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to work (in an Air Force office), three men in black arrived.
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They said they were government officials - but showed no
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credentials - and remarked unpleasantly that they hoped Miller
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was 'telling the truth' about the UFO. How did they know about
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it? 'We have a report,' they said vaguely.
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'They seemed to know everthing about me; where I worked, my
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name, everthing else,' Miller said. They also asked questions
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about his experiences as if they already knew the answers. Miller
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did not dare tell his story for several years.
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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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