Men in Black

For decades, UFO witnesses have reported being visited by unsettling strangers in identical black suits who warn them into silence — and the legend traces back almost entirely to one man's increasingly strange, self-published claims.

The Men in Black legend describes mysterious, threatening figures in black suits who allegedly visit UFO witnesses to intimidate them into silence. The modern legend traces substantially to claims made by Albert K. Bender, a 1950s UFO researcher who abruptly shut down his own investigative organization, later publishing an account of being visited and threatened by three men in black.

⇄disputed

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Quick facts

→Albert K. Bender founded the International Flying Saucer Bureau in 1952, then abruptly disbanded it in 1953, citing a vague, unexplained warning.
→Bender later published a 1962 book claiming he had been visited by three men in black who threatened him into silence about a secret he claimed to have discovered about UFOs.
→No independent witness or documentation has ever corroborated Bender's specific account of the visit.
→The legend has since been reported by numerous other UFO witnesses over subsequent decades, with descriptions varying significantly between accounts.

Entities on file

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Albert K. Bender (person)

UFO researcher whose 1962 book, published years after the fact, is the foundational account for the modern Men in Black legend.

→ published the founding account of → Men in Black◐reported

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Men in Black (event)

Legendary mysterious figures said to intimidate UFO witnesses into silence; the modern legend traces to one researcher's uncorroborated 1962 account.

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