For those of you who saw the movie, you may think of men in black as high security government officials flashing lights in your face to make you forget what you saw. According to John Ford and other UFO researchers, these strange men appear to be real and seem to have a very unclear purpose in mind. There have been few accounts where people were actually threatened away from UFO research on Mount Misery. These "visitors" seem to dwell on the mundane and nonsensical.

The supposed men in black do not always look the same but their actions have similarities. Usually a MIB story will involve strange men coming in and asking strange unrelated questions. They may say they are UFO investigators but then seem more interested with the relationship status of the person they are talking to and other unrelated personal tidbits. They also have strange mannerisms. According to various accounts found in John Keel's "The Mothman Prophecies", they would seem fascinated with a pen or other trinket and were delighted to be able to take it with them. They also seemed to be unfamiliar with day to day customs such as eating with a fork, or general world knowledge. They have also been known to ask for the time and date repeatedly and speak in a "singsong" voice.

One of the most well documented reports came from a woman living near the peak of Mount Misery. She has four gentlemen come to her door in the rain. They had walked up a muddy hill but their shoes were spotless. They had strong, high cheekbones and seemed to be of Indian heritage. They spoke with her politely but claimed that her property was theirs and that they would get it back. (Summarized from The Mothman Prophecies p. 201 and other web sites)

According to John Keel's book, MIBs are not always male. There was another account back in 1967 where a woman claiming to be a reporter of a Long Island paper came by to do an interview. She asked a bunch of personal questions about family and then left. Upon further investigation that paper had no such employee. This also took place on Mount Misery.

There have also been reports of Mount Misery natives seeing strangers in black suits wandering around, though I have been unable to gain any more specific info. Many of these events took place many years ago during UFO sighting boosts.

Explanations?

In doing research on this topic I have seen a few different explanations. Of course there is always the chance that the strangeness of these visitors is exaggerated or imagined. There are also those who say the MIB's are really government agents trying to squash evidence to prevent a panic. John Keel seems to think they really are something not human but instead of smothering UFO stories, have been known to draw more attention to them. Maybe they feed us what they want us to think and what they want varies with each situation.