Men in black

In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents and who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves. The term is also frequently used to describe mysterious men working for unknown organizations, as well as various branches of government allegedly designed to protect secrets or perform other strange activities. The term is generic, used for any unusual, threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on the scene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting.

Folklore

Folklorist Peter Rojcewicz compares accounts of men in black to tales of people encountering the devil and speculates that they can be considered a kind of "psychological drama".

Ufologists

Men in black figure prominently in ufology and UFO folklore. In 1947, Harold Dahl claimed to have been warned not to talk about his alleged UFO sighting on Maury Island by a man in a dark suit. In the mid 1950s, the ufologist Albert K. Bender claimed he was visited by men in dark suits who threatened and warned him not to continue investigating UFOs. Bender believed the men in black were secret government agents tasked with suppressing evidence of UFOs. The ufologist John Keel claimed to have had encounters with men in black and referred to them as "demonic supernaturals" with "dark skin and/or “exotic” facial features". According to the ufologist Jerome Clark, reports of men in black represent "experiences" that "don’t seem to have occurred in the world of consensus reality".

Men in Black (disambiguation)

Men in Black, in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen.

Men in Black may also refer to:

Entertainment

Men in Black (The X-Files)

In The X-Files television show, the Men in Black (MIB for short, and singular, Man in Black) refer, unofficially, to a group of enforcers employed by the Syndicate to execute assassinations, cover ups and other covert operations. It is implied that most, if not all, of them are former members of special operations units. Some, mostly shown in comedic episodes, parodied the traditional view of MIBs from UFO lore. Most had no known civilian identities, though there were some exceptions. They rarely speak.

The Men in Black are analogous to the alien bounty hunters employed by the Colonists. The Men in Black were, however, not as reliable as the bounty hunters and though sometimes they were used initially it took the more capable Alien Bounty Hunters to complete difficult tasks. The Syndicate would use the bounty hunters only when necessary because of an increased risk of exposure.

As of the series finale, it is assumed they have been phased out, as the "New Syndicate" (Super Soldiers) does not have as great a need to employ normal humans.