In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are supposed men dressed in black suits who claim to be quasi-government agents 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. Several alleged encounters with the men in black have been reported by UFO researchers and enthusiasts.
Unidentified flying object (UFO) is the popular term for any aerial phenomenon that cannot immediately be identified. Most UFOs are identified on investigation as conventional objects or phenomena. The term is widely used for claimed observations of extraterrestrial spacecraft.
UFO conspiracy theories argue that various governments, and politicians globally, most especially the officials of Washington, D.C., are suppressing evidence of extraterrestrial unidentified flying objects and alien visitors. Such conspiracy theories commonly argue that Earth governments, especially the Government of the United States, are in communication or cooperation with extraterrestrials despite public claims to the contrary, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction.
In mid-1947, a United States Army Air Forces balloon crashed at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Following wide initial interest in the crashed "flying disc", the US military stated that it was merely a conventional weather balloon. Interest subsequently waned until the late 1970s, when ufologists began promoting a variety of increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories, claiming that one or more alien spacecraft had crash-landed and that the extraterrestrial occupants had been recovered by the military, which then engaged in a cover-up.
Dulce Base is the subject of a conspiracy theory claiming that a jointly-operated human and alien underground facility exists under Archuleta Mesa on the Colorado-New Mexico border near the town of Dulce, New Mexico, in the United States. Claims of alien activity there first arose from Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz.
The Maury Island Incident, June 21 1947, refers to claims made by Fred Crisman and Harold Dahl of falling debris and threats by men in black following sightings of unidentified flying objects in the sky over Maury Island in Puget Sound.
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.
The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is a US-based non-profit organization composed of civilian volunteers who study alleged UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind, claiming more than 4,000 members worldwide with chapters and representatives in more than 43 countries and all 50 states. In 2015, MUFON founded Mutual UFO Network University, an unaccredited online institution which seeks to train members to investigate UFO sightings. The organization has been criticized for its focus on pseudoscience, and critics say its investigators fail to use the scientific method.
Nick Pope is a freelance British journalist and media commentator. He was an employee at the British Government's Ministry of Defence (MoD) from 1985 to 2006 and is best known for a role he undertook for the British Government from 1991 to 1994 which involved investigating reports of UFO sightings to determine their defence significance.
Robert Sheaffer is an American freelance writer and UFO skeptic. He is a paranormal investigator of unidentified flying objects, having researched many sightings and written critiques of the hypothesis that UFOs are alien spacecraft. In addition to UFOs, his writings cover topics such as Christianity, academic feminism, the scientific theory of evolution, and creationism. He is the author of six books.
Joseph A. Citro is a Vermont author and folklorist. Occasionally referred as the "Bard of the Bizarre" or "the Ghost-Master General", he has extensively researched and documented the folklore, hauntings, ghost stories, paranormal activity and occult happenings of New England.
In ufology, conspiracy theory, science fiction, and comic book stories, claims or stories have circulated linking UFOs to Nazi Germany. The German UFO theories describe supposedly successful attempts to develop advanced aircraft or spacecraft prior to and during World War II, and further assert the post-war survival of these craft in secret underground bases in Antarctica, South America, or the United States, along with their creators. According to these theories and fictional stories, various potential code-names or sub-classifications of Nazi UFO craft such as Rundflugzeug, Feuerball, Diskus, Haunebu, Hauneburg-Gerät, V7, Vril, Kugelblitz, Andromeda-Gerät, Flugkreisel, Kugelwaffe, and Reichsflugscheibe have all been referenced.
Below is a partial list of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in Canada.
The Aurora, Texas, UFO incident reportedly occurred on April 17, 1897 when, according to locals, a UFO crashed on a farm near Aurora, Texas. The incident is claimed to have resulted in a fatality from the crash and the alleged alien body is to have been buried in an unmarked grave at the local cemetery.
There are a number of planetary objects proposed in religion, astrology, ufology and pseudoscience whose existence is not supported by scientific evidence.
"E.B.E." is the seventeenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on February 18, 1994. It was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by William Graham. The episode introduced the recurring characters of The Lone Gunmen, played by Bruce Harwood, Dean Haglund and Tom Braidwood; and saw Jerry Hardin reprise his role as Deep Throat. The episode helped explore the series' overarching mythology. "E.B.E." earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.2, being watched by 5.8 million households in its initial broadcast; and received positive reviews from critics.
UFO sightings in outer space are sightings of unidentified flying objects reported by astronauts while in space that they could not explain at the time. These sightings have been claimed as evidence for alien visits by ufologists. Some of the alleged sightings never occurred: science fiction writer Otto Binder perpetuated a hoax claiming Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong had encountered UFOs during the Apollo mission. UFO proponents see comments by astronauts or photos processed by NASA as one of the "strongest bodies of evidence" because they are considered to be of high trustworthiness; however, NASA Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs, Robert F. Allnut, concluded in a 1970 letter, "after fifteen years of manned space voyages including space stations and landing on the Moon, spacemen have brought back not a shred of evidence -- verbal, photographic, or otherwise -- for the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft, or 'UFOs'."
A space jellyfish is a rocket launch related phenomenon that frequently is misidentified as an alien UFO. The phenomenon is caused by sunlight reflecting off the high altitude rocket plume gases emitted by the launching rocket, at pre-dawn and post-dusk, the twilight plumes. The observer is shrouded in darkness, while at high altitudes, sunlight is able to reflect off the exhaust that is being lit before dawn reaches lower altitudes or after dusk has already left lower altitudes, due the curvature of the Earth and its rotation causing the day-night cycle. This luminous apparition is reminiscent of a jellyfish. UFO
Sekret Machines: Book 1 – Chasing Shadows is a science-fiction thriller novel based on actual events created by Tom DeLonge, American guitarist of Blink-182 and Angels & Airwaves, and British-American novelist A. J. Hartley. The first edition was released on April 5, 2016 through DeLonge's To the Stars company. Chasing Shadows is the first book in the Sekret Machines series of both fiction and non-fiction books. The 2017 paperback second edition includes a new forward written by Jim Semivan, former member of the CIA's National Clandestine Service.
