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Conspiracy Theory Paper: Who are the Men in Black?

COM 301
Dr. Bollinger
Matthew Cook

The Occasion
The Men in Black. A fictional organization that have accumulated millions through film,
or a terrifying organization hell bent on making sure no one knows the truth about extraterrestrial life. Throughout the years, there have been multiple cases of people being approached
by figures who are dressed in black suits with shaved heads and dark eyes. They have been
described as acting both human and inhuman. Many believe that there is a possibility that there is
not one, but two different groups that could be considered the men in black. One has been noted
to seem human and spawn from a government organization, with the main goal of keeping
knowledge of alien life out of the publics eye. The other is considered to be alien, masking
themselves similarly to the government organization, with the goal of obtaining information to
see how much the human race has learned about the existence of alien life.
The conspiracy theory has progressed through the ages as more and more personal
accounts of experiences with the men in black are documented. Some of the most notable ones
come from two sources. One is from Dr. Herbert Hopkins, who explained in an interview
broadcasted on NBC Radio an experience with a character who dressed in an all-black suit who
came off other worldly. The other was documented by famous actor and comedian Dan Akroyd,
who has affiliates himself with those who strive to find more knowledge of extraterrestrial life
and UFOs. His encounter with the Men in Black was documented in an interview where he
discusses how he believes this organization shut down his SciFi produced show in order to delete
any information Akroyd intended to publicize on extraterrestrial life.
As more of these accounts rise to the public eye, along with three feature films making
the name the Men in Black a household name, people are starting to do research on whom truly

the Men in Black are. This research has led to the conspiracy theory that not only the
government, but also extraterrestrial life are trying to keep things hidden from the public eye.
However after reading about these two accounts and doing a little bit of my own research, it was
hard not to get sucked in to try and find out more.
I have no idea which would be more terrifying, getting threats from a government
organization, or being stalked down by aliens. Either way both have terrified all who have
encountered the supposed men in black. However one extra creepy case stands out above most.
On September 11th, 1976 Dr. Herbert Hopkins was visited by what could only be considered as
something not of this earth. At the time Hopkins had been studying UFOs and certain events that
had happened recently that involved UFO sightings. That night Dr. Hopkins got a phone call in
the middle of his research. He answered to a man he had never heard before. Dr. Hopkins
documented the man saying that, He wanted to know if he could come here and talk to me
about the UFO case. He also asked if I was alone, and I said yes (Light). By the time he had
hung up the phone, he heard something on his front porch. He went to the door to find the man
already standing on his front porch, waiting for him.
The man was described to be wearing a neatly tailored black suit along with a derby. The
doctor was kind of throw off by the derby, since it was not really common to be worn. As the
doctor invited the man in he started to notice other things about him. When he took off his derby,
he had a completely bald head, there were dark shadows around his eyes, and he was wearing a
thick layer of lipstick upon his lips. He didn't even have eyebrows or eyelashes. It looked like
he had smooth, plastic skin -- like a doll except that it was a dead-white color, (Light). Dr.
Hopkins found the entire situation strange before they even started their conversation; however
things were only going to get even weirder by the end of the night.

Most of the conversation revolved around the research that Dr. Hopkins had been doing
on UFOs and all the information he had been collecting. As they spoke with each other, Hopkins
started to notice other features that he found odd about this man in black. His lipstick was
covering something. Once he noticed, he was shocked. The lipstick was covering up the fact the
man had no lips at all. His mouth consisted of a small slit. He also kept himself very still, moving
as little as possible the entire duration of the conversation.
In the middle of the conversation the strange man told Hopkins to pull out a coin. "He
said, 'Watch the coin,' and it started to develop a silver color instead of copper, and then the silver
became bluish and the penny was getting quite fuzzy, out of focus, blurred, and then it simply
was gone -- it slowly dematerialized," (Light). Following what seemed to be a very strange
magic act, the man immediately told Hopkins to delete all of his research on UFOs and
Extraterrestrial life. "As he spoke his last words, I noticed his speech was slowing down. His
words became slower and farther spaced. He slowly got to his feet, unsteadily, and he said very
slowly, 'My - energy - is - running - low - must - go - now - goodbye.' Just like that, (Light). The
man walked slowly to the door, using the railing from the staircase to keep himself up. As soon
as the man was out of the door, Hopkins ran and destroyed all evidence and notes he had on
UFOs.
Overall this encounter is quite terrifying. It seems as though this thing was clearly not
human. Many researchers believe that in this specific case that this may have not been
government agents, but in fact aliens trying to keep their existence under wraps.
One of the biggest and most well received men in black encounters comes from a
celebrity that has been widely accepted by society. Sometimes being in the spotlight makes it

easier to sound less crazy when explaining encounters with the supernatural. The encounter
comes from Saturday Night Live comedian and Ghostbuster actor Dan Akroyd. While he was in
New York City preparing a show for the SciFi Channel on UFOs and the paranormal, titled Out
There, he was having a cellphone conversation with Brittany Spears and saw a black sedan with
potential MIBs inside, (Darlin). Two men were standing outside the car during his cell phone
conversation with Brittany. It did not seem odd until a third man, tall and lean, came out of the
back seat and gave Akroyd a terrifying stare, as if it was a signal to stop what he was doing.
Aykroyd looked away for a brief moment, and when he looked back, the sedan had
disappeared, (Darlin). Obviously shocked, Akroyd simply could not explain how it was possible
for the car to disappear out of thin air. I turned back a half-second later and it was gone. And
that car did not go past me, it did not take a U-turn. That car vanished, said Aykroyd,
(Darlin). It seemed physically impossible for the car to move from that spot without Akroyd
noticing it moving. Even though this experience was already odd, it was only going to get worse.
Upon returning into the studio he was told that everyone was told to leave and that they
would ultimately not be filming today. Akroyd did not pay too much mind to this notion,
unfortunately something happened later. Aykroyd was informed later that day that his show was
to be canceled, leaving many ufologists to ponder whether or not MIB influence led to that
outcome, (Darlin).
Personally, it definitely seems as though Akroyd would not explicitly lie about this
experience. Most people know him for his acting and the movies that he was in, but what most
people do not know is that he is also an adamant researcher of alien life and UFOs. He was
raised in a family that took these things to heart and fully accepted that aliens were in fact real
and have been making contact with humans for quite some time now. He has multiple papers,

websites, and articles where he explains the possibility of aliens and how the government is
surely covering up all of the evidence. For a man this passionate about alien life, it is highly
unlikely that he would make up this encounter for a publicity stunt or an explanation for the
cancellation of his show. Whether or not people believe what he has stated, is still up to the
reader.
The conspiracy here is whether the government is truly covering up signs of alien life
forms on our planet or if it is even the government at all. There are some theories that these men
in black can be actual humans sent from the government, but that does not completely explain
the existence of these inhuman entities that have also approached people to stop their research of
extraterrestrial life. Some people think that it could possibly be highly intelligent androids that
have been created by the government to keep people out of the mix. Other more extensive
theories are that these creatures are actually fallen angels. This theory is a little foggy with not a
whole lot of credibility behind it but it is worth noting. Overall I think most can agree that we
people are in fact getting approached by figures that wear black suits as well as being threatened
to stop any and all research on alien life. This cannot be a coincidence with the amount of people
that have explained accounts. As we dig deeper into this conspiracy we will start to look at the
likelihood of the government being involved in these threats against people compared to actual
alien life trying to keep their existence under wraps. We will look at even more experiences that
people have brought to the public eye about the men in black. Climbing into the rabbit hole we
should get a little closer to finding out the truth behind these strange men along with finding out
more info on whether they are still out there and if they are still watching us with a close eye to
make sure secrets of alien life to not get out.

The Five Canons

Invention:
Ethos 1: Using multiple different accounts and direct quotes from the people who have been
approached by the men in black, Alexander Light from the website HumanAreFree.com proves
his credibility. (http://humansarefree.com/2013/12/the-real-men-in-black-completeaccounts.html)
There is not much information on Alexander Light on the webpage, however collecting
all the assorted data needed to get his point across helps. He does not just pull things out of thin
air he adds direct quotes and links to the websites and sources that he obtained the information
from.
Ethos 2: The Epoch Times has a section of their news where they specifically talk about the odd
and supernatural called Beyond Science. One the authors who has written a lot of the stories for
the section is Paul Darin, who has his name linked within the webpage that opens up his entire
repertoire where he discusses not only aliens but plenty of other supernatural events and creature.
(http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/443135-visitations-from-the-men-in-black/)
When looking at Paul Darins work, he looks to have more credentials than that of
Alexander Light. The webpage gives an immediate link that goes straight to all of the work that
Darin has done for the Epoch Times. You can easily glance over all of his articles on the
supernatural to show he knows what he is doing, but if you take the time to look into his other
works, you will be easily impressed by the amount of information he is able to collect and credit
along with giving a sophisticated personal view on the subject as well.

Pathos 1: Alexander Light has collected a strong group of encounters with the men in black. He
starts out with some lighter reading but leads into some more darker and creepy material as his
list progresses. He uses the human emotion of fear and sympathy for those who have been
approached by the men in black through his direct quotes from the sources, who add clear tinges
of fear within the quotes themselves. (http://humansarefree.com/2013/12/the-real-men-in-blackcomplete-accounts.html)
Being able to present strong argument to the reader that also makes them feel as though
someone is watching them at the very moment they are reading the material is exactly what Light
was aiming for. He adds the perfect touch of creepy in his writing behind all of the facts and
artifacts that he presents to make the reader feel as though they should not be reading the content
in fear of also being approached by the Men in Black but enough juicy material to keep them
reading at the same time.
Pathos 2: Paul Darin has a strong approach to his articles. Using as few videos and pictures as
possible he uses all the facts that he can possibly collect to inform the reader of the topic he
presents. He has a magical effect on the reader that makes them want to keep digging down the
rabbit hole. He starts off with the source of the theories and paints a trail of crumbs that entices
the reader and makes them excited to hear what exactly the Men in Black have done and are
capable of. (http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/443135-visitations-from-the-men-in-black/)
The amount of information that Darin is able to give the reader while withholding the
right amount to keep the reader reading is something only a professional writer can do. He is able
to immediately entice the reader with the way he presents his information makes the reader
excited to keep venturing forward.

Logos 1: Alexander Light is able to present logical responses to all of the quotes that he presents.
He responds to all of the artifacts that he presents after he gives the reader all the information
that he knows while also giving a reasonable response at the same time. He brings in sketches
and videos throughout his article to help improve his ideas which logically help the reader accept
some of his ideas and the theories he also presents throughout.
(http://humansarefree.com/2013/12/the-real-men-in-black-complete-accounts.html)
Every time Light would bring his point of view in, it was a logical response on the
material presented. This was so much so that he often had the exact same thoughts on the matter
that I would have. He never goes on a tangent that drifts into insanity at any point in his article.
Logos 2: Paul Darin presents so many quotes and so many artifacts throughout his article that it
makes it difficult not to believe him. He presents accounts from very intelligent and trustworthy
individuals while also presenting their credentials whenever he introduces someone new.
(http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/443135-visitations-from-the-men-in-black/)
Darin is very logical in his approach. People want credibility and ethos when reading, so
by presenting plenty of it he also made a logical stance on it. Give people what they want right
off the bat and keep it up throughout the entire article and you will have the reader happy
throughout.
Inartistic Proof 1: Darin presents a video interview with Dan Akroyd where he discusses his
encounter with the Men in Black and his work on his cancelled television show.
(https://youtu.be/WMSXnbAKM8o)
Not only does he present a lot of the information that Akroyd gave in interviews but he
went out of his way to find a video of Akroyd in an interview discussing everything presented in

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the article. It makes the credibility of Light a lot stronger since a lot of the quotes written in the
article are heard directly from Akroyd within the video.
Inartistic Proof 2: Darin presented another video of a news broadcast where they presented
security camera footage of two men dressed in black suits walking into a hotel. The video
explains how the men approached people in the hotel after someone mentioned a UFO sighting.
(https://youtu.be/bcToNxPvZAE)
Organization:
Light and Darin both presented there artifacts in a similar way, just one a little better than
the other. Light made sure it was clear that his information was going to be presented topical, in a
way that when you read the headers of each section, you knew exactly what you will be reading
about. Darin did so similarly but with as much clutter; he presented his information and made
sure with was clear where he got it and how he wanted it presented. They possibly could have
presented the information chronologically, but were off by a couple of dates here and there.
Style:
Alexander Light made sure that when he was writing his article, that anyone would be
able to read it without any problems. He gave clear headings throughout that gave the reader a
heads up on what will be covered in this section. He placed out pictures and videos that were not
only proof, but slight little breaks within his research article to give the reader a little bit to
wander off on but still keep interested in what he was saying.
His writing was kept to a low education level, not really presenting himself as overly
intelligent, but enough so to not intimidate his audience. At times the reader can feel intimidated

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by the author whenever he presents information to them. This happens when the author tries to
sound overly educated compared to other people. By keeping his writing to about an eighth grade
reading level he was still able to impress, but also keep it to where almost anyone could pick it
up and still understand what he was talking about. His entire article is separated into sections
where he discusses different encounters people have had with the Men in Black. His style
somewhat falters at times whenever he presents a very strong and well prepared artifact with all
of the bells and whistles needed to make sure that the source sounds credible, and then right after
presents an artifact that has little to no meat to it. In 1985, a report emerged from Venezuela in
which two doctors claimed that they had seen two men wearing black suits and shades emerge
from a magenta Ford Mustang and then climb up a ladder into a UFO, (Light). That was an
entire section of his article. There were no quotes, names of sources or origin for the artifact
provided. After reading many different artifacts that give bountiful amount of proof and quotes
within it, these encounters really come off lackluster and sound false, which hurts his credibility
for the material a little bit.
Paul Darins approach was almost a little hostile compared to that of Light. He sent out
information and quotes at you lightning fast and almost made it to where the reader was going to
end up confused from information overload. He presents all of his artifacts in a well enough way
to make it easy for the reader to follow his train of thought, but he tended to hide his intelligence
behind the numerous quotes and encounters that he presents. When you read an article it is
understandable to have a good amount of outside sources that provide enough proof to help your
argument, but when we do not even get an idea of your argument until the very end of the article,
you end up hurting yourself.

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Overall this was a stellar read and the way it was written made the author sound educated
on the subject. Unfortunately we were unable to get a clear picture of his views on the subject
until the very end. It does not matter how much evidence one gives in an article if there is
nothing there from the author. I can go out and collect all the research myself, what brought me
to the page was the urge to get some information while also hearing what other people had to say
on the subject matter. Darin leaves us with a very bad taste in our mouths was well at the end of
his article. He does not really tie up any loose ends nor does he bring all of his work together. He
mentions some of his findings at the end and then leaves us with something that almost feels like
a cop out on his part. Whatever the reality may be, these beings often leave their contacts
stunned and in fear. They are virtually synonymous with UFOs and have influenced our pop
culture through stories, documentation, and movies. Perhaps someday we will have a clear
understanding of the Men in Black, (Darin). It just kind of drops off; he never gives his point of
view on the topic. He does not try and explain anything more on the subject. He simply leaves
the reader with something in the ballpark of, Well maybe they are real, but who knows, because
I sure dont. After giving us source after source on encounters with the Men in Black, you
would think that he would try and persuade the readers that we should be on the lookout for more
information, but instead we are left with a final comment that honestly could have been left out
of the article.
Delivery:
Touching a little more on what was discussed in the style part of the paper, it was clear
that I felt that both authors could have brought a little more to the table on the subject. When it
came to giving proof and artifacts to help prove their points, both authors had that a plenty.
Unfortunately when it came to Light, he presented some really great artifacts along with some

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very underwhelming artifacts that could have probably been left out and it not hurt anyone.
However he at least presented his view point on the topic. He left the reader with a short list and
an explanation of his views and what he got out of all of the artifacts he collected. He even
leaves an eerie end note to give the reader an uncomfortable vibe at the end that helps his article.
We may be no closer to really knowing who or what the MIB are, or from where they originate,
but they are still out there, still knocking on doors late at night, and still provoking fear and dread
whenever they appear, (Light). What did not help with that ending though is that it seemed he
got it from another site, which luckily he gives credit too, but it would have been nice if he could
have used his own words.
However at least his send off to the reader actually moved me a little bit; what Darin left
the reader just left me in wonder as to why I looked for his point of view on the subject. He
simply decided that throwing mass amounts of information from other people was the way to go.
It was great to hear encounters directly from the source, but it was obvious that even though he
has done many articles like this, that he was an information grabber, one that gathers everyone
elses information yet cannot give their own opinion when it comes to the topic. This strongly
disturbed me. I wanted to know what Darin thought of the topic of the Men in Black, but all I got
was experiences and quotes from other people. Overall this made the article that he presented
worse than that of the product that Light gave. He may have sounded more intelligent than Light,
but it does not matter when it seems as though he could not structure his own opinion on a topic
that he did a mass amount of research for.
Memory:

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It seemed as though both authors knew enough about the topic when it came to
presenting good artifacts. Light was able to present his ideas and point of views a little better
though. He definitely came off more interested in the subject compared to Darin. Darin simply
gave a bunch of research and added a couple of sentences here and there and called it a day.
Unfortunately even though he may have known a lot about the subject, he came off as someone
who just had a job to do and did not really care about the subject at all. I wanted someone who
cared about the subject and was able to give enough of their opinions throughout to help me
understand why the author decided to write the article, and Darin definitely did better on this
aspect.

Assessment
When it comes to accomplishing everything that the authors set out to do, it seems as
though both accomplished there goals in their own regards. The main goal for both authors
seemed to be to present multiple different encounters of the Men in Black from people who have
a wide knowledge on the subject of UFOs and those that were willing to share their experiences
and be quoted. Light seemed to have a few sources that were pretty lackluster compared to some
of his stronger sources. Darin decided it was best to use as much of everyone elses words to get
his point across instead of using his own voice. Once you throw these critiques out, then you can
possibly get behind a lot of the information that they give. It is all strong information, worth
reading to get first-hand accounts of what could possibly be the Men in Black. It is interesting to
try and find out whose information matches other peoples encounters. When you start to notice

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similar patterns with the different accounts that people have had with those that are considered to
be the Men in Black, it is kind of creepy and intriguing at the same time.
The idea of the Men in Black ultimately interested me because I could not understand
why the government would keep information like alien life away from us. It is true that if
information like this was confirmed by the government that people will likely go crazy with fear.
However it does not mean that people do not have the right to know. I can understand not telling
people the truth, but threatening those that have information on the matter is something I just
could not stand by. If someone finds out something it is an American right to use freedom of
speech, and it is not like the information has not gotten out anyways. There are plenty of firsthand accounts from those that have come across the Men in Black where they are not afraid to
release the necessary information to bring it to the public eye.
As soon as I started to dig a little deeper into the encounters with the Men in Black the
more interested I became in the nature that these people could possibly not be people at all. The
fact that the Men in Black could possibly be androids created by the government or aliens trying
to keep their existence on the down low made me want to do even more research on the subject. I
just could not believe what I was reading. All the descriptions seemed to add up to multiple
different kinds of Men in Black. It was true that it could very possibly just be humans hired by
the government with the sole purpose of keeping the nature of alien life out of the public eye, but
that just did not seem interesting enough to me. How were these Men in Black able to show up to
witnesses homes so quickly? How was it possible that as soon as people found evidence of alien
life, a Man in Black was there to cover up and intimidate the witness to make sure that no
information made it out? It boggled my mind and I loved it.

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I needed more information. I wanted to know more on the subject. I could not just let all
the facts run by me without knowing more. If all of these encounters actually end up completely
true, there is just too much at risk. Not only is the fact that the government may be threatening
people a terrifying matter in itself, but the fact that they are purposely hiding alien life from us
makes me feel slightly unsafe. Why would they hide such a matter from us? If they are fully
willing to hide this from us, what else could they possibly be hiding from us as well? Overall
conspiracy theories are fun to think about. The what ifs and contemplation of what other people
state as fact, it makes us think outside the box to see if something that seems a little outlandish at
first could actually be completely possible. However, we do not always think, what if we are
right? What if aliens do exist? What if the government is keeping information away from us
about alien life? What if aliens are threatening us to keep us from finding out something that may
change life as we know it? Sometimes it is our imagination that drags us deep into the rabbit
hole, but what if our journey down the hole leads to something we may have never wanted to
find out? We can only hope that we do not dig a hole we cannot climb out of and end up making
a terrible mistake in the process.

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Bibliography

Light, A. (n.d.). The Real 'MEN IN BLACK' Retrieved November 6, 2015, from

http://humansarefree.com/2013/12/the-real-men-in-black-complete-accounts.html
Darin, P. (2014, January 11). Visitations From the Men in Black - The Epoch Times.
Retrieved November 6, 2015, from http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/443135-

visitations-from-the-men-in-black/
RealMiBs, Real MIB. Men In Black. Proof Evidence Videos. MIBs. February 13th, 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMSXnbAKM8o&feature=youtu.be
StewieBlackOps, The real Men in Black caught on Tape? April 19th, 2012.
https://youtu.be/bcToNxPvZAE