Mystery of the Men in Black: The UFO Silencers

by Timothy Green Beckley

  A case that took place in 1975 in the town of Sicuani, not far from the famous city of Cuzco in Peru, is of particular interest, since it contains the basic theme of MIB harassment of a UFO witness in an attempt to confiscate important evidence in his possession—in this case a photograph of three flying saucers over the village of Capillani taken by a reporter from Lima.

  The case is also important because both the photographer and the investigator, Cuzco Ufologist Anton Ponce de Leon, were probably unaware of the rich American literature in this subject. Ponce de Leon, for instance, doesn't speak English at all. Thus, the case is likely "uncontaminated" by previous accounts, something which sociologists

  and folklorists studying this or other similar phenomena consider of great importance. The incident has never been published in English as well until this book.

  Anton Ponce de Leon is an anthropologist, Ufologist, author and social worker from Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas, who studied at Cuzco University and the National University of La Plata in Argentina. He was the regional director in Cuzco of the pioneer UFO group IPRI (the Peruvian Institute of Interplanetary Relations) founded in the 1950s by Carlos Paz Garcia in Lima, and has therefore documented many interesting UFO cases in the area of Cuzco and Urubamba, the sacred valley of the Incas. Some of his works and ideas were featured in Shirley MacLaine's third metaphysical book, It's All In The Playing, which describes her adventures in Peru at the time of the filming of the TV mini-series of her bestseller, Out On A Limb.

  I met Senor Ponce de Leon during his visit to New York City in 1988, where he lectured in Queens about UFO sightings in Peru and Inca Cosmology. He was also drawing support for his latest cause, "Samana Wasi" (The House of Rest), a retreat he built in Cuzco for the care of abandoned children and elders. At his well-documented lecture in Spanish, Senor Ponce described many interesting UFO sightings and close encounters in the Cuzco region which he had personally investigated during the late 70s. These included landing cases with traces of radioactivity, incidents where car engines were stopped, and even a fascinating account of a truck driver who was apparently healed of cancer of the stomach by a light beam from a UFO. The incident that concerns us here, however, is the MIB story from Sicuani, a town located south of Cuzco.

  As told by Ponce de Leon, "In the year of 1975 there was much talk about UFO sightings in Sicuani, particularly at night, and the peasants were talking about something very worrisome to them, that they were hearing noises under the ground as if machines were work­ing there, according to their expression." Ponce went to Sicuani to investigate the flap, which had also spread to the Indian villages of Capillani and Chumo in the high Andes, and met in Sicuani a reporter from the newspaper Ultima Hora of Lima, who was looking for him for an interview and background information on the UFO flap. The reporter traveled to Capillani the next morning, where he saw and took a very clear photograph of "three craft crossing behind the tower of the chapel," explained Ponce.

  The reporter returned very enthusiastic to Sicuani with his photo and left the roll of film with a photographer friend to be developed, because he wanted to return and take more photos. This is the moment where mysterious and so far unidentified MIBs entered the scene. As put by Ponce in his lecture, "When the man returned to his hotel [in Sicuani], he found that his room was all messed up. He inquired with the concierge, who told him that 'two gentlemen in black and with hats had come saying that they were friends of yours. As they told me that they were looking for you, I let them enter your room because they were going to wait for you there. Now, I don't know from where they left the hotel.'"

  That was just the beginning of a cat and mouse game that went on for several days. When the reporter went to check the photos with his friend, he discovered that "the men in black had visited the pho­tographer and requested the negatives, saying that the reporter wasn't able to come and had asked them to pick up the photos," continued Ponce. Fortunately, the photographer, who knew that the shot of Capillani was very important, thought that there was something wrong with the story and told the MIBs that the reporter had already been there to pick up the photos.

  The harassment went on, according to Ponce de Leon, and the reporter was becoming very worried: "He would leave some papers and the papers would disappear, he would return to his hotel and his room had been inspected again, he changed hotels but the problem contin­ued. Finally," added Ponce, "he grabbed a taxi and came to Cuzco very frightened. He visited me in Cuzco, where I personally studied the negatives and I have no doubt that they are authentic. As he was extremely frightened, he took the first plane back to Lima and left the negatives with me. I sent them by mail and a few days later the story was published in the newspaper Ultima Hora."

  Thus, the MIBs were thwarted in this particular case, although I have not yet located a copy of the photograph of the three saucers over the skies of Capillani. Indeed, I have never even seen a reference to this photo in the three-volume UFO picture book by Spanish writer J.J. Benitez or the book, Los OVNIy la Evidencia Fotografica by Argen­tinian Ufologist Guillermo Roncoroni, both of which contain numer­ous UFO photos from South America. So it is possible that the MIBs may have succeeded after ail in stealing the negatives from the editorial offices of Ultima Hora in Lima. Who knows?

  UFO Contactee Howard Menger (inset) says he was paid a visit by mysterious "agents" fol­lowing his taking of photos and movies of UFO and space aliens landing in his Highbridge, New Jersey backyard.

  The Incredible "Men-in-Black Summer" of 1968

  With over 15 million books in print, best-selling author Brad Steiger is well aware of the MIB phenomena, having been confronted with evidence for several decades that the MIB are not the product of overworked imaginations. Here is what his research shows.

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  The unpleasant phenomenon known as the men-in-black, the MIB, appears to be an ongoing program of harassment conducted by an agency that remains unknown and unidentified—although nearly every research in UFOlogy has nominated his most likely candidate for the "men behind the mask." I have dealt with the MIB and the more sinister aspects of UFO research in such books as Mysteries of Time and Space and the newly released The Philadelphia Experiment and Other UFO Conspiracies. I tend to believe that we are dealing with an enigma that has both a physical and a paraphysical reality, and I will refer the reader to either of the two above-mentioned works for a more com­plete examination of my theories. For this present work, I would like to recall the summer of 1968, a time that was maddeningly busy with significant MIB activity.

  On the morning of Saturday, June 14, 1968, a man representing himself as an Air Force Major contacted Thomas Wedemeyer, security chief of the Commission on Aerial Phenomena (C.A.P.), Jamestown, New York. The officer presented papers identifying himself as Major Smedley, an Air Force investigator operating out of Jamestown.

  Major Smedley questioned Wedemeyer about James Norene, the director of C.A.P. He demanded to know who headed investigations for the organization, and was particularly interested in any information which C.A.P. might have acquired regarding a report made by two state police officers concerning a UFO that had landed outside of Buffalo, New York, on June 12th.

  Major Smedley was not driving an automobile and did not carry an attache case. He was wearing an Air Force uniform. Wedemeyer remembers being intrigued by the peculiar accent with which the visi­tor spoke. After the Major left, Wedemeyer suffered from an acute headache and could remember nothing of their conversation, for about five minutes.

  Later, a C.A.P. check of the local Air Force authorities revealed that there was no Major Smedley working out of Jamestown.

  "Upon receiving this information," C.A.P. Director Norene wrote to me, "we immediately checked with Air Force Personnel (via tele­type) in Boston, Massachusetts. The reply was most interesting. The Air Force lists no Major Smedley on their records. In other words, such a man is not a member of the United States Air Force. The fact that this person, whoever he might have
been, seemed worried that our organi­zation might have pertinent information concerning the reported land­ing outside of Buffalo prompted us to further our investigation of this incident."

  On August 10th, the officers of the C.A.P. were visited by free­lance UFO investigators from Erie, Pennsylvania. In the course of con­versation, the visitors told Norene and his staff about a strange incident that had occurred to an associate of theirs.

  In the summer of 1967, the Pennsylvania UFO investigator had been contacted by an Air Force officer, who wished to question him regarding his research. The officer had been alone, on foot and carried no briefcase. He had interrogated the researcher for an hour. After the Air Force officer had left the UFO researcher became violently ill and had to be confined to his bed for two weeks.

  The Air Force "officer’s" name? Major Smedley!

  The descriptions of the MIB range from the common "short men, dark complexions, Oriental features, heavy accents" to "tall, blond, crewcut, fair-complexioned, Scandinavian-types." Sometimes they appear as "odd-couples," a tall blond with a short, dark companion.

  Spreading Confusion and Discouraging Research

  In the summer of 1968,1 received a long-distance telephone call from a journalist friend who was covering a UFO flap area for his local newspaper. "Blast Brad Steiger and Joan Whritenour and down with John Keel!" he thundered.

  Recognizing my friend’s voice, I asked him what the trouble was.

  "I'm trying to cover this flap over here—My lord! Everyone has seen these UFOs!—but every time I try to dig deep, the witness clams up and says, 'I won't say any more. Brad Steiger says awful things will happen to me if I tell too much!' One lady said that John Keel had told her that she would be carried off by the saucer people if she talked to anyone about her sighting."

  I knew that neither Keel nor I were in that particular flap area at that time, and that neither of us would say such things in even a jesting manner if we had been in the locale, so I pressed my friend for details.

  "Well, damn near everywhere I go, the witness has been given a copy of one of the Steiger-Whritenour books or a magazine with an article in it by you or Keel!"

  "And the books and articles are supposed to frighten them?" I questioned. "Whoever is delivering these things must be adding their own interpretation."

  "I don't know about that, but what the hell are you people saying in these articles?" the frustrated newsman wanted to know.

  "Haven't you read them?" I countered.

  "I don't need to read them!" the journalist roared. "Every UFO witness I interview is waving a copy in my face and telling me about all the terrible things that will happen to him if he elaborates on his sight­ing report."

  "But who are the delivery boys?" I asked. "Have you seen them?"

  "Not until this afternoon," the newsman answered. "I guess I must have arrived at this farmhouse just a few minutes after they did. Damn unfriendly little monkeys!"

  "Could you describe them?"

  "Well, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to them. I just shot an irritated glance at them every once in a while. You see, I was trying to talk to the farmer's wife, while they were chattering at the farmer and waving a copy of this magazine in their hands and telling the man how Brad Steiger was warning all UFO sighters not to talk."

  "I see," I mused. "How ironic that they should use Keel, Whritenour, and myself to silence saucer sighters. But you must have an impression of their general description."

  "Oh," the newsman hesitated. "They were short men in dark suits. All three of them had deep suntans."

  "Notice anything about their eyes?"

  "Nope. I can't recall even seeing their eyes. Come to think of it, they all wore dark glasses."

  "Did you speak to them?"

  "Well, I spoke with one. But he lied to me."

  "What do you mean?"

  "He told me that he and his friends were NICAP investigators, but when I checked with the area NICAP man a bit later to get a quote for my article, he said that he didn't recognize any of the names they gave me and he knew no one in the local group who would fit their general descriptions."

  What is the meaning of this experience? My journalist friend had not read the articles or books which dealt with the MIB enigma. He described the short, dark-complexioned men in a tone of naiveté. It was after he had given their description that I urged his reading of the material that dealt with UFO silencers.

  I discussed the MIB with several members of NICAP. Certainly neither the central office of NICAP, nor its responsible members, would tolerate their investigators "silencing" UFO sighters. It is possi­ble that some NICAP-ers become overly enthusiastic with their inves­tigative work or become overly impressed with themselves, but it would seem libelous to suggest that NICAP is in any way responsible for the MIB reports. The serious, responsible NICAP member never leaves an interviewee with the impression that he represents the gov­ernment, rather than a private, civilian, organization.

  Certain witnesses of UFO activity have been approached by "Major Smedleys," that is, by individuals impersonating military or other governmental investigative organizations. Colonel George P. Freeman, Pentagon spokesman for Project Blue Book told John Keel that these men were not connected with the Air Force in any way, and Keels investigations could turn up no other United States security group that would claim them. Colonel Freeman informed Keel that they would like to catch one of the MIB themselves, since the silencers are committing a federal offense by posing as Air Force officers and government agents.

  The MIB Recover A Metal Specimen From A UFO

  Late one evening, I received a long distance telephone call from a close friend who is a traveling salesman for a large, automotive parts company.

  "Hey, Brad," he said, after telling me that he was calling from a city about 300 miles from my home, "would you believe that I'm in the midst of a damned saucer flap?"

  I did not believe it. My friend was a skeptic. For four years he had kidded about my interest in flying saucers and had never missed an opportunity to give me the needle.

  "But it is true," he persisted. "You should come on over and inter­view these people."

  I was putting the finishing touches on a new book and could ill afford the time to be taken in by one of my friend's practical jokes. "Tell me about the flap," I challenged him.

  "A mother and a daughter say they saw a UFO in their field. Sev­eral farmers have been seeing UFOs land regularly. Hell, the locals here drive out on certain evenings and watch the things hover over high wires and transformers. Everyone in this town, including the cops, take the flying saucers as a matter of course."

  "Have you talked to the observers?," I asked.

  "Too busy selling, man," he replied, "but that's what I've been hearing. Are you coming over?"

  "Too busy writing, man," I answered, thinking that I had thwarted my friends joke. "You go chase the lights in the sky and the little green men on the ground."

  Two nights later, my friend called back. An intelligent fellow with a lion's share of curiosity, he had stayed in town to track down the facts behind the UFO flap. He had been amazed at the high level of intelli­gence of those who had reported sightings. But his tone had changed in another way. This man was no naive teenager filled with imaginative terror tales telling me that mysterious men-in-black were after him. Someone, he told me, had been following him.

  I became extremely concerned about my friend's welfare. The man was unfamiliar with recent areas of UFO research, and had no idea of what he might be up against. He fired questions at me, and I advised him to get out of town. True to form, he told me that he planned to stick around to ask some more questions. He promised to call again the following night.

  The next night he did not call. At midnight, I tried calling his motel. I was told that such a party had never been registered. I per­sisted and told the clerk that my friend had been staying there for nearly a week when at last the man's card was found. The clerk expres
sed amazement that it was not in its regular place in the file. I, however, was unable to contact my friend that night.

  The next morning I was comforted to hear my friend's sleepy voice answer my call. He had just begun to fill me in on what he had uncovered when the call was cut off. It took my operator five minutes and three channels to re-establish the connection. "That's odd," the operator kept mumbling, as she tried one plug after another.

  My friend said that he had been given something of great interest. He would stay over one more night to acquire some additional infor­mation before leaving for home.

  Two nights later, I was working in my attic-office when one of my children ran up to say that they had heard someone moving around on the first floor. When I investigated, I was surprised to find my friend standing halfway up the stairs. He had driven nearly 300 miles out of his way to visit me. He looked terrible. Dark circles rimmed his bloodshot eyes, and it was apparent that he had not slept for quite some time.

  Three days before, a farmer had given him a specimen of a metal that he had seen fall from a UFO. The farmer kept one of the metal shavings for himself.

  The next night, the salesman had returned to his hotel room to find two men waiting for him. They did not smile at his wry, "Where's the third man"! they came directly to the point. They wanted that piece of metal which my friend had intended to bring to me. They had taken the farmer's specimen from his pickup when he had gone into the store. They had been unable to discover where the salesman had hidden his piece, and without further delay, they wanted that strip of metal.

  My friend had come up against hard men before. When he asked his two visitors, "What happens if I say no?" their response convinced him that they meant business.