Editing Men in black (section)

==Ufologists==
Men in black feature prominently in [[ufology]], UFO folklore, and fan fiction. In the 1950s and 1960s, ufologists adopted a conspiratorial mindset and began fearing they would be subject to organized intimidation in retaliation for discovering "the truth of the UFOs."<ref name="Gulyas2016">{{cite book|author=Aaron John Gulyas|title=Conspiracy Theories: The Roots, Themes and Propagation of Paranoid Political and Cultural Narratives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3etCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT86|date=25 January 2016|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|isbn=978-1-4766-2349-8|pages=86–}}</ref>

In 1947, Harold Dahl claimed a man in a dark suit warned him not to discuss his alleged [[Maury Island incident|UFO sighting on Maury Island]]. In the mid-1950s,  ufologist [[Albert K. Bender]] claimed he was visited by men in dark suits who threatened and warned him not to continue investigating UFOs. He maintained that the men were secret government agents tasked with suppressing evidence of UFOs. Ufologist [[John Keel]] claimed to have had encounters with MIB and referred to them as "[[demon]]ic supernaturals" with "dark skin and/or 'exotic' facial features." According to ufologist [[Jerome Clark]], reports of men in black represent "experiences" that "don't seem to have occurred in the world of [[consensus reality]]."<ref name=Slate>{{cite web|last1=Harris|first1=Aisha|title=Do UFO Hunters Still Report "Men in Black" Sightings?|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/05/23/men_in_black_sightings_do_they_still_happen_.html|website=Slate|date=23 May 2012|publisher=Slate.com|access-date=3 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714141835/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/05/23/men_in_black_sightings_do_they_still_happen_.html|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

Historian Aaron Gulyas wrote, "During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, UFO conspiracy theorists would incorporate the MIB into their increasingly complex and paranoid visions."<ref name="Gulyas2016" />

Keel has argued that some MIB encounters could be explained as entirely mundane events perpetuated through folklore. In his 1975 book ''[[The Mothman Prophecies]]'', he describes a late-night outing in 1967, where he was taken for an MIB while searching for a phone to call a tow truck.<ref name="mothman prophecies">[[John Keel|John Alva Keel]], ''[[The Mothman Prophecies]]'', Tor, 2002. Chapter 1: "Beelzebub Visits West Virginia".</ref>

In his article "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker," John C. Sherwood claims that, in the late 1960s, at age 18, he cooperated when [[Gray Barker]] urged him to develop a hoax—which Barker subsequently published—about what Barker called "blackmen", three mysterious UFO inhabitants who silenced Sherwood's pseudonymous identity, "Dr. Richard H. Pratt."<ref>{{cite web|author=Sherwood, John C.|title=Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker|work=[[Skeptical Inquirer]]|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/gray_barker_my_friend_the_myth-maker/|access-date=2006-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512004941/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/gray_barker_my_friend_the_myth-maker/|archive-date=2011-05-12|url-status=dead}}</ref>