Atlantis Online
March 29, 2024, 02:08:02 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: THE SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS IN CUBA
A Report by Andrew Collins
http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/atlantiscuba.htm
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

Men in Black

Pages: [1] 2   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Men in Black  (Read 837 times)
0 Members and 16 Guests are viewing this topic.
Kristin Moore
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 5137



« on: August 28, 2011, 12:10:56 am »

Early accounts

Similarities between Men in Black accounts and earlier tales have been noted by folklorist Thomas E. Bullard, who argues that Men in Black "step into the shoes vacated by angels and demons ... modified to reflect extraterrestrial rather than supernatural employment but clearly functionaries in the same mold ... Even high gods like Odin ... sometimes disguised themselves and roamed the earth to dispense justice or stir up strife ... The devil of folklore sometimes rides in a black carriage, the nearest thing to a Cadillac." (Clark, 323)

While Bullard and others have simply noted the similarities and differences, some ufologists, such as John Keel, have argued that there are explicit connections between older and more recent accounts of black-clad figures: in Keel's view, the demons of old and the Men in Black of today are one and the same.

Jerome Clark cites Gerald Messadié’s 1973 work "A History of the Devil", which notes, "sometimes the devil wears green or gray, but mostly he is dressed in black, and always in the fashions of the day." (Clark, 312)

Messadié relates an account from Norway in 1730. A thirteen-year-old girl told investigators that some years earlier, she had accompanied her grandmother on a trip to meet the devil. On their way they met "three men dressed in black, whom the grandmother referred to as 'grandfather's boys.' Once they arrived and met the devil, grandmother called him 'grandfather.'"

Mary Jones

In Wales, in the early 1900s, there was a religious revival centred on thirty-eight-year-old Mary Jones. Though in some ways very different from modern UFO or Men in Black reports, this account is intriguing because it is perhaps the earliest account of spooky, black-clad figures explicitly associated with inexplicable lights reported in the skies.

Beyond the usual events associated with revivals, Jones was accompanied by "Mysterious Lights" (Evans, 114) in the night skies, which Evans reports were widely visible to many reputable witnesses and which "follow(ed), preced(ed), or accompanie(d) Mrs. Jones on her journeys." (Evans, 119) Writer Beriah G. Evans asserted that he saw these aerial lights himself. Residents furthermore reported encounters with a number of "Dread Apparitions" associated with Jones' revival. (Evans, 114)

One of these dread apparitions has some similarities to later Men in Black accounts: "In the neighbourhood dwells an exceptionally intelligent young woman of the peasant class, whose bedroom has been visited three nights in succession at midnight by a man dressed in black ... This figure has related a message to the girl, which, however, she is forbidden to relate." (Evans, 117-118)

Evans goes on to note that "a similar apparition was seen from different standpoints, but simultaneously" by two witnesses. One of the witnesses "startled (and) uttered an involuntary prayer. Immediately, one of Mrs. Jones 'Lights' appeared above, a white ray darting from which pierced the figure, which thereupon vanished." (Evans, 118)

It is worth noting, however, that these Welsh accounts also feature elements not typically featured in modern UFO or Men in Black accounts. For example, one of the “dread apparitions” was said to transform into "an enormous black dog". (Evans, 117)
Report Spam   Logged


Pages: [1] 2   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy