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When Men in Black Attack: The Strange Case of Albert K. Bender by Gray Barker
In the year 1984, many Americans began to fear that the "surveillance state" predicted by George Orwell might be coming to pass. As a result, legendary writer and ufologist Gray Barker decided to revisit - and hopefully encapsulate - the strange case of Albert K. Bender, who was famously "hushed up" by three Men in Black in 1953 - despite heading up the largest and most successful civilian UFO organization in the world. Barker had discovered that the three MIB were under the employ of a race of "bisexual" space people from the planet "Kazik," who were harvesting Earth's seawater from an underground base near the South Pole. These alien humanoids had gained control of Bender and spirited him off to Kazik, where he was forced to submit to three sexy, shapeshifting space "women." Drawing from articles in Saucer News and his three previous books on Bender and the Men in Black ("They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers," "Bender Mystery Confirmed," and "Men in The Secret Terror Among Us"), Barker weaves a fantastic, unique, and memorable tale - one that came to influence several generations of saucer buffs and sci-fi enthusiasts, and inspired themes in popular television shows such as The Jetsons, X-Files, and Futurama. This special 2015 edition of "When Men in Black The Strange Case of Albert K. Bender" features an introduction from Jim Moseley, correspondence from Saucerian readers, previously unpublished transcripts of rare audiotapes (such as Bender's one and only public lecture), and fascinating contributions from a variety of Barker cohorts, including author William S. Burroughs. "Complex, funny, and intelligent. Be very careful..." -John A. Keel "Without Gray, there would be no Men in Black mythos..." -Nick Redfern "A psychological tractor-beam from inner and outer space..." - Dr. Ogden Pearl
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First published January 1, 2015
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About the author
Gray Barker
172 books18 followersAmerican writer best known for his books about UFOs and other paranormal phenomena.
His 1956 book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers introduced the notion of the Men in Black to UFO folklore.
His 1956 book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers introduced the notion of the Men in Black to UFO folklore.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 23, 2015
This is an easy and enjoyable read. Mostly it contains letters received by Gray Barker, the publisher of Albert K Bender's "Flying Saucers and the Three men" concerning their responses to said book. I should add that personally I have not yet read this book, but I still enjoyed this one.
It probably helped that early chapters gave some background on how Barker knew Bender via the latters civilian UFO research group, the IFSB (International Flying Saucer Bureau) and how this culminated in an experiment in contacting the UFOs via mass synchronised telepathy. Shortly after this experiment Bender experienced three Men in Black inside his home who told him to disband the group and stop researching UFOs. For years this was all anyone knew about why he disbanded the IFSB, until Bender revealed more in his book "Flying Saucers and the Three men". In this book he revealed being taken on board flying saucers, meeting an alien race with three genders that had a base in Antarctica and shown how they live.
The majority of chapters introduce a letter, in one case transcribed from audio messages sent on tape, introduced by some background, giving various interpretations of Bender's experience. Some see the three men as clearly representing government agents, possibly ones that were over zealous in following out their orders to suppress UFO research. Others saw the experience as actual contact with alien beings, either extraterrestrial or ultraterrestrial, possibly from other dimensions. Yet others were convinced that whilst Bender was genuine in relating his experience, it amounted to merely a psychological hallucination brought on by the stress of running an international organisation.
Some brief comparison is made to others that experienced mystery men, sometimes by the writers of the letters, during the course of their UFO investigations.
Bonus material includes:
1) a review of 'Flying saucers and the three men' by Jim Mosely originally published in his magazine, 'Saucer News'.
2) an open letter by Gray Barker, also published in 'Saucer News', explaining delays in the publishing of the book.
3) An article by 'Dr Ogden Pearl' written in 2010 that gives an updated retrospective on the Men In Black phenomena, that explores the film franchise, the Church of Subgenii, and opinions of authors such as John Keel.
4) An article by William S Burroughs written in 1972 that explores Colin Wilson's concept of 'Mind Parasites'.
Sadly this last article appears to get cut off mid-sentence. I don't know if one word was missing or it was supposed to continue for several more paragraphs. Maybe I'm being fussy but I may have forgiven other minor gripes in this book enough to give it 5 stars if it wasn't for this 'final straw'. All in all though, I believe this is a very enjoyable read, and well worth reading if you wish to explore the crossover between magick and UFO mysteries.
It probably helped that early chapters gave some background on how Barker knew Bender via the latters civilian UFO research group, the IFSB (International Flying Saucer Bureau) and how this culminated in an experiment in contacting the UFOs via mass synchronised telepathy. Shortly after this experiment Bender experienced three Men in Black inside his home who told him to disband the group and stop researching UFOs. For years this was all anyone knew about why he disbanded the IFSB, until Bender revealed more in his book "Flying Saucers and the Three men". In this book he revealed being taken on board flying saucers, meeting an alien race with three genders that had a base in Antarctica and shown how they live.
The majority of chapters introduce a letter, in one case transcribed from audio messages sent on tape, introduced by some background, giving various interpretations of Bender's experience. Some see the three men as clearly representing government agents, possibly ones that were over zealous in following out their orders to suppress UFO research. Others saw the experience as actual contact with alien beings, either extraterrestrial or ultraterrestrial, possibly from other dimensions. Yet others were convinced that whilst Bender was genuine in relating his experience, it amounted to merely a psychological hallucination brought on by the stress of running an international organisation.
Some brief comparison is made to others that experienced mystery men, sometimes by the writers of the letters, during the course of their UFO investigations.
Bonus material includes:
1) a review of 'Flying saucers and the three men' by Jim Mosely originally published in his magazine, 'Saucer News'.
2) an open letter by Gray Barker, also published in 'Saucer News', explaining delays in the publishing of the book.
3) An article by 'Dr Ogden Pearl' written in 2010 that gives an updated retrospective on the Men In Black phenomena, that explores the film franchise, the Church of Subgenii, and opinions of authors such as John Keel.
4) An article by William S Burroughs written in 1972 that explores Colin Wilson's concept of 'Mind Parasites'.
Sadly this last article appears to get cut off mid-sentence. I don't know if one word was missing or it was supposed to continue for several more paragraphs. Maybe I'm being fussy but I may have forgiven other minor gripes in this book enough to give it 5 stars if it wasn't for this 'final straw'. All in all though, I believe this is a very enjoyable read, and well worth reading if you wish to explore the crossover between magick and UFO mysteries.
Displaying 1 of 1 review