The Original “Men In Black” Was Inspired By A Real-Life 1947 Conspiracy When A Man Had A UFO Encounter And Was Later Visited By A Man In A Black Suit, Who Told Him To Keep Quiet
You may know the “men in black” as a film franchise from the ’90s and 2000s, about super-secret agents in black suits played by actors such as Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
These men are tasked with the duty of protecting humanity from extraterrestrial activity. The concept is based on a 1990 comic book series and makes for some highly entertaining sci-fi movies, but do the men in black actually exist in real life?
The comic book, written by Lowell Cunningham, was inspired by a conspiracy theory that started on June 27, 1947.
According to the story, a man named Harold Dahl was on Puget Sound near the eastern shore of Maury’s Island in Washington with his son, Charles, and their family dog. Dahl was collecting logs when he noticed six objects shaped like donuts floating about a half mile above his boat.
All of a sudden, one of the objects fell, and metallic debris began raining down around them. Some of the debris hit Charles on the arm, and unfortunately, the dog did not survive the incident. Dahl had managed to capture photos of the aircraft with his camera.
Later, he showed the pictures to his supervisor, Fred Crisman. Crisman went to the site to check it out for himself and saw a strange aircraft.
The next morning, Dahl was paid a visit by a man in a black suit. They ended up at a local diner, where the man was able to describe exactly what Dahl had experienced. Dahl was instructed to keep quiet about the incident; otherwise, bad things would happen.
Three days after the Maury Island incident, a pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported a UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington. It became the first widely reported sighting, kickstarting popular culture’s obsession with flying saucers.
Dahl and Crisman reached out to a Chicago magazine editor about their story, who then contacted Arnold, hoping that he could help back up Dahl and Crisman’s claim. Arnold contacted two Army A-2 Intelligence officers to conduct an investigation.
adonis_abril – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
In July 1947, the officers came out to look into the story. The next day, they left in their plane, which caught fire and crashed. Both of the officers were killed, which seemed highly suspicious to UFO conspiracists.
In 1956, Gray Barker authored a book called “They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers.” He wrote about the Maury Island case and linked Dahl’s experience to the case of Albert K. Bender. In 1953, Bender had been visited by three men wearing dark suits.
After the publication of the book, the idea of the men in black really took off. To this day, the events that occurred at Maury Island have served as the basis for several other conspiracy theories, even though the U.S. government deemed it a hoax after launching an investigation.
Dahl and Crisman even admitted that they made the whole thing up. But at least it led to some compelling films!
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