NARRATOR: Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1953.
[blip]
Albert K. Bender, the nation's top UFO investigator,
receives a threatening visit that
will bring his research to an abrupt and premature halt.
SUBJECT 1: Albert K. Bender founded the International
Flying Saucer Bureau.
This was during the big UFO flap of 1952, when flying saucers
were witnessed over Washington, DC and many other areas
around the world.
And this organization blew up big within that first year.
However, just a year later, he suddenly
ended the International Flying Saucer Bureau.
And people wondered why.
And what happened was that he came home one night, went
into his bedroom, and suddenly these three dark,
shadowy figures materialized through his wall
into his bedroom.
They were wearing the hats and the overcoats.
They had glowing eyes, and they smelled like sulfur.
NARRATOR: According to Bender, the three entities communicated
with him through telepathy, warning him to discontinue
his UFO research and stop publishing
his influential magazine, "The Space Review."
Afterwards, he became ill and didn't eat for three days.
WILLIAM HENRY: After this experience,
Bender was repeatedly visited.
He said they gave him headaches, they
controlled him telepathically.
And he ultimately gave up his UFO researches and stop
publishing "The Space Review," in which he documented UFO
sightings throughout the world.
He told the people that had been subscribers
and he was working with, they told
me we come from a very, very far,
distant place in this universe.
And we have been coming and going
from your planet for some time.
And we cannot allow you or anyone to interfere.
And in fact, we have taken many humans
from this planet to cover up our operations until we are done.
SUBJECT 1: This is a very influential point
in our history, especially in the ufology community, in which
shell entities interfered and thwarted somebody's research
and possibly set the field back a number of years.
NARRATOR: The visitors Albert Bender
encountered match descriptions of what
is today known as the hat men.
But he called them by another name, the men in black.
While the men in black are often portrayed in pop culture
as government agents, many who claim to have encountered them
believe they are something other than human.
The men in black are mysterious
and nefarious entities.
They're shadowy.
They wear black clothing.
Many people believe that they're either extraterrestrials
or somehow they're working for extraterrestrials
to prevent humans from learning the truth
about extraterrestrials on Earth.
[music playing]
[knocking]
SUBJECT 2: They talk to UFO witnesses.
Some people have reported they seem to not know things
that are common like which end of a pen to use,
or if they're offered something to eat or drink,
they don't know how to eat or drink it.
WILLIAM HENRY: Both the hat men and the men in black
are known for wearing a hat.
They both influence people telepathically.
They both appear to be sometimes malevolent.
And they could, in fact, be the same type of a being.
There's a theory that the hat men and the men in black
are actually the ringleaders of the shadow people.
And that in fact, they direct the shadow people to influence
humans in particular to keep them from investigating UFO
experiences.
GEORGE NOORY: There's no question
that the stories of shadow people, men in black,
and other visitations are all mixed in together.
Are they the same?
Possibly.
But what I think what is really happening on this planet
is mass hysteria of real events that
are happening to real people.
And they can't understand what's going on.
Who knows what's happening?