Chelsea, we were talking about Pablo Escobar's hippos a while ago.
I can't remember what episode it was.
It was a while ago and it was an opener.
So I generally don't keep track of what episode openers were on.
Until like the very end of December.
Not even.
Maybe the one we just did.
I have an article out of the India Express.
This is posted on March 3rd, 2023.
And it's by the Associated Press out of Bogota.
Okay.
It is titled, Hippos living near Pablo Escobar's former Columbia Ranch
may be shipped to India.
So they may have found a home.
What a twist.
OK.
Columbia is proposing transferring at least 70 hippopotamuses,
which I really feel like it should be hippopotamai, but I assume they have it right.
And that is a lot of hippopotamai.
Hippopotamuses.
Hippo-potom.
Like that one.
Hippo-potoms.
Yes.
I just realized I need to look up where this word comes from,
because whoever named this fucking thing was way too fancy.
Hippopotamuses.
You don't think it was our old buddy capability, was it?
Oh, no, no chance in hell.
He was he's far too capable.
Oh, yes.
You didn't give a fuck about hippos.
Anyhow, while you look that up, for how dangerous they are,
you should not have to say there's a hippopotamus coming.
Like if there's a moose running at you, super easy.
It's a moose.
No, not about mooses.
It's super easy to say hippopotamus or it's a pack of them.
You're right.
It's dangerous if you're taking so much time to figure out how to say.
Or, you know, in a panic, so you're you've got a tongue twister going on.
That word down at that point.
Yeah.
You're fucked if you can't pronounce it.
Anyhow, sorry.
Columbia's proposing transferring at least 70 hippopotamuses
that lived near Pablo Escobar's former ranch descendants of four
imported from Africa illegally by the late drug lord in the 1980s to India
and Mexico as part of a plan to control their population.
The hippos, which are territorial and way up to three tons of spread
far beyond the Jacinda Nepols Ranch, located 200 kilometers from Bogota
along the Magdalena River.
Environmental authorities estimate that about 130 hippos in the area
in Antioca, Antioquia, Antioquia province and their population
could reach 408 years.
Escobar's, High Candonapolis and the hippos have become a sort of local
tourist attraction in the years since the king pain was killed by police in 1993.
When his ranch was abandoned, the hippos survived and reproduced in local
rivers and favorable climatic conditions.
Scientists warn the hippos do not have a natural predator in Columbia
and are a potential problem for biodiversity since their feces change.
The composition of the river and could impact the habitat of manatees and
capybaras. Last year, Columbia's government declared them a toxic, invasive species.
And the plan to take them to India and Mexico has been forming for more than a year.
Said Lena Marcella de los delirios, Morales.
That's quite the name.
Just kept thinking it was ending and it was not.
Director of Animal Protection and Welfare at Antioquia's Environmental Ministry.
The hippos would be lured with food into large iron containers and transferred
by truck to the International Airport in the city of Rio Negro, 150 kilometers away.
From there, they will be flown to India and Mexico, where there are sanctuaries
and zoos capable of taking care of these animals.
This is possible to do.
We already have experience relocating hippos and zoos nationwide.
Said this guy, but the names are so long, I'm just going to forget that it's a name
halfway through, so we're going to skip it.
He is a spokesman for Coronary, the local environmental authority that would be
in charge of the relocation.
The plan is to send 60 hippos to the Green's Eulogical Resource and Rehabilitation
Kingdom in Guaharets, India, which one of these people said would cover the
cost of the container and airlift.
Another 10 hippos would go to zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico, such as Ostock,
located in Sinaloa, Sinaloa, maybe.
I don't know.
We work with Ernesto Zezueta, which is a very perfectly reasonably lengthed name,
who is the president of sanctuaries and zoos in Mexico, who is the one who liaisons
with different countries and manages the rescues, said the official.
The plan is to focus on the hippos living in the river surrounding the Hacienda
Neapol's Ranch, not the ones inside the ranch, because they are in a controlled
environment and don't threaten the local ecosystem.
The relocation would help control the hippo population.
And though the native habitat is Africa, it is more humane than the alternative
proposal of extermination as an invasive species.
Ecuador, the Philippines and Botswana have all expressed their willingness to
relocate Colombian hippos to their countries, according to Antiqua's
governor's office.
So yeah, that's the update.
So they're trying a new thing.
I have so many questions about this.
I have minimal answers.
Better than trying to track down the hippos'
testicles, because it's proven very hard.
It's impossible.
It's been shipped them all around the world.
But I love that it's such a problem for Colombia right now.
All these other countries are like, oh, we'll take them.
You got hippos?
Yeah.
We'll take those hippos.
Yeah, I don't know.
Is it a monkey paw situation where it's like, no, you just you wish you had hippos.
You don't actually want hippos.
Yeah, no, it is.
Yeah, it's one of those situations.
You just can't locate those testicles.
It's all in the mysticism of the hippos.
OK.
So as always, I guess we're going to keep an eye on these hippos
and get into this episode.
From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a journey to the fringe.
Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, where real life Elmo sightings
get the treatment they deserve, should they ever occur.
Chelsea, does that happen to be the topic today?
No, it does not.
But it's on the list now.
Well, we are your ever ready podcast host, Taylor and Chelsea.
And today, Chelsea has an episode on some fancy suited individuals, I believe.
Almost.
You guessed it.
OK, you did tell me prep beforehand.
So yes, you knew it was an Elmo.
You set me up.
I wish right now we had the copyright to the Men in Black song
so that it could gently bring us into this episode.
That would have been so cool.
But alas, here we are, as cool as if we had the actual Men in Black song.
So here's one which I think it's about time we got around to Men in Black.
And my bee, Will Smith, probably being the most famous of my bees.
Am I right in saying that?
I don't know any of their other names.
I have to just agree with myself on that one.
Today, we're going to delve into some fun facts, sightings and other stuff.
Maybe let's see what I put together for you today as we go through this
like all my episodes.
Who and what are the Men in Black?
The Men in Black is a term used to describe mysterious men
working for unknown organizations.
Actually, you know what? I'm going to I'm calling bullshit.
That seems like a massive assumption,
because I do not believe anyone has actually confirmed
that these men in black are actually being paid.
No, nor have they confirmed who actually employs them.
They don't necessarily work for pay per se.
But exactly.
So we can't say that they're employed for anyone
working for unknown organizations.
These fucking homeless people, they're terrorizing the country.
Yeah, they could be.
You never know.
It's just a gross misunderstanding of the men in black.
It could be slaves. I don't know.
And they always say at the end of their visit that they would go for just 20 bucks.
They get the 20 bucks and they just hop on the train and move on to the next town.
Nobody ever gives it to them, though, from what I imagine.
No, true.
Or from what I've heard. Yeah.
Sometimes they present a white card with the word security on it,
but that proves nothing, I would think.
I mean, I could write a security on a card and present it, but it doesn't mean shit.
They've also been cited in Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Maybe more when I search.
Those are the ones that come up.
So I can't confirm if they have been cited in other countries or not.
They probably have.
I just missed writing that one down.
Way ahead of you, Taylor.
Yes, there are WIB men in black, but they're limited edition, very rare.
So if you're ever visited by a woman in black, I lottery ticket.
Luck is on your side that day or not.
Anyway, they usually have one main purpose.
They threaten and scare people to muzzle witnesses of strange paranormal phenomena,
mostly UFO oriented and are often very threatening as I kind of.
Yep, I already said threatened and they warn people to give up their research into UFOs
or not to speak about a sighting they had about a UFO.
I just want to check at this point.
Is it always UFO related?
Yes, from all the ones that I've seen at least.
Have you seen other wise?
No, I was just curious if it was ever with regards to cryptids or just specifically
alien sightings without UFOs.
I don't have.
Yeah, you bring up a good point.
I don't have.
Yes, I do.
You actually I do talk about it.
It is in relation to cryptids as well, because all my like real life sightings I have in
this are UFO related.
They do have a few just one off mentions that are cryptid related, which there is a famous
one that I'll get to that I'll go through.
So I just about misspoke there.
Yeah.
And also, I do know of probably bleep out his name at this point, but the
sighting isn't particularly about a UFO per se.
Kind of is.
I know.
It's kind of and also it's only kind of a sighting because it's not actually one.
He's involved.
And we're going to talk about that one as well.
So yes and no.
I mean, some of the cryptid sightings that we'll talk about have been sighting in
conjunction with UFOs, not all the time, but it's kind of a gray area, I would say.
I'm going to leave it at that.
And then we can just go through this.
So they almost always appear unannounced.
Almost always.
Again, all of these are just kind of send some people.
Some people are holding positions.
That was sometimes they do.
You'll see.
As with everything we do with cryptids and paranormal stuff, it's kind of like
what are the majority of things, but there's always outliers, of course.
The M.I.B. even go as far as appearing out of nowhere.
Yeah, materializing, right?
Materializing.
That's the frickin word I'm looking for.
Fucking words are disappearing right in front of your eyes.
They almost always wear black suits and hats with dark sunglasses.
And I say almost always, but it is always that they're wearing black.
All the ones that you are going to be cataloging.
Yes.
Yeah, they've never really shown up in like a pair of Bermuda.
Yeah, they got called in from vacation really quick.
They're described as being incredibly tall, drive outdated black cars and arrive
in groups of two or three and have been overheard referring to each other by
numbers instead of names.
That matches the movie like specifically.
Oh, yeah.
I also believe that the reason that you say almost always unannounced, I fully
believe after that movie came out, those cars are always blasting Will Smith's
Men in Black rap.
This is loud as possible, which technically counts as an announcement.
For they say, here come the men in black.
I know.
I mean, if there is a song with my name in it, I'd probably always be blasted
in that wherever I was expected or not expected as well.
It's just my theme song.
Never get into the clandestine activities.
Chelsea.
I try my hardest.
They're also described as being cold and emotionless or often behaving strangely.
Some may say not even fully human behaved and witnesses have reported supernatural
features like glowing eyes, strange complexions, blank faces, shaved heads, no
eyebrows, monotone voice, pale skin.
Some witnesses even report the smell of sulfur present with their interactions
with the men in black.
I don't believe I actually talk about one, but it's in there.
Just be just be aware of that.
I mean, they could just because they lack social cues, they could be passing
gas around everyone.
And in everyone's defense, I mean, I feel like sometimes I don't even
actively human.
Just be gentle on your judgments.
If you come across some black thing, we have a tough day.
Chelsea, correct me if I'm wrong.
John Keele is the first person to talk about these guys, right?
Yes, you're bringing up everything that I'm going to talk about in my head.
This OK.
OK, we'll get to it.
I know what vaguely lost about.
Do you want to bring up anything else that's going to be in this episode?
Have we ever confirmed that the men in black, each individually look different?
Or could it be just a man in black?
It could. It could be a clone.
Well, I just mean one guy that's going around doing all this shit.
Well, he's always with people.
Oh, true.
So you could be having double vision, maybe every time you see this guy.
Thank you for actually looking into that woman in black.
Do they ever commingle?
Would it ever be a group of both men and women in black?
I don't know.
I would assume so because it's so rare to see one.
Like you assume that they separate?
No, you would see them together.
OK.
Because like you'd be really lucky to see three women in black.
It was.
Yeah, but maybe she just like operates alone and she's the outlier.
She could be.
Like I said, these are not all rules to some of them are exceptions.
So it very well could be just like them having jobs.
We could be making a really big assumption here.
OK, so also some really strange things they do.
Some witness accounts report being questioned about microwaves being in their
presence if it's on to turn it off, if there is one in the house when they're around.
They try to drink Jell-O.
Now, this one I'm a little bit curious on as to how this came up naturally.
Yeah, just to be fair, what I am envisioning is somebody offered them up cups of Jell-O
and the clearly awkward man in black who did this didn't see the spoons and didn't
want to seem rude.
So just like slurped it back.
We've all done like Jell-O shots around.
Shots are a thing.
Yeah, they are.
I'm picturing it's dessert time with the family and because they show up unannounced,
they didn't know it was dessert time and they were having Jell-O.
So of course they get offered Jell-O.
They just didn't know what to do with it.
So they drank it.
Or did they specifically request the Jell-O and then try to drink it because they're
like that's can I offer you anything to drink?
Yes, Jell-O.
That would truly be the bizarre thing that they prefer to drink Jell-O.
And that is their beverage of choice.
Yeah, it's kind of like actually in the Men in Black movie where the guy asked for
sugar water and they think that's weird.
Yeah, but it's Jell-O.
Like in real life, it's Jell-O, not sugar water.
And actually, no, if you asked for that too, it wouldn't have settled by the time
they brought it to you.
So you could drink it.
Oh, that's true.
You'd have to be pre-prepared for the Men in Black visiting.
Now, that is a lesson to keep in mind.
Always never have Jell-O prepared because everyone knows Jell-O is their drink of
choice. Men in Black love Jell-O.
It's said Jell-O.
They love to drink it.
OK, they also do not know what a ballpoint pen is.
It's come up again.
Same question as a Jell-O.
How in the hell did that come up?
Like, do they know how other types of pen works?
Feather or anything?
I can't explain a ballpoint pen.
No.
Why is there not a quill in your hand?
And where they like, can I borrow a pen?
And someone was like, sure, here's a ballpoint.
They're like, what the fuck's up with that?
Yeah.
I can't touch that.
It is unclean.
Like fucking garlic to a vampire.
Eat that, but it'll take some Jell-O.
OK, so those are some things about the Men in Black for you to know.
Let's start with, well, not really start because I already
started. Let's move on to the Men in Black origin story.
Love a good origin story.
June 27, 1947, to a man, a boy and a dog.
That's what I'm going to call this story.
Earl Dahl, the man.
He does get a name.
He was on a conservation mission in the Puget Sound near the eastern
shore of Washington's Moorie Island.
If that sounds familiar.
Oh, we could do a research expedition.
It's not that far away.
You could.
It's come up recently in a recent episode as well.
That sounds familiar to you in our foot episode.
Same area.
This man does have both of his feet.
Oh, as far as we know.
For now.
Does it come up?
For now.
His feet literally never come up in the story.
So he could have showed up in a previous episode of O'Feed.
He could have been his.
So the man was gathering logs when he saw six doughnut shaped
obstacles.
Your way to put it.
Objects.
Obstacles.
I do know how to read that word.
I'm identifying it almost perfectly.
OK.
He said obstacles in which he probably does mean objects hovering
about half a mile above his boat.
For a long one of them fell nearly 1500 feet followed by.
Yeah, he's gathering logs with his boat.
Yeah.
OK, like a beachcomber.
OK, I didn't question it, but it could have been.
There's a lot of logging in this area in which they keep logs.
The famous show that our parents used to watch Beachcomber's in Canada.
I thought that was what that show was all about, like grabbing
arid logs or something.
I don't know.
I never watched the show.
OK, OK.
I've never even heard of it.
But yeah, they do keep logs in rivers for like paper mills and stuff
like that because there's so much logging for stuff.
Don't worry about it.
I'd rather put it that way, actually, because I don't fucking know.
OK, so one of them falls down, raining metallic debris, some of which
hits doll's son, the boy on the arm, as well as the family dog dog.
Fortunately, he didn't survive the ordeal, the dog.
Doll was able to take some pictures of the aircraft with his camera,
which he later showed to his supervisor, Fred Christman.
This sounds like someone wasn't being very creative on that last name.
Somebody's making up names.
Yeah.
And somebody's also not capable in their jobs, or they would have nicknamed him such.
A skeptical Christman went back to the scene to look for himself and saw a
strange aircraft with his own eyes, which is weird.
You wouldn't think it would still be there.
Following morning, doll was visited by a man in a black suit.
They ended up at a local diner where the man was able to recount in extraordinary
detail what doll had just experienced.
Well, what I have said is proof to you that I know a great deal more about this
experience of yours than you will want to believe.
The man said drinking a cup of.
Can't even get it out.
The man said drinking a cup of Jell-O.
That was too easy.
Doll was told not to speak of the incident.
If he did, bad things would happen.
The supposed events of Morrie Island have continued to fuel conspiracy theories to
this day, even though a US government investigation dean did a hoax.
Take what you will from the government saying it's a hoax.
But, doll and crimson did later admit as much.
So there's that.
Remember when NASA said like, no, we're going to debunk all this stuff and they're
like, oh, wait, yeah, maybe we shouldn't spend money on that because that will just
feed everything.
Yeah, just avoid.
Yeah.
So this was read to a much larger audience as it was published in a book by Gray
Barker titled quote, they knew too much about flying saucers and quote, I have to admit
is a little disappointed needs a better name.
Well, it does need a better name, but I was disappointed by the origin story.
But I feel like I'm let down by a lot of things we do in episodes on this podcast.
I'm sad a dog had to die for this story.
I know, but since it's a hoax, I'm hoping the dog is alive.
Maybe there just wasn't a dog.
That would be the best thing.
Yeah, I don't want the dog not to exist.
OK, so dog didn't die.
And I feel bad for the dog still.
Maybe that was the hoax.
The dog is still alive 80 years later.
Best story ever.
We fixed it.
So our new tagline for Journey to the Fringe should be just like we came up
with better ones on the lawn episode.
This one's going to be you're going to be let down things for listening.
So that's the origin story, the disappointing origin story of the men in black.
Let's get into a few little tidbits and sightings that Taylor already ruined for us.
And I would just like to say at this point, it's only man in black.
Is it not?
Yes, the made up man was a man in black.
Yes.
So men in black have famously been cited in conjunction with the Mothman sightings.
Thanks, John Keel.
The Dover Demon sightings.
I don't know.
We haven't done the Dover Demon, have we?
It's familiar, but I don't think we've done an episode on it.
I don't think we have either, because I'm not sure that I know what that is.
And I feel like if we did it, we would know.
Yeah.
Or specifically.
So I feel like we're going to have to do that.
OK, well, it's going on the list.
It'll get there eventually.
There have also been reports of Bigfoot researchers who had the hair samples
confiscated by two men in dark suits driving a black sedan.
That sounds awfully specific for it to be more than one.
What could be anybody?
Dark suits?
They need to be black.
Come on.
You never know.
The lighting could have been bad.
There could have been some confusion and there was no Jell-O, so they couldn't be sure.
Yeah.
In the mid 1950s, ufologist Albert K. Bender was about to unveil a paper
that was supposedly going to reveal that the US government had, to one degree or another,
covered up proof of UFOs.
He planned on publishing his findings in the space review.
That was until he was visited by men in dark suits again, who threatened and warned him
not to continue investigating UFOs, Bender claimed.
These men visited him in his house and commuted with him telepathically, received a metal disc
from them and instruction.
Would that be a DVD?
He reported that he felt like he was being transported.
These men apparently shared insights in their nature of UFOs.
These men shared the origins of UFOs with Bender.
That seems like the same sentence said twice, but in different ways.
But that just seems to me counterintuitive.
They're like, hey, don't talk about your experience with UFOs, but also don't talk
about these secrets I'm about to disclose to you.
To make sure you keep the secret, I'm going to give you more secrets.
I'm going to give you better secrets.
That secret's not even good.
It's kind of like if you don't want somebody to spill the beans on a secret,
you're telling them, you make them give you shit on them.
You need to know. Yeah, you need to know.
Exactly. So that's maybe he did this in a backward sort of way.
And maybe that's the paranormal thing where you're like, wow, that's not a human thing to do.
What an alien.
Let's speak from another planet.
He's confused.
Again, don't judge.
He might just have been having a hard brain day and his brain wasn't working.
It was a hard day at the office.
We've all been there.
Yeah.
He was feeling overworked for the company that's not paying him.
Thinking about where Rance going to come from.
Yeah, exactly.
You'd better think something about.
So afterwards, Bender became really ill and didn't eat for three days.
As a result of the visitation, Bender felt encouraged to share what he had seen
with other UFO investigators, but was refused.
Bender suffered frequent headaches after the three men visited him and his co-workers reported
that he seemed scared.
His experiences were recorded in, again, we already heard about this poorly named book.
They knew too much about Flying Saucers by Gray Barker.
Or he is again.
Who was Bender's IFSB associate?
No idea what those letters mean at all.
And we're not going to find out.
Bender's experience formed the legend of the men in black.
Bender did not speak of the event for nine years.
And in 1962, Bender wrote Flying Saucers and the three men to tell his own story.
Very straight to the point.
In the book, Bender recounts that the men in black were from another planet.
Barker published his book, but there is speculation that Bender's experience was only a dream.
And Bender went on to manage a motel in California.
I always got the good stories, guys.
So let's move on from that.
We need to stop at this point.
And Chelsea, did you actually Google IFSB?
Oh, certainly did not.
You're certain that she was not his Islamic financial service board member?
I cannot affirm that I did not know that.
OK.
Or that they are not that to him.
That just adds another hole to go down for the rabbit hole.
It does. It does.
So let's get off that guy.
He's now managing a motel or something.
And that's not where we're interested in.
And still alive.
Like that dog.
Yeah. Exactly.
It's only happy stories on this episode.
Toledo, Ohio, 1956.
Robert Richardson is the subject of this one.
Robert Richardson was driving along, minding his own business supposedly.
At least how the story goes.
I have my doubts.
And a fucking UFO comes out of nowhere and he hits it.
Die.
Yeah.
Like so he just hits it.
On impact, it vanishes.
However, not without a trace.
Rather, leaving behind a small chunk of metal,
because that's what was left of the wreck.
So Richardson takes it with him to wherever he goes after.
Week later, Richardson is visited by two men in black suits.
And they asked for the metal to which Richardson said he turned it over for testing.
His men were pissed.
They told him, quote, if you want your wife to stay as pretty as she is,
then you'd better get the metal back.
And that is such a weird threat.
It is.
So that was the only encounter he had ever had with them.
He has no idea who they were and how they knew about the metal.
And if I was having doubts about if somebody knew about the metal I had,
I probably would have been like what metal?
Because a week later, I probably would have forgotten all about the metal, first of all.
God, you're like one of those eight year olds to send back in time.
Yeah.
I can't what metal?
I think my dad has it.
I left it at school.
So that is an encounter that happened to Robert Richardson.
Short and sweet.
He's, I don't know, not owning a motel in California at this point.
So there's that.
Next, John Keel.
Briefly, you guys, I'm sorry.
We haven't even talked about John Keel yet.
We will in the future.
A long time ago and then not for a while.
Yeah.
He writes about the Men in Black and the Mothman prophecies
is mostly where the Men in Black encounters come from,
because I've done quite a few episodes on the Mothman at this point,
that in Chicago and not once did Men in Black come up.
No, and most famously, not where John Keel looked at the Mothman either.
Yeah.
So I would say they're pretty much exclusively tied to John Keel's Mothman encounters.
He refers to the Men in Black as demonic supernaturals,
dark skin and or exotic facial features,
and he popularizes the term M.I.B.
While this stuff is happening,
while we get our crappy origin story and stuff like that,
their sightings, John Keel kind of brings that into culture.
No, I don't think that's the word I'm looking for.
The zeitgeist.
Yeah, in the popularity within the UFO field.
The mainstream.
That's a fucking weird fear.
Yeah, yeah, the mainstream.
Oh, do I want to talk more about John Keel?
No, that's it.
None of this is really relevant.
Enough about Keel.
Let's take a moment to talk about someone much more interesting.
Anna Acorid as predicted by Taylor.
I just loved Anna Acorid when you actually listened to him talk.
He's not particularly interesting.
I don't think he really adds anything.
Have you watched any of those interviews that he does?
They're not good.
Yeah.
Also, just famously,
Dan Acorid is very much so in the paranormal community.
Rote Ghostbusters is basically based off of his research into the paranormal.
Yeah, so that's one of the things that I put in here.
Oh, go ahead then.
Oh, no, that's fine.
Yeah, but basically what Taylor's saying,
he did co-write the Ghostbusters as a result of his interest in the paranormal.
He's also super interested in the paranormal.
And I did not know this.
He's an official Hollywood representative of Mufon.
Do you know that?
No.
Oh, I know.
We're learning new things about Dan Acorid.
I'm just going with the assumption that everybody knows who Dan Acorid is.
And I'm not explaining shit.
Anyway, maybe he would be a good guy to do a full episode on one day.
They're not as good at interviews.
This episode is just about the MIB experience he had.
Well, not this episode, just this part.
Dan Acorid has actually produced a handful of paranormal UFO TV shows and movies
that differ from the Ghostbusters.
Their actual accounts of how they, quote, are already among us,
including PSI factor, Chronicles of the Paranormal,
and Dan Acorid unplugged on UFOs.
So here's how the story goes.
He's really cool.
His family has roots really far back in like the occult I was reading about him.
That's why I think he'd be a good person to have an episode on.
In 2002, Acorid was signed on as the executive producer and host of a show
called Out There with Dan Acorid in the early 2000s.
The show would feature interviews with famous UFO experts and stories
highlighting extraterrestrial interactions, things like alien abductions,
cattle mutilations, and crop circles.
Out There was greenlit by the sci-fi channel and the production team filmed eight episodes,
a whole eight of them.
According to Acorid, the network pulled the show at the last minute.
Acorid received the news of the show's cancellation as they were filming the last bit
for the final episode of the season.
Suspicion abounds among the UFO community and online forums
because not only was the show canceled without explanation,
the episodes have never been released on DVD,
and they have never been made available to be seen by the public.
Because the show was owned by sci-fi,
Acorid was not allowed to release the episodes himself.
Now, here's where it gets weirder.
Acorid recounts while taking a break during the taping of the final episode of Out There,
he went outside to smoke a cigarette on the street.
While he was out, alleges that a block forward sedan was parked across the street.
And the car were two incredibly tall, angry, blank-faced men staring at him.
I don't know how you would identify that they're angry with a blank face,
but here we are, you just know it.
So, Dan Acorid was on the phone at the time,
and according to his version of the events, he looked away for less than a second.
And when he looked back at the sedan, the men had vanished.
Acorid claims he would have had to see the car drive past him to leave
because they were on a one-way street in the middle of New York City.
After he re-entered the building to resume shooting,
Acorid received the news within a couple of hours of the show's cancellation,
and he was told to stop filming immediately.
Spooky.
That's Dan Acorid's encounter with the men in black.
It's probably the most detailed one we have yet.
But he really had like no actual interaction with them.
No, not at all.
It was all just like secondhand and he vaguely saw some people that looked weird.
I mean, we all see people that look weird all the time.
That's weird.
So next one is Dr. Herbert Hopkins.
He was working as a consultant on a UFO case in Maine.
One evening, he received a phone call from someone purporting
to be an activist in the UFO community,
asking him if he was alone and if he could visit Hopkins to discuss the case.
Only minutes later, the man arrived, like freakishly fast,
like he hung up the phone and then he went to the front door.
But he was just outside the office, yeah.
And he was there.
Oh, that gives me a...
To be fair, I might do that.
Just conversation you don't want your face attached to.
So you call them beforehand and they'll go, OK, good.
OK, good. I'm standing outside.
But it'd be awkward if I told you that.
So I'm just going to show up and not mention it.
Yeah, exactly.
I'm glad you're at home.
They're all saying, look like an idiot because I'm already here at your front door.
The man was wearing a black suit and a black tie and had very unusual facial appearances
with no hair, eyelashes or eyebrows.
So the poor guy had alopecia.
And didn't want to be seen in public, so he wanted to call ahead.
Yeah, poor guy.
So it was extremely pale, like a doll, and his lips were ruby red.
So super weird looking.
I would find that super probably weird as well.
No hair or anything, but like red lips.
The image of my mind is actually pretty funny.
His speech was expressionless and monotone like a robot.
Upkins dog began barking erratically the minute the man entered the home.
After the bizarre visitor was finished questioning him about the UFO case,
the visit got even stranger.
Here's how it went according to the website, The Night Sky.
Here we go.
Man in black informed Hopkins that there were two coins in Hopkins pocket,
which was correct, says, and asked him to remove one.
Hopkins complied and held the coin, a shiny new penny in the palm of his hand.
The M.I.B. told Hopkins to watch the coin closely.
After a few moments, the coin took on a silvery appearance and then appeared to be going out of focus.
It then began to fade in and out, eventually disappearing altogether.
The M.I.B. informed Hopkins that the coin would never be seen on this plane again.
So there you have it. There also thieves, fine thieves.
Then inquired as to whether Hopkins was familiar with alleged UFO abductee Barney Hill.
Hopkins replied that he has heard of Hill, but was under the impression that he had died in the not too distant past.
The M.I.B. informed Hopkins that that was correct.
Quote, Barney didn't have a heart, end quote, said the M.I.B.
Requote, it's like you no longer have a coin, end quote.
It should be noted that Barney Hill actually died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
M.I.B. then gently suggested that Hopkins destroy any material that he had related to the UFO case.
So that's a lot to unpack right there.
Yeah, he's making up lies about Ernie Hill.
Hopkins, extremely shaken by the encounter, followed the advice of the man and burned all the files he had related to the case.
Oh, that is extreme.
I feel like if I was scared enough, I would just pack him up and put him like in another room.
Seems extreme.
So while he had repeated phone troubles after the experience.
This sounds like a guy who knew how to burn documents fast.
Yeah, you gotta know how.
Oh, it's just like my last case.
He had no UFO files left.
Yeah.
He was horrible at his job.
The M.I.B. then gently suggested he had no other options but to become an M.I.B.
He just wrote security on a white card.
I defiantly don't pay.
Yeah.
So the phone company said his line had been tampered with and he never saw the man again.
So that's like a super weird encounter.
Again, I mean, none of these are really normal encounters.
Again, they might be having tough days.
Who are we to judge?
Paul Miller was returning home after a hunting trip when they saw a luminous disc in the sky.
This landed in an empty field and two humanoids emerged from the craft.
They're fired his gun at them.
I always get a kick out of people who do this and believe to have injured one.
It's so amazing.
Like it's at least 10% of the populations.
Like so anyways, I'm going to shoot because I don't know if it's safe or not.
Shoot first, ask questions later.
I believe is how that go.
He believed to have injured one of them when he fled down a railroad in his car.
However, in that moment, he realized he had lost time as he was fleeing, I guess is what that refers to.
It was almost three hours later than when he first encountered the craft.
He shrugged it off and went back to his Air Force job the next day.
I would chalk it up to shoot in way more than you thought you were.
Yeah.
You were just having so much fun.
Yeah.
For three more hours.
Yeah.
Three.
Yes.
It happens.
So he goes back to his Air Force job.
However, upon entering work, he was immediately confronted by three men in black suits.
He told him that they had his file, despite having told nobody about the event.
The men said they knew all about it and mentioned that the encounter would be best forgotten.
It did go on for three hours.
So.
Yeah.
Let's just.
We've heard that you love to do this.
Paul, you need to stop.
We're going to stop people from talking about it.
Just move on with your life.
Yeah.
So this is what Paul says.
They seem to know everything about me.
How long I shot for, where I worked, my name, everything else.
They also ask questions about his experiences as if they already knew the answers.
Miller, terrified, did not come forward about his experience until years later.
Sorry.
What does that mean?
The ask questions like, so you're an asshole, right?
Yeah.
We know you are.
We know you are because you shot for three hours.
Yeah.
You keep losing time shooting for so long.
You kind of seem like an asshole.
That's just a short little one.
This one's more well known.
I believe I've heard about you.
Probably heard about this one too as well.
This is one of the first pictures of M.I.B.
Oh, is it in the hotel?
No, I'm going to talk about that when you keep spoiling my topics.
I know a lot about the men in black.
I'm going to describe it to you.
So it's just this guy in New York, like standing in a little inlet wearing a top hat.
Oh, I haven't seen this one.
Really?
So this is the first man in black captured on film.
If you've heard any story, this is a really famous men in black story.
UFO researcher Jack Robinson and his wife, Mary, began to experience extremely
strange events as they pursued more alien and UFO related research.
They would come home to find their house rummaged through,
rummaged and looked through and their UFO files disturbed.
Mary also began to notice a strange man in a black suit and hat staring up at their
apartment from the doorway.
Mary mentioned this activity to a friend, the activity being window watching men
looking into their apartment.
I don't know.
So the friend drove over.
He was interested.
He was like, OK, I got to see this activity.
I'm going to partake in it as well.
He drove over and saw what she was talking about for himself after the couple had
noticed the man in black three days in a row.
Friend Tim Green-Beckley snapped a photo, which is the one that you saw.
I'll post it to the socials is believed to have been one of the most iron clad
pieces of proof of the men in black.
I mean, this guy does look like he's wearing a top hat.
Yeah, that.
I didn't think they'd be that fancy.
I don't think they are.
And also, like outside of their description of the photo.
Sorry, I assume we're looking at the same photo.
It's a guy kind of standing behind a pillar and kind of it looks like underneath
an awning like it might be raining outside or just hiding kind of.
Yeah, either or staring out into space a little bit, not necessarily out of space.
Like he's waiting for a car.
OK, that's the same look.
I mean, pre smartphone, that's what you would look like looking for a car that's
coming to pick you up.
That's true. That's true.
Yeah, so that's the story behind this picture.
I wouldn't say he looks out of the ordinary or out of place or a threatening or.
The problem is you don't know anything around him, so you can't say if it's out
of the ordinary, like it could be a slum area, but.
And he's definitely not looking up into any apartments.
No, I can tell.
Yeah, that's a men in black autograph.
It is unfortunate that they're the only ones who can give reference to this photo
or place it to where it is to give it anything that might make it part of the M.I.B.
Yeah, nothing at all does that.
Sorry, why is it not shorting to Mib?
John Keel is all I can say.
OK, you can thank fucking John Keel for that.
Fucking John Keel.
Yeah.
M.I.B. is just kind of a mouthful and men in black almost feels like the same amount
of work mouthwise.
Mib, no, it's less work to say Mib.
It is less work. Yeah.
Definitely more to say M.I.B.
Next one that you've also just alluded to.
I hate your false October 14 2008.
I mean, you've done some nice foreshadowing with this episode.
If there's one thing we're known for, it's foreshadowing.
It is.
And if there's another thing we're known for, it's our catchphrases.
It's true.
And Woody Bantor to take forth with you into situations
in which you would like to feel less awkward and more human.
Yeah, conversation starters is really what this podcast is all about.
Exactly.
I mean, nobody wants to be questioned on their humaneness.
So as I'm feeling for the M.I.B. in this episode,
no one likes to be made fun of when someone's
feeling less human some days.
So this next encounter takes place in Niagara Falls.
Not sure which side United States or Canada.
It could make all the difference.
Maybe it was in the falls.
We don't know.
It probably wasn't in the falls.
I don't know.
It's not in the fall yet.
October 14 2008.
Hotel manager Shane Sovar, an unnamed hotel security guard,
reported seeing a large triangle UFO outside of the hotel.
Aerial phenomenon investigations team looked into this sighting.
I have never heard of this organization.
I think that's the first time it's ever come up in our podcast, too.
It has.
Yeah.
Literally never heard of it ever.
Maybe that's who the M.I.B. are working for because they're so small
they can't pay anybody.
So they reported that a couple of weeks later,
according to three other witnesses that two men in black visit,
there's this is a lot of people relaying a story.
It's like telephone at this point.
They say the witnesses that is and then the witnesses say to the organization
then the organization tells us that two men in black visited the hotel
and terrified the hotel staff.
And we're looking for Shane and the man named Hotel Security Guard
and they were not there at the time.
On word of this or return back to work,
Shane, the hotel manager, reviewed the hotel security footage
and the men appeared on the tape.
Witnesses describe the men as tall with black suits, black hats,
identical faces, extremely pale skin, no eyebrows, eyelashes
and abnormally large eyes.
A woman who spoke with the man claimed that she felt that the men knew
what she was thinking.
I'm going to send you this video.
What do you think of the footage?
I've always found it very odd.
Like, yeah, it does.
Those guys do look out of place for everything going on.
The things that they're saying to describe them,
it is not high enough resolution to actually confirm
like they look exactly the same.
They're the exact same height or even what they're really wearing.
Like you can see they're wearing suits.
You can't confirm like it's identical or anything like that.
You can't confirm like, whoa, these guys are like super strange looking.
And then what's up with Shane that like the MIB would actually
want to see him and also not know where he is.
That was the thing that stuck out to me the most that they weren't there.
The second thing is they had a UFO sighting,
which is why I think people are making the assumption that they showed up
to talk to them.
And I believe they don't actually say maybe he says in this interview,
I'm actually going to try and download that to put the audio in.
Maybe that might be better than the Dan Ackroyd one.
Okay.
Yeah, Dan Ackroyd looks face it.
It doesn't.
I was underwhelmed by what he said as well.
But that was the one thing that kind of if they're supposed to be super natural
and have paranormal experience,
and have paranormal things associated with them,
why didn't they know that they weren't there?
That did stand out to me as well as something super strange as well.
And like outside of this one,
I have not heard one sighting where it's like it turns out they were looking
for my friend who hadn't seen me in a while.
No, none of the ones that we talked.
I mean, we have talked about a hoax.
Yeah.
Yeah, talked about many things.
None of them were actually like showed up and they weren't there and they're like,
can you just leave a message that we stop by?
No, that's my neighbor.
Yeah.
And then like they never show up to actually talk to the guy.
So it was just a missed encounter in the end.
That's the deal behind the video footage that I mean,
it's not really that recent anymore.
It's recent in my mind, but it was 2008 that that came out.
Yeah, that sighting can almost drive.
That's it.
I don't think it's real old.
So that's that.
Now, one of my favorite places to look for stories is Reddit.
So I'm going to kind of we're winding down a little bit here.
I'm going to give you some Reddit sightings because I love them.
That's where you go to talk to the people.
So I'm going to share some Reddit sightings now.
I have a story told by Corthus 59 and they say my elder brother was an
intelligence analyst for the army.
In his wife and another couple went up onto a hill near the base to
observe a full moon one night like tonight.
Just a casual night out.
They witnessed an amazing aerial phenomenon with a blazing blue orb
conducting maneuvers that no human craft could do.
Both my brother and his friend were experts in the capacities of all
aircraft extant at that time in the world.
It works.
After observing the event for some time, the light suddenly stopped and
held a stationary position in the sky.
All in the car had the certain feeling that it was noting their observations.
Then it seemed to surge towards their position looming large.
All the above was happening around 10 p.m. at night.
The next thing they knew it was 4 a.m. in the morning and their car was 100
miles east of their base.
It was also sitting exactly in the middle of a harvested wheat or barley field.
He got out and walked all around the car.
There were no tracks out in their position in the field.
It was just sitting there in the middle as if it had been dropped out of the
sky.
A period of hysteria struck them all and they fled the scene and just kept
going until they intersected the interstate.
That was when they realized how far they were from the base.
Some days later, men in black visited my sister-in-law at her home and also
visited the wife of my brother's friend.
They did not ask any questions.
They just made very ominous threats and not about not talking about what happened.
Not about it or just about talking about it.
Don't talk about it.
Don't talk about it. Okay.
Some years later, my brother said they had arrived at his office on base and
threatened him.
It really rattled him was that no one else in the complex saw them arrive or leave.
And this is in a controlled access intelligence area.
Even years later, my brother, a hardened Vietnam vet, would start pouring tears
when speaking of coming to in the field.
My sister-in-law would burst into overt weeping at the mention of the men in
black, even on a television show.
There are deeply paranormal undertones in these events and encounters.
My brother doesn't show tears for anything, not pain, not loss.
He has a thousand yards stare of the combat veteran.
Light moving in the sky does not shatter him.
Something very deep and profound is going on with these kinds of encounters
that assaults the mind and being of those who go through them.
That's the end of that sighting.
An interesting one, probably one of the most intriguing ones that we read tonight.
Yeah.
If I'm being honest, that's why we go to Reddit.
Reddit is a plethora of knowledge and a grab bag of good and bad.
Yes, I was just going to say, sometimes you do have to sift through them.
I do love Reddit because there's some really good, like you said, the good and
the bad and then on the bad, you get the good comments or you get the people who
actually know how to analyze the stuff and ask really good questions and
and make it come out that they're full of shit.
Yes, which I appreciate.
So it also helps me narrow down what what stories I'm going to share with you
sometimes just by reading the comments of the good people.
Next one is rising standing in 2011.
Me and my girlfriend saw UFO at point blank range.
Holy shit.
It was 1 a.m.
And we were leaving the neighborhood for food right across the street.
No food in this neighborhood.
You got to go get some other neighborhood food.
This is some really oddly put together sentences right across the street in the
next neighborhood was a UFO.
Low and directly over at home.
Where the food was.
Yes.
Yeah.
It just makes sense.
Right across the street in the next neighborhood.
Not long after that, some weird things started happening.
I did not believe in Mib at the time.
That's what we're calling it.
My B now.
And I did not understand it as them until later.
It somehow clipped.
Is this going to somehow connect together?
I hope it does.
The girl said when I was gone at work one day that she heard furniture
moving. Who the fuck is this girl?
Girlfriend.
He closed the door and locked it later.
She said she went out and it was back to normal.
Even though I was very into paranormal and had had a lot of experiences,
I honestly didn't believe her.
I thought she was crying for attention because I was working a ton.
Later, I came to see that happening.
Fuck, why did I choose this story?
This looks as good as any copy paste.
I don't know how to describe the feeling of I'm not getting enough attention.
I will move the furniture in the kitchen or the living room or wherever I need to
and then move it back and say this happened because you are neglecting me, sir.
Yeah.
It's the oldest trick in the book for lack of attention.
Yeah.
I probably should edit out the story and just stop right here, but I'm committed now.
So I got to go through with it.
Later, I came to see the happening as Mib harassment, though.
Who knows?
Anyway, one night, not long later, I awoke and there was a tall person standing in the
bedroom doorway actually just says standing in bedroom doorway.
There is no.
I'm glad you added some context words.
I know there's a lot of non context in this story.
I had no fear response, which is obviously strange.
Two dogs in the house, no response from them.
Loaded gun on the nightstand.
No thought of grabbing it.
No response.
No, that's strange.
That's really strange.
Not the dogs.
The guy usually shoots.
He usually does.
Friend asleep beside me, not stirring.
Man, it was tall and dressed in an old style.
All black, long coat, 40s style reporter hat.
He even had an old camera up to his face.
What the fuck?
Because of all the anarchronism is suspect ghost encounter, not Mib.
Anyway, he was using the camera.
What the fuck?
The giant flash bulb was.
I don't think I read this story.
Wait, this is one where he's like covered with like the down of the camera.
No, just had a camera up his face.
OK, but he has a bulb.
What does have a bulb?
An old camera up to his face.
I don't know.
The giant flash bulb was going on and off, like taking pictures of me and the girl.
Why does he keep calling his girlfriend the girl?
It was this rope by Mib.
Yellow is delicious.
Yes, I love yellow.
Do not solidify.
Just drink.
He keeps calling his girlfriend the girl.
But there's no sound with this once
whoever was only visual.
She feels mistreated.
Weird, hey?
Yeah, wanted to see the face, but couldn't because of the camera.
Soon felt extremely sleepy.
And next thing I knew it was morning.
I did not tell the girl from what happened because I thought it was a ghost
and she'd be scared.
And then she'd move the furniture and just be in the same spot.
So a few mornings later when we wake up, the girl seems weird.
I asked her what's wrong.
She says last night she woke up and it's all men was in our bedroom.
I asked why she didn't wake me and she said she felt lulled or pacified.
I asked what he looked like and she said tall, all black, old time clothes.
I couldn't believe it.
I said, what was he doing?
She said he was just standing beside the bed looking at us.
I got very curious about the face because I couldn't see it when I woke up.
I asked what his face looked like and she said she couldn't see it.
She said she tried to look directly at his face.
Vision literally kind of blurred up or clouded.
And when she looked back at something else, her eyes refocused.
She said after a few moments, she felt very sleepy and here we were.
Later, I came to her like this was mid harassment.
I think they can track UFO activity.
I think they came to see what was up with us after our UFO encounter.
Maybe they want to study why certain people have UFOs around.
I think it's possible they dress weird to give people an untellable story.
Wow. Wow.
Wow.
What a story.
I don't even know what to say about that.
So that's about this guy and the girl.
That's about it.
I mean, that was the last encounter I have.
I'm kind of happy you included that one.
Yeah, because it was both so wild on like his treatment of his relationship.
And second off, just like how the actual interaction took place.
Yeah, do you think he's telling the truth?
No fucking idea.
Do you think the girl exists?
No, not when you switch between girlfriend and the girl so readily.
Do I think that the girl exists?
Yeah, that's fair.
Yeah, I'm glad I included that as well.
I was going to include a few explanations.
We are over an hour at this point, so we're probably at this point good
unless you only have like five minutes.
I was just thinking like, what do you think they are?
Honestly, they're more than likely something that was made up right from the start.
The evidence is there that it was made up right from the start.
Yeah, however, I can see somebody who would want to intimidate somebody
from making a story about it, knowing about the MIP's ideas,
being able to intimidate somebody into changing their mind about talking about something
just based on the persona of the MIP later on.
So I'm more so lean on the made up thing though.
Yeah, I always come away disappointed when I look at things like this.
Yeah, unfortunately.
Other than Mothman hasn't let me down.
No, actually, there's a few things that haven't.
But when we look at tangible things, it's usually be prepared for disappointment.
Yeah, and we haven't done an episode on Black-eyed kids,
but they kind of in their demeanor and how they're supposed to act
kind of remind me of Black-eyed kids.
It's almost like the Blackness moves the suit when they grow up.
Oh, good points, good points.
But yeah, that's Men in Black.
What a roller coaster is always and disappointment.
Yeah, and I think this is a good time to remind you
to always keep some microwave to jello with a ballpoint pen within.
Just ready in the refrigerator, just in case.
Just in case, of course.
Why wouldn't you at this point?
I have been Taylor here with Chelsea.
We are Journey to the Fringe.
Thank you all for listening and we'll see you next week.
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