"The tie-in with the UFO Hunters show on The Silencers," Beckley explained, "is that Sands later had a rather hair-raising incident with the Men-In-Black who took him into the desert where he was confronted literally by a small army of more MIBs and two hairy creatures that reminded him of Cousin It from the Addams Family Show. I was always fascinated with Johnny's claims especially since he passed a lie detector test and had undergone a psychological examination by a trained professional, and I thought it would make a good addition to the UFO Hunters episode that was in the early planning stages."

The producers of the program, however, were unable to track Sands down and told Beckley they believed the gentleman had died some five years ago. The news greatly saddened Beckley, but then an interesting moment of synchronicity took place. Beckley went to visit his friend, a performance artist known professionally as Zamora The Torture King, who was doing a show on Coney Island near Beckley's home in Manhattan.

"I happened to mention," Beckley recalled, "since both of them are from the Las Vegas area, that I had tried to get in touch with Johnny Sands to get him on the History Channel and they had told me he had passed away. Zamora got a big chuckle out of that. 'Well, I don't think so,' he said, 'because I just interviewed him recently for my book Weird Nevada.' So it turns out that the producers of the show did finally manage to get in touch with Johnny and booked him for the show."

Beckley said that the show would eventually include himself and Sands, as well as UFO historian Allen Greenfield and John Rhodes. Rhodes has had personal experiences with the Men-In-Black and is widely known as a leading authority on reptilian aliens and the unexplained mysteries of the Inner Earth, which is where some researchers think the Men-In-Black may call their home, the netherworlds hidden underground.

"Part of the episode was shot near the Grand Canyon," Beckley said, "and then the UFO Hunters and the crew went on to I think Salt Lake City to shoot the rest of the program. So it probably took about oh, I guess, four or five days to put this all in the can and then several weeks of editing before it is aired nationally. For me, it was a nice trip and an exciting experience, but then again most folks know I love radio, television and filmmaking."

For those unfamiliar with the program, Beckley offered some basic background.

"Each episode of the program involves a different aspect of the UFO phenomenon," he said. "Recently, they've had a show on abductions; they've had a show on the grays; they've had one on undersea saucers or USOs. They've had an episode on pilots who have been buzzed. So each show is themed, and this one is on the Men-In-Black."

Beckley said his interest in the MIB mystery goes back over four decades.

"One of the first books I ever read on UFOs," he recalled, "was by the late Gray Barker and called They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. In its pages, the author describes how certain UFO researchers had gotten too close to the truth about the origins of and the occupants who pilot the flying discs that were being seen all over America in the 1950s and 60s. The researchers were visited by gentlemen wearing black suits, black hats, sometimes dark sunglasses, usually traveling in black limousines or Cadillacs, who threatened the researchers that if they told what they knew about flying saucers then something tragic would happen to either them or their families.

"Probably the first person to be silenced that we know about," Beckley continued, "is Albert K. Bender, who was the head of the International Flying Saucer Bureau, an organization that reigned supreme in the early 1950s. Bender had several thousand members all over the world, and put out a very nice little newsletter called Space Review. And apparently he had printed something he should not have in the pages of his newsletter, which got back to 'them,' whoever they are! We don't know whether they're extraterrestrial. Some of them may be government officials. I have my own theory, which I discuss on the show, as to where the Men-In-Black may be originating."

Bender's tale continued.

"So, these three men appeared at Albert K. Bender's door one day. They proved to him that they were not of earthly or human origin, let's say. They materialized and dematerialized in front of him, and they told him to shut down his international UFO organization, which he did. At around this time, which would have been 1953 or 1954, there were other individuals who were being harassed by these Men-In-Black. There were freaky phone calls and strange poltergeist-like phenomena that were taking place inside the houses of UFO witnesses and heads of various UFO organizations as well."

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For more information or to purchase these books, simply click on their titles:
Mystery of the Men in Black: The UFO Silencers
The Secret Life Of Paul Villa: UFO Contact From Coma Berenices

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