Nick Redfern September 29, 2021

Not long ago (in fact, only about two weeks ago), I was asked something along these lines: “How weird does the life of a researcher and writer on the paranormal, the conspiratorial, and the supernatural really get?” Well, I can provide dozens and dozens of extremely strange cases, events and incidents. For today, though, I’ll provide a perfect, single example that really stands out. We have to go back five years to June 20, 2016. Taking into consideration the series of events that began on that particular day, you might think that black clouds, tumultuous storms, and the proverbial dark and stormy nights were everywhere. In fact, it was quite the opposite: blistering temperatures and a pummeling Sun were the order of the day. None of that, however, stopped profound weirdness surfacing from its sinister lair. And, here’s how it all began: On the evening of the 20th, good friend, Rich Reynolds, of the UFO Conjecture(s) blog, wrote a tongue-firmly-in-cheek article titled “Nick Redfern’s latest book: The Women in Black.” In part, Rich said: “Nick Redfern’s new book, The Women in Black: The Creepy Companions of the Mysterious M.I.B. may be read as a kind of sequel to his popular Men in Black books The Real Men in Black [2011] and Men in Black [2015]. (One could provide a psychiatric evaluation of Nick’s obsession with this theme but that for another time). As usual, Nick, in 292 pages, offers readers insights and hitherto unknown stories of odd appearances by women, often garbed in black clothing or accoutrements; appearances that scare the bejesus out of UFO witnesses, paranormal buffs, and normal people too.”

(Nick Redfern)

On the night following the one on which Rich Reynolds jokingly suggested I might need a psychiatric evaluation (at least, I hope he was joking!), I was scheduled to be interviewed by Denise Garcia, host of the Phenomena Encountered show. Denise wanted us to focus on the Men in Black and the Women in Black. That was fine by me. I should have guessed: even before the show got started we had technical issues, with both Skype and Google Hangouts. Denise was forced to call me on my cell. She couldn’t even connect to my old landline. Within minutes people were messaging the show, and texting me, to say that the conversation was constantly dropping and there was endless interference on the line. All of this came immediately after we had actually discussed how earlier shows on the MIB had been affected in such a fashion, such as Coast to Coast and Whitley Strieber’s Dreamland. Finally, after about ten minutes, things settled down and a good, solid debate on the MIB and WIB followed.

(Nick Redfern)

Roughly an hour-and-a-half after I finished the interference-filled interview with Denise, the late paranormal writer Brad Steiger emailed me with the details of a breaking story coming out of Iowa, which just happens to be Brad’s home-state. It was an article written for KWQC news. Its title: “Mysterious ‘men in black’ sightings reported along Muscatine Co. roadways.” And, in part, it stated: “R. J. Strong of Port Louisa, Iowa was spooked by what he saw a week ago Monday, June 13, at 2 a.m. Strong posted on Facebook afterward that he was traveling near Ogilvie and F avenues in Muscatine County when he saw ‘some weirdo walking down the paved road in a black trench coat!!!! Several others on social media have reported similar sightings in recent weeks. According to the reports, the individuals have been seen standing beside roadways and sometimes stepping into roadways as motorists are passing at locations across Muscatine County, in southeastern Iowa.”

So, in answer to the question in the first paragraph of this article: Yes, things do get very weird when you race around in the above-fields and on a very regular basis. Be careful and beware!

MU*

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