I’ll Share Some With You

I have to say that over the years I’ve seen and heard a lot of strange things. But, there are some cases that really stand out. With that said, I’ll share some of them with you. On the day in question, Peter Rojcewicz was working on his PhD thesis in folklore. It was while doing research at the Library of the University of Pennsylvania that Rojcewicz had an encounter of a type that will instantly be recognizable, in terms of its relation to Jane’s, some thirteen years earlier. Rojcewicz’s very own words are suggestive of the menace that was soon to follow: “It was a strange day, weather-wise, with erratic shifts of rain and wind and sun. It would get very blustery, and then it would become very calm. It was approximately 4:30 P.M. and already on the dark side.” As Rojcewicz studied hard, and as nightfall loomed, he suddenly became aware of a darkly-clad, tall and thin man in his midst. The odd character had tanned skin, black and greasy hair, sunken eyes, and a hard to define accent, but one which had a strong European flavor to it. In addition, he wore a Texan-style string tie. Its color doesn’t even need describing; one and all surely can surely deduce that by now.

The man asked Rojcewicz what he was working on, and Rojcewicz told him that he was researching the UFO phenomenon. The MIB then proceeded to ask Rojcewicz if he had ever seen a UFO. He replied he was more interested in accounts of UFOs than whether or not they were alien craft.  The MIB was not happy by Rojcewicz’s response. In a loud voice he said, “Flying saucers are the most important fact of the century, and you’re not interested?!” The man then stood up – “as if mechanically lifted” – put his hand on Rojcewicz’ shoulder, and added, as he walked away, “Go well in your purpose.” 

The mid-to-late 1960s was a period when encounters with the Women in Black reached near-fever-pitch levels. It all began in early spring 1967, when reports began to surface of black-garbed “gypsy women” roaming around certain, quieter parts of New York. They clearly weren’t regular gypsies, however. That much was made clear by the fact that they exclusively targeted those who had undergone UFO encounters. Odder still, on more than a few occasions, the alleged gypsy women were seen in the dead of night, standing as still as statues and staring malevolently into the homes of people who claimed close encounters with alien entities. Attempts to confront them were met with outright hostility – something which made even the homeowners back away in fear. One of the weirdest of all the early 1967 cases occurred in the vicinity of Melville, New York, and involved a rancher whose farm was located in a rural, isolated part of town. Only days before he received a most unwelcome visit, the man saw a definitive flying saucer hovering over one of his fields, and which – somewhat amazingly – had what was described as a “ladder” hanging from its underside. At least, until the ladder was hastily retracted and the saucer shot away, high into the sky, and vanished from view. That was hardly the end of the matter, however.

Just a few days later, the man heard a knock at the door. Given that his home was in the middle of pretty much nowhere, he opened the door both slowly and cautiously. Stood before him was a “Gypsy lady” who was dressed in a gray dress that reached her ankles and who wore sandals. Just like so many of the Men in Black, her skin was noted for its deep, olive complexion, and her eyes were described as “Oriental.” The rancher added that she stood around five-feet and four inches tall, and had long hair that was “so black” it “looked dyed.” The woman said to the slightly alarmed man: “I have traveled a long way. May I have a glass of water? I must take a pill.” Baffled, the man decided not to risk incurring her wrath and quickly fetched her a glass of water and watched as she swallowed a round, green-colored pill. She thanked him, turned, and walked away – which the man found very strange, given that he lived on a backroad, and walking to the nearest town would be an arduous task, to say the least. John Keel said of this acutely odd and disconcerting episode: “‘I have traveled a long way’ is an old Masonic pass phrase and is frequently used in these contacts.” He added: “The pill-taking ploy is also a common procedure. When a most peculiar being visited a family on Cope May, New Jersey, early in 1967, he also took a pill. He too had ‘traveled a long way,’ and after conducting an inane interview with the family, he stepped into the night, got into a black Cadillac, and drove off with the lights out.”

Now, onto a really bizarre and sinister affair: the following account, from Terry – in Shingle Springs, California – is without doubt one of the most chilling MIB-themed reports ever to have reached me. Read on and you’ll see why: “This encounter occurred during the day time thirty five years ago in 1977 at a Winchell’s in Sunnyvale California, I was just sixteen years of age at the time. My best friend and I had just finished our coffee and were heading for the doorway to leave. As we were passing a man seated at one of the tables, he reached out and firmly grabbed my wrist. In that moment my first reaction was to jerk away from his grip, but looking down at him I realized that he was a very old man and I felt in that moment that he was harmless. He was dressed in black wearing an old fashioned hat and suit, his clothing looked like it was from the 1930’s. He was extremely pale, very thin and appeared to be very old, I guessed in his 80’s or 90’s. 

“He told my friend and I that he was a palm reader, a very good one, he claimed and could he please do us a favor by giving us each a reading. My friend and I talked briefly to each other about his offer and agreed to let him. I first sat down across the table from him, then as my friend was starting to sit down along side of me, he stopped her and asked her to please go sit a few tables away out of earshot from us, explaining that the information was going to be direct and personal, we would need some privacy. She complied and moved several tables away. Once my friend was seated away from us, I placed my hands on the table in front of him, palms up and looked into the man’s face, it was then that I noticed the old man’s eyes were completely glazed over with cataracts, he was surely blind I thought, as his gaze was unfixed and unfocused in my direction. I asked him how long had he been a psychic? He responded by saying that his ability had nothing to do with being psychic and emphasized that it had everything to do with ‘science.’

“He began by talking about my early childhood experiences along with some very painful incidents that had occurred to me in which he had precise and detailed information that I was sure no one could have known about. Quite suddenly I felt very vulnerable and exposed as he recounted these events, his knowledge unnerved me to my very core. Staring straight ahead he moved along into my present situation, lecturing and chastising me like a father would a child, for some poor choices I had made during that time. All the while he broke a doughnut down into tiny pieces.  My mind raced as I tried to figure out how on earth could he know this stuff? It was then in that moment that I would forever change my ideas of “secrets kept” and how I viewed my own identity in the world. Apparently “nothing” could be hidden from myself or anyone else for that matter. I felt naked in the truth. He continued this reading now delving into my future and that of upcoming world events, with stories sometimes so harsh and brutal that I clearly remember wondering if I would ever “catch a break in life?” Among other things, he warned me of a time when that by speaking about my UFO experiences I would anger “the governmental powers that be” and he cautioned that I would be dealing with very dangerous people and circumstances. He rambled on often emphasizing again that this all had to do with ‘science.’

“I then asked him if he could see any kind of success coming to me, ever? He responded by telling me, “You will not find success in life, you will die of a broken heart. It will be a better stronger woman who will be successful.” As I listened to his words I began to cry and he sharply asked me, “Are you going to lay down and die like a frightened whore, or are you going to be willing to stand up and fight like a worthy warrior?” I was stunned into silence and then he said, “Whether you realize this or not, I have done you a huge favor today and I will be returning to see you in the future, years from now to collect on it. As a side note, I do not recall the exact time he said, but do recall thinking “You’ll be long dead by then old man”. Our reading ended, he asked me to leave the table and he then waived for my friend to come over to sit with him. He spent all of five minutes with her and when she arose from the table she was badly shaken and would only say that she hoped that what he predicted for her was not true. As we exited the doughnut shop I tried to press my friend for more information because she was crying, but she was too upset to speak about what he had said to her. Once out on the street the both of us walking together toward home, my friend asked me to tell her about what the old man said to me in my reading with him, she pointed out that the reading he gave went on for an hour and forty five minutes with me. I was lost for words when she spoke up and said, “Linda I don’t think he was a person, I think that old man was an alien.

“Right in that moment as she was speaking we watched as an old black 1930’s or 40’s gangster type car with running boards pull out of the parking lot and pass us on the street, there was no driver at the wheel and the same old man that we had met, was riding in the back seat. Our mouths dropped as we watched the car pass by us and at the same time a whirl wind picked up and swirled around our feet. We watched the car disappear from view making a turn further down the street, I then shook my head and responded to her with “No, he was just a creepy old man in black.”  Over the years during the course of our friendship my friend and I would many times ponder and question our meeting with “the old man in black.” We could not understand who or what he was and neither of us would reveal to the other exactly what his frightening messages to each of us separately were, agreeing only that we felt that he was speaking the truth and that it was frightening for both us. We would part ways and our friendship ended in 1988 when I came out to her about my lifelong UFO experiences and the old man’s messages to me. She mocked and ridiculed me in that moment. It was a very painful ending to our relationship for me. I would struggle with it for years. 

In 1988 when I began to seriously study the UFO phenomena I came across stories about these Men in Black, Master Tricksters and the like. It was then that I began to understand who and what they are and how this “old man in black” specifically related to me as that young teenager all those years ago and yet, I was still haunted by his promise to return to collect on that favor. During Christmas of 2009, alone in my mother’s apartment while she traveled, I found myself slipping into a deep depression and I was filled with despair. During the course of that year I had lost a job that I loved due to the economy, gone through a terrible break up with a man I could no longer love, I found out that my old friend who was with me in 1977 on that day with the ‘old man in black’ in Sunnyvale had died in 2008 from cancer and I had still not gotten over losing my beloved horse Meaghan, who had also died the year before, leaving me filled with a sorrow that I was not able to overcome. Starting on Christmas day I fasted and prayed for three days hoping that I could find some peace and comfort. It was then I realized that, I was indeed “heart broken” over my losses and suddenly the encounter with “the old man in black” came flooding back into my mind and would not leave me alone. In trying to escape his words and his terrible messages to me, I began drinking heavily at night until I could find some peace in sleep. This would go on into the beginning of 2011 when I finally began to slowly recover from the pain. I finally thought I had come to terms with that old man’s warnings and I successfully quit drinking, my attitude shifted and I was now looking forward to a great new year.”

And, finally, there was this from Terry: “In April of last year I discovered a lump in my breast and was at first unconcerned about it, I thought that it was probably a just a fibroid cyst that would go away on its own. I put off having it checked out until July when the lump had grown quite large and when the results came back positive for cancer I was shocked. Last month after trying a lot of alternative therapies in the prior months since July, I had a mastectomy. The pathology indicates that I have advanced stage cancer and once again the “old man in black” and his words are haunting me. Oddly I find myself both eager and apprehensive as I await his return, but know that above all, I am no longer afraid. “