The "International Flying Saucer Bureau" was a small UFO organization founded in 1952, at Bridgeport in Connecticut, USA directed by Albert K. Bender, who was determined to uncover the truth about the flying saucer phenomenon. The association edited a small magazine publication known as the "Space Review" which contained news about UFOs. It was a very small organization with only a small membership and the publication circulated amongst hundreds rather than thousands, but its members and readers valued the publication a lot. It also presented the idea that flying saucers were spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin.
In the October 1953 edition of "Space Review", two major announcements appeared. The first was entitled "Late Bulletin" and stated "A source which the IFSB considers very reliable has informed us that the investigation of the flying saucer mystery and the solution is approaching final stages. This same source to whom we had referred data, which had come into our possession, suggested that it was not the proper method and time to publish the data in Space Review."
The second announcement was: "Statement of Importance: The mystery of the flying saucers is no longer a mystery. The source is already known, but any information about this is being withheld by order from a higher source. We would like to print the full story in Space Review, but because of the nature of the information we are very sorry that we have been advised in the negative." The statement ended in the sentence "We advise those engaged in saucer work to please be very cautious."
The two announcements were of little significance in themselves. What gained them wider attention was the fact that immediately after publishing this October 1953 issue, Bender suspended further publication of the magazine and closed the IFSB down without any further explanation.
Bender might have known "what the flying saucers" were, but he later revealed in a local newspaper interview that he was keeping his knowledge a secret following a visit by three men who apparently confirmed he was right about his UFO theory, but put him in sufficient fear to immediately close down his organization and cease publication of the journal. It has been argued that the story of being visited by three strangers and being "warned off" was a front to close a publication that was losing money, however the fact that Bender had been "scared to death" and "actually couldn’t eat for a couple of days" was verified by his friends and associates: "Bender was a changed man after the MIB visited him. It was as if he had been lobotomized."
This state of affairs created considerable confusions among the flying saucer enthusiasts. What were they to think about such a strange story? Some were openly skeptical of Bender's tale. They said that his publication and organization were losing money and the tale of the three visitors who ordered him to stop publishing was just a face-saving gesture.
However, in 1963, a full decade after his visit from the three strangers, Bender was seemingly prepared to reveal more of his story in a largely unreadable book entitled "Flying Saucers and the Three Men in Black." The book was scant on facts however intriguingly described extraterrestrial spacecraft that had bases in Antarctica. This was apparently the truth Bender was terrorized into not revealing. Bender also provided drawings of the saucers he was aware of.
According to another seemingly rather controversial figure, Brad Steiger, the reading of Bender's opus is disappointing, in that it does not tell much more than a story about Alien bases in Antarctica, which Bender claimed he saw by "Astral Projection".
In the years since the bizarre encounter by Bender, "Men In Black" visits have been reported world-wide. Sometimes, the victims of these encounters have little or no interest in UFOs, and were only circumstantial witness of some strange observation in the sky. Some of these victims are obviously unbalanced personalities, other seem claim no fantastic stories and only know that they were visited and questioned by very suspicious individuals fitting the MiB description. Some claims are made that these Men In Black are undercover special governmental agents in charge of UFO investigation or UFO cover-up, other claims state that they are of alien origin. Events exist to support both theories, with various credibility.
"FSB," a reader of this website, informed me that Albert K. Bender is unfortunately possibly dead - although this is yet to confirm - he answered a phone call in August 2000 but not anymore in another attempt in 2002.
