A Direct Connection Between Mac Tonnies' Cryptoterrestrials and the Men in Black?

My previous article was on the possibility that there just might be humanoids living deep under the surface of our planet and who have lived there for a very long time. Maybe, even for thousands of years. It sounds bizarre - and even impossible - but stay with me. The one person who was on the edge of really digging deep into the subject was the late Mac Tonnies. Unfortunately, Tonnies lost his life when he was just in his thirties - from a heart problem. Today, I want to share something with you: namely, that there might be a connection between Mac's speculative underground creatures and the Men in Black. It sounds strange, but stay with me. If you read Mac's book, The Cryptoterrestrials, you'll see that many of the people who have seen the cryptoterrestrials describe them in a fashion that is extremely similar to the MIB, the Women in Black and the Black Eyed Children. For example, most of them mainly come out at night. And, they camouflage themselves when they go out. Let's have a look at this issue and see if we can put together a coherent picture of what might be going on. Let's begin with the Men in Black.

I have on record a large number of reports that strongly suggest entities from elsewhere are using camouflage to move among us. We're talking - as bizarrely as it surely sounds - about creatures that don't look entirely human and who wear hats, wigs, and large sunglasses to mask their true identities. If there were just a few such reports, we could dismiss them as nonsense. But, there aren't just a few. There are dozens. And I'm talking only about the cases I have on file. Who knows how many similar reports other investigators have? Of course, references to odd-looking people wearing hats, wigs and sunglasses - and in relation to UFOs - instantly provoke imagery of the Men in Black. The matter of the so-called Black-Eyed Children springs to mind, too. After all, the BEC are rarely seen without their black hoodies, which offer a degree of camouflage, and particularly so during night-time encounters. But the MIB and the BEC are just two parts of a much bigger mystery. In issue 187 of Fortean Times magazine, writer Mark Pilkington reviewed the FortNite 2004 gig. He commented on some of the data revealed at the conference by the late alien abduction researcher Budd Hopkins: "...in order to better blend in with us humans, the greys have taken to wearing wigs and sunglasses...the aliens are also experimenting with growing hair on the heads of their genetic hybrid grey-human creations...they're also developing pupils to get around those giveaway wraparound black eyes."

 Eris Andys had her own run-in with one of these camouflaged ETs, in 1988, as she described in an appropriately titled 2004 article for Fortean Times: "A Quiet Invasion." While walking down one particular street (location not stated) Andys encountered a humanoid creature with "waxy, grey" skin, "...with no pores and no hair. It looked damp. The mouth was small, the nose tiny, and the chin pointed." She added: "The most amazing thing was the pair of glasses 'he' wore - made of some yellow reflective stuff, they wrapped around the sides of the head like some futuristic ski-wear." All of the above is strikingly similar to how both the MIB and the Cryptoterrestrials act. And particularly so when they are forced to go out in the day, rather than at night. Maybe, these strange looking creatures are aliens. But, they just might be creatures that are somewhat like us and who live deep underground: Mac Tonnies' Cryptoterrestrials. With that said, let's have a look deeper into all of this.

Going back further in time, we have the account of "Kartott." In 1974 or 1975, south of St. Louis, Missouri, she crossed paths with "...a very pale entity, wearing a thin black coat (like a rain coat) with collar turned up to cover her neck, a heavy long haired wig, and very large black glasses. This did not entirely hide her strange face: a very pointed chin, scant lip and nose. She did not speak." And further back into the 1970s, there's a story that John Keel highlighted in his classic book, The Mothman Prophecies. It's a story I wrote about earlier this year, here at Mysterious Universe. So, for our purposes, I'll keep the summary brief. The odd affair surfaced in late 1971 and was focused on a woman named Shirley Cromartie. She was a mother of three, who held a security clearance in the Florida White House and who found herself plunged into a profoundly strange situation. In a Florida parking-lot, Cromartie was placed into a hypnotic state by a mysterious wig-wearing woman. Keel suggested, in his book, that the hypnotic abilities of Cromartie’s mind-altering woman amounted to “…not some small demonstration for the benefit of President Nixon.” Now, let's have a look at the matter of the way in which all of these creatures try to make them look like us.

The fact is that some alleged extraterrestrials - or cryptoterrestrials - do seem to be trying to move among us and without being noticed for what they really are. In fact, it may have been going on for not just years, but decades. We'll begin with the Men in Black. Not the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones type. Rather, the real Men in Black: the pale, scrawny, weird-looking Men in Black who surfaced in the early 1950s and who have never gone away. There is strong evidence to show that the Men in Black realize there are certain differences between us and them. As a result of this, they do their best to make them look like us. Those who have unfortunately crossed paths with the MIB state that their black-suited visitors wore make-up and lipstick. In some cases, they even had what were clearly painted-on eyebrows - as bizarre as it all sounds. On occasion, the MIB will wear large, wraparound sunglasses. This is clearly done for camouflage: in some cases the MIB are described as having large, abnormal eyes that they hide behind those glasses. Often, though, they don't do a good job of hiding those bulging eyes - which is why we sometimes get to see those creepy eyes.

Think about all the above: these humanoids come out at night. They wear dark glasses. They make their skin look more human when it comes to color. They surface, mostly, at night. Add all of that together and you could make a solid case that all of this is done because these creatures are not used to living on the surface of our planet. They don't like the sun. They can't stand the heat, so they wait - largely - until the sun has gone down. Put all of those things together and you could say that Mac Tonnies was right when he said there are creatures working in our world, but in a very secretive way. Let's look at the Black Eyed Children. Imagine, it’s dusk and you’ve just begun to settle in for the evening. Your solitude is interrupted when there’s a knock at your door. It’s a long, continuous rapping, almost maddening in its insistence. Answering the door, you find a young child of about ten years old.  He stands quietly in a hooded top and jeans, staring at his shoes. What you see of his face is very pale and for some reason you can’t put your finger on, he makes you nervous. In a cold, monotone voice, he requests that you “invite him in.” You look around, wondering where his parents are. You ask if he’s lost, or needs help, to which he responds:  “Just let me in, this won’t take long.”

You start to back away but for some reason, you’re conflicted. You feel stuck between running and simply opening the door and asking him to step inside. It is, after all, only a child isn’t it?  That’s when he looks up and makes eye contact with you, revealing large solid black eyes that are unlike anything humanly possible. Your unease gives way to outright fear. Your flight response kicks in and you dash inside, slamming the door and bolting it as quickly as possible. You’re shaking from fear and you say a silent prayer that the “boy” will just go away. You’ve just encountered a black eyed kid, now commonly known as a ‘BEK.’ What exactly are these strange beings? Since the Black Eyed Children are pale and usually surface at night, you could say they're cryptoterrestrials who have carefully taken trips above the surface of our planet - something they rarely do.

This all very much reminds me of Mac Tonnies' Cryptotererstrials. In his theory, Tonnies suggested that ancient humans lurk among us, and do so in ways that will ensure we don't get to see the subtle differences between them and us. Tonnies said: "I envision the cryptoterrestrials engaged in a process of subterfuge, bending our belief systems to their own ends. And I suggest that this has been occurring, in form or another, for an extraordinarily long time. I think there’s a good deal of folkloric and mythological evidence pointing in this direction, and I find it most interesting that so many descriptions of ostensible 'aliens' seem to reflect staged events designed to misdirect witnesses and muddle their perceptions." Tonnies suggested that the Cryptoterrestrials - like our aliens - may employ the likes of wigs, make-up, sunglasses and hats, in an effort to try and deflect attention away from their slight differences. A creepy thought, to be sure.The Men in Black are extremely pale and prefer to come out at night. So do the Women in Black. The Black Eyed Children do, too. Now, we have a scenario that sounds surprisingly wild, but plausible, too. Now, let's have a look at a few cases that tie in with what we've seen.

Gloria is an elderly woman who lives in Decatur, Texas and who I met with on the afternoon of the 22nd. I decided to make the approximately 110-mile-roundtrip, after hearing a bit of her story down the phone the previous evening. I set off early, wondering, as I always do, what exactly I might be in for. It was a typical November day in Texas when I hit the road. It could have been a less than extraordinary experience – as is sometimes the case. But, not this time. On this occasion, the trip was well worth it. I arrived at an old house – probably dating from the 1940s, and which was well kept and that had a welcoming porch, on which were a couple of chairs. I knocked the door and in just a few seconds it opened. In front of me was Gloria, a white-haired lady who smiled broadly. At least, her experience wasn’t affecting her character, I thought. She invited me in and I sat down, as a couple of caged canaries bid me welcome. At least, I think that’s what they did. 

On July 19, 2012, Gloria told me – as we drank coffee and ate homemade lemon cake in her living-room – she briefly saw what can only be accurately described as a flying saucer, which hovered over her home as she sat in her backyard, reading a book and with her two dogs for company. In fact, it was the barking of both dogs - which stared intently and rigidly at the sky - that alerted Gloria to the presence of the weird craft. It didn’t stay around for long, however. It was a case of here one second and gone the next second. But that was not all. The next afternoon, that of the 20th, there was a knock at the door. It was a pale-faced, thin woman of about thirty, wearing a long black wig and dressed in a black jacket, a white blouse, and a flowing, black skirt. And then there were the huge sunglasses. And the WIB smelled of dirt – something I have heard before. Gloria felt deeply uncomfortable as, upon opening the door, the Woman in Black proceeded to warn her not to talk about the UFO she had encountered the previous day, due to the claim that “the government is concerned.” Concerned about what was never explained to Gloria.

In 1987, the Maxwell family spent a week vacationing in and around San Francisco, staying with friends in Menlo Park. On their way back home, they traveled along California’s famous Highway 101, which provides a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, and for mile upon mile. They chose to drive through the night, when the highway would be at its least busy, thinking that it would be to their benefit to do so. How completely and utterly wrong they were. As fate would destine to have it, after a couple of hours of driving, the family of four spotted a strange light in the sky. It was described as a bright green ball of light, about the size of a beach-ball, one which paced their car and that stayed with them for a couple of miles, at a height of around sixty feet.

There was nothing frightening about the encounter. Rather, they were all amazed and excited. It wasn’t long, however, before things got very disturbing. The day after the Maxwell family got home was a Sunday, meaning they had an extra day before returning to work and school. It was while one of the teenaged children was sat on the porch and playing music on an old Walkman that she caught sight of a man on the other side of the road. He was dressed completely in black, aside from a white shirt. He even wore black gloves, on what was a bright, summery day. The girl was particularly disturbed by the fact that the man sported a weird grin and was staring right at her. So unsettled was she that she went back into the home and told her father of what had just happened. He quickly went to the door but – no surprise – the MIB was gone. When Mr. Maxwell told the story to me – down the phone, on January 3 – the anxiety in his voice was as clear as it was eerie to hear. I have seen and heard that kind of anxiety so many times. Too many times, I would suggest. And, regardless of the particular location, almost always in relation to the Men in Black.

With all the above said, maybe we should turn our attentions away from the idea that the BEC, the MIB and the WIB are aliens. But, instead, that they are Mac Tonnies' cryptoterrestrials who can only stand the heat of our sun and the daylight for a few hours or days and that's it: it's back to their underworld. And quickly. Yes, it's just a theory. But, I think it's one we should ponder on.