Albert K. Bender
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 6
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Albert Bender |
| On the Timeline | 1 event, 1967 |
Albert K. Bender (16 June 1921 – 29 March 2016) was an American ufologist who founded the International Flying Saucer Bureau in 1952. He closed it suddenly in 1953, later saying he had been silenced by three men in black, a story that became the origin of the Men in Black legend.[1]
Life
Bender was born in Duryea, Pennsylvania, and served as a dental technician and clerk in the US Army Air Forces during the Second World War. He was fascinated by the supernatural and later settled in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[1]
The International Flying Saucer Bureau
In 1952 Bender founded the International Flying Saucer Bureau, which has been called the first major civilian UFO club in the world, and published its magazine, Space Review. In 1953 he said he had found the truth behind the flying saucers and planned to publish it. Instead he published only a warning advising those engaged in saucer work to be very cautious, and shut down the bureau.[1]
The three men
Bender said three men dressed in black had visited him, already knew what he had written, and frightened him into silence. Colleagues said he complained of severe headaches and seemed scared.[1] His associate Gray Barker told the story in They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers (1956).[1][2] In 1962 Bender published his own account, Flying Saucers and the Three Men, in which the visitors were beings from another planet; some have suggested the experience was a dream.[1]
Later life
Bender later managed a motel in California and founded a society devoted to the film composer Max Steiner in 1965. He died in 2016.[1]
On the UAP Timeline
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- Wheless memo on UFO impostors (1967) (1 March 1967) — An Air Force memo warns of men in uniform telling UAP witnesses to stay silent.
References
- Albert K. Bender — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Gray Barker — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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