In this Shropshire UFO casebook, UFO researcher Phil Hoyle explains how one UFO witness was visited by a strange man.
Part 9 – The Real Men In Black
In Part 6 of my casebook, I discussed an incident involving Roger Erdington, who lived near Newport, Shropshire. Roger contacted us after we placed an advert in the local Newport newspaper, hoping that residents in the surrounding area might share information about any UFO sightings or encounters. His response proved to be both fascinating and deeply unsettling.
Roger recounted a very strange event that occurred during the 1970s at his nursery business, which he ran for over 35 years. One afternoon, he heard someone calling him from the lower level of his storage building, situated in an old barn. Politely, he asked the visitor to come upstairs to where he was working.
After a brief pause, a short, well-dressed man appeared. He had grey hair, wore a suit reminiscent of a bank manager, and carried a briefcase. The man asked Roger if he was indeed Roger Erdington. “Yes, I am,” Roger replied, assuming the visitor was some sort of VAT or tax inspector.
The man opened his briefcase and produced a manuscript, instructing Roger to scrutinize the document thoroughly, digest its contents, and then destroy it. Naturally, Roger asked what it was. He explained that if it was a sales gimmick, he had no interest, and if it concerned insurance, he was already fully covered. The man dismissed both possibilities. When Roger pressed for his identity, the man calmly introduced himself as a professor, saying he had brought “important documents” for Roger to read.
Scanning the manuscript, Roger remarked that it looked like political treaties. The man acknowledged this but insisted: “Read it all, do as you are instructed, and then destroy it.” Roger, bewildered, asked the man where he was from. The man replied with an Australian accent, claiming he was a professor at Brisbane University. Glancing at his watch, he added: “You’re the last one I have to see. I’m catching a flight from Manchester shortly.”
Roger, still puzzled, asked him to leave the manuscript on the bench. The man complied and then disappeared. From the upper window, Roger could see the only exit from the building, but he never saw the man leave — he had simply vanished. Roger’s wife was present during the encounter and confirmed every detail of the incident.
That evening, Roger read the manuscript and was dumbfounded. The document appeared to predict future Earth events. True to the instructions, he eventually threw the manuscript onto the fire, erasing it from existence.
Roger’s Investigation
The following year, Roger began researching the man who had visited him. He discovered that the individual had never worked at Brisbane University and that the name he had given corresponded to someone who had been dead for seventy years.
Could this enigmatic figure belong to a race known as the “Watchers”? Some believe this benevolent human-like race oversees the evolutionary development of humanity and appears during times of crisis to guide mankind along the right path.
The manuscript itself reportedly contained astonishing predictions spanning from 1971 to approximately 2022. It foresaw global political upheavals, including the events of 9/11, China’s rise as a world superpower, unrest in Korea, and turmoil in Muslim nations.
Roger’s story is only one of many similar incidents I have investigated over the past 30 years. It raises profound questions: What forbidden knowledge has been passed to ordinary individuals? How many other manuscripts or secrets might still lie hidden in attics, cupboards, or dusty corners, waiting to be discovered?
This encounter, and others like it, forms the shadowy mythology of the Men in Black — enigmatic figures who appear at the edges of UFO investigations, often leaving those they visit bewildered, cautious, and forever changed.
Read more casebooks
Casebook Part 1 – The Witness
Casebook Part 2 – The Triangle Mystery
Casebook Part 3 – UFO abductions
Casebook Part 4 – Crafts and crop circles
Casebook Part 5 – Shropshire Animal Mutilations
Casebook Part 6 – The Cosford Sphere
Casebook Part 7 – The Long Mynd UFO
Casebook Part 8 – The Cigar Shaped UFO
Casebook Part 9 – Real Men In Black
Copyright Phil Hoyle 2012
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