The following account, sent to me by a Facebook friend in 2015, is without doubt one of the most disturbing and chilling stories of the Men in Black/Women in Black kind that I have on record. It begins as follows and relates to events which occurred in late 2008: “Dear Mr. Redfern, I have an interest in Forteana and ‘high-strangeness,’ but I’ve always been a skeptic and only researched the subjects from a folklorist’s point of view. However, I have had one experience which a friend of mine said I should send to you, so here it is. I was speaking at the IAFA (International Association of Fantasy in the Arts) conference this March and attended a speech of a friend who spoke on high-strangeness in the desert and MIB. I told her of my experience, and she said, ‘You NEED to tell this to Nick Redfern!’ I had read some of your blog posts about the nature of Bigfoot-type entities (I agree with you there is more to them than an unknown ape, but I won’t digress) and knew you had written books on the subject of MIB.

“I worked as a bar manager at a sports bar in Tampa, Florida, and at 2:00 AM I cashed out the servers and sent them home and closed down the kitchen. The bar itself closed at 3:00 AM, but my last few barflies stumbled out before 2:30. I closed out the credit cards, counted the register, abused my free credits on the jukebox, and sat down to wait out the clock. At about ten minutes to three a couple walked in. I told them it was last call and cash only at this point, and locked the doors behind them, not even really paying attention to them (rude, I know, but after 12 hours, give me a break). When I did notice them, I began to feel uneasy.

“Neither one of them sat down on the stools in front of the bar. They each ordered a non-alcoholic beer, and then just stood there holding their drinks, about two stools apart. Then I noticed how they were dressed. I dress in a ‘goth’ style and prefer black, but these two were definitely not goths, despite the (almost) all-black attire. The man, who appeared older than the woman, maybe about 40-ish, wore a black double-breasted suit of an outdated cut. I’d say maybe 1950’s style, with a rumpled black shirt and a crooked black tie.

“I’d say he was about 5’9 with a thin build. He had incredibly pale skin that showed blue veins underneath (I had turned on all of the house lights by this point, so they stood out in stark contrast), a very high forehead, prominent cheekbones, and deep-set, large, brilliant blue eyes, possibly the most vibrant blue I have ever seen. He had thin, dry, unhealthy-looking silvery-grey hair pulled back in a ponytail, with seemingly random dark brown patches in it, as if he gave a half-assed attempt to dye it and gave up halfway through the process.

“The woman, who was about 5’6, emaciated, and looked about mid-20s, wore a black evening gown with elbow-length satin gloves and had a clashing bright green knit shawl around her shoulders. She had a short bob haircut with bangs, though it really looked like a poorly cared-for wig. She had the same high forehead, cheekbones, and blue eyes as her partner, although her eyes were more narrow and slightly slanted. Neither one had eyebrows. As I started cleaning up behind the bar, the woman began clearing her throat impatiently, so I walked over to see what they wanted (I wanted them to get the hell out of my bar). That’s when I noticed the stench emanating from this woman. Not only did she smell like she hadn’t bathed in a month, she also smelled like chemicals. I used to apprentice as an embalmer, and I swear that woman smelled just like formalin.

“When I walked over, the man beckoned me to him and placed a black leather satchel on the bar, from which he removed several photographs and asked me if I knew any of the subjects in those pictures. I decided I would humor him (part of me suspected this must be a police investigation), but when I looked at the pictures I became truly terrified. As I said, I am in the Goth culture here in Tampa, and as I am sure you know, that subculture attracts many paranormal enthusiasts, Wiccans, Satanists, occultists, and so on. Some of the people in these photographs were my friends! Most of the photos looked candid and snapped from hiding, and some of them bore time stamps and were obviously stills from CCTV footage.

“As I looked over the photos, the Stinky Bitch (pardon the term, but it fits!) kept staring and grinning at me. I had the feeling that even though the man was talking, she was the one in charge. I have no idea why I knew this, but I did. I feigned ignorance and told them I had no idea who those people were, and that I was closing now, so they needed to leave. Mind you, they never sat down during this entire period. They both grinned at me like they knew I was lying, the man unlocked the door, and both quietly walked out. They had not even taken a sip from their beers.

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