Gray Barker.
documentedsource_actorFortean / Mothman / MIB
WV author/publisher (The Saucerian) who named the 'Men in Black' in his 1956 book; a self-aware showman and documented hoaxer who called his output 'kookie books.'.
Began with the 1952 Flatwoods Monster investigation. Launched The Saucerian (1953). Wrote They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers (1956) dramatizing Bender's silencing and coining the MIB trope; co-published Bender's Flying Saucers and the Three Men (1962, MIB-as-aliens). Documented hoaxes: the 'R.E. Straith' State Dept letter to George Adamski (1957, with James Moseley) and the 'Dr. Richard H. Pratt' MIB notice (with John Sherwood). Sister/associates confirmed he wrote for money and treated ufology 'as a joke'; Sherwood (Skeptical Inquirer) allows a 'grain of truth' re 1950s government discouragement of UFO interest.