MIB is an abbreviation first used inlate ufologistJohn A. Keel's The Mothman Prophecies, a 1975 book-turned-film offering Keel's accounts of the large, winged creature called the Mothman that Keel allegedly spotted in West Virginia between 1966 and 1967.
Others credit They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers author (and close friend of Keel) Gray Barker for introducing the notion of the Men in Black to UFO folklore. His own book about the Mothman, The Silver Bridge, preceded Keel's book by five years.
Men in Black comic book creator Lowell Cunningham has said that he truly believes in the notion of men in black, whose job it is to keep people from discovering the truth about extraterrestrial life.