Albert K. Bender

Albert K. Bender (June 16, 1921 – March 29, 2016), author of the 1962 book Flying Saucers and the Three Men, was a ufologist. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He was obsessed with the UFO phenomenon and became a UFO researcher, founding the International Flying Saucer Bureau. In 1965, he also founded the Max Steiner Music Society, dedicated to the eponymous composer.

Early life Albert Bender was born on June 16, 1921, in Duryea, Pennsylvania. He lived with his stepfather. Bender worked as a factory clerk. He was drawn to the supernatural; he fashioned haunted house decorations and horror movie scenes on his walls. He attended West Pittston High School in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. During high school, he was also part of the American Youth League and was elected the Jr. Vice President in January 1941 and was also elected national treasure in October of that same year.

He visited Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for one week in August 1941. He moved from Pennsylvania around 1944. Bender was Protestant. He also became an editor for an Army newspaper in Langely. She believed that she had also been visited by supernatural personages. Although the organization was a success at first, he suddenly shut it down in 1953.

His alleged experiences were recorded in They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers by Gray Barker, Bender's IFSB associate. Bender's experience formed "the legend of the men in black." Bender did not speak of the event for nine years. In 1962, Bender wrote Flying Saucers and the Three Men to tell his own story. In the book, Bender recounts that the men in black were from another planet. Barker published his book, but there is speculation that Bender's experience was only a dream. Bender went on to manage a motel in California. They published a journal and a newsletter. The society officially ended in 1981. Bender has helped locate materials and information about Steiner's career.

Photo gallery