Black holes are a fantasy, a postulate that was originally formulated to account for gravitational anomalies in an empty-space dead universe. Such a condition was disproven repeatedly, even within the original Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887, which DID detect cosmic ether drift of around 5-7.5 kps max. The problem was, that velocity was too low to affirm the expected higher velocity of ~200 kps by way of Newtonian static ether theory. Dayton Miller got better results with a much more sophisticated interferometer atop Mt. Wilson, of around 10-11 kps, proving the ether was somewhat material, and could be entrained and slowed by Earth-friction at lower altitudes. He has been virtually erased from the history of science, except for a single highly-biased debunking article which could not, in the end, explain the systematic pointing of his ether drift to the same specific cosmic sidereal coordinates. In short, the ether is proven, has likely gravitational effects in the ether-filled domain of so-called "empty space", and light-speed is variable depending upon direction in the cosmos. With that, there is no need to postulate "black holes" much less "Machos" or "Wimps" and other invisible things that are hardly proven or fully unproven. How more metaphysical and bizarre must modern astrophysics become, to salvage such ideas as black holes, or the big-bang theory and Einstein's relativity for that matter. All rest upon the disproven assumption of empty space. Over 40 years first as university professor and later in private research have I watched astrophysics go increasingly out of touch with reality, but also fiercely shutting down opposing ideas, to the point of excommunicating top scientists like Halton Arp, and unknown numbers of clear-thinking students who could not accept the metaphysics. Top scientists over generations have opposed this new "geometrization" of space, arguing for an ether, but always getting shut down by either the mainstream, or by media sycophants of the mainstream. The erasure of opposition has not been complete, however. The following work may be of interest, presenting the dissenting views, also identifying serious flaws in the recent claims about an image of a black hole in M87. Look it up: The Dynamic Ether of Cosmic Space: Correcting a Major Error in Modern Science.