John Keel

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John A. Keel
Born (1930-03-25)March 25, 1930
Hornell, New York
Died July 3, 2009(2009-07-03) (aged 79)
New York, New York, USA
Occupation journalist
parapsychologist,
ufologist
Website
http://johnkeel.com

John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle (March 25, 1930 – July 3, 2009) was an American journalist and influential UFOlogist who is best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.

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Life and career[edit]

Keel was born in Hornell, New York, the son of a small-time bandleader. His parents separated and he was raised by his grandparents. He was interested in magic (illusion) and had his first story published in a magicians' magazine at age 12. He left school at the age of 16 after taking all the science courses. He later worked as a freelance contributor to newspapers, scriptwriter for local radio and television outlets, and author of pulp articles such as "Are You A Repressed Sex Fiend?". He served in the US Army during the Korean War on the staff of the American Forces Network at Frankfurt, Germany. In the army he was trained in psychological warfare as a propaganda writer.[1] After leaving the military he worked as a foreign radio correspondent in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Egypt. In 1957, he published Jadoo, a book describing his time in Egypt and India investigating the Indian rope trick and the legendary yeti. In 1966 he produced the "spy and superhero" spoof novel The Fickle Finger of Fate. Influenced by writers such as Charles Fort, he began contributing articles to Flying Saucer Review and took up investigating UFOs and assorted Forteana as a full-time pursuit. Keel analyzed what he called "windows" and "waves" (or flaps, as they are often called) of reported UFO events, concluding that a disproportionate number occurred on Wednesdays and Saturdays.[2] A member of the Screenwriters Guild, Keel reportedly wrote scripts for Get Smart, The Monkees, Mack & Myer for Hire, and Lost In Space.[3]

In 1967, Keel popularized the term "Men In Black" in an article for the men's adventure magazine Saga, entitled "UFO Agents of Terror". According to Keel, he initially sought to explain UFOs as extraterrestrial visitations, but later abandoned this hypothesis. His third book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse published in 1970, linked UFOs to supernatural concepts such as monsters, ghosts and demons. Keel used the term "ultraterrestrials" to describe UFO occupants he believed to be non-human entities capable of taking on whatever form they want.

While researching UFOs and contactees, Keel began to have his own experiences. In Operation Trojan Horse, Keel wrote, "For a time I questioned my own sanity. I kept profusive notes-a daily journal which now reads like something from the pen of Edgar Allen Poe or H. P. Lovecraft. Previous to all this I was a typical hard-boiled skeptic. I sneered at the occult. I had once published a book, Jadoo, which denigrated the mystical legends of the Orient. I tried to adopt a very scientific approach to ufology, and this meant that I scoffed at the many contactee reports. But as my experiences mounted and investigations broadened, I rapidly changed my views."[4] Towards the end of the book, he wrote, "In 1966, I was a lifelong atheist raised in the hard school of objective journalism, skeptical but hopeful that I could somehow validate the enthusiasts' speculations about extraterrestrial visitants. The extraterrestrial hypothesis then seemed to me to be the only acceptable explanation. But my experiences over the past few years have changed both me and my outlook, just as similar experiences have changed so many others."[5]

His 1975 book, The Mothman Prophecies was Keel's account of his investigation into alleged sightings in West Virginia of a huge, winged creature called the "Mothman." The book combines Keel's account of receiving strange phone calls with reports of mutilated pets and culminates with the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River. (He had received a long phone call in October "from a being who was allegedly a UFO entity" and who allegedly warned him that there would be a major disaster on the Ohio River and that many people would drown. According to Keel, he wrote this in a letter to a woman in the area on November 3, a letter which he said the woman still had years later.[6]) The book was widely popularized as the basis of a 2002 film of the same name starring Richard Gere.[2]

Prolific and imaginative, Keel was considered a significant influence within the UFO and Fortean genre.

Keel lived for many years in the Upper West Side of New York City. He was a bachelor.

He died on July 3, 2009 in New York City, at the age of 79.[2]

Works[edit]

  • Jadoo (1957)
  • The Fickle Finger of Fate (Fawcett, 1966)
  • Operation Trojan Horse (Operation Trojan Horse. ISBN 978-0962653469. ) Originally published in 1970 [1].
  • Strange Creatures From Time and Space (1970)
  • Our Haunted Planet (1971)
  • The Flying Saucer Subculture (1973)
  • The Mothman Prophecies (1975)
  • The Eighth Tower (1975)
  • The Cosmic Question (1978)
  • Disneyland of the Gods (1988)
  • The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings (1994) (revised version of Strange Creatures from Time and Space)
  • The Best of John Keel (Paperback 2006) (Collection of Keel's Fate Magazine articles)

References[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ Operation Trojan Horse, 1996, p. 267.
  2. ^ a b c "Obituaries: John Keel". The Telegraph (TELEGRAPH.CO.UK). 10 July 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  3. ^ Polcyn, Dan (Jan 31, 2003). "John Keel: The Man Uncovering The Myths". The Sunday Times-Sentinel. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  4. ^ Pp. 243-4 in 1996 edition.
  5. ^ Page 272 of 1996 edition.
  6. ^ Operation Trojan Horse, pp. 246-7 in 1996 edition.

External links[edit]

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