JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

buy disulfiram online canada John had not been keeping a detailed record, so he had a lot to catch up on.

There was, first of all, the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which he notes briefly here (there’s more later), along with some of the other events in Point Pleasant, including babies born to Connie Carpenter and Linda Scarberry. Lia was one of the aliens Jaye Paro claimed contact with. The fact that John identifies Dan Drasin raises another question: who did he expect to read these notes?

Then “The Tale Continues” with more reports, taking us into early January. He gives a talk in Atlanta, stops in Point Pleasant, and meets Lynn Catoe in Washington. Ms. Catoe was then compiling a UFO bibliography for the Library of Congress; they started dating shortly after this, which I mention only because she returns in these files. He kept a picture of her, dated June 1968:

Helen Oglemyer made up with her husband, after Appell and Agar appeared to him; Louise doesn’t know how she got to Bermuda; and Jaye Paro has more stories, including the return of Lt. Davis and Col. Dalton. Despite earlier reports that Appell was retiring, he’s still apparently on duty.

John writes Mary Hyre a week after his last letter. He rounds up the latest rumors for her: that he’s a CIA agent, that he was abducted by a UFO. Dan is Dan Drasin, a filmmaker who went to Point Pleasant with John several times; Gray is Gray Barker, fellow ufologist. The trip to Georgia mentioned at the end was to give a talk in Atlanta.

John’s file continues with a letter to Mary Hyre, the reporter for the Athens (Ohio) Messenger, who kept him informed on the strange doings in Point Pleasant, WV. The letter is a response to one of hers, dated November 1.

I find it disturbing, mostly because he’s accepted so many of his contactees’ stories (particularly Jaye Paro’s). So please remember: this is early in his career, and he reconsidered later. He also had a premonition that a disaster was coming to Point Pleasant; the Silver Bridge would collapse a few weeks later. I assume he marked that passage afterwards.

ADDENDUM: I should have added a key to some of these people. Here it is! Mabel is Mabel McDaniel, mother of Linda Scarberry, one of the original Mothman witnesses. Mrs. Thomas is Virginia Thomas, who had a Mothman sighting the day before John’s letter (11/2/67). Mrs. Bowen is mentioned in one of Mary Hyre’s letters, as a possible contactee; I don’t know her first name. Mrs. Lilly is probably either Jackie Lilly or Doris Lilly, both of whom reported odd experiences. Gray B. is Gray Barker (see the last installment for his odd “Grunt” letter), and Dan D. is Dan Drasin, a filmmaker who made a few trips to Point Pleasant with John. Mary Hyre mentioned Ralph Manchin in her letter; neither she nor John knew who he was.

Before we continue with John’s notes, here are a few pointers for readers:

1. These are John’s raw notes of his investigations, recorded as they happened in 1967. He used much of the material for The Mothman Prophecies, but not all of it. They don’t represent his final thoughts on anything; he had just started researching UFOs, after leaving a career as a TV writer, and was trying to figure things out.

2. Just as John was not an authority on anything, I’m not an authority on John. And my posting of his notes doesn’t mean that I agree with his conclusions, or can defend them. I try to clarify obscure and topical references if I can. Other than that, you’re on your own!

3. However, I do suggest you not read this for evidence of aliens. It’s probably most interesting as a record of one man grappling with a strange subject, and of a strange time and place.

And so, we move on to October 23, 1967. It was, as John says, “a busy day on the phone.” Jaye Paro reports an encounter with the Men In Black; Helen Oglemyer lets John speak with one of them, an entity named Argo; Jaye calls back and John talks with Agar; and Jaye calls at 1 am to report that Apol/Appell has taken LSD and is “acting strangely.” (He has, of course, acted strangely before.) It’s not clear from John’s notes if he talked directly with Argo and Agar, or if Helen and Jaye acted as interpreters.

At the end, John mentions an odd letter from Gray Barker; I posted it earlier here, since John had kept it in another file.

The Barbara mentioned here is Barbara Hudson, who was dating James Moseley.

John died nine years ago, on July 3, 2009. I like to mark the occasion by posting an unfamiliar photo of him. Here he is on September 3, 1961, in NYC. I guess he hurt his eye. Rest in peace, John. People are still reading your books!