For a brief palate cleanser, before we continue with the dictionary, here’s a “position statement” from John from 1986. It’s a clear summation of his views at the time, and is, I think, a useful supplement to his definitions. It was published in the INFO Journal (#50, October, 1986), the magazine of the International Fortean Organization, following a biographical article by Phyllis Benjamin.
It’s interesting to examine this idea —that the phenomenon is largely hallucinatory— in view of information we have now:
• The vanishing pregnancies, including leaving behind a considerable amount of scar tissue. (It used to be believed that the vanishings were hysterical false pregnancies until the prevalence of sonograms from the 1970s on confirmed the existence of those fetuses).
• Landings where chemical changes to the soil indicate the application of a great deal of energy.
• Radar detections by the militaries of many countries.
• Video that confirms the sightings of multiple witnesses.
• The enormous number of animal mutilations, exsanguinations, extraction of organs, cauterizations as if with a laser. Animals sometimes killed and mutilated while inside closed cages.
• Sightings of underwater objects detected by sonar that play cat and mouse games with the navies of many countries.
• The objects taking temporary control of nuclear missiles in both the US and the USSR, coincident with sightings having multiple witnesses.
• The furtive behavior of the ufonauts, including hiding memories with missing time.
I believe that the phenomenon can be deliberately misleading by projecting images that hide what they are. But those images are not hallucinations, since some have been photographed. The phenomenon must have a material aspect, since hallucinations don’t have a need for fetuses, for animal organs and blood, can’t activate or inactivate nuclear missiles, be detected by radar and sonar, or be photographed or recorded on video. It is possible that powerful electromagnetic fields could cause hallucinations in some people.
Comment by Mestiere — September 28, 2022 @ 2:56 pm
People also do hallucinate, although their experiences may have nothing to do with the physical evidence. I assume there are multiple phenomena, not just one, and that some may be more related than others. The field is also filled with errors, hoaxes, lies, and confirmation bias, like everything else that humans do. But that’s me; I can’t speak for what John believed.
Comment by Doug — October 3, 2022 @ 10:53 am
Hi, Doug! My frustration with Keel’s hallucination idea is that it is so ambiguous. There is no explanation for how the hallucinations happen, who or what causes them or for what purpose. No predictions can be made, so it cannot be called a theory. More of a guess.
Of course, Keel was not a scientist. It would be unfair to expect him to solve the UFO phenomenon by himself. He was thoroughly baffled by it. Some of his experiences do sound like hallucinations, like the three men who appeared in his apartment. I don’t blame him for not doing better. I’m still grateful for shining a light on the phenomenon. And for his wonderful, entertaining books.
Comment by Mestiere — October 3, 2022 @ 12:57 pm
Mestiere — One of the reasons I’ve been posting John’s definitions is that he clarifies his terms. Here’s what he has to say about hallucinations: http://www.johnkeel.com/?p=5116
I assume that in many cases, UFOs don’t trigger hallucinations, but that hallucinations, triggered by other means, make people think they see UFOs. I also assume that there’s no unified phenomenon, but that different experiences get filed together. So, Jaye Paro’s supposed encounters with Apol don’t even involve UFOs, and may have nothing to do with someone else who sees a light in the sky. (That’s my opinion, not necessarily John’s.)
John was not a scientist, but a writer, and tried to find out what he could. And it was uncharted territory!
Comment by Doug — October 6, 2022 @ 5:50 pm
All of John Keel’s profusion of newsletters are available on SCRIBD. One can read them in chronological order as fascinating demonstration of his growing disillusionment and skepticism with the science-fiction / intel agency “space aliens” ‘hypothesis’ and his growing conviction that the ultraterrestrials are a natural condition of the planet – and tricksters.
Comment by WHITEFRANK — October 7, 2022 @ 2:43 am
In relation to “hallucinations” and “reality” having recently re-read all of Keel’s newsletters and books, his final theorem was that things like dog killing bigfoot, odd flying machines and sea serpents become temporarily “real” as solid objects, act out a little one-act play, then vanish into the frequency bands from which they came. They become visible and then tangible as their frequencies modulate and they begin to absorb in the visible light spectrum, and when that is no longer true they first become invisible and then intangible. Since they are mimicking and telepathically feeding, their forms are infinite in variety, their pronouncements likely gibberish.
However, profound experiences, such as the religious experiences with which Keel equates UFO and bigfoot etc. encounters can themselves, as a peak experience, permanently alter someone’s mind and perceptions. This alteration might even include gaining psychic powers.
At the other extreme the encounter could cause incipient schizophrenia to manifest, and from then on the experiencer is dominated by the absolute certainty of the madman, trapped in the realm of Operators and Things.
Comment by WHITEFRANK — October 7, 2022 @ 2:48 am
I think this conversation is terrific. It shows the importance of precision in language. The UFO phenomenon is deliberately deceptive and uses illusion as part of its tactics. But does it also need to use hallucinations?
buy Ivermectin online uk Illusion Versus Hallucination
An illusion is a misinterpretation of a real event. A hallucination is subjective, does not have existence beyond the mind.
When a magician pretends to saw a woman in half he is doing an illusion, the woman is fine. But the magic trick is not a hallucination. Plenty of people can see the same illusion and even take pictures. Illusions, unlike hallucinations, often require a magician.
A witness to the magic trick could then be hipnotized, and he might “remember” a lot of nonsense confabulated while in a trance. Or he could have been high on mushrooms during the magic trick and seen all sort of things that weren’t there. Those are hallucinations. They don’t require a magician.
I believe that the weight of the evidence —especially now that the Navy and the Pentagon admitted taking the subject seriously— is that the phenomenon is largely not hallucinatory, but that there might be some deceptive intention behind it.
Comment by Mestiere — October 7, 2022 @ 12:39 pm
my 2 cents in ref to the conversation/discussion
in reply to comment
I agree a 100% with u Mestiere. In my limited way of understanding, what some would “diagnose” as a hallucination of an individual is merely an opinion or hypothesis of someone with their own bias about an event that they were not there for. It could have just as easily been a projection/slight of hand to cover what was present or even a projection to bring about a witness for something that didn’t literally happen in the “real world” but was contrived via a different medium and projected to individuals who “were not in the know”.
Comment by icubud — October 9, 2022 @ 2:03 pm