JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

The next day’s coverage of the Silver Bridge disaster includes a report on the continuing search for bodies and Mary Hyre’s account of the funeral of Paul and Lillian Wedge, who died in the collapse. There’s also a UFO report from Shade, Ohio, 33.6 miles from Point Pleasant.

As a writer specializing in strangeness, John naturally received many strange letters. Here, for example, is a letter sent to Saga in October, 1968, from someone claiming to represent a group called VOK, “which is an acronym.” The subject of UFOs was then, as always, filled with hoaxes, pranks, and misinformation. I don’t know who was behind VOK, or if the story went further than this letter.

The Athens Messenger continues its coverage of the Silver Bridge disaster, with updates on recovery operations and attempts to determine the cause of the collapse. Mary Hyre’s column is, sadly, mostly devoted to listing the dead. Once again, I apologize for the loss of a line of text in scanning these fragile newspapers.

And here’s the last part of John’s proposal for an unrealized book called Stendek. I’m obliged to be a spoilsport and point out that the story of Rudolph Fentz came not from the NYPD, but from the short story “I’m Scared,” by Jack Finney, published in Collier’s, September 15, 1951.

It’s an intriguing proposal. We can only wonder what the finished book would have been like.