The New York Fortean Society was one of John’s more quixotic projects. Having already written a booklet on “How to Start a Club,” he naturally followed his own instructions. He published a newsletter (10 issues), printed membership cards, and mailed out flyers for meetings. It lasted until 1994, but his health and money problems made it hard for him to keep it going; there were sometimes months between meetings and mailings. He seemed to have fun with it, though; I think he enjoyed the company.
Meetings were usually held on Saturday afternoons at the TRS Suite on E. 30th St. Afterwards, everyone went to a deli around the corner, Miss Kay’s, for food and talk. John also organized field trips (to the Nicholas Roerich Museum, for example), picnics, lunches, and holiday parties. The parties, to his perverse satisfaction, were usually somewhat of a fiasco.
Here, from the first newsletter, is a list of the “Executive Committee” and charter members.
Patrick Huyghe’s name is smeared by the poor printing; my excuses, Pat. Here, by the way, is what the membership cards looked like. Classy!
Many Fortean researchers were only too happy to speak to John’s group, and to unwind afterwards at Miss Kay’s. If anyone’s curious, I’ve listed all of the meetings here.
9/18/87: Mark Chorvinsky on his magazine Strange; Timothy Green Beckley on cattle mutilations; John Keel on flying cylinders.
10/14/87: Ron Rosenblatt on Nicholas Roerich; a trip to the Roerich Museum.
1/23/88: John Keel, Peter Rojcewicz, and Timothy Green Beckley on Men In Black.
2/17/88: An informal gathering at Umberto’s, on Mulberry St., to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
3/26/88: Patrick Huyghe on Australian UFOs; Ben Robinson on magic; Tom Benson on organizing a UFO convention. John Keel also showed his film, “Egypt — 1954.”
5/21/88: Michael Grosso on UFOs and psychic experiences.
8/6/88: A gathering at the Hayden Planetarium.
9/17/88: The first anniversary. John Keel on extraterrestrials; Phyllis Benjamin receives first Falling Frog Award.
11/19/88: William Henry Belk on psychic surgery.
12/17/88: “Saturnalia orgy and Druid celebration” at Ukrainian East Village Restaurant.
1/28/89: Antonio Huneeus on “UFOs Over South America.”
2/6/89: Informal gathering to celebrate the Chinese New Year, at Hop Shing restaurant, Chatham Square.
3/18/89: Dennis Stillings on “Phantom Helicopters.”
5/20/89: Whitley Strieber on alien abductions.
6/17/89: Lunch at Miss Kay’s.
7/15/89: Lunch at Miss Kay’s.
8/19/89: Lunch at Miss Kay’s.
9/23/89: Ben Robinson on his trip to Nepal.
1/20/90: Peter Gersten on UFOs.
2/24/90: Paul Geyer on “A Trip Into Space.”
4/21/90: George Hansen on “Ghosts.”
6/21/90: Zechariah Sitchin on “Was the Earth First Seeded by Beings from Another Planet Within our Solar System?”
7/7/90: “First Annual Fortean Picnic and Ant-Stomping Contest” in Central Park.
9/15/90: Philip J. Imbrogno on “UFOs Over New York.”
2/2/91: Antonio Huneeus on “Red Skies” (Russian UFOs).
3/16/91: Dennis Stillings on “The End of the World.”
5/11/91: Patrick Huyghe on “Ice From the Sky.”
9/21/91: Rosemary Ellen Guiley on “Vampires Among Us.”
12/21/91: “Second Annual Christmas/Saturnalia/Solstice Party” at Delphi Restaurant. Entertainment by Doug Skinner and Ben Robinson; Antonio Huneeus awarded Sewer Crocodile Award (Keel couldn’t find a frog).
1/18/92: Doug Skinner on “The Shaver Mystery.”
3/21/92: Kevin Sanders on “The Kennedy Mystery.”
4/18/92: George Wingfield on “Crop Circles.” Due to a plug on radio station WBAI, too many people showed up to fit into the space.
6/26/92: Ben Robinson, Jim Moore, and Doug Skinner were giving slide shows a Dixon Place; NYFS members were encouraged to attend.
9/19/92: Fifth Anniversary Party; Jim Moore on Philippe Petit’s World Trade Center tightrope walk.
11/21/92: John Michell on earth mysteries.
12/19/92: “Third annual Xmas insult”; Ingo Swann on prophecy.
2/27/93: Philip Imbrogno on UFOs in New York; Antonio Huneeus on UFOs.
5/1/93: Michael Grosso on “Playing With Your Wild Talents.”
10/16/93: John Keel on Houdini and Dunninger.
2/19/94: Alexander Imich on “Mysterious Materializations.”
Hi Doug,
Is there any transcript of John’s talk on flying cylinders?
Best regards,
Theo
Comment by Theo — May 19, 2012 @ 7:22 pm
Hi, Theo — I haven’t found one. He mentions flying cylinders in a couple of talks, but I haven’t seen one devoted to them. He may have just spoken without notes.
Comment by Doug — May 19, 2012 @ 11:11 pm
All the art is missing from this one. Do you remember the meeting where he talked about human remains being found in Point Pleasant years after the Mothman era that seem to have come from that era? I’ve been able to find no info online about it and nobody that I know who was at the meeting remembers anything about this.
Comment by Peter Bernard — February 21, 2017 @ 3:08 pm
The site was hacked a while ago. I thought I’d cleaned up the damage, but it looks like I missed this page.
John mentioned that in an interview I did with him for the “Fortean Times” (April 2002): “They did have a serial killer on the loose. They didn’t find the bodies until many years later. They found a cave full of decaying bodies, mostly teenagers he’d picked up, driving along. And they would end up in this cave.”
Comment by Doug — February 21, 2017 @ 9:24 pm
THANK YOU! This will likely end up on my YT channel, I hope it’s okay to quote you, since you seem to be the only other person to remember it! Thanks again.
Comment by Peter Bernard — February 26, 2017 @ 3:32 pm
Peter — I haven’t found any other mention of it anywhere. But that’s what John said in that interview.
Comment by Doug — February 26, 2017 @ 7:48 pm