In 1967, Tom Monteleone was a student at the University of Maryland. While listening to a radio interview with Woodrow Derenberger, the contactee familiar to readers of The Mothman Prophecies, he called in to say that he too had met aliens and had visited the planet Lanulos. John believed his story, which he summarized in Operation Trojan Horse:
“In December, 1967, Tom Monteleone, a young student, a psychology major in Adelphi, Maryland, allegedly had a contact with a grounded UFO and conversed with a man in ‘shiny coveralls’ who identified himself as ‘Vadig.’ A few weeks later this same Vadig appeared in a Washington restaurant, where the student was working as a waiter. This time he was dressed in conventional clothing and appeared to be a normal human being except for his bulging ‘thyroid eyes.’ Altogether, the student met Vadig four times, and each time he ended the conversation with the phrase ‘I’ll see you in time.'”
John wrote more about Monteleone in Chapter 14 of The Mothman Prophecies: “Naturally, I suspected the whole thing was some kind of put-on. Either Tom and Woody were in cahoots, or Tom, who was a psychology major, was working on a paper about the gullible UFO buffs, I thought. […] I finally had to conclude Tom was on the level.”
Naturally, John’s first impression was correct. Monteleone had in fact made up the story. He later regretted the incident, and went on to a successful career as a writer, particularly of science fiction and horror. Unfortunately, John never admitted that he had been fooled, and that he had let credulity and confirmation bias affect his judgment.
Here are John’s notes from his meeting with Monteleone, as well a few lines of unidentified characters and a drawing of a black ball and tower. I don’t know if the last two pages are related to Monteleone’s story or just in the same notebook.
It’s a treat to see John’s actual notes. Even the wisest get fooled once in a while. Thanks for the backstory.
And thanks for The Quotidian Kerfuffle. Enjoying it.
Comment by Marsh — August 29, 2026 @ 1:56 pm
Thanks, Marsh! I recommend reading the info about each track, since each one has a backstory. (Marsh is referring to my album “The Quotidian Kerfuffle,” which I just posted on Bandcamp. It has nothing to do with John Keel.)
Comment by Doug — August 30, 2026 @ 10:53 am
I met Tom at a science fiction convention back in the 90s and introduced myself, mentioning the Lanulos/Vadig story and the fact that I had read all of Keel’s books. He was pleasant about it and expressed mild surprise that an SF readrr and writer like myself would also know about JAK’s works (?). He indicated the whole affair was boyish nonsense and felt sheepish about it, though he still wondered that his tall tale was believed–then that JAK would claim to have not believed it all along.
(Then there was Karl Pflock’s FATE article about the story, which left me with the impression that Keel was severely pissed off about it . . .)
Comment by Paul Thompson — September 6, 2026 @ 7:59 am
I did a whole chapter on Monteleone in one of my books, Strangers & Aliens. The chapter was called “Unidentified Lying Saucers.” Fascinating case and something that really underscores Gray Barker’s Experiencer Dictum that while he believed some people initially experienced something strange, “Some of their later stories aren’t very believable. ”
Speaking of that sort of thing, have you ever uncovered Keel’s correspondence with Vegetable Man contactee Jennings H Frederick?
Comment by Tony Breeden — October 5, 2026 @ 11:16 pm
The combination of Monteleone and Derenberger is pretty interesting, I think. I’m afraid I haven’t found any correspondence with Frederick.
Comment by Doug — October 7, 2026 @ 9:28 am