JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

http://x-tige.com/events/danilo-gabrielli-fallwinter-2012/attachment/cast-of-real-ny-housewives-danilo-fw12-runway-show-5/ We continue with the next part of “The Answer,” John’s summation of his private beliefs about the UFO phenomenon in 1967. As John says, they “seem totally ridiculous,” but he also seems to have taken them seriously at the time. They synthesize the information he received from his network of contactees, and he placed special confidence in his correspondence with “Mr. Apol,” a supposed alien whom he contacted through the contactee Jaye Paro. (Here‘s one of the questionnaires he sent him.) One puzzle (among many): if this was “for discussion purposes,” who did he discuss it with?

And again, this represents an early stage in John’s interpretation, and posting it certainly doesn’t mean that I agree with it!

“The Answer” is the title John gave to “a series of brief articles” outlining what he then (1967) thought was the answer to the UFO enigma.

I hesitated about posting it, since, after all, John said it was not for publication. That reservation, though, was based on his conviction that he had uncovered “the most important event in the history of Mankind”–which, as he later realized, he hadn’t. So, I see no problem with posting it after all these years, with my own caveat that it doesn’t represent John’s later views.

As he notes on the cover, the material is derived from his “Special Cases” file, which I posted earlier. Readers of this site will remember that it was largely devoted to the claims of contactees, particularly Jaye Paro, who inundated him with wild stories, and to the information he received from “Mr. Apol,” a purported alien (although not necessarily an extraterrestrial; Apol was always vague about his origins). As far as I know, John never met or spoke directly with him, and all communication was through Jaye Paro. “The Answer” summarizes and synthesizes this material, much of which he apparently accepted.

This is a strange document in many ways, both for its content and its backstory, and obviously very important to John at the time. Please read it for its insight into John’s development and character, not as evidence for a hostile Android invasion. It shows him losing his bearings at the start of his research, and, characteristically, driving ahead at full throttle.

June Larson, an industrious UFO researcher, writes to John to fix a price for the material she’s sending him. She’s optimistic about the state of ufology, and hopes that John, Mort Young, and Major Keyhoe can encourage “serious research.”

John writes Jim and Coral Lorenzen, acknowledging a packet of photos they sent on the 12th. He’s intrigued by the Villas Boas story, but notes discrepancies between the report in Flying Saucer Review and the original interview with João Martins and APRO member Dr. Olavo Fontes. He also comments on Ms. Lorenzen’s article “The Reason?” in the November 1963 APRO Bulletin, which speculated that the military wanted to keep its knowledge of UFOs secret from the aliens, not from the public. (You can read the article here.)

ADDENDUM: By mistake, I originally identified Ms. Larson’s letter as one from Ms. Lorenzen. They were both sending John material for his proposed Playboy article at the time. My apologies!

John writes to Charles Bowen (editor of the British magazine Flying Saucer Review), responding to a phone call. Apparently, Bowen had asked him to write an article on the 1966 UFO flap, and John is rather apologetic about the result. He also mentions his attempt to decipher the papers produced by UFO contactee John Reeves, which contain symbols that remind him of others reported by Antônio Vilas Boas, George Adamski, and Lonnie Zamora (in Socorro, NM). He did keep a file on his research, and published a booklet called The Reeves Papers: A Modern Rosetta Stone? There doesn’t seem to be much mention of it online, so I’ll have to dig it out… He also mentions a story about “a vast complex of underground chambers at the Cape Kennedy launching site.”

Next in the file is a letter to Park and Mabel McDaniel, the parents of Linda Scarberry, one of the original Mothman witnesses. John warns them that he’s been receiving reports of a Keel double. He also mentions a visit to Lester Holly, a UFO buff in Ravenswood.

John also includes a clipping from the N.Y. Daily News, about the abduction of a young girl, which he marks as a “Probable MIB Case.” I apologize for the vintage photocopy, which has faded badly.

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 adds a footnote to what he thought would be his “denouement.” He receives a long message from Jaye Paro (aka Tim’na), read over the phone by un unknown woman. (The red top has often been mentioned, to John’s bewilderment.) He tries to call Jaye, but gets only “strange sounds.” And he regrets his missed opportunities for direct contact with Apol/Appell.

The next day, John received a letter from Apol/Appell, which he transcribed for inclusion in his notes. Appell returns to the idea that John and Jaye Paro (Tim’na) should get married and have a baby. The baby will, of course, be the “future leader” of the aliens. What’s happening here? Is Jaye writing these notes? If not, who is?

The September 1967 notes continue… Apol/Appell is believed dead, and Jaye claims that she and a friend saw a bizarre ceremony in Port Jefferson (Long Island). As John says, “Whewwwww! What kind of a tale is this one?”

John records his interactions with Vicki Hayes, a local contactee, and Joseph Henslik, who claimed a visit from the Men In Black. John finds Vicki’s story more credible than Joseph’s; earlier in his notes he says Henslik had admitted a hoax. Gordon Evans wrote for Fate, Flying Saucer Review, and other magazines.

John also notes that Apol/Appell had returned the fourth questionnaire, and transcribes Apol’s red pencil note. Tim’na was Apol’s name for Jaye Paro. I assume “Davis” is Isabel Davis, active in several UFO groups, but it could also be Frank Davis, who showed up now and then in Jaye Paro’s stories.