JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

safe place to buy provigil online The current issue of the Fortean Times (September 2009) carries a five-page tribute to John.  Included are a memoir (“John Keel: A Reminiscence”) and bio by Phyllis Benjamin, my account of his later years and death (“John Keel: The Last Years”), and a number of previously unpublished photos I picked from his papers.  Jenny Randles also writes about John’s ideas on UFO patterns.  Look for a copy!

In 1991, Bob Rickard invited John to write a regular column for Fortean Times. The magazine had just joined with a new publisher, and was looking for more material. Unfortunately, John didn’t take him up on it. Here’s Bob Rickard’s letter, as well as the “general notice” he mentioned, showing the venerable Fortean journal mutating into a more professional periodical.

The prolific Fortean writer Brad Steiger wrote John back on July 25, 1974, with news about his upcoming book Mysteries of Time and Space. He also makes a few observations about shattering windshields (a puzzling phenomenon at the time), Atlantis, and Men In Black. And he appeared none too happy with the FortFests held by the International Fortean Organization!

Happy Belated New Year! And here, to start 2024, is John’s afterword to his 1994 pamphlet “The Flying Saucer Subculture.”

I’ve been doing this blog since 2009, posting every week unless I’m too busy (like recently, unfortunately). I know many of John’s fans are most interested in his work on UFOs. I have to point out, though, that John didn’t consider himself a ufologist, The main reason was economic: UFO books didn’t make much money. He also used to complain about the polemics in the field, the recycling of old stories and rumors, and the fact that publishers wanted simplistic books that either believed everything or debunked everything.

In his later years, he tried to distance himself from the field. He wrote novels and plays (none of which made it to production or publication). He wrote humor pieces for National Lampoon and High Times. He discussed writing a book about the Wright Brothers and a children’s book about the Loch Ness Monster.

He started the New York Fortean Society in the ’90s, a revival, in a way, of the old Fortean Society directed by Tiffany Thayer. He published a few booklets, including “The Flying Saucer Subculture,” which reprinted an article he’d written in 1973. So, as we head into another year of Keeliana, I’ll post this, as a reminder that John’s attitude to ufology was conflicted at best!

I apologize to Keel fans for not posting in August. I’ve been busy with my own many projects, some Fortean, some not. But I’m back, and here to offer you a definite curiosity: a treatment for a zombie film by John Keel.

In 1965, John was toiling away in NYC as a freelance writer. He had had a spell of writer’s block after the publication of Jadoo, and had not yet started investigating UFOs. One of the jobs he undertook was a treatment for a remake of White Zombie, the 1932 movie starring Bela Lugosi. The rights to it were owned by Sherman S. Krellberg, a film distributor and occasional producer; among other things, he distributed the Hopalong Cassidy films and repackaged Flash Gordon serials. (You can find more about him in this description of his papers at the Library of Congress).

The film was never made, but here’s John’s idea of what it could have been.

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.

Here are five more definitions for you to contemplate, plus one incomplete entry. It’s too bad we don’t have John’s thoughts on hypnotism, which was such an important part of the abductee culture. If you’re interested in inner-earth theories, I recommend Walter Kafton-Minkel’s fine historical survey Subterranean Worlds, published by the late lamented Loompanics in 1989. It’s out of print now, but maybe you’ll get lucky. As I recall, John was impressed with it, and curious about the author, who was unknown in Fortean circles. And John too received letters from the “International Bankers”; see here for an example.

I know that most people who read this site are more interested in John’s work in Forteana and ufology than in his earlier career in radio and TV. However, given that there was always a bit of the trickster in him (as commenters here have sometimes noted), I thought I’d post an example of his work as a professional prankster. Here are ten scenarios for the long-running TV show Candid Camera. They’re from around 1964; I don’t know if they were ever used.

Back in 2002, I interviewed John for the Fortean Times, for a special issue prompted by the film adaptation of The Mothman Prophecies. To make the occasion more convivial, I invited John’s old friend George Kuchar and my girlfriend Mamie Caton, since John liked both of them (and who didn’t?). The issue in question was #156, March 2002 in the UK and April 2002 in the US.

A couple of corrections to the bibliography: the correct title for Two Women is Three Women; Kiss My Gun was never published; Bed of Nails was the original title for Three Women; The Hoodwinkers never got beyond the proposal stage; Pattern for Adventure was the original title for Jadoo. John’s memory was never particularly reliable. I’ve never seen a copy of How to Build an Atom Bomb in Your Basement, although John repeatedly mentioned it, and even cited it in one of his columns for Fate. It may have been a joke, in which case I hope it’s included in all lists of his books.

Please click on the images below to make them larger and more legible.

At the request of reader Jon Robinson, I’m posting one of Jaye Paro’s articles from Beyond magazine (I listed them here, and posted her first article here.). This one is “Manifestations 0f Indians Appear to Long Island Family,” and appeared in the February 1970 issue.

Beyond billed itself as “Documented Truths About the Strange Phenomena of Our Times.” It was published in the late ’60s and early ’70s, first as a digest and then in standard format. This issue featured articles on UFOs, astrology, handwriting analysis, channeled messages from Martin Luther King, and the healing powers of Pacolite clay. It was published by Bernard S. Adelman, about whom I can find nothing. The Executive Editor was Keith Ayling, who seems to have written mostly books about aviation, and, if it’s the same Keith Ayling, smutty novels like Key Club Girl and Sex Peddler, under the name of Arthur Adlon. However, veteran Fortean Vincent Gaddis was also one of the contributing editors. Beyond was published in Hicksville, NY, in Nassau County on Long Island, only six miles from Farmingdale, where Jaye Paro lived.

Her article collects ghosts sightings from the Harmon family in Huntington, as well as a few tales from Princess Sum Tam of the Mattinecock tribe. So, here, for your Halloween enjoyment, are some Long Island ghost stories, from the enigmatic Jaye Paro.