JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

John made this sheet up sometime in the ’80s. It’s notable for his usual burlesque bio, and for another mention of his phantom title, How to Build an Atom Bomb in Your Basement. I hope it got him some work.

Mary Hyre’s next letter is from a few weeks later, November 25, 1967. As readers of The Mothman Prophecies know, we’re coming up to the collapse of the Silver Bridge, on December 15. In this letter, a man is concerned about his dog, Mary’s sister has premonitory visions, and we learn that John’s last visit ended badly, when Mary’s car stalled in the rain.

Mary Hyre’s next letter is from November 1, 1967. There are more sightings of UFOs, lights, and Mothman. And she gets a call from a UFO investigator in New Jersey; she’s a bit wary of him.

I apologize for the quality of this image; I have only an old photocopy, not the original. I thought Keel fans would like to see it anyway. Gene Duplantier, ufologist and artist, drew this picture of John surrounded by “the denizens of his Superspectrum” for Gray Barker’s Newsletter, Feb. 1976.

John kept a folder marked “ABSM” (that is, “Abominable Snowman,” an abbreviation favored by fortean and naturalist Ivan T. Sanderson). It mostly contains clippings and photocopies of clippings, in the fortean tradition. There are also these four small hand-written pages of American sightings, apparently copied from Sanderson’s files. I don’t know how many of them have been repeated in the voluminous Bigfoot/Sasquatch literature, but some may be unfamiliar.

“Monsters and Mysteries in America” is devoting an episode entirely to John Keel. It will air Wednesday, April 1, at 10 pm ET, on the Destination America Channel. I declined to appear on camera, but I hear that John’s old friend Larry “Ratso” Sloman did a fine interview. He’s better at that sort of thing than me, anyway. So, tune in, and watch away!

Today is John Keel’s birthday; he would have been 85. He’s shown here with Jacques Vallee: when he published this photo in the NYFS Newsletter, he captioned it “Dr. Jacques Vallee chats with one of his ghost writers.”

I already posted the complete run of the newsletter John put out for the New York Fortean Society, which he ran in the ’80s and ’90s (starting here). It was usually one or two pages, photocopied, with news of events, speakers, fortean publications, and members. But for some reason, he didn’t keep #4 1/2 in his newsletter file. I did turn up a copy, however, so here it is.

I continue to post Mary Hyre’s letter to John. This next one is from August 31, 1967. She reports on a couple of UFOs, including one that seemed to follow her, her husband’s health problems, and the “craziest dreams” she had about John.

Andrew Colvin has published another volume of Keel. This is The Invisible Diet, which John shopped around without success in the ’80s. I mentioned it here. It’s a curious book: it tells you how to change your eating habits by changing everything else in your life, and how to gradually wean yourself off sugar, caffeine, white flour, and other nasty substances. John meant it as a humorous but useful diet book; potential publishers were confused by it. Colvin has updated and expanded it for today’s dieters. You can find it here.

The show Monsters and Mysteries in America, seen on Destination America and the Discovery Channel, has filmed an episode devoted to John, which will air sometime in the spring. I chatted with the producers, but declined to be interviewed on camera. Nothing personal; I’ve just done a lot of TV and interviews in my time, and never particularly enjoyed them. I’d rather sit at home and work on other things.

Meanwhile, Happy Valentine’s Day. And if you’re following the Invisible Diet, lay off the chocolate.