JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

Here are four clippings about John’s early years with the American Forces Network in Frankfurt. Be careful shaving next to gas heaters!

POSTSCRIPT: In the comments, Nathan asked if John’s Halloween broadcasts have survived. I did a little searching, and found that excerpts from both were aired on a series of programs marking the 25th anniversary of the AFN. You can hear some of the Frankenstein’s Castle broadcast here, starting at 15:25, and some of the show from the Great Pyramid here, starting at 46:54.

J. N. Williamson was a prolific horror writer, publishing over 30 novels and many more short stories (you can read a biography and appreciation of him here). He sent John this charming fan letter on February 3, 1989, shortly after the publication of John’s Disneyland of the Gods, and included a photo and a review. If you have trouble with his handwriting, the inscription on the back of the photo reads: “For JAK — With affection and considerable respect. J. N. Williamson (fellow Aries native) (as is Kisner)” I’m unfamiliar with John White, and I don’t know “Follow the Bouncing Ball.” Maybe some of the Keel fans out there can fill me in.

John Keel died fifteen years ago, on July 3, 2009. Rest in Peace, John! The rest of us will keep reading your books and articles.

Here’s John, looking uncharacteristically cheerful, in 1974.

We have an exchange of letters between John and one Harold L. James, Chief Geologist at the Department of the Interior. It seems that Richard Toronto had requested some “magnetic fault maps” from the Department of the Interior, and received a cranky reply from one John Henderson. I assume the book Henderson is rude about is UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse. John replies to Harold L. James, doing his best to separate himself from the “paranoid bunch” of UFO buffs.

I also assume the Richard Toronto here is the former editor of Shavertron, and the author of several fine books on that fascinating character, Richard Shaver. Read his books!

Bob Warth, then director of the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained, wrote John a letter, including some clippings on bears and on the unusual behavior of an Orbiting Space Observatory. I’m not sure why John was interested in bears at the time; he might have been working on something about out-of-place animals.

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!

In 1988, Ivan Stang, founder of the Church of the SubGenius, compiled High Weirdness by Mail: A Directory of the Fringe: Mad Prophets, Crackpots, Kooks & True Visionaries. Amid the torrent of oddities was a plug for the curious ad sheets and booklets that John peddled in the ’80s. The Big Apple News and How to Rob the Mail are posted here and here. Does anyone have one of those Interplanetary Passports?

And here’s the conclusion of “The Devil’s Knife.” You’ll be glad to know that John didn’t die in that khanjer fight!

John Keel was born March 25, 1930; he would have been 94 today.

Here he is with Mamie Caton and me, clowning around in a photo booth in Coney Island many years ago. Happy birthday, John! We’re still reading your books!