JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

Versmold I’m omitting some of John’s correspondence with Lynn Catoe, since it’s more personal than professional. However, this letter asks some interesting and pointed questions about John’s goals and methods in ufology. He gives the Gordon Evans story in detail in an upcoming letter; in brief, the ufologist Gordon Evans became frightened and abandoned his research. Operators and Things is a vivid memoir of schizophrenia by Barbara O’Brien (probably a pseudonym): the Operators are controlling voices, the Things their helpless victims. The book was much discussed at the time.

John Keel died eleven years ago, on July 3, 2009. I don’t know who took this photo, but I assume debauchery was involved.

The best way to remember John is to read his books. During the pandemic, people have been posting “shelfies,” so I’ll follow suit with a shot of my Keel shelf. Stay safe, Keel fans.

John writes Lynn Catoe, again bemused at finding himself in the middle of a spat between her and Ivan Sanderson. He also offers an interesting assessment of Gray Barker, observations on strange voices on shortwave, and his usual exasperation at his fellow ufologists.

Some notes: Irving Stone wrote several biographical novels, including books about Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Freud, and Darwin; Richard Gehman wrote many biographies and magazine pieces about entertainers. Aimé Michel was a ufologist who had predicted “trouble in the U. S. S. R.” Edward Condon and Robert Low headed the University of Colorado UFO Project, which published its findings later that year.

Ivan Sanderson replies to John’s last letter in his usual inimitable ebullient style. He’s still annoyed about the article that almost made it into the National Enquirer, but John has apparently convinced him that he shouldn’t be annoyed with Lynn Catoe. His hint about releasing “material that I have not discussed even with you” is provocative, and we can all certainly sympathize with his exasperation with ufology. Richard Hall, by the way, was on the board of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena; Peter Kamitchis was on the board of the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained.

Lynn Catoe writes John on January 3, 1968; the wrong date is a common typo in early January. She discusses the continuing kerfuffle with Ivan Sanderson, defending herself and objecting to John’s characterization of her. She reports on a rumor from French ufologist Aimé Michel about Soviet UFO propaganda. She also asks John’s advice about a proposed visit to Gray Barker; Monka was a supposed channeled alien, and Phillip Rodgers an early experimenter with electronic voice phenomena. Eileen Buckle, Gordon Creighton, and Charles Bowen were all British ufologists, contributors to Flying Saucer Review.

John and Lynn Catoe exchanged a few more letters, in which he advises her to avoid ufology, she says she’s glad she knows him, and they discuss their long phone calls.  I’ll skip them, since they’re getting more flirtatious, which is none of our business. John then wrote Ivan Sanderson again, trying to assure him that Ms. Catoe was not part of some nefarious government scheme, and speculating that Dr. Frank Stranges was responsible for the stories in the aborted National Enquirer article.

June Larson was an industrious ufologist, who supplied John and other researchers with clippings. I don’t know who “that Von Covisky character” was. G-12 was Ms. Catoe’s rank in the civil service: quite respectable but not ”important” enough to alarm Sanderson. John apparently sent Sanderson a clipping about Philadelphia, which he didn’t keep with the carbon.

I’ve been posting this correspondence between John and Lynn Catoe because of the interactions with other ufologists and with Ivan Sanderson, and for John’s immediate reaction to the collapse of the Silver Bridge. They started dating in the midst of all this, which is none of our business. We’re getting to that point: after the last letter, Ms. Catoe wrote John a 7-page hand-written epic, which is mostly concerned with describing herself and her apartment, inviting John for dinner, and discussing the menu. I’ll just quote a couple of sentences to amuse long-term John-watchers: “I saw you on the Today show and was surprised that you were reasonably articulate. Since you’re bearded, I’d written you off as a hippie.”

John accepts the invitation, and fills her in on some of his interactions with Sanderson. He also reveals that he was asked to write an article for the National Enquirer, which he predicts will cause Sanderson to “flip further out.” Gordon Evans, as mentioned earlier in these letters, was a ufologist who had withdrawn suddenly from the field.

John writes to Ivan Sanderson, trying to clear up the misunderstanding between him and Lynn Catoe. He’s exasperated at being caught in the middle of this “childish bullshit,” and is worried he’ll lose the friendship of both of them. Eventually, he did straighten things out, and both of them were grateful for his efforts. Ufology in the ’60s was obviously fraught with drama!

John responds to Lynn Catoe, obviously exasperated with the “absurd uproar” between her and Ivan Sanderson, and upset with her reaction to Sanderson. He’s none too happy with the “screwy business” of ufology either. And who can blame him?

Ms. Catoe opens her letter to John by saying she feels “spat upon.” I assume she means by Ivan Sanderson, since the rest of the letter is certainly friendly to John. I don’t know who “Dr. Clark” is; perhaps some reader more versed in ufological history can identify him. Uninvited Visitors is by Ivan Sanderson (I recommend the hardback edition, since it has a nice little lenticular picture on the cover).