JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

http://davidpisarra.com/how-to-avoid-a-party-wall-agreement

A number of drawings based on this sketch have been circulated; but Scarberry’s own version is less familiar.  This is from a photocopy in John’s files.

Many readers of The Mothman Prophecies will remember a disturbing “Man In Black” named “Tiny,” who visited a family in New Jersey in 1967.  (It’s in Chapter 8, if you want to look it up.)

John sent a detailed report of this encounter to other researchers shortly after it happened.  He included some details that didn’t make it into the book, such as Tiny’s penchant for sing-song recitations of verse.

One of these researchers, Charles Bowen (the editor of Flying Saucer Review), wrote back to say that Tiny reminded him of an unpleasant UFO buff who had visited him the year before.  Do we, then, have an explanation for one of these creepy visits?

I’ll reproduce the relevant section of the letter below.  After some reflection (and discussion with someone who knew Bowen’s visitor), I’ve decided to delete the name.  As you can gather, the man in question is not a healthy specimen, and nothing would be gained by naming him.  And don’t fret, the actual letter was not harmed in the deletion process.  It’s dated July 3, 1967.

Here’s a transcription, for those impatient with longhand.

TINY.  I am now seriously perturbed.  In November I received a letter from [deleted] who announced that he was flying over to England to do research in the British Museum (checking on a manuscript about vampires!).  [Deleted] who forever was bellyaching about being too hard up even to pay a sub for FSR.  He rang me on arrival, & I collected him at West Byfleet station on Saturday, Dec. 10.  I discovered him to be a huge young man — at a guess 240 lbs. — & about 6 ft. 3 ins., fair haired, very thin on top.  Wore a check shirt & ducks, riding high above his ankles, & thick soled shoes.  He had a shabby overcoat, & sported a Russian style of fur hat!  His speech was a monotonous, emotionless, expressionless, mechanical one-pitch perpetual motion.  He often broke into poetry by Milton & Edgar Allan Poe, reciting it as though he had learnt it computer fashion.  He drank the best part of a bottle of my Martini & got himself well sloshed — & ranted on about poor misunderstood Hitler etc. etc.  My family regarded him rather as they might do a cobra, & expressed a feeling of repugnance.  I thought he was a schizo.  On the Sunday, just before lunch, he said “And now may I look at your FSR files?”  I declined, lying that they were “At the office”.  After lunch he upped & went.  I saw him off, & have had one short letter since.  He flew back to De Kalb, Illinois, after only two or three days here.  What do you make of that?

Your maps received, but nothing of New Jersey (Wanaque) or W. Virginia, etc.

Yours ever Charles.

ADDENDUM:  The original title of this post was “Were Some ‘Men In Black’ Ufologists With Asperger’s?”  I called it that because the man I interviewed about Bowen’s visitor described him as having Asperger’s.  But I received some angry responses from readers with Asperger’s, objecting to what they saw as a stereotype, so I’ve changed the title.  My interest was not in a diagnosis, anyway; but in the evidence that there may be an identification for a classic MIB case.  Charles Bowen certainly thought so.  So if I offended anyone with Asperger’s, I apologize; I didn’t mean to imply that the man in question is typical: he may indeed be somewhere on the autism spectrum, but clearly has a number of other problems.

“Bamboozle” was another of John’s ad mailers from the ’80s.  Ads from “Jakeel” and “Specialized Research” are, of course, from the Keel himself.  And here it is, in all four pages of its magnificence!

Have you been yearning for a “Keel For King” bumper sticker? I thought so. Print this out and paste it to your vehicle. The original was redder; but the scanner has a mind of its own. I think this dates from 1970, but I’m not sure. John apparently handed them out, along with lapel buttons, at an IUNFO Fortfest in 1973. Any further information is welcome!

This letter from Mary Hyre (postmarked March 25, 1968) informed John Keel about yet another strange visitor to her office.  It was a two-page letter; the second page concerns some of the personal and financial troubles of Point Pleasant residents, so I won’t reproduce it here.

And here’s a transcript, in case you have trouble reading the original.  I’ve corrected a few obvious typos, but have otherwise faithfully noted her spontaneous style:

Dear John:

Received your letter this week, was very happying that you are ok.  With so many strange things happening I worry about you when I don’t hear from you, although I realize that you have more to do than write letters.

I had another strange visitor this week who said he first came to my office and couldn’t find and then came to the house even Scotty thought he acted funny and looked very strange he said he was an electronics engineer and worked in Newark, Ohio, but he home was in Michigan and was transferred to Newark.

I cannot tell you the color of his hair I guess it was white, but a odd shade and never did I see any hair that looked like it.  I had this book that you had sent me about the convention on a table and noticed and nearly went wild when he saw it and wanted to buy it, but I wouldn’t let him have it.

He wore glasses and when he took them off and when he did I am sure he noted the strange look on my face, because he had the funniest eyes I ever saw they were back in head and the smallest I have ever seen and the color I could not tell you.

The first question he ask me was just how well I knew the John Keel.  I said well I know him, and replied just how well and told him I did think that it was anyone business just who my close friends or how close they were.

He said well do you know him well enough to speak to him and told I spoke to everyone and that doesn’t mean that I was the best of friend to them.  He said did you ever get in his car and go anywhere.  I told him again that was not a matter of discussion with anyone and that did not have to answer to anyone where I went.

He then said is this John Keel an investigator or a writer and told him he would have to ask you.  He tried to trick me by saying how you going with me and show just where John Keel saw this objects and told him I couldn’t because I didn’t know where she may have been.

He tried several times for me to go with him and to give him names of people who had been with you, but I told I didn’t follow you around to see who talked with.

He also claimed he knew a girl that I knew in Columbus.  His license number is J.V.0911 Michigan plates.  He said that he has been interested in ufo’s for 20 years, but with his glasses on he looked 55 or 60, but with them off he looked about 35 his appearance changed completely with them off why I cannot say.

This one comes from a copy of The Mothman Prophecies (the IllumiNet edition).

John Keel and Ivan Sanderson met — at least, officially — in 1962. Here’s the initial exchange of letters.

Sanderson’s papers, I understand, have found an online home here.  Good news!

David Letterman interviewed John Keel on July 28, 1980.  They discussed forteana, strange rains, creature sightings — and a cast of a Bigfoot footprint.  Letterman was more curious than dismissive, and John did a great job.  And you can watch it here.

Again, thanks to Anthony Matt and Angela Alverson for technical help.

ADDENDUM:  As Loren Coleman has pointed out, the footprint cast in this clip was actually made by Edward Shipton in Nepal.  It has a troubled history: see here for photos of it, as well as some of the charges of hoaxing.  As was often the case, John made factual errors; the evidence in question is suspect; and he nevertheless made a great case for a Fortean perspective within a mainstream context.  The fact that Forteana is riddled with errors and hoaxes just goes with the territory — and, of course, errors and hoaxes are not unique to Forteana!

Here’s another collaboration between Ed Lord and John Keel: a film portrait of the artists’ community in Provincetown, Mass.  Ed Lord made the film; John provided the narration.  He even recites some of the poetry of Harry Kemp, the “Tramp Poet” of Greenwich Village.

All we had to work with was a video dub of what I assume was an 8mm original.  It’s a bit jumpy at the start; but it settles down soon.  Click here to see it.

The photo above shows John in Provincetown in  August 1963.  And that may have been around the time the film was made.

Thanks to Anthony Matt and Angela Alverson for technical help.

I’ve posted another of the films John that made with Ed Lord.  This one’s called “On Exhibition”; and features John as a bleary drunk confronting the exhibits in the Museum of Modern Art.  John was a teetotaller; which makes his drunk act even more amusing.  The film was a bit too long for YouTube, so I’ve split it in two.  Thanks to Angela Alverson for technical help.  I hope you enjoy it!