John A. Keel

 John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle (March 25, 1930 – July 3, 2009) was an American journalist and influential UFOlogist who is best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.

There is a Wikipedia entry from which some of this post is extracted. I have no sources for many of these photographs and if anyone can give the correct source they will be credited but for now (c)2022 Respective copyright Owner

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keel

Keel was born in Hornell, New York, the son of a small-time bandleader. His parents separated and he was raised by his grandparents. He was interested in magic and had his first story published in a magicians' magazine at age 12. He left school at the age of 16 after taking all the science courses.

He worked as a freelance contributor to newspapers, scriptwriter for local radio and television outlets, and author of pulp articles such as "Are You A Repressed Sex Fiend?" He served in the US Army during the Korean War on the staff of the American Forces Network at Frankfurt, Germany. He claimed that while in the Army he was trained in psychological warfare as a propaganda writer.

After leaving the military he worked as a foreign radio correspondent in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Egypt.

In 1957, he published Jadoo, a book describing his time in Egypt and India investigating the Indian rope trick and the legendary yeti. In 1966 he produced the "spy and superhero" spoof novel The Fickle Finger of Fate. Influenced by writers such as Charles Fort, he began contributing articles to Flying Saucer Review and took up investigating UFOs and assorted Forteana as a full-time pursuit. Keel analyzed what he called "windows" and "waves" (or flaps, as they are often called) of reported UFO events, concluding that a disproportionate number occurred on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A member of the Screenwriters Guild, Keel reportedly wrote scripts for Get Smart, The Monkees, Mack & Myer for Hire, and Lost in Space.

In 1967, Keel popularized the term "men in black" in an article for the men's adventure magazine Saga, entitled "UFO Agents of Terror".

After leaving the military he worked as a foreign radio correspondent in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Egypt.

In 1967, Keel popularized the term "men in black" in an article for the men's adventure magazine Saga, entitled "UFO Agents of Terror".

One of the things that I think shows that Keel had a great sense of humour was when, in The Mothman Prophecies, Keel wondered what people were thinking of this strange satyr-like man knocking on their doors. Looking at his photo from that period you have to smile!

I do not believe all the stuff Keel put into the book itself. He added and took out material and this seems to shock some believers while the sceptics (ie debunkers) point to this as showing he was faking it all. Obviously he was not faking the reported sightings and events but putting a spin on things and we knew that back then -Ivan T. Sanderson even quipped about Keel "tells a good story" and he really did!  The book pulls you in and, I swear, at one point I was believing every word.

Like contemporary 1960s researchers such as J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallée, Keel was initially hopeful that he could somehow validate the prevailing extraterrestrial visitation hypothesis. However, after one year of investigations, Keel concluded that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was untenable. Indeed, both Hynek and Vallée eventually arrived at a similar conclusion. As Keel himself wrote:

"I abandoned the extraterrestrial hypothesis in 1967 when my own field investigations disclosed an astonishing overlap between psychic phenomena and UFOs... The objects and apparitions do not necessarily originate on another planet and may not even exist as permanent constructions of matter. It is more likely that we see what we want to see and interpret such visions according to our contemporary beliefs."

In UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse and The Eighth Tower Keel argues that a non-human or spiritual intelligence source has staged whole events over a long period of time in order to propagate and reinforce certain erroneous belief systems. 

For example, the monsters, ghosts and demons, the fairy "faith" in Middle Ages Europe, vampire legends, mystery airships in 1897, mystery aeroplanes of the 1930s, mystery helicopters, anomalous creature sightings, poltergeist phenomena, balls of light, and UFOs; Keel conjectured that ultimately all of these anomalies are a cover for the real phenomenon. He used the term "ultra-terrestrials" to describe UFO occupants he believed to be non-human entities capable of taking on whatever form they want.

For me there were some big errors such as when Keel states as fact (and it is still cited as a fact!) that a General Massey was put in charge of an investigation into Foo-fighters/UFOs. As Air Vice Marshal Sir Victor Goddard (first Director of RAF Intelligence) told me the very idea that, at a time when Britain expected to face a German invasion with very little chance of standing up to such, a British Army general was put in charge of something that was not a priority and in any case an air defence matter was ludicrous. The writing style and content was still good and at a time when most of Ufology was only interested in nuts and bolts interplanetary UFOs this was a breath of fresh air for the mind.

In Our Haunted Planet, Keel discussed the seldom-considered possibility that the alien "visitors" to Earth are not visitors at all, but an advanced Earth civilization, which may or may not be human. Interdimensional life is also considered.

Keel took no position on the ultimate purpose of the phenomenon other than that the UFO intelligence seems to have a long-standing interest in interacting with the human race.

Prolific and imaginative, Keel was considered a significant influence within the UFO and Fortean genre.

Back in the days when Woolworth's still existed in the UK and you could pick up popular paperbacks the above cover caught my artistic eye. Well, put some strange looking entity on a cover and I'm in! I was a little concerned that this was not going to be a good book as the flying humanoid seemed too pulp fantasy for me. That writ I have to state that it was a very interesting read and if there was one thing you could not fault Keel on it was his writing and how he kept the reader glued to the page.

Now, of course, that cover image above would probably be used for another Skinwalker ranch book! Visuals are one thing you look for in a book cover and you learn that as a publisher early on. Creatures From Time & Space had a cover that not only grabbed me by the scruff of the neck but that cover promised so much and although some of the contents are known to be "of this world" a tagline such as "a walking pine cone" showed that Keel had a sense of humour and once again this book became a classic as far as I was concerned. With a pinch of salt in places.

In 1994 the book was revised and published as  The Complete Guide To Mysterious Beings with a not-so-eye-grabbing cover but still good enough to make you buy and the updated version was still a great read.

Keel was the old school type of researcher who earned a living from writing and to do that you had to make a story "sexy" because "a bridge collapsed and people died" is just a disaster book. But you add in the mystery phone calls and "silencers" as well as Mothman and UFO sightings you have a gripping book. Rather like Donald Keyhoe, Keel told you about how he travelled from A to B and people he met and what those meeting places were like. I knew, as did most other serious researchers, that a lot was added and we knew that because we researched what was written.

In a way I think that Keel was vastly under rated as a story teller and author and I would have dearly loved to have met and talked to him. He reported on CE3K/AE cases and got people to think about those cases. 

I do not necessarily agree with his theories but he was a pioneer.

For many years, Keel resided in the Upper West Side of New York City. He was a lifelong bachelor.

Keel died on July 3, 2009, in New York City, at the age of 79.