We have been watching the skies for flying saucers from other worlds for 60 years now and to celebrate this landmark in the modern UFO phenomenon the Fortean Times recently dedicated an entire issue to the subject. The Times, a British magazine devoted to the objective study of anomalous phenomena attempted to give its readers a comprehensive overview of events since a man called Kenneth Arnold saw some strange lights in the sky near mount Rainer, Washington in the summer of 1947.
But for some there was something missing in the magazine’s coverage. Something which has been missing in almost all mainstream discussion of this strange anniversary and is crucial to any understanding of the cultural impact of large sections of the western world’s population believing in visitors from other worlds for the last half century. This something is a 76-year-old man called John A Keel.
It has come as no surprise to those of us on the alternative websites and blogs that John has been left out of the story. Last year the news that he was recovering from a heart attack drew no attention from the mainstream press. But for us the man in the New York City hospital was a high priest of the paranormal and the original man in black. We remembered then and we remember now that a few years earlier there had been a hugely popular TV series that drew on his research and that Hollywood had made at least two films based on episodes in his life. So how did the world forget John Keel so quickly and what does that tell us about the UFO phenomenon?
Part of the answer lies in Mount Pleasant, West Virginia. It was here, just over 40 years ago that people began to see and hear a strange, winged, man-like, flying creature with piecing red eyes and a high-pitched scream. The local press dubbed it Mothman. Mount Pleasant was a small community and mass hysteria took hold. Lights were seen in the sky. Old Indian curses were evoked and cattle were found mutilated. Keen got wind of the story and arrived in town when the lunacy was in full swing. The Mothman Prophecies, the book he produced about the events, was an absurdist masterpiece of sorts. It made little linear sense but the way it drew connections between the Mothman sightings and other strange phenomenon, particularly UFOs, struck a huge chord with the burgeoning paranormal community.
Article comments
1 - duane
Nice job, Michael. Didn't know about Keel.
I'm a little slow. What's the supposed connection between UFOs and 9/11? Or is it just some kind of musical chair game for conspiracy enthusiasts?
2 - Glen Boyd
Do a Google search for "9/11 UFO" Duane and you'll have no problem finding video which purports to show a UFO on the scene during the 9/11 attack in NYC.
Nice job on the Keel tribute Michael. I've long held kind of a side interest in UFOs (and most other things weird and conspiracy oriented) and Keel is definitely a player out there in the fringes. I've never taken him that seriously, but in the world of characters that is UFOlogy, Keel is certainly a true character in every sense.
-Glen
3 - Loren Coleman
I'm taking notes on the overlaps between the I-35W collapse and the Silver Bridge/Mothman/US Hwy 35 story.
I wrote a longer message here but it disappeared into the void, such is what happens when dealing with the Mothman and Keel.
Point Pleasant is important, John Keel is significant, and I'm glad you wrote this blog.
Best wishes
Loren Coleman
4 - Dr Dreadful
Since aliens seem to be present at or have a hand in pretty much every human catastrophe, it follows that there must be quite a lot of them.
Why would they only want to be around during disasters?
Where, for instance, is the video showing UFOs watching game 2 of the 1993 AL East playoffs, or during news coverage of the 1998 Macy's Thanskgiving Parade, or at Uncle Glenn's summer bar-B-Q 2005?
Sheesh...
5 - Alec
The "balloons" that float down the street during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade are actually the latest model alien spacecraft. Aliens love a parade.
Also, Ann Coulter is an alien. No human female could possibly spew so much bile.
I didn't know much about Keel before, and this post was certainly interesting. Ironically, though, if in the end, Keel did not leave his apartment, this suggests that the culture of fear has nothing to do with the mainstream media, or even space aliens, but with a need for some people to create their own personal bogeyman so that they can rationalize their fears.
6 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Aliens...Hmm, that movie was pretty damn good but the rest of them stunk. Sigourney Weaver started looking like a dude...LOL *Smirk*
Anyways, how does this drudge of an article make it on this website?
7 - Joi Kate
It was POINT Pleasant and while we while all of his contemporaries love John Keel, the new kids on the blcok tend to forget most of the old timers who really open the field up to the general public so many years ago. Remember Rick Moran of the ASUP or Lauren Coleman; Maybe D. Scott Rogo or even Peter Jordan, all of whom researched Mothman, long before there was a movie!
"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to relive it!" We have to stop reinventing the wheel and start to learn from all of these people who dedicated their lives to all things Fortean!
8 - Catey
My post disappeared... ghost post. Hello?
9 - Catey
Interesting, I didn't know about John Keel or Mt./Point Pleasant. I'm wondering if anything else has happened,up to the present?
10 - Jewels
Being a rabid X-Files fan back in that era, it was interesting reading about John Keel, I was not aware of him.
Regarding the Mothman conspiracy, it seems a version of that tale has been retold in different areas of the country, the figure provided different names such as the Jersey Devil. A story popped up in our area during a period in which some of the rural farms experienced some cattle, goat and sheep mutilations. Never found the culprits for the animal slayings. Coyotes initially were blamed until stories surfaced that the animals were not just slain and devoured, more like carved to remove only certain internal organs.
The creature blamed was dubbed the Pleasant Valley Goatman, after the area where the mutilations occurred. Descriptions by 'witnesses' had it resembling a Mothman type creature. Some of the locals claimed it looked into the windows of their houses, slept in their barns.
Made for great horror tales to 'thrill' my kiddoes with...
11 - Nigel Black
One difference between Keel and Mulder. Keel has some degree of scepticism which leaves his ability to doubt intact. As a result he was able to arrive at his "ultraterrestrial" hypothesis. Mulder had his mind made up and was convinced that he was dealing with extraterrestrials. At least in as much as you can say anything about a fictional character. Mulder was a naive character, whereas Keel was already an experienced journalist and had seen quite a bit of the world (his book "Jadoo" is a great deal of fun to read.)
Nigel
12 - Indrid Cold
Boo!