John Keel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Paranormal Researcher | |
|---|---|
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| John A. Keel | |
| Biography | |
| Name: | John A. Keel |
| Born: | March 25, 1930 |
| Resume | |
| Field: | journalist |
| Paranormal Area: | parapsychologist, ufologist |
John A. Keel (born March 25, 1930) is an ufologist, parapsychologist and journalist currently residing in New York, USA.
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[edit] Ufology
Influenced by writers such as Charles Fort, Ivan Sanderson, and Aimé Michel, John Keel began a full-time investigation of UFOs and paranormal phenomena in early 1966. He interviewed several thousand people across twenty states in a four year period. During which time he also worked through 2,000 books were, several thousand thousand magazines, newsletters, and newspapers, and subscribed to newspaper-clipping services which were reported to generated up to 150 clippings per day during the 1966 and 1967 UFO "wave".
[edit] Divergence
Following 1960s researchers Dr. J. Allen Hynek, and Dr. Jacques Vallee, Keel initially set out to find evidence to validate the extraterrestrial visitation hypothesis. However, after a year of investigations, he concluded that alien visitations could not account for the events that were being reported, and he began to look for answers in other directions. His search culminated in 1970 with the publication of second book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse in which he linked UFO encounters with events recorded in ancient folklore and religious experiences, and promoted the argument that there is a direct relationship between UFOs and psychic phenomena/demonology.
In UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse Keel argued that a non-human or spiritual intelligence source had staged whole events over a long period of time in order to propagate and reinforce certain erroneous belief systems; for example, the fairy faith in Middle Europe, vampire legends, mystery airships in 1897, mystery aeroplanes of the 1930s, mystery helicopters, anomalous creature sightings, poltergeist phenomena, balls of light, and UFOs. Ultimately, Keel wrote, these anomalies are nothing but a cover for the real phenomenon.
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." [1]
Keel took no position on the ultimate purpose of the phenomenon other than the UFO intelligence seems to have a long-standing interest in interacting with the human race.
[edit] Mothman
In 1976, Keel published The Mothman Prophecies, an account of his 1966-1967 investigation of sightings of the Mothman;a strange winged creature reported in and around Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
The book was loosely adapted into a 2002 movie, starring Richard Gere and Alan Bates, who played two parts of Keel's personality. Bates's character was "Leek," which was "Keel" spelled backwards, and Gere's character was a newspaperman, "John Klein," also a play on Keel's name. Keel appeared in the film's companion documentary, "Search for the Mothman," directed by David Grabias and appearing with another well-known Mothman researcher Loren Coleman.
[edit] Heart Attack
Keel suffered a heart attack sometime before October 13, 2006. He admitted himself to New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital on Friday the 13th of October, and underwent successful heart surgery on October 16, 2006. Keel then was moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center on October 26, 2006, according to his associates Doug Skinner and Loren Coleman who remain in contact with him. Keel is generally reclusive these days.
[edit] Bibliography
- Jadoo (1957)
- UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse (1970)
- Strange Creatures From Time and Space (1970)
- Our Haunted Planet (1971)
- The Flying Saucer Subculture (1973)
- The Mothman Prophecies (1975)
- The Eighth Tower (1975)
- Disneyland of the Gods (1988)
- The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings (1994) (revised version of Strange Creatures from Time and Space)
[edit] Reverence
- ^ Profile: Keele, John A., UFO Evidence.org
- David J. Hufford, "The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions", University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982 (ISBN 0-8122-7851-8).
