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 a ufologist, parapsychologist and journalist currently residing in New York, USA.
John Keel is arguably one of the most widely read and influential ufologists since the early 1970s. Although his own thoughts about UFOs and associated anomalous phenomena have gradually evolved since the mid 1960s, Keel remains one of ufology's most original and controversial researchers. It was Keel's second book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse (1970), that alerted the general public that many aspects of contemporary UFO reports, including humanoid encounters, often paralleled certain ancient folklore and religious encounters. Keel also argues that there is a direct relationship between UFOs and psychic phenomena.
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[edit] Initial UFO Investigations
Influenced by writers such as Charles Fort, Ivan Sanderson, and Aimé Michel, in early 1966, John Keel commenced a full-time investigation of UFOs and paranormal phenomena. Over a four-year period, Keel interviewed thousands of people in over twenty U.S. states. More than 2,000 books were reviewed in the course of this investigation, in addition to thousands of magazines, newsletters, and newspapers. Keel also subscribed to several newspaper-clipping services, which often generated up to 150 clippings for a single day during the 1966 and 1967 UFO "wave".
[edit] Divergence
Like contemporary 1960s researchers such as Dr. J. Allen Hynek, and Dr. Jacques Vallee, Keel was initially hopeful that he could somehow validate the prevailing extraterrestrial visitation hypothesis. However, after one year of investigations, Keel realised that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was untenable. Indeed, both Hynek and Vallee 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." [1]
In UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse 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 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. But ultimately all of these anomalies are nothing but a cover for the real phenomenon.
Keel takes 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] The Mothman Prophecies
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.
[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 associate Doug Skinner who remains in contact with him. Keel's friend Loren Coleman spread the word, and asked Forteans worldwide to send Keel "get well" cards.
[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)
