JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

Bormujos

John died nine years ago, on July 3, 2009. I like to mark the occasion by posting an unfamiliar photo of him. Here he is on September 3, 1961, in NYC. I guess he hurt his eye. Rest in peace, John. People are still reading your books!

John’s record continues, starting with October 10, 1967. The supposed “denouement” was nothing of the kind; he continues to get strange stories from Jaye Paro and Helen Oglemyer, including reports of a dazed Keel doppelgänger. John also notes that he gave a lecture, visited Ivan Sanderson, and appeared on Long John Nebel’s late-night radio show. Princess Moon Owl shows up again, and Jaye Paro finds Joseph Henslik, who is apparently also known as Joseph Baisle. The file begins with Jaye’s sketch of Agar, which I posted a while ago.

I just learned that John Keel’s brother Raymond died earlier this month. Patrick Huyghe sent me a link to the obituary, and Loren Coleman also posted an obituary of his own. Rest in peace, Raymond.

John ends his “Long Island File” with stories from several witnesses. Helen Oglemyer (he puts her name in quotes because she had said her real name was Patricia Anne Mackey) and Jaye Paro both report missing time, with memories of an alien city. I can only assume they coordinated their stories; the continuing story of the red top is anyone’s guess. A man in Belpre, Ohio, Warren Henderson, sees UFOs and meets some men in black suits, and John’s girlfriend Gerda meets a man with a scar on his cheek (I don’t know why this is significant). And finally, Jaye’s phone is removed.

This concludes John’s “Long Island File,” but his record continues, with a file called “Special Reports #3,” which takes him into 1968.

John adds a footnote to what he thought would be his “denouement.” He receives a long message from Jaye Paro (aka Tim’na), read over the phone by un unknown woman. (The red top has often been mentioned, to John’s bewilderment.) He tries to call Jaye, but gets only “strange sounds.” And he regrets his missed opportunities for direct contact with Apol/Appell.

John has an unpleasant phone conversation with Jaye, and concludes he may never see her again. He has a long talk with Appell, through another contactee, Helen Oglemyer (aka Patricia Mackey). Helen confesses she lied to him about a number of things. In passing, John refers to Jaye as “psychotic”; I assume he means that informally, since he said elsewhere he didn’t think she was mentally ill.

He signs and dates the last page, apparently convinced that his six months of strangeness are over, and that he will never hear from Jaye, Helen, or Louise again. However, his record does continue after this.

John records a number of phone reports: Mary Hyre reports UFOs and MIB in West Virginia; Helen Ogelmyer reveals her real name; Louise reports three men following her (Indian, this time, not MIB); Jaye is shown a movie of the future, and signs a contract giving the aliens permission to experiment on her. Someone is also apparently expecting John at the Pickwick Motel in Long Island. He’s clearly tired of it all, and has a “grim” phone call with Jaye.

At the beginning of October 1967, John’s record becomes even more nightmarish. He reports some disturbing phone conversations with Helen Oglemyer (and her alien familiar Cloé) and Jaye Paro (and her aliens Agar and Appell). Whatever was really happening here, someone was apparently vomiting at Jaye’s house, and Jaye herself was becoming suicidal. I don’t know what she meant by “Green Glass.” Poor John, who simply wanted a story, has gotten far more than he bargained for. He headed this entry “Denouement,” but his record continues for several months more.

Threaded throughout the events of 1967 is the continuing story of Joe Henslik, from Greenlawn, L.I.. His story is still repeated in Men In Black books: he photographed a UFO, and was visited by two men dressed in black, who demanded the photos. The next day three of them visited him, at which point he gave them the negatives. (John’s full report is here.) John had several interactions with Henslik, and claimed he had a tape of Henslik confessing that the story was a hoax, and that he had been coached by Jim Moseley and Gray Barker. (See here, at the end of John’s notes on the letter.)

Sometime in September, Henslik stopped answering his phone, and was presumed missing.

Gray Barker sent John this photo of Henslik, commenting that he was starting to think some of John’s claims were true, meaning, I suppose, that John had told him the aliens were real and dangerous.

John responds to the aliens’ request that he and Jaye Paro marry and have children. He is, therefore, in the unusual position of writing to a supposed alien, to explain why he doesn’t want to mate with the contactee he’s investigating. It’s complicated by the fact that Appell may be Jaye, although John apparently doesn’t think so. John also touches on the state of his career: all of this is taking a lot of his time and attention, and his work is suffering. What a mess!

The next day, John received a letter from Apol/Appell, which he transcribed for inclusion in his notes. Appell returns to the idea that John and Jaye Paro (Tim’na) should get married and have a baby. The baby will, of course, be the “future leader” of the aliens. What’s happening here? Is Jaye writing these notes? If not, who is?