http://cakebysadiesmith.co.uk/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=http://cakebysadiesmith.co.uk/ Theo Paijmans, an indefatigable newspaper researcher in the grand fortean tradition, has passed along some of John Keel’s work for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Here, for example, is a 1967 article about UFO occupants. Thanks, Theo!
In the third issue of the NYFS newsletter, Mike Lindner reports on the MIB talks offered in the third meeting, Ron Rosenblatt reports on the Chinese New Year gathering, and John Keel announces upcoming events. “Disgusting things with chickens”! You wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?
I’ll follow up the last post on Men In Black with one of John’s private documents on the subject. He sometimes sent out letters to fellow researchers, not intended for publication, and often different in tone and content from his books and articles. In this memo from 1968, he was concerned about the latest MIB reports.
There don’t seem to be any notes for the second meeting; but I’ve found the index cards that John used for the third. It was held on January 23, 1988; and was devoted to those ever-popular Men In Black, with talks by Timothy Beckley, Peter Rojcewicz (spelled phonetically on the card, just for safety), and John Keel himself. I didn’t post this to coincide with the new release from the movie franchise, but I will note that John liked to mention where J and K got their names.
John also recorded meetings, and made cassettes available for members.
“Richard E. Wiplash” (Floyd Murray) contributed this parody of John Keel to the seventh issue of Caveat Emptor (Spring, 1973). “Oswald Lurch” is probably a reference to Oliver Larch, whose disappearance was retold in many books; Ambrose Bierce’s short story “Charles Ashmore’s Trail” is now suspected as the origin. The humor here is broad; John wasn’t always popular among ufologists.
The second issue of the NYFS newsletter gives an account of the second meeting, reports on members’ activities, reviews a couple of books, and announces the next meeting. Not surprisingly, John also works in a gibe at Jim Moseley.
As a hard-working television writer, John Keel took on all sorts of work. Writing for television was not always agreeable to him; in the ’60s, he became disenchanted with it, and started specializing in forteana.
These pitches were, unfortunately, rejected; but if you’ve ever wondered what “The Flintstones” would have been like if it had been scripted by John Keel, read on…
As you may have noticed, I’ve changed to a different theme for this site. This one permits wider and more legible scans: the former one had frustrating limitations on image size. With the change, I can now post typewritten pages that can actually be read by the humanoid eye. I’ll also be going back and upgrading earlier posts, so do browse through the backlog. I’ve just revamped the unpublished 12th issue of Anomaly, and redone an earlier post on John’s comic book work: you can now enjoy the whole story of “Love in Greenwich Village.”
ADDENDUM: I’ve added better scans of the first exchange of letters with Ivan Sanderson, and of the Shavertron interview.
ANOTHER ADDENDUM: And the first “Stendek” column.
There were ten issues of the newsletter (ten and a half, counting # 4 1/2); they were usually one or two pages. Much of it was written by John himself; other contributors included Mike Lindner, Ron Rosenblatt, Pearl Gonzalez, and Jack Scaparro. Here’s the first one, which lists the charter members, and gives an account of the first meeting.
John Keel held the first meeting of the New York Fortean Society on September 19, 1987, at 2 pm, at 7 E. 30th St. in Manhattan. Attendees included Curtis Gibson and George Emerson Fox, members of the original Fortean Society, and a delegation from the International Fortean Organization in D.C.; there were talks by Mark Chorvinsky and Timothy Beckley. Officers were elected, and $58.63 was collected.
John kept the notes for his keynote address. Here they are, sometimes discolored by an antique rubber band.