JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

provigil to buy online John writes a letter to A. M. Rosenthal, then managing editor of the New York Times. He reminds Rosenthal of an earlier acquaintance, offers a brief update of his career, and requests a statement on the paper’s possible censorship of UFO stories. Rosenthal apparently never wrote back. I suspect letters about UFO censorship may have not been appreciated at the Times.

I also note, sadly, the passing of two of John’s friends, Rosemary Ellen Guiley and Paul Krassner.

Ms. Guiley was a prolific writer of books on the paranormal, and most recently the executive editor of Fate. I posted pictures of her and John here.

Paul Krassner had a long career as a satirist, and for many years published that exemplary magazine The Realist. I posted a note on my chance discovery of John’s back issues here. Krassner also appears as a minor character in The Fickle Finger of Fate, which John mentions in his letter to Rosenthal. “Klaw Krassner” is cast as the “token atheist” on a boat piloted by Captain Bartolo, that is, Mad writer Dick DeBartolo; here are his two appearances.

On May 1, 1966, John wrote to Jim Templeton, who had taken a photo of his daughter that seemed to show a spaceman in the background. The photo was much discussed among UFO buffs at the time; the most popular explanation is that the spaceman is an overexposed image of Templeton’s wife. If you don’t know the story, Wikipedia is one place to start. John ordered copies of the photo; Templeton replied with some details, and, in a homey touch, asked if John could send him some stamps for his collection.

The “Official Correspondence” file continues with a letter from Curtis Fuller, the editor of Fate. Fuller declines a proposed article on swamp gas, and remarks that John’s “theory about methane” is “pretty far out.” John didn’t file his own letter, so I don’t know what that theory was. This appears to be his first contact with Fate; he wrote often for it in later years.

The next item in John’s “Official Correspondence, ’66” file is a letter to Coral Lorenzen, of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization. John introduces himself, and asks for her help with his proposed article on UFOs for Playboy. His description includes some wishful thinking: Playboy did not assign him to do a long “definitive article,” but agreed to look at a short piece on spec. The final piece was rejected as too long and too credulous. I posted his visit to Project Bluebook here.

John Keel died ten years ago, on July 3, 2009. His friends still miss him, and those who didn’t know him will, I hope, keep reading his books. Anthony Matt and I started this blog a few months later; I’ll keep posting here as well. Rest in Peace, John!