graphemically We continue with the next part of “The Answer,” John’s summation of his private beliefs about the UFO phenomenon in 1967. As John says, they “seem totally ridiculous,” but he also seems to have taken them seriously at the time. They synthesize the information he received from his network of contactees, and he placed special confidence in his correspondence with “Mr. Apol,” a supposed alien whom he contacted through the contactee Jaye Paro. (Here‘s one of the questionnaires he sent him.) One puzzle (among many): if this was “for discussion purposes,” who did he discuss it with?
And again, this represents an early stage in John’s interpretation, and posting it certainly doesn’t mean that I agree with it!
Intriguing that JAK should mention Dorothy KIlgallen as one who had been contacted, as an infamous supposed FBI memorandum describes her connection with JFK’s journey to a desert base to inspect “things from outer space.” This memo, come to light only relatively recently, is widely believed to be on a par with the Majestic 12 hoax, yet if it is indeed the source for JAK’s info re KIlgallen how could he have been aware of it in 1967?
Comment by Ronald Beaumont — August 2, 2021 @ 8:45 am
The source for John’s info on Kilgallen seems to have been Jaye Paro’s supposed alien contacts, Apol and Agar: http://www.johnkeel.com/?p=3118
I’m sure there were many speculations about her suicide at the time.
Comment by Doug — August 2, 2021 @ 10:38 am
John at one point believed in the ancient astronaut theory it seems. Does anyone know what ever happened to Jaye Parro? I am surprised that John gave her so much credibility.
Comment by John Gerard — August 2, 2021 @ 4:11 pm
Yes, that may come as a surprise to Keel fans. It was a surprise to me. I don’t know if anyone knows what happened to Jaye Paro; I don’t. All I know is that she later contributed a few articles to Beyond magazine. John seems to have believed her more and more, both because her stories were echoed by other contactees, and because she seemed sincere and often frightened. At any rate, I hope readers who trawl through the “Special Cases” files I posted can see that John was overly credulous, but he wasn’t making up any of this stuff.
Comment by Doug — August 6, 2021 @ 7:54 am
Surprising, considering JAK’s disavowal of the whole mess later – and most likely due to embarrassment. I’ve been reading this blog for years. What strikes me the most is Keel’s credulity with these “contactees.” I think Ms. Paro was having a great time running the man in circles and JAK underestimated her intelligence and imagination. A pastime of my youth before the advent of caller ID, was when a bunch of friends would stay over on a weekend. We’d get up to midnight mischief by prank calling people we didn’t like, then laugh ourselves silly. Old beaus were a primary target. I have a feeling Ms. Paro and friends were doing something similar. Paro was trying to launch a career in radio and the wobbly world of the paranormal. There were some unrequited emotions from Paro to JAK. Keel had dismissed Paro as unintelligent and “grossly overweight.” I think he simply underestimated J. Paro and got “pwned.”
All that said, this was 1967. Much of what he’s revealed were standard tropes of alien invasion stories at the time. “The Invaders” (ABC-TV) was a popular TV show and used a great deal of these story arcs. The counterculture was in full swing, etc. I’d really love to know what happened to Ms. Paro. I’m assuming she simply married and moved on when the career did not materialize.
Comment by C. Hall — August 7, 2021 @ 1:48 pm
After reading through the “Special Cases” files, I think Jaye Paro was pranking John, but also may have had genuinely troubling dreams and experiences. That “wobbly world” of the paranormal often attracts unstable personalities, and she may have fallen into that category. If she’s still around, I hope she’s okay. John’s credulity often baffles me, but I assume some confirmation bias was involved, along with little or no training in methodology. Even in later years, he never accepted the idea that some of his strange phone calls came from Gray Barker fooling around.
Many of the tropes of alien invasion have their roots not only in pop culture, but in folklore about gods, ghosts, and fairies, and may be wired into the psyche, so it’s not surprising they’d turn up here!
Comment by Doug — August 9, 2021 @ 7:38 am
Does anyone know if John Keel ever looked into the 1973 Pascagoula case in Mississippi.
Comment by Philip Mantle — August 12, 2021 @ 11:47 am
He discusses it in Chapter 14 of The Mothman Prophecies, and dismisses it as “a rather routine hallucination.”
Comment by Doug — August 12, 2021 @ 3:02 pm
FWIW, Kevin Randle, whose work and blog some of you may be familiar with, has always been noncommittal on this case. Hasn’t really come out strongly one way or another. His views were/are much different than Keel’s, but they certainly crossed paths and knew one another.
Comment by J.P. Pelzman — August 14, 2021 @ 12:36 pm
Isn’t this happening now? Are covid 19 “vaccines” safe? John hasn’t noticed the pod growing in the guest bedroom yet.
Comment by BRIAN john KRAJCI — August 19, 2021 @ 6:45 pm