Marand I’ve posted some of the clippings that John saved from the Point Pleasant flap; I’ll post some more. First, though, I thought you might be interested in the cover sheet of his file.
That’s Gene Duplantier’s rendition of Roger Scarberry’s original sketch.
And here’s the introductory note. Apparently John circulated this photocopied file to other researchers. I’ve enhanced the faded original for legibility.
Here’s another clipping (a photocopied one; sorry for the quality) from the midst of the Mothman flap. This one is from the Springfield News, November 30, 1966. The sightings were just getting started.
The Mothman Prophecies was dedicated “To Mary Hyre and the People of West Virginia.” Here’s an earlier, longer draft (back when the working title was still The Year of the Garuda).
On a starlit hilltop in West Virginia Mary Hyre asked: “What does it all mean? What could I write about it?” “It’s too soon to write about it,” I replied. “Nobody would believe you anyway.” “Well, maybe someday we’ll know. And maybe someday somebody will be ready to believe it.”
For Mary Hyre, who asked many of the questions in this book but left us before we had the answers.
A number of drawings based on this sketch have been circulated; but Scarberry’s own version is less familiar. This is from a photocopy in John’s files.
It’s time for the Mothman Festival! The annual festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, will take place on September 18 and 19. There will be speakers, music, vendors, and all sorts of things. Take a look at www.mothmanfestival.com; and at www.mothmanlives.com and www.mothmanmuseum.com. And all hats off to Jeff Wamsley for organizing it!
And here, for the curious, is a notice about the first Mothman Congress, organized by Gray Barker back in 1968 (from Saucer News, #73, Fall/Winter 1968/69).
The movie of The Mothman Prophecies inspired many new editions of the book. Not only was it republished in the US and the UK; it was translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, and other languages. John was particularly amused by the Bulgarian edition; “I’m very big in Bulgaria,” he liked to say.
Most of them were simply translations of the text; some included a few film stills. The French edition (Presses du Châtelet, 2002) was more ambitious: it was the first volume of a projected Bibliothèque des prodiges (Library of Wonders) that intended to “do for occultism and ‘pseudo-science’ what others had done previously for erotica: to confer upon them the status of a literary genre, and to recognize their place in our cultural history.” It was a promising idea, but short-lived: the second and last entry in the series was Gray Barker’s They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers.
The French title is La Prophétie des Ombres (The Shadow Prophecy). The literal translation — Les Prophéties de l’Homme-Phalène — would have been cumbersome, to say the least.
The translation (by Benjamin Legrand) seems fine to me, but what makes this edition noteworthy is the critical apparatus added by the editor of the series, Pierre Lagrange. It comprises a 19-page foreword, 40 pages of notes, a 9-page bibliography (by George Eberhart), and a 9-page index. The notes add much supplemental material on the many ufological personalities that pass through the book, and provide French readers with a thumbnail guide to the colorful UFO scene of the time. Lagrange’s bio describes him as “a sociologist of the sciences, specializing in the study of controversies about the paranormal, and a researcher associated with the Laboratory of Anthropology and History, Institute of Culture.” He’s published “numerous academic articles,” and two histories of ufological controversies.
I summarized the foreword for John, who didn’t speak French, and was naturally curious about it. He liked it so much that he wanted to use it as the introduction to his last book, The Best of John Keel. This idea didn’t pan out, for a number of reasons: it was too long, he didn’t have the rights to it, and didn’t know how to contact Lagrange, to name a few. It’s worth reading; it’s a perceptive study of John’s ideas, particularly in The Mothman Prophecies and The Eighth Tower, and of his relations with the rest of ufology. And it ends with a glimpse of what it was like to try to set up an appointment with John (here in my translation):
“In fact, I haven’t told you under what circumstances I made the acquaintance of John Keel. In 1987, my laboratory sent me to the United States to inquire about UFO enthusiasts. I wanted to meet Keel. When I announced my intentions to ufologists in Paris, they looked at me in astonishmant, and told me that Keel had died. Unhappy news! But, according to other sources, he was indeed still alive. When I arrived in New York, I tried to call him. He was not at home, so I left a message on his machine. No news. I called again, and this time found him at home. He explained that he had called my number, and spoken to a woman who had promised to give me the message. But there was no woman in the apartment where I was staying. “Well, well, that’s curious,” remarked Keel, who insisted on asking for the details of this event, which he found extremely strange. I told him that he must have dialed a wrong number, but he denied this, and claimed that the person seemed to know me. I ignored this event, which, to me, was not one, and proposed a meeting.”
For eight years now, Point Pleasant has produced an annual Mothman Festival. You can admire the Mothman statue, visit the Mothman Museum, go on the Hayride and Bus Tour, stuff yourself in the Pancake Eating Contest, admire the contestants in the Miss Mothman Pageant, and listen to local bands — there’s even one called Mothman. And I hear from the organizer, Jeff Wamsley, that the museum has acquired the white suit that John wore to the unveiling of the statue.
This year’s festival takes place on September 19 and 20; read all about it at the Mothman Lives site.
Here are five more definitions for you to contemplate. The inclusion of the Romani may seem out of place in this context, but some ufologists have linked them with UFOs, and John noted reports of “Gypsies” in Point Pleasant in the ’60s (in Chapter 12 of The Mothman Prophecies). Hydrogen sulfide is reported in many paranormal experiences; I don’t know what part fluorine plays here. “Swamp gas” was J. Allen Hynek’s controversial explanation for some UFO sightings in 1966. And lastly, John defines “God” for you! God, after all, drives a flying saucer.
I now turn to a file that John called “Jessup-Allende.” It contains a number of documents about the so-called “Philadelphia Experiment.” I assume anyone who reads this site is familiar with the subject, but if not, the Wikipedia article provides the basic background. John’s file contains correspondence with Gray Barker about Morris K. Jessup and the “Varo Edition,” Barker’s own correspondence with several institutions about Jessup, and John’s correspondence with Carl M. Allen (aka Carlos Allende). (I posted a page of it here several years ago, but there’s much more.)
This letter to Gray Barker (March 20, 1968) also touches on reports of Men In Black and on Barker’s upcoming book on Mothman. The book, The Silver Bridge, became more novel than report; at any rate, here John offers to help Barker with it.
Back in 2002, I interviewed John for the Fortean Times, for a special issue prompted by the film adaptation of The Mothman Prophecies. To make the occasion more convivial, I invited John’s old friend George Kuchar and my girlfriend Mamie Caton, since John liked both of them (and who didn’t?). The issue in question was #156, March 2002 in the UK and April 2002 in the US.
A couple of corrections to the bibliography: the correct title for Two Women is Three Women; Kiss My Gun was never published; Bed of Nails was the original title for Three Women; The Hoodwinkers never got beyond the proposal stage; Pattern for Adventure was the original title for Jadoo. John’s memory was never particularly reliable. I’ve never seen a copy of How to Build an Atom Bomb in Your Basement, although John repeatedly mentioned it, and even cited it in one of his columns for Fate. It may have been a joke, in which case I hope it’s included in all lists of his books.
Please click on the images below to make them larger and more legible.
