Searching For the String: Selected Writings of John A. Keel

303 Pages·2014·1.99 MB·English

by  John A. Keel

SEARCHING FOR THE STRING
SEARCHING FOR THE STRING
SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN A. KEEL
EDITED BY ANDY COLVIN
METADISC PRODUCTIONS, SEATTLE
NEW SAUCERIAN BOOKS, POINT PLEASANT, WEST VIRGINIA
Books by John A. Keel
Jadoo!
Operation Trojan Horse
Strange Creatures From Time and Space
Our Haunted Planet
The Mothman Prophecies
The Eighth Tower
Strange Mutants From the 21st Century
Disneyland of the Gods
The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings
The Best of John Keel
Flying Saucer To the Center of Your Mind
The Outer Limits of the Twilight Zone
Searching For The String
Searching For the String: Selected Writings of John A. Keel ISBN-13: 978-
1499132120
ISBN-10: 1499132123
© 2014 New Saucerian Books – Point Pleasant, West Virginia PUBLISHED BY:
Metadisc Productions and New Saucerian Books FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION:
“Garuda Rope Trick” by E.E. Parker and Andy Colvin BACK COVER
ILLUSTRATION: Self-Portrait in Photo Booth by John Keel, New York City, 1966
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
“The Man From Twenty-Nine Palms”
EDITOR’S NOTES
CHAPTER 1
The “Flap” Phenomenon in the United States – New York Fortean Society Press, 1969
Analyzing The Flaps
The Flaps Of The 1950s
The Flaps of 1966
The UFOs Nobody Talks About: Deadly Fireballs in the Sky
The Overview
CHAPTER 2
Astronauts Report UFOs in Outer Space – Flying Saucers’ UFO Reports #4, 1967
CHAPTER 3
The Strange Case of the Pregnant Woman – Unpublished, October 1967
Aftermath
CHAPTER 4
UFOs: 30 Years of Investigation – Saga Magazine, December 1976
Unidentified Former Humans: 3000 Years of Investigation
CHAPTER 5
Are UFOs Using the Earth For a Garbage Dump? – UFO Reports #4 – 1967
CHAPTER 6
West Virginia’s Enigmatic “Bird” – Flying Saucer Review, July 1968
CHAPTER 7
An Unusual Contact Claim From Ohio – Flying Saucer Review, 1968
A New Approach to UFO Witnesses
Is the “Electromagnetic Effect” a Myth?
CHAPTER 8
Problems of Identity: The Aliens Among Us – SAGA’s UFO Report, November 1977
Problems of Etymology: Ufology Terminology
Problems of Methodology: UFOs in 1952
Problems of Distortion and Distention: The Time Cycle Factor
CHAPTER 9
The Man Who Invented Flying Saucers – Whole Earth Review, 1986
CHAPTER 10
A “Devil’s Triangle” in Idaho? – Saga’s UFO Annual, 1977
CHAPTER 11
The Night the Sky Turned On – Fate magazine, September 1967
CHAPTER 12
This American Town is UFO Target No. 1 – Male magazine, March 1970
CHAPTER 13
The Flying Saucer Subculture – The Journal of Popular Culture, Spring 1975
CHAPTER 14
Our Skies Are Filled With Junk – Fate Magazine – March 1969
CHAPTER 15
22 UFO Sightings Hushed Up: Is This Flying Saucer “D-Day?” – Male magazine, December 1970
CHAPTER 16
Flap Dates, Kidnappings, and Secret Bases – New Report on Flying Saucers #2, 1967
CHAPTER 17
Were Flying Saucers Here Before Man? – Argosy magazine, 1977
Close Encounters of the Religious Kind
CHAPTER 18
The Principle of Transmogrification – Flying Saucer Review, 1969
The Superior Technology
The Glendale, California, Contact Claim
CHAPTER 19
The Cosmic Blog – Letters To and From John A. Keel (JAK) CHAPTER 20
Mothman & Other Curious Conspiracies – Pt. Pleasant, WV – 2003
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INTRODUCTION
“THE MAN FROM TWENTY-NINE PALMS”
I had returned to my hotel room near Giant Rock, California, and had closed the
door, when I heard a knock. I repressed a gasp of pleasure at seeing John Keel
standing there...
Then I realized that it wasn’t really he, but an almost perfect image of my friend.
“You look so much like John Keel,” I said, “that you could pass as John Keel’s
brother!”
“As a matter of fact, I am,” he replied. As I tried to recover from the surprise, he
continued:
Nobody knows this, but John and I are identical twins. If I weren’t
slightly balding, you’d swear I was John himself. I guess that might
be all right if I were he; I suppose he leads a pretty exciting life.
He explained why he had knocked. He had stopped at Twenty-Nine Palms not
because of the 1970 flying saucer convention at Giant Rock, but for other
reasons. He lived in Anaheim and was on his way north to attend an antique car
show – which explained the glistening, like new, 1950s Buick that was parked
near the motel office. “Then, you aren’t interested in UFOs like your brother
John?”
I very definitely am. I read all of John’s stuff. He sends me all of it. I
also follow the subject in the papers, and occasionally buy a
paperback about it. Oh, I must tell you why I happened to look you
up. The desk clerk was looking at one of the magazines you gave
him, and I noticed one of John’s articles in it. He gave me your room
number. I remembered you from talking with John about his
investigations in West Virginia.
I couldn’t get over the amazing resemblance of Edgar Keel to John Keel,
although the manner of speech was quite different. He talked much faster than
John and had an odd, “singsong” tonal quality. He said he worked for the U.S.
Department of the Interior… I tried to pick his mind about John, who, although
quite well known for his UFO investigations and writing, was still a rather
quite well known for his UFO investigations and writing, was still a rather
mysterious figure, particularly in reference to his personal life. John lived in
semi-isolation, either without a phone or with an unlisted number, and hinted
that he was in other work besides writing.
I’d rather let John tell you about his many other activities that those
of you in UFO investigation never dream of. Suffice it to say that
John writes on very many other subjects, under another name that
you would be very familiar with if I mentioned it. And I might also
add that he holds down a very important regular job that he doesn’t
publicize.
He handed me some typewritten pages. “Anyhow, I must go, but you might be
interested in this. I think this is a very good example of UFO sightings that may
contain some validity. In fact, it’s my favorite of all the reports I have read in
some time.” With this he departed, and avoided shaking hands (as when he first
greeted me) by a quick, nervous wave of his right arm toward his hat, which
seemed to be in perfect adjustment.
Then I glanced at the report, closed the door, and sat down to read it. I couldn’t
help being curious about the sheets themselves. They appeared to be photocopies
of typewriting, but with a very odd difference. The sheets seemed to be
reproduced in color, for a spelling correction showed up in blue ink. One of the
sheets had reproduced a cigarette burn on the original, with a distinct brown
color around the burn. The 3-M Company had developed a color photocopier
around that time, although it was not on the market in 1970. The new machine,
which carries a very high price tag, is sold mainly for industrial and military
applications…
The report concerned an unidentified farmer of Walsh, IL, who would not give
his name for fear of ridicule. On October 5, the farmer was ready to milk his
cows when he noticed that the animals were agitated and extremely frightened.
He looked all around for some cause of the commotion, but noted nothing
abnormal. Then he saw one of them looking at the sky, and discovered a cloud-
like object beaming a light toward the ground. Suddenly, another beam of light
from the mysterious object shifted in his direction and enveloped him. “I felt a
tingling sensation come over me, which I could not explain,” the report quoted
him. “While standing there in that circle of light, it just seemed as if I couldn’t
move. I wasn’t exactly frightened in the usual sense, just sort of stunned, I
suppose.” Then the light went out, and the mysterious object disappeared at the
same moment. Finding he could move again, and feeling normal, he turned his
same moment. Finding he could move again, and feeling normal, he turned his
thoughts to the cows. It was then that he noted probably what was the most
unusual facet of the incident: all five cows were on the wrong side of the barbed
wire fence! Even in extreme fright, it seemed impossible for them to have
jumped it…
After pondering John Keel’s strange “double” (somehow I couldn’t buy the
“twin-brother” bit), I immediately called Keel, who made the following
comments:
I was an only child, Gray. I have no brother named Edgar, and no
sister named Mary (a mysterious “Mary Keel” has figured in a
number of UFO episodes). Aside from the doppelgangers described
in my book The Mothman Prophecies, two flesh-and-blood replicas
have turned up over the years. One – a dead ringer for me – used to
work in Greenwich Village as a waiter. Friends who saw him
reacted, “My God! Poor Keel is slinging hash!” The other appeared
in a news photo published several years ago. It showed a crowd of
people in a subway after an accident; a man in the front of the crowd
looked exactly like me. A friend of mine cut the picture out and
carried it in his wallet for a long time, believing it was a photo of me.
Before I could reply, some beeping sounds, and then a series of clicks,
temporarily interrupted our conversation. “There’s the Silence Group again,” I
joked. I was tired, but I decided to take the ufological bull by the horns and bring
up a remark that Jim Moseley had made.
“Frankly, John,” I began, “Jim and I had a long talk about you. He had one
impression about you, which I also get. You are a better researcher than us, and a
highly talented writer, and you have covered a lot of ground in the UFO field in
a short time. But I somehow feel you have some theories or some information
that you’re holding back from all of us. Now, I presume you’re writing a book,
and I probably will write one, too, about the Mothman cases and all the
incredible Ohio Valley incidents. I know if you have something really new and
fresh, you wouldn’t want to blow it in front of some other writer or editor…”
I asked him point-blank how he had learned so much in so little time.
“Simple,” he explained. “I employed a particular discipline that not too many
people have. I simply read practically every UFO book ever published – and
you, as an editor and publisher, know that’s pretty rough medicine. Some of the