BRENT RAYNES

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JOHN A. KEEL: THE MAN, THE MYTHS, AND THE ONGOING MYSTERIES

Noted author, investigative journalist John A. Keel (03-25-1930 - 07-03-2009) long had an interest in unique and unusual stories. It was an itch he had to scratch. At an early age, Keel began writing a column called Scraping the Keel for the local weekly newspaper, The Perry Herald in Perry, New York. At age 17, he heeded his calling and with only 75 cents in his pocket he hitchhiked his way to New York City to leave his mark on the literary world and that he did. In 1951, he was drafted into the US Army and ended up working for the American Forces Network in Frankfurt, Germany. 

Over time he became a foreign correspondent in places like Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Egypt. In 1957, he had a book published entitled Jadoo: Mysteries of the Orient. He had made a journey from Egypt through places like India and Tibet, eventually arriving in Singapore. He collected firsthand a lot of stories and ancient folklore including alleged incidents of poltergeists and people with psychic abilities, as well as the legendary Yeti, and in 1954 he sighted a metallic looking domed disc-shaped object hovering over the Aswan Dam at Egypt's Upper Nile region. Years later, back in New York City the famous UFO wave of 1966 erupted. Keel decided it was high time to tackle the UFO enigma. He visited the Pentagon to get their take on the matter.

Wasn't overly impressed with what he was told. He traveled through some 20 states following up on stories firsthand, visiting police stations and newspaper offices along the way, getting many leads. He soon came to recognize that the UFO phenomenon represented something far more complex and anomalous than the ufological mainstream had long maintained. In correspondence with Keel beginning in 1969, I was quite intrigued with his findings and came to seek his advice as to how I might myself best investigate these things in the field as well.

His suggestions did not fall on deaf ears, and I traveled for weeks and months at a time through many different states investigating many strange cases, a full spectrum of anomalous phenomena from close range UFO encounters, landings, contacts, psychical type phenomena, cryptids like Bigfoot, Mothman, and Nessie type things in American waters. Eventually it dawned on me that too many in the UFO field were becoming unfamiliar with John Keel and his contributions to it, and so I decided to not only tell his story but also interview others who, like myself, had become significantly influenced by his pioneering work and discoveries. My book, John A. Keel: The Man, The Myths, and the Ongoing Mysteries (2019) is also the title of my presentation. 

Here's an interview I did with Jeffrey Mishlove on Keel for his New Thinking Allowed: The Legacy of John Keel & The Mothman with Brent Raynes