John Keel - Biography

Biography

Keel was born in Hornell, New York, and had his first story published in a magicians' magazine at age 12. He later worked as a freelance contributor to newspapers, scriptwriter for local radio and television outlets, and author of pulp articles such as "Are You A Repressed Sex Fiend?". He served in the US Army during the Korean War on the staff of the American Forces Network at Frankfurt, Germany. After leaving the military he worked as a foreign radio correspondent in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Egypt. In 1957, he published Jadoo, a book describing his time in Egypt and India investigating the Indian rope trick and the legendary yeti. In 1966 he produced the "spy and superhero" spoof novel The Fickle Finger of Fate. Influenced by writers such as Charles Fort, he began contributing articles to Flying Saucer Review and took up investigating UFOs and assorted Forteana as a full time pursuit. Keel analyzed what he called "windows" and "waves" of reported UFO events, concluding that a disproportionate number occurred on Wednesdays. A member of the Screenwriters Guild, Keel reportedly wrote scripts for Get Smart, The Monkees, Mack and Meyer For Hire, and Lost In Space.

In 1967, Keel popularized the term "Men In Black" in an article for the men's adventure magazine Saga, entitled "UFO Agents of Terror". According to Keel, he initially sought to explain UFOs as extraterrestrial visitations, but later abandoned this hypothesis. His third book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse published in 1970, linked UFOs to supernatural concepts such as monsters, ghosts and demons. In Our Haunted Planet published in 1971, Keel coined the term "ultraterrestrials" to describe UFO occupants he believed to be shape-changing, non-human entities.

His 1975 book, The Mothman Prophecies was Keel's account of his investigation into alleged sightings in West Virginia of a huge, winged creature called the "Mothman." The book combines Keel's account of receiving strange phone calls with reports of mutilated pets and culminates with the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River. The book was widely popularized as the basis of a 2002 film of the same name starring Richard Gere.

Prolific and imaginative, Keel was considered a significant influence within the UFO and Fortean genre.

He died on July 3, 2009 in New York City, at the age of 79.