This week on In Other News, we discuss the life of author John Keel. Many listeners may remember the film, The Mothman Prophecies, released in 2002. It was based on the 1975 nonfiction book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel. The film stars Richard Gere as John Klein, a reporter who researches the legend of the Mothman. It is based on actual events that occurred between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It may come as no surprise that the film is loosely based on his book. The book combines Keel’s account of his investigation into alleged sightings of a large, winged creature called Mothman in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, during 1966 and 1967 with his own theories about UFOs and various supernatural phenomena. John Keel passed away in July of 2009, he was the author of many books including Jadoo, UFOs Operation Trojan Horse, Strange Creatures From Time and Space, Our Haunted Planet , The Mothman Prophecies, The Eighth Tower and Disneyland of the Gods. As a child in upstate New York, he was an avid reader, devouring books on magic, humor, science, travel and aviation. By 17 he hitch hiked to Manhattan to Greenwich Village, became an associate editor of poetry magazine and a weekly newspaper. We follow his life through his career as a writer of early TV scripts, classic fiction and up to his investigative work into UFOs, and the paranormal.
Guest – Forteans Doug Skinner and Anthony Matt, documentary filmmaker, 3D photographer. Doug is a musician, actor and writer. He runs the website JohnKeel.com and that’s where you can go back in time, and view rare photos, rare photos of John Keel and friends, and also read about John Keel’s life.