![]() First edition | |
Author | John Keel |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Nonfiction |
Publisher | Saturday Review Press |
Publication date | 1975 |
Media type | |
Pages | 269 |
ISBN | 0-8415-0355-9 |
The Mothman Prophecies is a 1975 book by John Keel. [1]
The book relates Keel's accounts of his investigation into alleged sightings of a large, winged creature known as Mothman in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, during 1966 and 1967. [2] It combines these accounts with his theories about UFOs and various supernatural phenomena, ultimately connecting them to the collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River on December 15, 1967. Official investigations in 1971 determined the bridge collapse was caused by stress corrosion cracking in an eyebar in a suspension chain. [3]
Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book featured Keel's theories that "ultraterrestrials" use some form of psychic power to create hallucinations such as Mothman and UFOs. [4]
In the May/June 2002 issue of Skeptical Inquirer , journalist John C. Sherwood, a former business associate of UFO researcher Gray Barker, published an analysis of private letters between Keel and Barker during the period of Keel's investigation. In the article, "Gray Barker's Book of Bunk," Sherwood reported finding significant differences between what Keel wrote at the time of his investigation and what he wrote in his first book about the Mothman reports, raising questions about the book's accuracy. Sherwood also reported that Keel, who was well known for writing humorous and outrageous letters to friends and associates, would not assist him in clarifying the differences. [5]
The Mothman Prophecies was the inspiration for the 2002 film of the same name, starring Richard Gere.
In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in black suits, who question, interrogate, harass, threaten, allegedly memory-wipe or sometimes even assassinate unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have seen. The term is also frequently used to describe mysterious men working for unknown organizations, as well as various branches of government allegedly tasked with protecting secrets or performing other strange activities.
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John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle, was an American journalist and influential ufologist who is best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.
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The Flatwoods monster, in West Virginia folklore, is a creature reported to have been sighted in the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States, on September 12, 1952, after a bright light crossed the night sky. Over 50 years later, investigators suggest the light was a meteor and the creature was a barn owl perched in a tree with shadows making it appear to be a large humanoid.
The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 American supernatural horror-mystery film directed by Mark Pellington, and starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney. Based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel, the screenplay was written by Richard Hatem.
The Lonnie Zamora incident was an alleged UFO sighting that occurred on April 24, 1964 near Socorro, New Mexico when Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora claimed he saw two people beside a shiny object that later rose into the air accompanied by a roaring flame. Zamora's claims were subject to attention from news media, UFO investigators and UFO organizations, and the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book listed the case as "unknown". Conventional explanations of Zamora's claims include a lunar lander test by White Sands Missile Range and a hoax by New Mexico Tech students.
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Sci Fi Investigates is a six episode reality television series featuring skeptic Rob Mariano, forensic specialist Deborah Dobrydney, archaeologist Bill Doleman, and paranormal investigator Richard Dolan, as they look at paranormal and supernatural phenomenon and try to explain them. The show debuted in October 2006 on the American SyFy channel following Ghost Hunters. There have also been two webisodes.
James Willett Moseley was an American observer, author, and commentator on the subject of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Over his nearly sixty-year career, he exposed UFO hoaxes and engineered hoaxes of his own. He was best known as the publisher of the UFO newsletters Saucer News and its successor Saucer Smear, which became the longest continuously published UFO journal in the world.
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In West Virginian folklore, the Mothman is a humanoid creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register, dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something". The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States. The source of the legend is believed to have originated from sightings of out-of-migration sandhill cranes or herons.
Albert K. Bender, author of the 1962 nonfiction book Flying Saucers and the Three Men, was a ufologist. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He was obsessed with the UFO phenomenon and became a UFO researcher, founding the International Flying Saucer Bureau. In 1965, he founded the Max Steiner Music Society.
They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers is a 1956 book by paranormal author Gray Barker. It was the first book to allege that "Men in Black" were covering up the existence of flying saucers.