John A. Keel
Lou Gentile
The beliefs of John Keel and Lou Gentile, two high-profile US investigators of the paranormal who died in recent weeks, suggest that reality is far more bizarre than most of us dare imagine. And demonology, in various guises, was central to those beliefs.
To many people, John Keel was simply a UFO researcher or ufologist. That may have been true at the start of this highly competent investigative journalist’s quest, but while others readily subscribed to the extraterrestrial hypothesis to explain UFO sightings, Keel soon took a very different approach.
For him, there were too many puzzling aspects of UFO reports, such as associated sightings of strange creatures, to accept the simplistic view of aliens in space ships.
Instead, Keel concluded that UFOs and the creatures that sometimes seemed to be associated with them, emanated from somewhere closer to home: another dimension which occasionally interacted with our physical world.
It was possibly a strange, nether world peopled by demons and other strange creatures, including Mothman – the subject of Keel’s 1975 study The Mothman Prophecies which was made into a movie in 2002. It was a theme he explored in some of his other books, including Our Haunted Planet and The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings. It was Keel who also coined the phrase “Men In Black” to describe the strange visitors who reportedly attempted to silence UFO investigators.
A follower of Charles Fort, the collector of oddities, Keel (real name Alva John Kiehle) preferred to be described as a Fortean rather than a ufologist, and came to the conclusion that UFO-like objects and apparitions “do not necessarily originate on another planet and may not even exist as permanent constructions of matter. It is more likely that we see what we want to see and interpret such visions according to our contemporary beliefs.”
But Keel, who died in New York on 3 July, at the age of 79, also declared: “Ufology is just another name for demonology.”
Excellent overviews of his contribution to our understanding of UFO-related phenomena and the paranormal can be found in obituaries in The Daily Telegraph and also on Cryptomundo.
Lou Gentile’s passing at the age of 40 in Philadelphia, six days before Keel, has not been as widely reported, but in his own way he did much to promote the paranormal and, in particular, a belief in demons. An active investigator who helped those troubled by hauntings or possession, he also ran The Lou Gentile Show, originally a radio broadcast but more recently an online subscription service.
Despite the fact that he was losing his battle with cancer, Lou continued working on various cases, as well as writing a book about his investigations and working with a British TV network on an in-depth documentary on paranormal activity.
I first wrote about this self-styled “lay demonologist” in 2006 after it was announced that he had accepted conjuror James Randi’s $1 million challenge to prove paranormal ability. The challenge was lodged on 20 January 2006.
Gentile claimed to be able to produce electronic voice phenomena (EVP) – also known as instrumental trans-communication (ITC) – using a digital recorder. These were not, apparently, stray radio communications picked up by the recorder, as sceptics suggested, but voices that could give intelligent responses to questions posed by Gentile.
This claim was never put to the test because, in the first instance, James Randi needed heart bypass surgery and, by the time he had recovered, Gentile was suffered a serious back injury. The claim was then either withdrawn or not pursued.
Gentile’s beliefs and abilities were given a great boost in 2006 when Will Storr vs The Supernatural was published in the UK and a year later in the US. The writer’s own website explains that he didn’t believe in ghosts, adding, “Not, that is, until he is sent on a journalistic assignment to follow Lou Gentile … [and] what Will expects to be a straightforward piece, poking fun at an amusing eccentric, turns into a terrifying nightmare of spectral ghost lights, suburban possession and horrific demonic growling.”
The best feature I have read on Gentile and his work was published in The Philadelphia Weekly. There are also tributes to Lou and a family statement here.
I was intrigued to learn that John Keel took an early interest in paranormal telephony (phone calls from the dead), where spirits appear to communicate electronically, in the days before EVP was well known. During this period of research he found his phone calls being mysteriously re-routed to another number, one digit different to his own, and the person who answered it not only claimed to be called John Keel but also sounded remarkably similar to the author.
Even more intriguing is an experience reported by Will Storr* after publication of his book. He describes it on his website as “so utterly bizarre I still don’t know what to make of it” that he contacted Prof David Fontana, former president of the Society for Psychical Research, to ask his opinion.
Storr explained that the subject of EVP came up during a telephone interview from his work number with a radio station to publicise his book. He began to elaborate on the phenomenon “when this hectoring voice cut in for about 10-15 seconds”. It was difficult to make out what the voice was saying because “it sounded staticy and a little angry”. The interviewer also seemed angry because he thought Storr was playing a prank on him.
A couple of minutes after the interview ended, his work phone rang. “I picked it up and it was the same voice saying the same thing”. After it had finished, the phone went dead.
That’s an experience that would certainly have fascinated both Keel and Gentile.
*Will Storr is currently based in Sydney and won a National Press Club of Australia award for excellence in journalism in August 2008.
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