John A. Keel, R.I.P.

I just found out that John A. Keel, best known to the masses as the guy behind the whole Mothman mythos, left this mortal coil on July 3rd and has moved on to his next level of research. Shine on, you crazy synthetic cubic zirconia.

Wikipedia quotes Keel as saying he is not a ufologist, then goes on to call him a ufologist. Typical. But they do give some good background on his pre-Mothman doings:

John Keel's first published story was in a magician's magazine at the age of 12. He later moved to Greenwich Village and wrote for various magazines. His first published book was Jadoo in 1957 that was serialised in a men's adventure magazine. The book is his account of his travels to India to investigate the alleged activities of fakirs and holy men who perform the Indian rope trick and who survive being buried alive.

Influenced by writers such as Charles Fort, Ivan Sanderson, and Aimé Michel, in early 1966, John Keel commenced a full-time investigation of UFOs and paranormal phenomena. Over a four-year period, Keel interviewed thousands of people in over twenty U.S. states. More than 2,000 books were reviewed in the course of this investigation, in addition to thousands of magazines, newsletters, and newspapers. Keel also subscribed to several newspaper-clipping services, which often generated up to 150 clippings for a single day during the 1966 and 1967 UFO "wave". Keel wrote for several magazines including Saga with one 1967 article, UFO Agents of Terror, referring to the Men in Black.

Springheeled Jack

The legend of Springheel Jack, or Spring-Heeled Jack, began in England when reports began to surface about sightings of a strange humanoid creature with batlike wings, small pointy horns or ears, a black leathery flowing cape, and an ability to jump and bounce like a kangaroo on steroids. That may sound somewhat ludicrous to readers today, and yet over a century ago thousands of people in England were completely convinced Jack was real.

And I'm not saying he wasn't.

Spring-heeled Jack was so named for his ability to leap great distances in a single bound, a feat testified to by many sane and sober sworn witnesses of the day. Even the British Army took the notion completely seriously and issued warnings about him after he was allegedly spotted defying the laws of physics by leaping from the ground to the rooftop of one of their sentry guntower posts in 1870.

At the time I wrote the Weird Kentucky book I'd relied on a source that said 1837 was when the Jack reports began, but since then I've read another source that recounts an 1808 letter to the Sheffield Times, telling of Jack sightings from many years prior. This puts the earliest days of the legend of Spring-heel Jack firmly into the 18th century.


Many believe that Jack, if real, somehow made his way to America and came to Kentucky. Researcher Jim Brandon tells of reports from July 28, 1880 of a "tall and thin weirdo" appearing out of nowhere and terrorizing citizens of the "Old Louisville" section of downtown Louisvile (which wasn't so old then).

Reportedly this Kentucky Jack caused chaos in the streets with his high-jumping antics, and tore clothing from random females. Eyewitnesses described his superhuman ability to jump impossible distances and heights, evading capture by leaping over horse-drawn carriages and onto roofs. This Jack was described as wearing a cape and a helmet, and having an eerie glowing light emanating from his chest.

We can also deduce that this Jack appeared in outlying farm country - probably in the direction of Butchertown - because one of the sightings mentions him jumping over haystacks, and then vanishing behind one.

Spring-heel Jack may well be the template from which sprung a number of bogeymen popular in our collective unconscious today: the reports sound as if they're describing Batman to a T, and some have also compared the phenomena to the Mothman. The whole idea of "Jack the Ripper", including the name, may also have been inspired by the Springheeled Jack stories.


Turn to page 58 in your copy of Weird Kentucky.

Nicosia's Roadside Weirdness

Those of you who've followed Nicosia's posts here may or may not be aware that she has a terrific blog of her own called Roadside Weirdness. Although primarily Kentucky-related material, she also ventures to other states and takes photos wherever her camera leads her - including such interesting places as the Mothman Museum in West Virginia. She's also an aficionado of cool and crazy eateries, such as the defunct Kuntry Kitchen in Jeffersontown, KY and the still-thriving Hillbilly Hot Dogs in Lesage, WV.

Mothman Sighting in Russell

These two photographs have been circulating the net for several months now, and are alleged to be a Mothman sighting on a bridge connecting Russell, KY and Ironton, OH.

I'm not buying it, for several reasons; not the least of which is that I just don't believe in the "Mothman" in the first place. I'm also troubled by the fact that the two jpgs are small and of different sizes (where are the originals?). And it sure is a coincidence that the Mothman is seen clinging to a bridge on the Ohio River, just as in its original alleged 1966 sighting. The photos are claimed to have been taken in the evening near dusk, yet the second photo of the "Mothman" leaving shows a considerably lighter sky - indicating that the photos were taken in the morning as the sun is rapidly rising.

Finally, the story that the couple who took these photos claim to have seen its red eyes glowing - even from that huge distance - is just plain silly.