April 19, 2008
John A. Keel was a significant author of works in Forteana, cryptozoology, and ufology in the 1960s and 1970s. His Strange Creatures from Time and Space and The Mothman Prophecies, as well as his numerous articles in magazines, influenced other writers, researchers, and the general public.
After the Mothman book-inspired movie appeared in 2002, interest in Keel resurfaced, briefly. His declining health, few public lectures, and then heart attack, created less attention to Keel than might have been expected.
I was wondering how Cryptomundians consider his impact, legacy, and import today? What place do you think Keel with have in future histories of cryptozoology vs ufology? Are there some in the new generation of cryptozoologists who don’t even know Keel?
Just pondering such matters this morning, for some reason.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Books, Conspiracies, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Men in Cryptozoology, Mothman, Movie Monsters, Pop Culture, Public Forum, Reviews, Twilight Language