Alternate Perceptions Magazine, March 2020
A letter dated November 23, 1970, from John Keel, discussing the Men In Black
A letter dated November 23, 1970, from John Keel, discussing the Men In Black. His reference to the “new SAUCERITIS” is in regards to a mimeographed magazine I used to publish back then when I was still a teenaged lad. Here’s the letter:
Dear Brent,
Thanks for the new SAUCERITIS. Contains much interesting stuff.
Back in 1966 I was amazed when I came across a case in which Catholic priests advised a witness to be silent. I even confronted the priests in question and they told me some things that flabbergasted me. I thought they were nuts. Since then I have come across this again and again, and have even interviewed priests who were in hiding, fearing for their lives. But if I ever brought this out in print I would be accused of all sorts of nonsense. Similarly, I discovered cases in which real gypsies were the MIB culprits. A friend of mine, a social worker, worked with a gypsy tribe in New York and learned some truly astounding things. I did a long chapter on gypsies for Operation Trojan Horse but, alas, it was one of the things that had to be deleted because there wasn’t space. Ivan [Sanderson] has also written about gypsies in his UNINVITED VISITORS. We’ve discussed the matter a number of times. And if you wade into the more authentic books on gypsies you will learn even more amazing things about them. So I was quite intrigued when one clipping about Crisman mentioned that he was “working with gypsies.”
‘Tis a tangled web they weave. Small wonder that so few people have been able to deal with it effectively.
History is crammed with MIB-type manifestations. A band of “phantom Indians” attacked the colony in Gloucester, Mass. In 1692. MIB apparitions are a classic and traditional offshoot of witchcraft and black magic. That lore is filled with reports of MIB incidents. Even the fascinating details of the events following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln are loaded with MIB material. Read the transcript of the trial of John Surrat (one of the ten conspirators). It’ll curl your hair. As with all aspects of this business, we are dealing with two things: the real and the unreal. The material and the hallucinatory. There are doppelgangers (did you ever read The Other Oswald by Popkin?). There are phantom cars and phantom planes. There are marvelous mimics who can imitate any voice on the telephone. It is all so damned unbelievable that most people finally throw up their hands and quit the whole business.
It may be vain to hope that we can ever pin everything down and make something rational of it.
Best…John A. Keel
