Freely based on a true story

John Keel used to be a well known investigator of the paranormal, an investigator of the non-sceptical variety. "The Mothman Prophecies" is his most famous work.

The book has been marketed as the scariest thing ever written, but is actually quite bland compared to the accounts of alien abductions and 2012 apocalypses littering the bookstalls these days. But then, it was originally published in 1975.

Personally, I consider the book to be a major disappointment. Keel comes across as paranoid, a kind of real life Fox Moulder. A mysterious dwarf with an eerie alien voice comes looking for him in West Virginia. The alien dwarf calls Keel in New York. Then, the phone just goes BEEP-BEEP-BEEP. The phone company can find no explanation. And so on. The whole thing is connected to sightings of "mothmen" in the small town of Point Pleasant in West Virginia (where else?). Does somebody want to scare him from continuing the investigation? The book contains no real answers, and ends abruptly when the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant collapses, killing 46 people. At that point, Keel is so paranoid and crazy, that he essentially collapses in front of his TV. There, the story ends.

Unless I'm mistaken, Sceptical Enquirer actually named the mysterious dwarf some years ago. The dwarf was a real person, some kind of practical joker and circus artist who knew Keel personally. Apparently, this very real human being was responsible for many of the "paranormal" phenomena detailed by Keel. He drove poor John mad. Of course, Mr. Dwarf couldn't have been behind the mothmen or the collapse of the Silver Bridge.

SO WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE MIGHT BE LURKING OUT THERE...

Last time I heard about Keel was during the 1990's. I believe he was interviewed by Strange Magazine, claiming that the UFO phenomenon was intrinsically EVIL. We have been warned.

Incidentally, the movie "The Mothman Prophecies" has only the flimsiest connection to the book. I suppose that's what Hollywood calls "freely based on a true story".