THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES

By: Chris Wyatt
Date: Friday, January 25, 2002

The filmmakers that converted John Keel's non-fiction book THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES into a Richard Gere movie were very liberal when adapting the material. If you're looking for a print version of the story you've seen on the screen, don't bother picking this up. If, on the other hand, you're interested in the stories behind the legend, you might want to give this book a chance.

If you do explore Keel's original work, though, be prepared to encounter one of the most lunatic reading experiences ever. For the first hundred pages, Keel does little more than parade out an endless supply of "real life" UFO witness accounts. He then links these reports with sightings of a mysterious man-like bird-creature, with red eyes and leathery bat wings.

And boy, has Keel found a lot of witnesses. He's got old men, little girls, country bumpkins, big city types - even a dog witness, who was later found dead on the side of the road. Yes, many of these experiences are redundant, but Keel just keeps presenting case study after case study, all under the guise of "corroborating evidence." This way Keel hopes to present himself as a dispassionate scientist.

The author would like us to believe that he's a born skeptic who's been forced into accepting the truth of UFO phenomena only because of the sheer mountain of hard evidence. At one point he even refers to himself as "a black-suited exorcist...[who] wave[s] the golden cross of science." He also writes that, in his line of inquiry, "belief is the enemy." It's telling that, when trying to describe his "scientific nature," Keel is forced to use words like "exorcist", "cross" and "belief." In reality, Keel is far from objective. He relates each and every alien encounter with a vim that could only be born in the mind of a True Believer.

To further affect an air of logical methodology, Keel occasionally footnotes his chapters to cite his sources. The effort is only half-hearted, however, as he tends to only refer to obscure journals such as "The Canadian UFO report." However, Keel feels no need to supply references when he makes statements like: "That unidentified flying objects have been present since the dawn of time is an undeniable fact [emphasis added]."

Keel's pseudo-science knows no boundaries. At one point the author recounts the Native American myth of the Firebird, implying that the myth is an ancient Mothman sighting. "The Thunderbird," he states, "[was] a huge bird said to carry off children and old people. It was accompanied by loud noises, hums, buzzes and, apparently, rumbles from the infrasonic and ultrasonic levels." Keel must be a cunning scientist indeed to be able to listen to a local legend, and from that deduce the existence of "infrasonic" beams. His theory is a strong one; all it lacks is evidence of any kind, whatsoever.


Intentionally or not, Keel's campy book winds up being wildly entertaining. The tales of the awkward "Men in Black" questioning Mothman witnesses are particularly enjoyable. And the central supernatural figure, named Indrid Cold, far from being the haunting creature of the film, is a great little character who's always making the most interesting observations. He informs us, for example, that where he comes from, cities are called "gatherings." If so, I wonder what they call gatherings.

In the end, Keel's breezy writing style and imaginative anecdotes are a lot of fun. It's hard to put the book down once you get drawn into the author's faux intellectual mindset. If you take it all with a grain of salt, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES could make a good beach read.

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES

Grade: As Non-Fiction: F; As Entertainment: B

Author(s): John Keel

Publisher:  Tor Books

Price: $6.99