In this article we will consider the superspectrum theory of John Keel, the founder together with Jacques Vallรฉe of the โnew ufologyโ. We will be concerned essentially with four questions: we will try to highlight the importance and significance of John Keel's personality and work in American ufology; we will present and comment on John Keel's theory of the superspectrum; we will highlight the similarities and differences between Keel's and Vallรฉe's theories; finally we will consider some of the possible applications of the superspectrum theory to phenomena belonging to the mystery dimension.
di Giovanni Pellegrino
Originally posted on the website of NEXUS, on February 15, 2011
In this article we will consider the superspectrum theory of John Keel, the founder together with Jacques Vallรฉe of the โnew ufologyโ. We will be concerned essentially with four questions: first we will try to highlight the importance and significance of John Keel's personality and work in American ufology; secondly we will expound and comment on John Keel's superspectrum theory; thirdly, we will highlight the similarities and differences between Keel's and Vallรฉe's theories; fourthly we will consider some of the possible applications of the superspectrum theory to phenomena belonging to the mystery dimension.
Regarding the importance and significance of the work of John Keel in the context of American ufology we must say that the importance of John Keel's personality and thought is not understandable without referring to the events of American and world ufology in the years immediately preceding his entry into the American UFO scene. author. For this reason we consider it appropriate to briefly expose a part of the history of American ufology so that readers can understand the extent of the great change caused by Keel in American UFO thinking.
Wanting to trace a very schematic history of American ufology, it is essential to highlight that after the period that goes approximately by 1947 to 1957, defined by the American ufologists the "Classical period" of American ufology, a period of crisis ensued which has been defined by historians of American ufology "UFO Middle Ages" or "Dark Age". this Dark Age continuous until 1963. Several reasons that determined this period of crisis have been identified by historians of American ufology: the decrease in the interest of the press for UFO sightings, the decrease in the interest of American public opinion in regard to the UFO phenomenon and also an objective decrease. in that historical period of the number of UFO sightings on the territory of the United States.
Because of these reasons, the community of American ufologists entered into a crisis that seemed to have no way out, above all because the US ufological world realized that ten years of sightings and investigations (1947-1957) had not led, despite the enormous energy lavished by the ufologists with clear and well-defined conclusions regarding the nature and origin of the UFO phenomenon. In fact, even if the great majority of the American UFO world considered UFOs to be alien spaceships, American ufologists could not provide convincing and sure explanations for why UFOs, whether they were friends or hostile to the human race, had not yet made up their minds to establish public contact with the inhabitants of the Earth. The lack of interest of scientists towards the UFO phenomenon contributed significantly to further increase the state of frustration and disappointment of American ufologists. All these reasons that we have now exposed led to the abandonment by many American ufologists of the study of the UFO phenomenon.
In the years that followed 1963, the ufologists who continued to be interested in flying saucers took advantage of the decrease in UFO sightings to ask themselves if behind the crisis in American ufology there were also specific faults of the same ufologists. Therefore, a strong tendency towards self-criticism was established in the US UFO world in order to find a way out of the crisis that seemed irreversible in American Ufology. Undoubtedly, this awareness that behind the US ufology crisis there were also the faults of the ufological community, prompted American ufologists to seek new methods of investigation and above all induced them to engage again in all those activities that could have helped to solve the mystery of UFOs. However, a new crisis hit American ufology in 1968 following the publication of the "Condon Report" who expressed a drastically negative opinion on the UFO phenomenon.
Therefore, after a momentary exit from the crisis period from 1963 to 1968, after the publication of this Report, the American UFO world again entered into a crisis of identity and values. The 1969 was born new ufology as in that year the basic texts of that new ufological current were published at the same time Passport to Magonia by the French-American ufologist Jacques Vallรฉe and the two books by John Keel Creatures from the unknown e UFO Operation Trojan Horse.
In the context of the "new ufology" John Keel undoubtedly played a role of fundamental importance. Before devoting himself totally to the study of the UFO phenomenon, he had dedicated himself as a journalist to investigating the mysterious phenomena. To give a concrete example he he went to Tibet in the 50s to investigate the "yeti" or "the abominable snowman". In the early 60s he decided to devote all his energy to the study of the UFO phenomenon by becoming a full-time ufologist. Keel was in those years absolutely convinced that behind the UFO sightings there were extraterrestrial creatures, which is why the American journalist and ufologist decided to irrefutably demonstrate his belief on the alien origin of UFO sightings.
However, after Keel had toured the United States for about three years to carry out all kinds of investigations into the UFO phenomenon, the American journalist's belief that UFOs were of alien origin began to go into crisis more and more. In particular Keel realized that the hypothesis of the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs was totally unsuitable and insufficient to explain the complexity and breadth of the range of phenomena related to UFOs., since mysterious phenomena that could not be explained starting from the idea that UFOs were alien spaceships also belonged to UFO sightings. Keel began to think that there was a link between a wide range of mysterious phenomena that apparently seemed unrelated to each other.
In summary Keel came to the belief that ufology, tales about fairies, gnomes and elves, sรฉances, paranormal phenomena, encounters with terrifying creatures, stories concerning the wave of airships that occurred in various American states in 1896-1897 as well as the phenomena of poltergeist and at least part of the phenomena connected with the esoteric world were all mysterious phenomena that they recognized their origin in the same unknown reality that manifested itself to men by using from time to time extremely variable and chameleonic staging and disguises. Keel formulated his famous theory of "Trojan horses": according to this theory, UFOs and other phenomena belonging to the dimension of the mystery were nothing more than disguises, "Trojan horses" used by this unknown reality to condition and manipulate the human race since the beginning of the history of mankind. This unknown reality would change in the various historical epochs the way of dressing up to intentionally adapt to the historical, social and cultural context existing in the various historical periods in order to blend in more easily.
To put it another way, Keel argued that this unknown reality today disguised itself as extraterrestrials because we were in the space age while in the Middle Ages this unknown reality took the form of fairies, gnomes and elves because in that historical period this disguise was very credible. At the time of the Romans this unknown reality had taken the form of "clipei ardentes" while in 1896-'97 it had assumed the form of airships. In summary Keel was convinced that this mysterious reality had its own reference system in all historical periods that took into account the socio-cultural climate, beliefs, fears, aspirations, legends that dominated in every historical period.
Keel adopted many of Charles Fort who was convinced that the human race was the property of mysterious entities who considered human beings their property, just as farmers considered cattle their property. In the wake of Charles Fort, Keel advanced the hypothesis that there was an invisible world around human beings that manipulated their beliefs. Even a whole series of mysterious and disturbing creatures such as "the abominable snowman", the Loch Ness monster, the mothman, the vampires, the werewolves, the mysterious inhabitant of the North American forests, were disguises adopted by this unknown reality. to manipulate and condition human beings.
Over time Keel built a very complex and articulate thought system, based on a syncretistic view of mysterious phenomena. The theory developed by Keel can be defined with various adjectives which together can summarize the main characteristics of the American ufologist's thought, a thought that has found its extension and completion in the theory of the superspectrum that we will examine later. This theory was expounded by Keel in 1977 in the book The Eight Tower in which Keel places this unknown reality not in parallel dimensions and universes but in a region of our universe located in a part of the electromagnetic spectrum not perceptible to our senses.
We will now see to list and comment on the adjectives capable of characterizing the UFO thinking system developed by the American ufologist. First we want to highlight that it is not easy to fully understand the importance and value of John Keel's theories and it is also very difficult, perhaps even more so than understanding the meaning of such theories, to try to explain and summarize their scope. . Wanting to be very schematic, we could say that Keel's hypotheses constitute in the universe of mysterious phenomena what the unified field theory constitutes for modern physics. In fact, just as the unified field theory connects physical phenomena as a whole by overcoming the divisions that existed in the past between the various branches of physics, in the same way Keel's paraphysical theory provides the idea that there is a single cause for all mysterious phenomena , considered before Keel clearly distinct and separate (according to the American ufologist the origin of all mysterious phenomena must be sought in the activity and power of the superspectrum).
An adjective that defines Keel's theoretical system very well is the word phenomenal, so much so that Keel very often uses the term "phenomenon" to define both UFO sightings and all the other mysterious and inexplicable facts that apparently have no correlation with the mystery of UFOs. We could say that Keel's theory is phenomenal in the sense that he takes up the philosophical theories of Kant, who makes a clear distinction between the "phenomenon" (the sensitive part of reality that human beings are able to capture and understand with cognitive tools at their disposal) and the "noumenal" or the part of reality that can neither be perceived nor known by human beings as the cognitive tools at their disposal are unable to put them in contact with the noumenal reality. Keel, wanting to continue our comparison with the Kantian theory of the "phenomenon" and the "noumenon", places the superspectrum in the noumenal reality that is not perceptible and knowable by our senses and by the cognitive tools at our disposal.
In addition to being phenomenal, the theoretical system developed by Keel can also be defined paraphysician, since he considers UFOs and other mysterious phenomena to be caused by an entity located in our own universe. According to the American ufologist, UFOs are not originated by a metaphysical entity but on the contrary they are an "environmental" phenomenon, in the sense that they have always been with us since they recognize their origin as all other mysterious phenomena in the superspectrum, which is part of our own universe even if it is located in a different electromagnetic frequency not perceptible to our senses.
Precisely because Keel argues that the superspectrum is located in an electromagnetic frequency different from that in which human beings are located, the theory developed by the American ufologist can also be defined as a theory of type electromagnetic since it insists on considering the UFO phenomenon of an electromagnetic nature. In our opinion, the theory developed by Keel can also be clearly defined as a theory conspiracy theorist, since Keel claims that there is a real manipulative action carried out by the superspectrum against the human race since the dawn of the history of mankind.
Finally we can also say that the theoretical system developed by John Keel must be considered a vision of the world and of man typically fortiana, both because like Fort, Keel provides a syncretistic vision of the dimension of the mystery and because Keel, like Fort, is convinced that there is an invisible world that not only surrounds us but that besieges us by manipulating our beliefs and behaviors. Furthermore Keel as Charles Fort proposes the hypothesis that the human race is the property of beings who are real puppeteers. Beings created by the superspectrum precisely for the purpose of manipulating and conditioning the human race.
We now consider it appropriate to go on to expose and comment on John Keel's theory of the superspectrum, trying in particular to highlight the similarities and differences existing with the theory developed by Jacques Vallรฉe, the other founder of the paraphysical theory of the origin of UFOs. As for John Keel's superspectrum theory, wanting to be very synthetic we could say that for the American ufologist the superspectrum is an entity endowed with an energy that allows it to create all kinds of mysterious creatures and all phenomena pertaining to the dimension of mystery, phenomena that Keel defines as "Trojan horses". According to Keel, as we said earlier, the superspectrum creates the UFO phenomenon and all other mysterious phenomena for the sole purpose of dominating, conditioning and manipulating human beings.
Wanting to use two metaphors that we believe are very effective, we could say that the superspectrum is the puppeteer and human beings are puppets in his handsi, or it could also be said that the superspectrum is the player of a chess game, human beings are the pieces of a chessboard and the planet Earth as a whole is the chessboard where this cosmic game takes place that has started since the dawn. of mankind and will continue as long as the human race exists. Also Keel insists a lot that the superspectrum is not located in a dimension parallel to ours, in a parallel universe (as Vallรฉe argues) but in our own universe in an electromagnetic frequency not perceptible to our senses.
For the American ufologist UFOs, gnomes, elves, goblins, fairies, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, "abominable snowmen", demons such as nightmares and succubi, poltergeist phenomena, documents of the existence of animals still unknown such as moth man, paranormal phenomena are all creations of the superspectrum. To tell the truth, Keel even goes so far as to argue that UFOs should also be studied not only by ufologists but also by parapsychologists both because very often the witnesses of ufological sightings are people endowed with paranormal powers since childhood and because it also happens quite often. that the witnesses of UFO sightings, especially if they are close encounters, acquire paranormal powers that they previously did not have.
At this point we consider it appropriate to highlight the similarities and differences between the theories of John Keel and those of Jacques Vallรฉe, the other founder of the paraphysical theory. Starting from the undeniable similarities existing between the theories of the two ufologists, we could say that those of both authors in question are undoubtedly two theories that are part of the conspiracy theories, as Vallรฉe is also convinced that the inhabitants of the โdimension of Magoniaโ want to condition and manipulate human beings as they have always done since the beginning of the history of mankind. Vallรฉe also tries to explain how this manipulation takes place by elaborating the theory of the โthermostat effectโ, a theory that we will now try to explain in a synthetic way.
Before doing so, we want to highlight that as we have argued in two of our books, "The believers of UFOs" and "Sociological reflections on the mystery of UFOs", this theory is of great importance not only in Vallรฉe's system of thought, but in entire history of the paraphysical hypothesis of the origin of UFOs. With this theory, the French-American ufologist tries to understand how the paraphysical entities found in the dimension of Magonia influence and manipulate the beliefs and behaviors of human beings since the beginning of human history. In this theory Vallรฉe uses the metaphor of the thermostat which, as everyone knows, has the function of keeping the existing temperature in a house on a value that is pleasing to the inhabitants of the house itself. Consequently, the thermostat prevents the temperature inside the house from reaching a lower or higher temperature than that desired by the inhabitants of the house.
According to Vallรฉe, the inhabitants of the Magonia dimension have been making sure since the beginning of the history of mankind to maintain a social, cultural, political and religious climate in the various historical epochs that is compatible with their purpose and their objective, which substantially is always the same in the various historical epochs, that is to exert their influence and their control on the beliefs and behavior of human beings. To put it another way, the paraphysical entities of the Magonia dimension (universe parallel to ours or if you prefer a dimension parallel to our dimension) they always want to maintain a "stimmung" and a "weltenschuung" in all historical periods that allow them to manipulate human beings, which is why when they realize that the socio-cultural climate is undergoing variations that could create problems to their goal of controlling and manipulating human beings, immediately, as does the thermostat in a house, they work to re-establish a socio-cultural climate, a โstimmungโ compatible with their objectives. According to Jacques Vallรฉe the inhabitants of the Magonia dimension to restore the cultural climate they like on our planet can use both attractive disguises and terrifying disguises as they are aware that men are very sensitive and influenced by all things that scare them a lot. and from all things that attract them a lot.
After briefly describing the theory of the "thermostat effect" of the French-American ufologist, we will try to highlight the similarities between Keel's and Vallรฉe's theory. Wanting to schematize to the maximum degree we can say that both Vallรฉe's and Keel's theories can be defined with these adjectives: dualistic, paraphysical, conspiratorial, fortian and diachronic.
Vallรฉe's theories can be defined dualistic because they start from the assumption that the paraphysical entities are in a dimension, in a universe different from ours so that there is a radical dualism between our universe and their universe, which Vallรฉe defines "dimension of Magonia" (in medieval folklore the mythical land of Magonia was the world inhabited by gnomes, elves and fairies. According to medieval beliefs there were gates that put our world in contact with the land of Magonia, so that under certain conditions fairies, elves and gnomes could enter our world and humans could enter the land of Magonia). John Keel's theory can also be considered a dualistic theory because it is based on a radical opposition between the phenomenal world and the โnoumenalโ, even if the dualism is less pronounced than that found in Vallรฉe's thought.
The thought system developed by Jacques Vallรฉe can also be defined paraphysician because the inhabitants of the dimension of Magonia are not divinities or demons or demigods (metaphysical entities) but they are inhabitants of a universe parallel to ours. John Keel's theory must also be considered a paraphysical theory and not a metaphysical one because the superspectrum is not a divinity but is an entity that is located in an area of โโthe electromagnetic spectrum that is not perceptible to our senses but still in our universe.
Jacques Vallรฉe's theory must also be considered a type theory conspiracy theorist as it claims that the inhabitants of the Magonia dimension have been plotting and conspiring against human beings since the dawn of human history in order to exercise and maintain their control and dominion over mankind for reasons that Vallรฉe itself admits to not being able to specify, even if the Franco-American ufologist puts forward the hypothesis that there may be links between our dimension and the dimension of Magonia, so that the inhabitants of that dimension could be forced to keep the behavior of human beings to avoid that such behavior exerts unwelcome indirect effects on their size. John Keel's theory must also be considered a conspiracy theory as the American ufologist is convinced that the superspectrum considers human beings his property as breeders consider cattle their property. For this reason the superspectrum considers it his right to manipulate mankind.
Jacques Vallรฉe's theory can also typically be considered a theory fortiana because it starts from the assumption that there is a mysterious dimension that surrounds and manipulates human beings without their realizing it. John Keel's Theory is also undoubtedly a Fortian theory because it starts from this same assumption.
Finally, the theory developed by Jacques Vallรฉe must also be considered a theory diachronic, as it starts from the assumption that it is necessary to study all the historical periods in order to identify in each of them the manipulative action of the inhabitants of the Magonia dimension. John Keel's theory must also be considered a diachronic theory because the American author is convinced that the superspectrum has exercised his influence on mankind in all historical epochs.
As for the significant differences existing between Jacques Vallรฉe's theory and John Keel's, in our opinion it must be said that there are only two fundamental differences between the thinking of the two American ufologists. In the first place and Jacques Vallรฉe places the inhabitants of Magonia in a universe parallel to ours John Keel places the superspectrum in our own universe. Secondly, Jacques Vallรฉe is convinced that even if the UFO phenomenon is not created by humans but by the paraphysical entities of Magonia, there are nonetheless human power groups that want to exploit the belief in the existence of the UFO phenomenon to strengthen their power towards of other human beings. This Vallรฉe conviction is not present in John Keel's thinking.
In the final part of this article we will briefly consider some possible applications of John Keel's theory of the superspectrum to mysterious phenomena. According to the American ufologist, the presence in our world of terrifying and monstrous creatures not in all historical eras but only in a limited period of time is due to the action of the superspectrum, which using the energy at its disposal has created these creatures and he sent them to our world. To give concrete examples, for Keel the apparitions of ghosts, the terrifying tales about demonic entities such as nightmares and succubi, the tales about vampires and werewolves do not arise from the imagination of human beings but from the momentary presence of such frightening creatures in our world. work of the superspectrum.
According to Keel, the wave of airships that affected part of the United States in 1896-97 was also the work of the superspectrum. in the same way that the UFO sightings of our age are the work of the superspectrum. The phenomena that occur in sรฉances and the apparitions of the moth man are also the work of the superspectrum which would also be responsible for the encounters that humans had in the Middle Ages with gnomes, elves and fairies. As we can see then John Keel attributes a vast range of mysterious phenomena apparently unrelated to each other to the action of the superspectrum. We want to close this article with a brief consideration regarding the stories that have vampires as protagonists.
In our book "The Myths of Contemporary Society" we highlighted the fact that we were struck by the a return of interest in vampires that has occurred in contemporary society. For example, we have highlighted that many novels, many films and some series of TV series have vampires as protagonists, and we have also highlighted in this book that vampires are also present in some videos of successful singers. If we keep in mind that especially in Eastern Europe, in a certain historical period, almost all individuals were terrified by the belief that vampires really existed, we will realize that such terror could not arise only from the fantasies of some madman or from some hallucination, but from facts that must have had some objective confirmation.
Since that historical period has passed, the collective terror aroused by vampires has disappeared, this fact would suggest that Keel may be right when he says that it was the superspectrum that created vampires in that historical period in various European nations, so that the terrifying tales about vampires they were not the fruit of the popular collective imagination but of the action of the superspectrum. Once the superspectrum has stopped creating vampires with its energy, the terror aroused by such creatures of the night in various European nations is over.
Very interesting article
Thank you!