John A. Keel has been entertaining, amazing, and infuriating readers since the 1940s. There’s nobody quite like him; he’s as much an anomaly as the puzzling creatures and events that he’s been reporting on all these years. This collection offers a lively sample of Keel’s “Beyond the Known,” the column he wrote for FATE for many years. Whether it was cryptozoology, WW II enigmas, fairies and wee folk, or things falling from the sky, Keel was always ready to hop into a car and track down weirdness where and when it was happening. His wide range of interests—magic, comedy, religion, technology, philosophy, biology—give him a broad outlook and keep him curious. Keel has been a consultant for the Army and the Air Force; science editor for Funk & Wagnall’s; and writer for television sitcoms. He has received honorary PhDs for his work in herpetology and archaeology. And his startling ideas, hard-won by primary research and fieldwork, have kept him controversial, with equally noisy admirers and detractors. Believers and non-believers alike will enjoy the playful banter Keel uses to encourage all his readers to question their beliefs in this riveting journey through FATE’s past Keel columns.
