Author and Conspiracy Theorist Kenn Thomas Passes Away

St. Louis area resident and author Kenn Thomas, born June 12, 1958, passed away on September 22, 2023. He was a former university librarian and archivist, and a conspiracy writer, and editor/publisher of Steamshovel Press, a parapolitical conspiracy theory magazine.

Kenn was a friend of many writers, including Jim Keith, Greg Bishop, Paul Kimball, Adam Gorightly, Jim Martin, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Adam Parfrey, Jim Marrs, Mae Brussell, Tim Binnall, Kevin Nealon, Ron Bonds, Stephen Miles Lewis, Robert Sterling, Robert Guffey, and, me, Loren Coleman.   Kenn also had various close relationship with some powerful women writers and thinkers (e.g. Acharya and Alfvegren). He saw many friends, male and female, die early.

            I was involved with one of Kenn’s St Louis area conferences in 1999, and we visited local Fortean sites such as Piasa Rock in Alton and the nearby “name-game” haunted location at the Beall House.

Thomas wrote over a dozen books on various conspiracy topics, including NASA, Nazis & JFK; Maury Island UFO, about the possibility that Fred Crisman was connected to the assassination of John F. Kennedy; and The Octopus: Secret Government and the Death of Danny Casolaro, about the Inslaw affair. In 2004, Feral House published a new edition of The Octopus, extending the suggestion of connections to the post-September 11 attacks world and al-Qaeda. A new edition of Maury Island UFO was published by Feral House in 2011 as JFK & UFO: Military-Industrial Conspiracy and Cover-Up from Maury Island to Dallas.

Thomas called his research interest "parapolitics," the study of conspiracies of all colors—from alien abductions and the Illuminati, to the John F. Kennedy assassination and the September 11, 2001 attacks. The New Yorker called his work "on the cutting edge" of conspiracy. His name has become a by-word for a conspiracy theorist; enough so that baseball was described in print as involving "enough fishy behavior to keep Kenn Thomas swarming for years,"(Baseball Prospectus 2002).

On September 16, 2016, Kenn wrote what his semi-retirement was revealing:

Kenn Thomas traveled extensively during the 1980s and 1990s to speak about his conspiracy, assassination, and Fortean interests. Thomas appeared at Conspiracy Con in 2003 and 2007.

Beth, Kenn's ex-wife wrote the following for the public:

+++

“ Kenn and I met in high school, in 9th grade history class (or maybe it was English class - you think you’ll never forget this stuff). We didn’t become friends until 11th grade journalism class. We became close in our senior year when I was the editor of the school paper and he wrote and drew a comic strip for it, the originals of which I still have. We stayed friends after high school and started dating during college. We moved in together at some point and got married when we were 25. We had two children before divorcing in 2001. When he got sick a few years ago, I stepped in to help our kids manage his chronic health issues. We had been a part of each other’s lives for nearly 50 years when he died Friday morning at Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital.

He fell almost two weeks ago while at dialysis. The details are murky, which I suspect may be due to the dialysis staff not wanting to admit responsibility, but that’s a story (and maybe an investigation) for another day. He hit his head so hard, it knocked him out, and he was taken to Mercy Hospital by ambulance. He spent two days in the ICU with a hematoma and a brain bleed. They stopped his blood thinners, which helped, and the doctors were optimistic, so they sent him to rehab. Simon visited him, and he seemed like his old self and was upbeat about getting better and going home.

If you knew Kenn, you may remember him as a charming and super bright dude who could talk about anything - music, politics, comic books, and (his favorite) conspiracies. He was probably a polymath, meaning he was talented in so many areas and could pick up new skills seemingly effortlessly. He was a writer, an artist, a researcher. He had a master’s in English and could understand and explain even the densest literary works (Pynchon was his favorite). He took an acting class once and blew everyone away with his portrayal of Cardinal Wolsey.

He was a gifted speaker with a DJ’s voice and in fact worked at KWMU on the weekends for a few years when they still played music. He reviewed rock concerts for the Post-Dispatch and the Globe-Democrat and co-hosted a music and talk show with Phil Gounis on KDHX in its early on-air days, where they mostly played Dylan but also talked about other music and books. He was part of a small but (obsessively) devoted local group of Dylan diehards who saw every concert (and recorded many of them in the early days). He loved the Beat poets and Timothy Leary and could claim something of a friendly connection to William Burroughs, who he spoke about - and accepted the honor for - when Burroughs was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1990 because Burroughs was too frail to travel to his hometown. If all goes according to plan, Kenn will be buried near Burroughs at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Kenn worked for the University of Missouri for almost 40 years before retiring in 2019. He never really loved the archives/historical manuscripts career field, but he made it work for him, while also writing and lecturing about conspiracy stories and publishing a magazine, “Steamshovel Press.” He loved his children and his dogs and old TV shows (Hogan's Heroes was a favorite) and resisted going into a nursing home or assisted living because it would have meant living without his books, records, and comic books, which to him was not living at all.

Over the last three years, it has taken a team of folks to take care of him, and I want to give them a grateful and loving shout-out: Jeffrey Von Behren, Nancy Von Behren, Alan and Norm (not on FB), Jerry Durrwachter, Douglas Jake Jacobs (and Kathy). His sisters Mary Thomas-Turner and Bridget Bueltemeyer, despite battling their own health issues, have been the emotional support we needed, and his niece Jackie Turner worked on his house when he needed it. We will miss him forever. If you have a story or remembrance, please share it in the comments below. He leaves behind his children, Sara and Simon, his sisters, Mary and Bridget, three nieces, Michelle, Jackie, and Brandey, two nephews, Luke and Anthony, and a multitude of friends from across the globe. Kenneth Francis Thomas: June 12, 1958, to September 22, 2023."

&

+++

Thomas had been involved in several books that have impacted the conspiracy thoughts in the United States.

 

Selected Bibliography:
Acid: A New Secret History of LSD, David Black (introduction by Kenn Thomas), Vision, UK, 2003.
The Arch Conspirator, Len Bracken (introduction by Kenn Thomas), AUP, US, 1999.
The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Acharya S (introduction by Kenn Thomas), AUP, US, 1999.
Cyberculture Counterconspiracy: A Steamshovel Web Reader, Book Tree, US, 2000.
Inside the Gemstone File, Kenn Thomas and David Childress, AUP, US, 1999.
The Little Book of Conspiracies: A Paranoiac's Pocket Guide, Joel Levy (introduction by Kenn Thomas), Thunder's Mouth, US, 2005.
Maury Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy, IllumiNet, US, 1999.
Mind Control, Oswald & JFK, AUP, US, 1997.
NASA, Nazis & JFK: The Torbitt Document & the Kennedy Assassination, Adventures Unlimited Press, US, 1996.
The Octopus: Secret Government and the Death of Danny Casolaro, with Jim Keith, Feral House, US, 2005.
Parapolitics: Conspiracy in Contemporary America, AUP, US, 2006.
Popular Alienation: A Steamshovel Press Reader, IllumiNet, US, 1995.
Popular Paranoia: A Steamshovel Press Anthology, AUP, US, November 2002.

Round Trip To Hell In A Flying Saucer, Timothy Green Beckley (with contribution by Kenn Thomas), Global Communications, 2011.
Saucers of the Illuminati, Jim Keith (introduction by Kenn Thomas), AUP, US, 2004.
Secret and Suppressed II: Banned Ideas and Hidden History into the 21st Century, Feral House, US, 2008.
Shadow Government: 9/11 and State Terror, Len Bracken (introduction by Kenn Thomas), AUP, US, 2002.

Trumpocalypse Now!, Adventures Unlimited Press, 2017.
William Cooper: Death Of A Conspiracy Salesman, various with contribution from Kenn Thomas, Inner Light, US, 2001.

Kenn’s beloved Charlie, his service dog, assisted him greatly during the last few years. Sending treats and dog toys to Charlie was my way to support Kenn’s journey through his dark days.

“Remember it is in love that we are made and in love we disappear.💙” ~ Kenn Thomas, 2022.

Red Pill Junkie | Miguel Romero has written a worthy tribute you should read.

https://www.dailygrail.com/2023/09/farewell-to-parapolitics-trailblazer-kenn-thomas-1958-2023/

George W. Earley Passed Away in 2020

George, of course, was a wonderful correspondent. He would talk about his quiet life down the isolated lane where he lived near Mount Hood, and recall the glory days of Ufology. I was sorry to hear he left us a couple years ago. I ran across this notice recently of his passing.

George Whiteford Earley, 93, of Mt. Hood, Ore., died peacefully at home on Oct. 28, 2020. His death was eased by the presence of family members nearby and a glorious view of Mount Hood in the distance.

George was born to Carol and Guy Earley in Warrenton, Va., on Feb. 15, 1927. He attended Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., received a B.S. degree in aeronautics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and earned his M.A. in political science from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War, including a year of overseas duty.

George married Margo Griffith in 1951 in Washington, D.C., and they made their first home in Wilmington, Del., before moving to Bloomfield, Conn., where they raised their four children. He worked as an administrative engineer for United Technologies in the early days of the Space program, and returned later to join the team of scientists building the very first large wind turbines. Between tenures at UTC, he served as the business administrator of First Congregational Church in West Hartford and as the energy auditor of public buildings throughout the state of Connecticut. His commitment of mind and heart to alternative energy gave him deep satisfaction for the rest of his days.

George spent every summer vacation backpacking with his family into wilderness areas all over the west, an adventure which led almost inevitably to the choice of Oregon for his retirement. In the Hood River Valley, he and Margo built a spacious home to welcome friends and family members throughout the year. He became a talented handyman indoors and out, plunged into the life of his new community, and spent many happy hours on snowy forest roads with dogsled and his beloved malamute, Thunder.

For 50 years, George was a prolific freelance writer, exploring a wide range of interests: Science fiction, space exploration, photography, Dixieland jazz, conservation, and what he termed “unexplained phenomena” — UFOs, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster. In 1968, he published an anthology of science fiction titled Encounters With Aliens. He wrote letters to the editor, op-ed pieces, and other articles for newspapers on both coasts. He formed a Connecticut chapter of the National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena, served as president of the Connecticut Writers League, worked with writers’ groups in Hood River County, served as secretary of the Hood River Valley Residents Committee (now Thrive), and for 15 years was an enthusiastic member of Friends of the Hood River Library. His curiosity and witty humor never waned, and his speech was peppered with puns both good and bad, to the delight of his friends and the dismay of his wife.

George is survived by his wife of 69 years, Margo; his children and their spouses, David and Angela Earley of Wooster, Ohio, Steve and Anne Earley of Gisborne, Australia, Kate and Ken Downes of Shelburne Falls, Mass., and Christine and Todd Strickland of Lakewood, Colo.; 13 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Columbia Gorge News, November 6, 2020.

+++

George was a member of various Fortean organizations, and his work was often via reviews and critiques of cases. 

With regard to the account of the 1976 Bigfoot tracks in the Agawam, Massachusetts area, George was instrumental in finding and photographing the teenager's track cutouts. Here his daughter Christine displays them so George can photograph one cutout.

This photograph was in the November-December 1977 issue of INFO, the publication of the International Fortean Organization. Share by Paul Bartholomew.

Here is a photograph of Margo, George, and Christine from Facebook in 2014.

***

The UFO Hunters, Season 1, Episode 1, "The UFO Before Roswell," broadcast January 30, 2008.

Curt Collins of UFO Updates writes: "Here's a tribute to the life and work of George W. Earley that includes some of his rare newspaper articles."

see also

George's last published Fortean thoughts:

"Old Ufologist Replies To Young Ufologists"

+++

Margo, George's wife of 69 years passed away within a few months of his death. 

===

Margo Earley (Margaret Dyckman Griffith), born June 24, 1931, in Syracuse, N.Y., died peacefully at home on Feb. 5, 2021, with family by her side and in view of Mount Hood, as she wished. Margo grew up in Washington, D.C., graduating from Sidwell Friends School, before attending Oberlin College in Ohio, where she majored in zoology and minored in music. Four months later, on Sept. 8, 1951, she married George Earley, her husband of 69 years.

After a brief time in Wilmington, Del., then West Hartford, Conn., she and George moved to Bloomfield, Conn., where they lived for nearly 35 years, raising David, Steve, Kate and Christine. An avid hiker from childhood, for the next three decades Margo organized family summer camping and backpacking trips, initially in the Appalachian and Adirondack mountains, and then throughout the Rockies, Sierra Nevadas, and northwest Cascades, as well as into Canada, Alaska, and the European Alps. At home, she sang in the church choir — including a number of years as a paid soloist — served on school parent committees, volunteered at an inner-city hospital in Hartford, performed in a local theatre/operatic group, and began a lifetime commitment as a blood donor (more than 25 gallons).

An accomplished cook, Margo sustained her family on delicious meals, homemade bread and brownies, and well into their adulthood, she mailed to each child her divine homemade birthday cake, made tastier for the time in transit. Thanksgiving and Christmas were not complete without her traditional Baked Alaska.


In 1989, Margo and George moved to Oregon to begin a new life, pursuing a love of the wilderness and a passionate advocacy for the environment, while living on the lower slopes of Mount Hood. Together they raised a number of beloved malamutes, graciously welcomed countless friends from all over the world, hosted family gatherings, as well as the Lincoln High School Constitution Class’ annual winter retreat, community meetings, and First Aid and CPR training courses.

Over many summers, Margo volunteered on trail maintenance crews (Mazamas and Sierra Club) and, for more than 15 years, led numerous backpacking trips in the Northwest (including for the Sierra Club). During this time, she maintained certification in either Wilderness First Aid or Mountaineering First Aid, serving as First Aid Shepherd for Oregon Wild, the Wilderness Society and Friends of the Gorge on local hikes up and down the Columbia Gorge.

Margo also served for 15 years on the board of the Hood River Valley Residents Association (now THRIVE), and for 10 years on The Wilderness Society’s president’s council. She summited Mount Rainer (once) and Mount Hood (three times) and hiked more than 800 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, including all of the John Muir Trail. She could recite elevations of mountains she had climbed decades earlier and had an encyclopedic knowledge of almost every trail she had hiked.


Margo was also a gifted writer with a poetic turn of phrase — and some poetic license! — and her annual Christmas letters and family emails (written by hand, before typed) were always a delight to read.

A Sierra Club trip to the Everest region inspired Margo to support a Nepalese village 50 miles from Mount Everest, funding healthcare there for more than 15 years, eventually assisting the community to establish a medical clinic several years ago. It is no surprise that her two final tasks, before calling for an ambulance, were to finish casseroles for upcoming guests and send her 2021 donation to Nepal.

Margo is predeceased by her husband, George, her sister, Julia, and her grandson, Shawn. She is survived by her two brothers, Larry and Steve and their wives, four children and their spouses, 13 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. 

Source.

+++

Bookseller and friend Bob Gavora observed that as Margo was dying: "The family set up a bed in the living room facing Mt. Hood. She passed away peacefully viewing her mountain."

Will A Ufologist Die On June 24, 2022?

by Loren Coleman, posted June 23, 2022, 2:37 pm EDT.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In response to one of my past postings on ufologists dying on June 24ths, Robert Sheaffer, a skeptical author of Bad Ufos (2016), wrote to me, firmly tongue in cheek, at 1:28 pm, June 22, 2014:

"June 24th is coming up soon, so I'm going to be hiding under the bed."

The topic of the deaths of ufologists is oft-discussed in the field of ufology. 

In 1971, UFO author Otto Binder claimed that at least 137 UFO investigators had died under mysterious circumstances during the 1960s. Binder's 1971 Saga article, "Liquidation of the UFO Investigators," summarized his findings.

Tied to the specific date of St. John's Day, Otto Binder (1911-1975), as well as John Keel (1930-2009), noticed a number of “seemingly coincidental deaths in the UFO field on 24 June.” 

I have written about this special day in my first book The Unidentified (Warner Books, 1975, with Jerome Clark), in Curious Encounters (1985), and in Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (Faber and Faber, 2002). June 24th, every year since 1947, gets special attention from anniversary death watchers.

The past is prologue to the future.

Here is a quick overview of the notable ufo-related deaths on June 24:

June 24 (or 23?), 1964, Frank Scully, 72, author of one of the first crashed-saucer books, Behind the Flying Saucers (1950), dies.

June 24, 1967, two British UFO contactees, Arthur Bryant, a contactee, and Richard Church, an author and chairman of CIGIUFO, die. 

June 23, 1967, Frank Edwards, 55, popular UFO author and radio personality in the 1950s, dies a few hours before Arthur Bryant. James Moseley stunned the delegates assembled for the 1967 Congress of Scientific Ufologists at New York City’s Hotel Commodore on June 24th, with the news of the sudden death of Frank Edwards.

June 24, 1969, Willy Ley, 62, a rocket scientist and Fortean author, dies. Willy Ley was one of the first respected modern scientist to attempt to answer the question of what is a flying saucer. In 1952, he was one of the first, if not the first person, to say that 85% of UFO sightings are misidentified craft, leaving the other 15% open to notions of "interplanetary travel," that he began writing about in 1926.

June 24, 1973, Bud Westmore, 55, dies of a heart attack. 

Bud was a renowned Hollywood make-up artist of the famed Westmore family, and has been credited with doing make-up for 592 films, including It Came From Outer Space (1953), This Island Earth (1955), Tarantula (1955), The Deadly Mantis (1957), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955), The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), and scores of mainstream films, like Spartacus (1960).

The Westmore family has dominated make-up departments in Hollywood since Bud's father George created the business in 1917. They have kept visible in recent years due to McKenzie Westmore, who since 2011, has served as the host of the Syfy original series Face Off, a reality competition featuring makeup artists. Bud was the uncle to Michael Westmore, famed for his Star Trek work and the father of McKenzie.

June 24, 1978, Robert Charroux, 69, the best-known pen-name of Robert Joseph Grugeau dies. Charroux was a French author known for his ancient astronaut theories and writings on other Fortean subjects, in such books as Masters Of The World: Groundbreaking New Revelations About The Ancient Astronauts (1979).

June 24, 1987, Jackie Gleason, 71, the actor, who was an early advocate of flying saucer research, dies. Gleason's known interest in UFOs allegedly prompted President Richard Nixon to share some information with him and to disclose some UFO data publicly.

June 24, 1997, Brian Keith (see here), who starred in Meteor (1979; with Sean Connery and Natalie Wood), dies by suicide. 

June 24, 2006, Lyle Stuart, 83, the renegade publisher who published anomalist writer Frank Edwards’ Fortean book, in 1959, Stranger than Science, a paperbook full of information on ufology and other unexplained accounts, dies.

June 24, 2013, James Martin, 79, a former rocket scientist, computer scientist, and author of After the Internet: Alien Intelligence (2000), is found floating dead in the waters off Agar's Island. Dr. Martin bought Agar’s Island in 1977 and made his home in Bermuda. The multi-millionaire kept a relatively low profile in Bermuda.

June 24, 2013, Alan Myers, 58, the most prominent drummer (1976-1987) of the band Devo, dies of stomach cancer in Los Angeles. Devo played punk, art rock, post-punk and new wave music, and performed stage shows that mingled kitsch science fiction themes, deadpan surrealist humor, and mordantly satirical social commentary. Devo recorded at their own self-named "UFO Studios." More.

June 24, 2015, Mario Biaggi, 97, dies. The former Bronx congressman was involved in the "UFO disclosure" movement, and was once pictured on the cover of Ideal's UFO Magazine, December 1978, Number 4. Within the periodical, there appears the article, "Interview: Mario Biaggi 'There Is A UFO Cover-Up By The Government.'" On the cover, an image of Biaggi is shown with President Jimmy Carter. More.

June 24, 2018, Roswell, X-Files, and The Shining television guest star Stanley Anderson dies. 

June 24, 2018, the Voice of New York radio during the Great Northeast Blackout (caused by UFOs?), Dan Ingram dies. See further information on Anderson, Ingram, and others who died in 2018, here.

June 24, 2019, news reporter Sean Dunleavy, dies. The journalist was a witness to and a participant in the famed Linda Cortile UFO abduction case of November 30, 1989, Manhattan, New York. Read more.

June 24, 2020, Wan Gengyu (Chinese: 万庚育) died at 98. She was born January 29, 1922, in Gansu. She was a Chinese painter, librarian & dunhuangologist [i.e. prominent scholar student of the Mogao Grottoes or Caves (also known as the Thousand Buddha Caves) built in the 4th-14th century. Caves appear to clearly show UFOs over the Buddhas, and Giants.]

Who will die on June 24, 2022, with links to ufology?