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:

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“ 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."

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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/

His Eyes Are Now Wide Shut: Uri Dowbenko Dies

Update: On June 22, 2019, I received this note:

My name is Tara Dowbenko. I am the daughter of Uri. I am so grateful you wrote an article about him. I want you to know how much it means to me. It was hard watching such an incredible being drink them self to death. I finally found a picture of him and his art, which he would probably be mortified to see on the internet if you do end up posting it. This was taken about 10 years ago. Thank you so much for acknowledging him.
I love your blogs by the way. I'm glad I found them. Thank you.
All the best, Tara

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Steamshovel Press publisher Kenn Thomas writes that is has been confirmed. "Uri Dowbenko died April 29 [2019] at age 67. He was a good friend, a regular Steamshovel contributor and a fabulous artist....Salut, Uri! It'll never be the same."

Dowbenko worked in different mediums so he could capture the apparent meanings he was attempting to understand.

The process of painting itself may actually facilitate the retrieval of past memories, as well as revelations or knowledge stored in the archives and libraries of other dimensions.
The purpose of my art is to transform the world. ~ Uri Dowbenko, 2004

People ask me — Uri, why do you paint? “Because I want to see something I have never seen before. I want the painting to always look like it’s moving even though it’s a ‘stationary’ painting.” ~ Uri Dowbenko, 2012

The intellectual, detailed author of a range of discussions grounded in a diversity of conspiracy theories,  Dowbenko was no stranger to in-depth analyses. The titles of some of his articles give a quick overview of the many topics he had touched. These include "Bob Hope: Thanks for the (Sordid) Memories," "Dirty Secret: Drug Czar Walters and the Iran-Contra Connection," "Dirty Tricks, Inc.: The DynCorp-Government Connection," "Up Against the Beast: High-level Drug Running," "New (Reptilian) World Order," and "Masonic Ritual Murders AKA Jack the Ripper," to name a few.

Now the eyes of one so aware are closed, and I, for one, will miss his oft-cryptokubrological and twilight language insights.

Uri Dowbenko wrote in his "Eyes Wide Shut: Occult Entertainment," a 1999 online article for Steamshovel Press:

If you've been puzzled by the title Eyes Wide Shut, you're not alone. According to ritual abuse and mind control survivor Arizona Wilder, it's a satanic cult term which means that whatever you've seen here is not to be revealed to anyone... or else.
"Monarch [mind control] programmers use this term," says Wilder in a recent interview. "It was so cult [like]," she continues. "Put him [the Tom Cruise character] in a double bind."

Dowbenko, examining the mystery deaths in the field, noted in his Eyes Wide Shut essay:

It may also be significant that the film's director Stanley Kubrick died suddenly. Mozart, a mason, died soon after revealing masonic mysteries in his opera, The Magic Flute. Author Stephen Knight, whose book, Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution (1975) revealed Victorian London's Whitechapel Murders as the work of ritual masonic killers, also died mysteriously. And William Morgan, author of Freemasonry Exposed (1836) was kidnapped and allegedly murdered by masons.

So naturally the question arose, what was Dowbenko's cause of death? Kenn Thomas answered on social media, rather matter-of-factly: "Drank himself to death. Cirrhosis."

Hoodwinked: Watching Movies with Eyes Wide Open (2004)

"In Hoodwinked: Watching Movies With Eyes Wide Open, one of America's foremost alternative media analysts, Uri Dowbenko, deftly deconstructs popular and influential movies ranging from The Matrix, to Fight Club to The Truman Show, to Wag the Dog, and so many others. This 336-page compendium of cogent observation and informative insights is organized into six major sections: Poli-Sci-Fi (Political Science Fiction); Illuminati, Mind Control and Other PsyOps; Into the Mystic; Secrets and Lies of History; Pop Idolatry: Sex & Death and Other Games; and Government-Business (Scams) as Usual. Thoughtful and thought provoking, Dowbenko's commentaries are rife with a humorous intelligence and attention-gripping iconoclasm that makes Hoodwinked 'must' reading for students and critics of American cinema." --Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI, USA)

"All movies pack a hidden message, and nobody on the planet can decipher and quantify this subliminal jabber better than conspiracy genius Uri Dowbenko. Hoodwinked is a nonstop disturbo thrill ride of cinema insights and savage critical vision. Dowbenko is an excavator of buried revelations... Enlightening, hysterical and - unlikeliest of all - sanctified by truth." --Jerry Stahl, Author of Permanent Midnight

"Hoodwinked is fantastic. Dowbenko's intelligent and humorous insights put Roger Ebert to shame. The book gave me a new pair of 3-D lenses to view and uinderstand the subtext and real meaning behind many of today's movies." --Brian Hall, Executive Producer, Conspiracy Con

Bushwhacked: Inside Stories of True Conspiracy (2003)

“Bushwhacked is well sourced and packed with new revelations. The chapter on MK-ULTRA alone makes it worth the read. It's in the best whistle-blower tradition. Compelling stuff. Highly recommended.”

— Gordon Thomas, author of Seeds of Fire and Gideon's Spies

Uri Dowbenko does not shy away from a thorough examination of issues which impact each and every citizen. Bushwhacked provides a searing commentary on the conspiracies of our time, as well as connecting the dots often missed by mainstream corporate media.”

— Jim Marrs, author of Rule by Secrecy, Alien Agenda, & Crossfire

“Bushwhacked is jammed with articles on corruption in US Government — unbelievable endemic corruption going right to the top in all administrations. What can we do about it? The solution, originated by former FAA investigator Rodney Stich, is in the book.”

— Antony C. Sutton, author of America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones

Dowbenko penned the essence of his biography on his website, which serves as the template for this overview of his life, an obituary of sorts:

Artist, writer & publisher Uri Dowbenko was born in Chicago in 1951 to Ukrainian parents who came to America after surviving the Nazi German and Soviet Russian onslaughts. Raised in Western Pennsylvania, his artistic and writing career began in high school, when he founded an unsanctioned politically incorrect newspaper called The Lamb an alternative to the official school paper called The Ram. He went to school at Case Western Reserve University and the University of Vienna in Austria. At age 19 he took an "early retirement," rounding out his education by taking a cross-country journey across Europe and Africa - from Egypt to East Africa, then to Senegal, which took a year to complete. He once characterized that he now had "the rest of his life to work."

In 1973, Dowkenko moved to San Francisco and attended the San Francisco Art Institute and the School of Holography, where he became a holography instructor and was involved in producing many of the first white light and multiplex holograms ever made. His "Exhibit of White Light Holograms" (three-dimensional photographic images made with lasers and mirrors) was shown at Foothill College, San Jose State University, California Institute of the Arts, and Seattle Art Museum.

Dowbenko's book Homegrown Holography: How to Make Holograms in Your Own Low Cost Studio (Watson Guptill) was one of the first practical handbooks on the art and science of holography ever published.

In 1987, he moved to Montana, where he continued his advertising, marketing and publicity business, commuting to Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area to meet with clients.

Dowbenko's writing included hundreds of articles, movie reviews, interviews and investigative writing pieces for Fortean Times, Nexus Magazine, New Dawn Magazine, Paranoia Magazine, Steamshovel Press, Media Bypass Magazine, National Review, Spotlight, Nationalist Times, Chronicles Magazine, Nitro News, and other publications. He was considered one of Alternative Media's foremost writers and media analysts and a distinctive voice of modern American journalism.

In 2000, he became the founder of Alternative Media websites -- Conspiracy Planet, Al Martin Raw, Steamshovel Press and Conspiracy Digest, as well as the founder and publisher of National Liberty Press, which published The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider by Al Martin.

Described as one of the hottest books in print, The Conspirators by government whistleblower Al Martin is his memoir and a firsthand account of his experiences with the Bush Cabal, most notably his former associates, Oliver North and General Richard Secord. Nexus Magazine has hailed the book as a "sensational expose" and it has been called a "tour de force" by Eye Spy Magazine.

Dowbenko's book, Bushwhacked: Inside Stories of True Conspiracy, has been described as "Compelling" and "Well sourced, packed with new revelations." His book Hoodwinked: Watching Movies With Eyes Wide Open is a collection of the most politically incorrect movie reviews ever published -- classic movies from the 1990s Golden Age of Movies.

Regarding his artwork, Dowbenko had become so frustrated by the unfulfilled potential of holography as an art medium that he took an artistic hiatus for more than 20 years. That ended and he resumed his art late in his life.

Dowbenko's spiritual quest has become a common metaphor for life itself, as his art, primarily large-scale muural-size oil paintings -- described as "Matta 2.0" -- which he himself calls "Metaphysical Landscapes," can be experienced as a meditation as well as a graphic representation of other dimensions and realities.

Uri Dowbenko was a member of the National Arts Club and the Author's Guild.

Is this a photograph of Uri Dowbenko, with some of his art?

Finding a picture of Uri Dowbenko on the Internet is difficult. As Kenn Thomas indicated, "Uri was computer averse."