In a shocking development, the world-renowned ET researcher John Mack has died in a street accident at the hands of a drunk driver. MICHAEL GLICKMAN, a personal friend, writes in memory of John Mack…
Some in the crop circle community are perhaps less aware of the work of John Mack than those in the UFO world, but had become acquainted with him at this year’s Glastonbury Symposium, where he was the keynote speaker and gave his heartfelt views on crop circles and other phenomena. It turned out to be one of his last public appearances, in the capacity of paranormal investigation, at least. This week, after lecturing about another passion of his, T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), his life was unexpectedly taken.
Last week, the following official announcement was made via e-mail:
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PASSING OF DR JOHN MACK: ANNOUNCEMENT TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES
At this time we must with great sorrow confirm that Dr John Mack has passed away in London, England.
Dr Mack was one of several speakers discussing British officer T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") at the T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium, Oxford. Dr Mack's 1977 biography of T E Lawrence, A Prince of Our Disorder, received the Pulitzer Prize in biography. Dr Mack's presentation at an afternoon panel was so warmly received that he was asked to stay and present an additional evening talk, which again met with positive response. Afterward, he went to dinner with friends.
On his return to the home at which he was staying while in London, travelling on foot on Totteridge Road, he was struck by a vehicle being driven by an intoxicated driver. Dr Mack was in a crosswalk. Dr Mack was pronounced dead on the scene by London police and is believed to have died on impact.
This information will be revised as needed and will be replaced by a statement from Dr Mack's family when available. Information will be posted to the John E Mack Institute website:
www.johnemackinstitute.org
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MICHAEL GLICKMAN recently became a personal friend of John Mack through his appearance at the Glastonbury Symposium, and has contributed this testimony to John:
As they say in Victorian novels, I had long admired John Mack from afar. We had never met, though we had friends in common. In particular, I was astonished by the way he took on Harvard University and won. This story has become one of the most telling incidents of our time; throwing light on scientific fundamentalism and academic arrogance, but above all, on John Mack's radiant integrity.
A tenured professor of psychiatry, already the winner of a Pulitzer prize for his biography of T E Lawrence, ‘A Prince of our Disorder’, he was drawn to investigate the accounts of people claiming they had been abducted by non-terrestrial beings. Though he started with the conventional assumption that he would be dealing with some kind of delusional disorder, he soon came to be impressed with the consistency and similarity of the accounts.
He wrote a book, ‘Abductions’, in which, he admitted that, while he had no ‘explanation’ for these events, having come to believe the veracity and profound significance of the stories, he had an obligation as a scientist to pursue his investigations.
This was too much for Harvard. The idea that one of their tenured professors was involved in such ‘Mickey Mouse’ nonsense was intolerable. They set up a panel of investigation which wanted simply to get rid of this apostate. John fought back and, fourteen months later, Harvard retreated.
This narrative speaks volumes about our society's terror of the new, the challenging, the as-yet unexplained.
When I heard he was to be a keynote speaker at the Glastonbury Symposium, I was thrilled. John was delighted with the crop circles and saw immediately the wider implications for human consciousness. He was fascinated, and I believe that there was no doubt that he would have become a precious member of the crop circle community.
We would all have benefited from his courage, his gentleness and his wisdom.
Though we knew him only briefly, his death leaves a terrible void.
MICHAEL GLICKMAN