November 2024
Ebbs & Flows
Fernand Roussel
In May, the community received an inquiry from Rafael Berenguer, a Chicago accountant researching the life of Fernand Roussel, an occupant in our cemetery. Craig McFeely replied, saying “Fernand Roussel lived at the end of Millicheap Road with a diminutive Irish wife. After Fernand died, my mother bought the property which included a box of Fernand's entire works. He was a prolific writer, but I was just a kid, and the stuff was incomprehensible. Fernand told me he arrived in Canada from France, jumping ship, a square-rigger in Vancouver.” Craig recently sent Mr. Roussel's box of writings to Rafael to assist with his research. – Kathy Schultz
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To find out more about recent UFO claims, I acquired a copy of Donald Keyhoe’s The Flying Saucers are Real. Published in 1950, it was one of the first books on the topic. Keyhoe’s investigation resonates closely with current UFO conspiracies. I drew two possible conclusions from it: 1) that Keyhoe was truly onto something; or 2), he concocted a nonsense story that has fueled many a tall tale. I studied Keyhoe’s book hoping to verify or disprove aspects of his claims. This led me, a Chicago accountant, to my current research project.
The book makes a passing reference to another book published in 1943 by a scientist named Fernand Roussel. Curiously, I could find no trace of Roussel or his book online. However, further digging led to a series of letters and documents housed at the archives of MIT. The address on the letters offered a clue that blew open my investigation: they were sent from MIT to Fernand Roussel on “Lasqueti Island”!
From here I found a website listing individuals interred in the Lasqueti cemetery. Then, through the help of a few kind residents, I connected with Craig McFeely, who had not only known the mysterious Roussel over 60 years ago but who had actually preserved Roussel’s papers. Thank you, Craig!
I have been studying Roussel’s papers for the past 3 months. They date largely from 1938-1941, which was well before the “emergence of the flying saucer” archetype. They describe Roussel’s alternate astrophysics theories and question several foundational concepts. Roussel was on a mission to have his theories considered by major scientific institutions.
I now have my own mission: to see that Roussel’s writings are published and preserved. I don’t have the expertise to assess their scientific validity; but I can attest that he was a fascinating man who knew the science well and who wrote with conviction and flair. His work is a reminder of our continued quest to understand the physical world in which we exist. As he wrote in 1939: “Even if an omnipotent power decided that the Universe should start, a start there would have to be made, and the conditions involved in the beginning should show their functions in the finished product. This is inescapable!”
If you have any information on Fernand Roussel (or a photo!), please contact berenguer.rafael@yahoo.com - Rafael Berenguer