Kaysing, William C. 1922–2005

(Bill Kaysing)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 31, 1922, in Chicago, IL; died April 21, 2005, in Santa Barbara, CA. Writer. Kaysing was a freelance writer who gained considerable notoriety as the father of the Apollo Moon hoax conspiracy theory in which he asserted that Americans never landed on the moon. After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II, Kaysing found work as a technical writer and fisherman. From 1956 to 1963, he was a publications engineer for Rocketdyne, a NASA contractor. Feeling constrained by this job, he quit and became a freelance writer, living a vagabond existence. He published We Never Went to the Moon: America's Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle not long after the 1969 Apollo landing, insisting that the U.S. government had concocted the scheme to simulate a moon landing in order to distract the American public from what was going on in Vietnam. Although his theories about the conspiracy did not hold up to scrutiny, some Americans continued to believe Kaysing was right, and his book inspired a 1995 movie released on videocassette. After gaining fame for his moon conspiracy book, Kaysing went on to lead a successful career writing self-help books about how to live life frugally and largely without dependence on the capitalist system. Concern for the downtrodden also led him to co-found a church in California that ministered to the homeless, as well as a sanctuary for abandoned cats called For the Love of Cats and Kittens (FLOCK). Among his books are How to Live in the New America (1972), Great Hot Springs of the West (1974; fourth edition, 1993), Privacy! How to Get It, How to Enjoy It (1977), Bill Kaysing's Freedom Encyclopedia (1988), and Eat Well for Ninety-nine Cents a Meal (1996). He also published a free handbook called Homes for the Homeless.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), July 7, 2005, p. 56.

ONLINE

Publishers Newswire Online, http://www.publishersnewswire.com/ (June 24, 2005).