Jeron Criswell King

 Jeron Criswell King (August 18, 1907 – October 4, 1982)

Known as The Amazing Criswell, King was flamboyant, with spit curled hair, a stentorian style of speaking, and a sequined tuxedo. He owned a coffin in which he claimed to sleep. He grew up in a troubled family in Indiana with relatives who owned a funeral home, and said that he became comfortable with sleeping in caskets in the storeroom. He appeared in two of Ed Wood's films, and in another film that was scripted by Wood. Criswell played himself in Wood's movie Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) providing predictions at the beginning and end of the movie. He began buying time on a local Los Angeles television station in the early 1950s to run infomercials for his Criswell Family Vitamins. To fill the time, he began his "Criswell Predicts" part of the show. This made him a minor off-beat celebrity in Los Angeles and around Hollywood, and his friendship with old show-business people such as Mae West and rising fringe celebrities such as Korla Pandit made Criswell an entertaining presence at parties. His fame brought him appearances on The Jack Paar Show (1957–1962) which allowed him to publish his predictions in three publications of Spaceway Magazine (February 1955, April 1955, and June 1955), as well as run a weekly syndicated newspaper article starting on September 6, 1951.

Criswell wrote several books of predictions, including 1968's Criswell Predicts: From Now to the Year 2000. In it, he claimed that Denver, Colorado would be struck by a ray from space that would cause all metal to adopt the qualities of rubber, leading to horrific accidents at amusement parks. Some sources claim Criswell's most famous prediction was on The Jack Paar Program (1962–65) in March 1963, when he predicted that US President John F. Kennedy would not run for reelection in 1964 because something was going to happen to him in November 1963. Sources say that Criswell never claimed to be a real psychic; however, those who knew him, including actress and fellow Plan 9 alumna Maila Nurmi ("Vampira"), believed he was. Criswell died on October 4, 1982 at age 75. He was cremated, and the ashes interred at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California.