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100-420: In December 2018, its print circulation was just over 14,800 copies per month. The magazine's tagline is "The World of Strange Phenomena". The roots of the magazine that was to become Fortean Times can be traced back to Bob Rickard's discovering the works of Charles Fort through the secondhand method of reading science-fiction stories: " John Campbell , the editor of Astounding Science Fiction (as Analog

200-634: A fanzine ", some years before he created his own. Attending a science-fiction convention in 1968, Rickard obtained Ace paperback copies of all four of Fort's books from a stall run by Derek Stokes (later to run Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed , and take a role in the day-to-day running of The Fortean Times ). After reading an advertisement in the underground magazine Oz (in 1969) for the International Fortean Organization (INFO), an American group "founded in 1966... by Paul and Ronald Willis," who had acquired material from

300-692: A "constant [source] of valuable clippings, books, postcards, and entertaining letters"; Janet and Colin Bord, later authors of Mysterious Britain (Janet also wrote for Flying Saucer Review and Lionel Beer's Spacelink , while Colin's Fortean article in Gandalf's Garden was particularly cited by Rickard as bringing him/them to his attention); Phil Ledger, a " peripatetic marine biologist ", and The News ' "first enthusiastic fan"; Ken Campbell , Fortean theatre director and playwright ; John Michell ; graphic designer Richard Adams and Dick Gwynn, who both helped with

400-406: A "distinctive blend of mocking humor, penetrating insight, and calculated outrageousness". Fort was skeptical of sciences and wrote his own mocking explanations to defy scientists who used traditional methods. In a review of Lo! , The New York Times wrote: "Reading Fort is a ride on a comet; if the traveler returns to earth after the journey, he will find, after his first dizziness has worn off,

500-609: A dozen issues after #42, returning as a contributing editor in Autumn 1990 (#55). The four — Rickard, Sieveking, Dash, and Moore — are often collectively referred to as "the Gang of Fort", after the Gang of Four . Issue #21 had the debut of FT semiregular column "Strange Deaths" (later descriptively subtitled "Unusual ways of shuffling off this mortal coil"), while issue #22 updated FT 's to include ( Ivan T. Sanderson 's) The Society for

600-440: A grocer, was an authoritarian, and in his unpublished autobiography Many Parts, Fort mentions the physical abuse he endured from his father. Fort's biographer, Damon Knight , suggested that his distrust of authority began in his treatment as a child. Fort developed a strong sense of independence during his early years. As a young adult, Fort wanted to be a naturalist , collecting sea shells , minerals, and birds. Although Fort

700-400: A group would be spiritualists, zealots, and those opposed to a science that rejected them; it would attract those who believed in their chosen phenomena—an attitude exactly contrary to Forteanism. Fort did hold unofficial meetings and had a long history of getting together informally with many of New York City's literati such as Dreiser and Hecht at their apartments, where they would talk, have

800-409: A limited basis through WH Smiths . The move away from production on Rickard's typewriter gave "The Journal of Strange Phenomena," (as it was now subtitled) greater ability to produce longer, better laid-out articles. These opened with a seven-page guide to "Charles Fort and Fortean Times" by Bob Rickard, explaining the background and philosophy of FT , as well as outlining the influence of Fort, "who

900-622: A meal, and then listen to brief reports. The magazine Fortean Times (first published in November 1973) is a proponent of Fortean journalism, combining humor, skepticism, and serious research into subjects that scientists and other respectable authorities often disdain. Another such group is the International Fortean Organization (INFO), which was formed during the early 1960s (incorporated in 1965) by brothers and writers Ron and Paul Willis, who acquired much of

1000-718: A new and exhilarating emotion that will color and correct all his future reading of less heady scientific literature." Examples of the odd phenomena in Fort's books include many occurrences of the sort variously referred to as occult , supernatural , and paranormal . Reported events include teleportation (a term Fort is generally credited with inventing), falls of frogs, fishes, and inorganic materials , spontaneous human combustion , ball lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort), poltergeist events, unaccountable noises and explosions, levitation , unidentified flying objects , unexplained disappearances , giant wheels of light in

1100-792: A pejorative term for a debunker . Most Fortean researchers contribute articles, criticism, or letters to the magazine. It has also attracted more widespread coverage and praise. Fortean Times #69 claims, "extracts from FT have featured in at least three publications used for teaching English as a foreign language." Lynn Barber of The Independent on Sunday newspaper described writing in FT as "a model of elegant English." The magazine has organised an "UnConvention" (or UnCon ), most years since 1994 (the "missing" years being 2001, 2005, and 2009), at various venues in London (the University of London Union ,

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1200-408: A point of reference for those who engage in such studies today. More than a few modern authors of fiction and nonfiction who have written about the influence of Fort are sincere devotees of Fort. One of the most notable is British philosopher John Michell, who wrote the introduction to the edition of Lo! , published by John Brown in 1996. Michell says: "Fort, of course, made no attempt at defining

1300-424: A sentence, Fort's principle goes something like this: People with a psychological need to believe in marvels are no more prejudiced and gullible than people with a psychological need not to believe in marvels." By contrast, Jerome Clark , wrote that Fort was "essentially a satirist hugely skeptical of human beings'—especially scientists'—claims to ultimate knowledge". Clark described Fort's writing style as

1400-479: A short chapter in his book Failure, a Writer's Life on Charles Fort, characterising Fort's prose as "well-nigh unreadable, yet strangely exhilarating". Noted UK paranormalist, Fortean, and ordained priest Lionel Fanthorpe presented the Fortean TV series on Channel 4 , between 1997 and 1998. Paul Thomas Anderson 's popular movie Magnolia (1999) has an underlying theme of unexplained events, taken from

1500-405: A subtitle of "Portents & Prodigies", Fortean Times was born. After 15 issues of The News , issue #16 (1976) had the magazine renamed Fortean Times , which "new title emerged from correspondence between Bob Rickard and Paul Willis" — the two having talked of creating a Fortean version of The Times newspaper, "full of weird and wonderful news and read by millions worldwide". Its cover bore

1600-481: A syndicated newspaper panel series named Ripley's Believe It or Not! Wilson called Fort's writing style "atrocious" and "almost unreadable", yet despite his objections to Fort's prose, he allowed that "the facts are certainly astonishing enough." In the end, Fort's work gave him "the feeling that no matter how honest scientists think they are, they are still influenced by various unconscious assumptions that prevent them from attaining true objectivity. Expressed in

1700-539: A tenement tale, was published. Reviews were mostly positive, but it was unsuccessful commercially. During 1915, Fort began to write two books, titled X and Y , the first dealing with the idea that beings on Mars were controlling events on Earth, and the second with the postulation of a sinister civilization extant at the South Pole. These books caught the attention of writer Theodore Dreiser , who tried to get them published, but to no avail. Discouraged, Fort burnt

1800-507: A world-view, but the evidence he uncovered gave him an 'acceptance' of reality as something far more magical and subtly organized than is considered proper today." Stephen King also uses the works of Fort to illuminate his main characters, notably It and Firestarter . In Firestarter , the parents of a pyrokinetically gifted child are advised to read Fort's Wild Talents rather than the works of baby doctor Benjamin Spock . Loren Coleman

1900-469: A year of six issues) for 20 pages, The News was produced on Rickard's typewriter, with headings created with Letraset , during (as Rickard says in #2) the late-1970s blackouts . The first issue featured a cover (which would become briefly the unofficial logo of The News ) drawn by Rickard from a Selfridges advertisement originally created by Bernard Partridge . From the second issue, pictures and photographs from various newspapers were interpolated within

2000-423: Is Dead". Fortean Studies , the magazine's more academic sister publication published yearly volumes in the late 1990s. The seventh and last issue was published in 2001. Its website tracks Fortean news stories and holds a small archive of articles and photographs. For many years, it also supported a busy internet forum for the discussion of Fortean topics. With the advent of GDPR legislation in 2018, this forum

2100-693: Is a well-known cryptozoologist , author of The Unidentified (1975) dedicated to Fort, and Mysterious America , which Fortean Times termed a Fortean classic. Coleman terms himself the first Vietnam era conscientious objector to base his pacificist ideas on Fortean thoughts. Jerome Clark has described himself as a "skeptical Fortean". Mike Dash is another Fortean, bringing his historian's training to bear on all manner of odd reports, while being careful to avoid uncritically accepting any orthodoxy, be it that of fringe devotees or mainstream science. Science-fiction writers of note including Philip K. Dick , Robert Heinlein , and Robert Anton Wilson were also fans of

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2200-431: Is not a mandatory requirement, and some articles focus on a specific theory or point of view. Although such articles are presented as the opinion of the author and not the editors (who claim to have no opinions), this has occasionally led to controversy. In January 1997, the magazine ran an article by David Percy under the headline "FAKE! Did NASA hoax the moon landing photos?". The article outraged many readers and led to

2300-406: Is portrayed by Andrew Leman . American crime and science-fiction author Fredric Brown included an excerpt from Fort's book Wild Talents as an epigraph to his novel Compliments of a Fiend . In that quote, Fort speculated about the disappearance of two people named Ambrose and wondered "was someone collecting Ambroses?" Brown's novel concerns the disappearance of a character named Ambrose, and

2400-519: Is still largely unknown", writes Rickard, and also included the first of Nigel Watson's "Enigma Variations" columns and Loren Coleman 's "Devil Names and Fortean Places" article sat alongside comments by Colin Bord, Tim Dinsdale , V. G. W. Harrison , and Rickard on Anthony 'Doc' Shiels ' 1977 " Nessie " photographs. The magazine itself dropped the description 'non-profitmaking' from its publication information, and ceased to name its stated affiliations to INFO, SITU, and "other Fortean journals" in favour of

2500-504: The International Times and, particularly, OZ in departing from conventional black and white pages. In contrast to the psychedelic mayhem of many issues of OZ, Gandalf's Garden magazine was lyrical in choice of, for example, peach, light blue or pastel pink sheets with burgundy type, the colours rotating through the magazine. Articles in 1969 included: The letters page was called the "Seedbag". A touch of satire came in

2600-525: The Gandalf's Garden Seed Centres and gave inspirational talks. Copies of the magazine have now become collector's items and are selling for anything up to a hundred pounds per issue. However, all issues are now available on CD-ROM together with photos of the Garden Scene and a history of The Life and Times of GG. The members of the team have mostly gone on to be deeply involved in various aspects of

2700-702: The Institute of Education , the Commonwealth Institute , and in recent years, Friends House ). Many "hot topics" of the day have been discussed, such as the Ray Santilli "alien autopsy" film at the 1996 UnCon, and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales at the 1998 event, which also saw Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince discussing Templar conspiracies and hidden symbolism in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci , years before these were turned into mass-media subjects by The Da Vinci Code . Besides

2800-590: The London Fortean Society , Edinburgh Fortean Society , in Edinburgh and the Isle of Wight . Religious scholars such as Jeffrey J. Kripal and Joseph P. Laycock view Fort as a pioneering theorist who helped define "paranormal" as a discursive category and provided insight into its importance in human experience. Consistently critical of how science studied abnormal phenomena in his day, Fort remains

2900-482: The 1920s and '30s works of Charles Fort. Fortean author Loren Coleman has written a chapter about this motion picture, entitled "The Teleporting Animals and Magnolia ", in one of his recent books. The film has many hidden Fortean themes, notably "falling frogs". In one scene, one of Fort's books is visible on a table in a library and an end credit thanks him by name. In the 2011 film The Whisperer in Darkness , Fort

3000-399: The 1980s, after which glossy covers followed. Several changes of logo and font have occurred throughout its life. The identification of correct original sources by contributors is a defining feature of the magazine, as it was for Charles Fort himself. However, the "objective reality" of these reports is not as important. The magazine "maintains a position of benevolent scepticism towards both

3100-458: The 40+ years of its publication, Fortean Times has changed both format and publishers on a few occasions. Early issues (particularly of The News ) were produced in black and white (for ease of photocopying), and the whole was largely produced by typewriter until #29. Colour, professional printing, and wider distribution followed, and a 6.5- x 4.5-in size held sway for several years before the magazine settled into its "normal" A4 (magazine) size in

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3200-545: The Chelsea Drug Store (where the record shop scene from A Clockwork Orange was filmed) and across the road from a clothes shop named Granny Takes a Trip , distinguished by the mini car protruding from its first floor level. Gandalf's Garden was directly opposite the World's End pub. The site is now unidentifiable under the World's End Estate. The shop promoted a peaceful "vibe" and large cushions were provided on

3300-571: The Damned (1919), influenced numerous science-fiction writers with their skepticism and as sources of ideas. "Fortean" phenomena are events which seem to challenge the boundaries of accepted scientific knowledge, and the Fortean Times (founded as The News in 1973 and renamed in 1976) investigates such phenomena. Fort was born in Albany, New York, in 1874, of Dutch ancestry. His father,

3400-486: The Fortean Society included prominent science-fiction writers such as Knight and Eric Frank Russell . Fort, however, rejected the society and refused the presidency, which went to his friend Dreiser; he was lured to its inaugural meeting by false telegrams. As a strict nonauthoritarian, Fort refused to establish himself as an authority, and further objected on the grounds that those who would be attracted by such

3500-509: The Fortean Sourcebooks" for #7, and issue #8 was the first issue of volume 2, after Rickard decided to end volume 1 with #7 (not #6 as fully bimonthly titles do), since that issue was dated November '74, thereby attempting to keep each volume aligned with a year. Issue #8 (or, volume 2, issue #1) got the special "Christmas present" of headings by Hunt Emerson, after Rickard was introduced to Emerson by Carol and Nick Moore, as Hunt

3600-605: The Investigation of the Unexplained, alongside INFO. Issue #23 featured an article by Robert Anton Wilson on, aptly, " The 23 Phenomenon ," made available a second index (1975, to The News #8–13) and included a 12-page "Review Supplement", issued as a separately bound supplement since the then-printers had difficulty binding more than 40 pages. With #24, the printers were changed to Windhorse Press to overcome this difficulty, and FT became officially 52 pages in length,

3700-541: The New York Public Library, where they are still available to researchers. Material created by Fort has also survived as part of the papers of Theodore Dreiser, held at the University of Pennsylvania. From this research, Fort wrote four books: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931), and Wild Talents (1932). One book was written between New Lands and Lo! but it

3800-770: The Reading Room of the British Museum . Fort lived most of his life in the Bronx. He was, like his wife, fond of movies, and often took her from their Ryer Avenue apartment to a movie theater nearby, stopping at an adjacent newsstand for an arm full of various newspapers. Fort frequented the parks near the Bronx, where he sifted through piles of clippings. He often rode the subway down to the main Public Library on Fifth Avenue, where he spent many hours reading scientific journals, newspapers, and periodicals from around

3900-535: The Scunthorpe UFO Research Society), who wrote "Mysterious Moon" for The News #2. Watson later wrote a regular column of UFO commentary entitled Enigma Variations (from #29), and articles on the subject of UFO -related murders and stories of sexual assault by aliens. Phil Grant wrote about Ley lines for #3, and Mary Caine, who revised an earlier article (from Gandalf's Garden ) on The Glastonbury Zodiac for issue #4, which also had

4000-648: The accepted theories and beliefs of the time. Fort took thousands of notes during his lifetime. In his undated short story "The Giant, the Insect and The Philanthropic-looking Old Gentleman" (first published by the International Fortean Organization in issue No. 70 of the INFO Journal: Science and the Unknown ), Fort spoke of having often toyed with the idea of burning a collection of some 48,000 notes, and of one day letting "several" notes be blown away by

4100-522: The actuality of paranormal phenomena, a belief with which Fort may not have agreed. Most generally, Forteans have a wide interest in unexplained phenomena, concerned mostly with the natural world, and have a developed "agnostic skepticism " regarding the anomalies they note and discuss. For Hecht, as an example, being a Fortean meant hallowing a pronounced distrust of authority in all its forms, whether religious, scientific, political, philosophical, or otherwise. It did not, of course, include an actual belief in

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4200-439: The address was changed.) Sieveking joined the FT team with #28 as co-associate editor, and writes, highlighting the intrinsic early difficulties in printing FT that that issue "was printed by an Israeli entrepreneur in northern Greece and shipped to London." That issue (#28), bearing a cover blurb of "Strange Phenomena", featured an early advertisement for the bookshop Dark They Were And Golden-Eyed, drawn by Bryan Talbot , while

4300-742: The anomalous data enumerated in Fort's works. The Fortean Society was initiated at the Savoy-Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 26, 1931, by some of Fort's friends, including such significant writers as Hecht, Dreiser, and Alexander Woollcott , and organized by fellow American writer Thayer, half in earnest and half in the spirit of great good humor, like the works of Fort himself. The board of founders included Dreiser, Hecht, Tarkington, Powys, Aaron Sussman , former Puck editor Harry Leon Wilson , Woollcott, and J. David Stern , publisher of The Philadelphia Record . Active members of

4400-542: The changes cemented in issue #25 with a new font for the title and a change of address — c/o London-based "SF and cosmic" bookshop Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed, run by Derek Stokes (who had sold Rickard the four Fort books 10 years previously). The same issue ran an obituary for Eric Frank Russell , of whom Rickard was a considerable fan. He writes that Russell turned down an invitation to contribute material to The News back in 1973, having "earned his rest" after 40 years as an active Fortean. Rickard further states that Russell

4500-433: The closure of Stokes' bookshop). Issue #30 announced that while "over the last couple of issues [the] subscriber list... nearly doubled," so too had the "printing, production, and postage bill," necessitating a price rise to 95p/$ 2.50 — albeit softened by another length increase, to 68 pages. Now published not merely by Rickard, but by Fortean Times Ltd, it was typeset by Warpsmith Graphics and printed by Bija Press. The cover

4600-766: The debut of the "Reviews" section, beginning with comments on a book by John Michell , the Sphere reprint of Charles Fort's New Lands and John Sladek 's The New Apocrypha . Issues #2 and #3 noted, The News was published "with an arrangement with INFO", this was revised from #4 to it being "affiliated to the International Fortean Organization ". From #5, Mark A. Hall produced a section entitled "Fortean USA", continuing on from his earlier, discontinued, newsletter From My Files ; issue #5 also had William Porter's article on Llandrillo printed, after being delayed from #4 for space constraints. Janet Bord contributed "Some Fortean Ramblings" alongside William R. Corliss 's "The Evolution of

4700-726: The descriptive text "Strange phenomena — curiosities — prodigies — portents — mysteries," while the inside cover kept the "Fort face" logo from later issues of The News , but bore the revised legend "A Contemporary Record of Strange Phenomena". Included within was an offer for a "4-colour silk-screened poster" created by Hunt Emerson for this landmark issue. From the start, this new format compounded earlier financial difficulties for Rickard, following on from #14's plea: "we need more subscribers or we die!". ( Fortean Times issues #16–18 — as The News #1–15 before them — were solely edited, published, and in large part written and typed by Rickard himself. Even by passing on rising postal and paper costs to

4800-438: The digital archive CD format has taken over from print collections. A sister publication, Fortean Studies , began in the mid-1990s and was edited by Steve Moore. In the words of frequent contributor Neil Nixon , it "compiled serious research and opinion on a range of paranormal and conspiracy-related issues", and was a more academic counterpart to FT . Charles Fort Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932)

4900-406: The earliest magazines, were published in smaller, 6.5 x 4.5in format) (The later collections were of a larger — A4 — size) Around 2005, FT began to release a series of digital archives. Beginning with more recent issues (presumably for reasons of ease — more recent issues would be more readily available as digital files), they have also begun to re-release the earliest issues — apparently

5000-495: The editorial promised that the next issue would not only see the availability of Index 1976, but also be in a "larger and more professional format, typeset throughout, [with] better graphics, layout, and legibility." Indeed, #29, under a cover by Hunt Emerson, was printed fully typeset in A4 (thanks to art director Richard Adams of AdCo, and,according to Rickard's preface to Yesterday's News Tomorrow , Dick Gwynn) and even distributed on

5100-435: The editorship of Paul Devereux , with whom FT shared an address for several issues) would be helping to type parts of subsequent issues to further delegate the burden from Rickard. Moore, Sieveking, and he were also later joined editorially by author Mike Dash (who is mentioned as particularly overseeing the publication of scholarly occasional papers), before Moore moved from full editorial to largely correspondent duties for

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5200-457: The end of 2019, handing most of the "Strange Days" news editor role to Christopher Josiffe . Sieveking continues to write the archaeology column, compile the "Extra, Extra" section, and edit the letters pages, also acting as the main quality-control proof-reader (as well as producing an occasional feature). Sieveking's wife Val Stevenson was book-review editor for several years, eventually passing this role on to David V. Barrett in 2019. During

5300-582: The evolving layout and typesetting of later issues; Chris Squire, who helped organise the first subscription database; Canadian "Mr. X"; Mike Dash; and cartoonist Hunt Emerson . Emerson was introduced to Rickard in late 1974, when after seven issues, he "wanted to improve the graphics", which Emerson certainly did, providing around 30 headings for use in issues #8 onwards. (Emerson's still-on-going monthly "Phenomenomix" strip in FT had its prototype in #11's three-page "Fortean Funnies"). Other early contributors included writer and researcher Nigel Watson (chairman of

5400-527: The first cartoon strip under the title "Phenomenomix". Sieveking took over full editorial duties from Rickard with #43, helming the subsequent four quarterly issues (to #46) to give Rickard a chance to "revitalize", which he did, returning with #46 to the position of co-editor. Moore, Dash, and Ian Simmons (and others) variously edited the magazine for the next 18+ years, and although main editorship passed from Rickard and Sieveking to David Sutton in 2002, they both continued to contribute. Sieveking semiretired at

5500-411: The first year's issues (#1–7) became available. Colin Bord penned "Amazing Menagerie" for issue #10, while Paul Devereux and Andrew York compiled an exhaustive study of Leicestershire in "Portrait of a Fault Area", serialised in #11–12. Issue #11 featured Rickard and Emerson's first "Fortean Funnies" cartoon, while #12 had a price rise to 50p/$ 1.25, a logo change (from Selfridges' herald-on-horseback to

5600-442: The floor for customers to "hang out" and drink honey-flavoured exotic teas. The basement provided not only a toilet but also an area for a "shrineroom" where homeless street people crashed during the day and spiritual meetings were held every evening. It was the first popular centre to invite teachers, gurus , monks , researchers, etc., from every spiritual tradition and practice and gained worldwide recognition. Gandalf's Garden

5700-492: The foreword to New Lands. After Fort's death, the writer Colin Wilson said that he suspected that Fort took few if any of his "explanations" seriously, and noted that Fort made "no attempt to present a coherent argument". He described Fort as "a patron saint of cranks" while at the same time he compared Fort to Robert Ripley , a popular contemporary cartoonist and writer who found major success publishing similar oddities in

5800-468: The form of a page "Oh to be in England" (press cuttings). Some well-known contributors to the magazine included Christopher Logue , Adrian Mitchell , Joan Baez and Spike Milligan . The front cover of most issues set the tone with "Fear not, for you are now entering Gandalf's Garden" The introduction by Muz Murray included: GANDALF'S GARDEN is the magical garden of our inner worlds, overgrowing into

5900-641: The formal lecture programme, UnCon normally features exhibits by organizations such as the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena and the Centre for Fortean Zoology. The event often ends with a panel discussion, as was the case in 2002, when the subject was "Is Ufology Dead?". This was widely reported in the British media as an "official" statement by Fortean Times that "Ufology

6000-560: The kidnapper calls himself the "Ambrose collector" as an obvious homage to Fort. In Blue Balliett 's bestselling children's novel, Chasing Vermeer , Fort is given several mentions throughout the book, such as Fort's Lo! being found and thoroughly read by one of the book's protagonists, and being an inspiration to the main characters. Fort published five books during his lifetime, including one novel. All five are available on-line (see External links section below). Posthumous editions : Gandalf%27s Garden Gandalf's Garden

6100-628: The literature" that had crept into various Fortean works through misquotation or other difficulties. After 18 more-or-less solo-produced issues, long-term supporter and helper Steve Moore was credited as assistant editor for issues #19–21, becoming co-contributing editor (with Phil Ledger, Stan Nichols, and Paul J. Willis) on issues #22–26 and associate editor from issue #27. He was joined by contributing editor David Fideler, and subsequently (also as co-associate editor) by Paul Sieveking (#28— ) and Valerie Thomas (#31–32). Issue #20 announced that Kay Thompson (a staff member of Ley Hunter magazine, then under

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6200-404: The magazine's most vigorous postbag up to that time. In August 2000, the magazine's cover headline was "UFO? The shocking truth about the first flying saucers". The article in question, by James Easton, proposed a mundane explanation for Kenneth Arnold 's sighting — American white pelicans . This suggestion so outraged ufologists that many of them still use the term "pelican" or " pelicanist " as

6300-444: The magazine. A more academic journal, Fortean Studies , has also been printed and is an ongoing venture. In the late 1990s Polygram Spoken Word released an audio version of several Fortean stories, written and produced by Steve Deakin-Davies and featured Brian Cant and Joanna Bowen amongst its actors, this project was licensed from John Brown Publishing.( (c) 1997 Polygram Record operations ltd, Speaking Volumes no: 5361444) Starting in

6400-416: The manuscripts, but soon began work on the book that would change the course of his life, The Book of the Damned (1919), which Dreiser helped to get published. The title referred to "damned" data that Fort collected, phenomena for which science could not account, and that was thus rejected or ignored. Fort and Anna lived intermittently in London between 1920 and 1928, so Fort could carry out research in

6500-627: The material of the Fortean Society, which had largely ceased by 1959 with the death of Thayer. INFO publishes the INFO Journal: Science and the Unknown and organizes the FortFest, the world's first continuously running conference on anomalous phenomena dedicated to the spirit of Charles Fort. INFO, since the mid-1960s, also provides audio CDs and filmed DVDs of notable conference speakers, including Colin Wilson , John Michell , Graham Hancock , John Anthony West , William Corliss , John Keel , and Joscelyn Godwin . Other notable Fortean societies include

6600-424: The more descriptive Fort's face-encircled) and a tweaking of its tagline to "bimonthly news & notes on Fortean phenomena." Issue #14 first mentioned Rickard and Michell's then-in-production book Phenomena! , which would be more actively trailed from #18. Issue #15 — now with 28 pages — announced that Rickard had decided to bow to popular opinion and retitle his miscellany with a more descriptive title. Thus, with

6700-432: The more general aim to be a "friend to all groups and magazines continuing the work of Charles Fort". It also contained a considerably higher number of advertisements, including both inside covers — making the page count slightly higher than previous issues, which had previously counted the cover as page 1 — and an early advertisement by Brian Bolland for Forbidden Planet (which would ironically begin to take off only after

6800-463: The move towards higher production values. With donations helping to offset costs, the price was held at 50p until issue #20, whereupon the magazine dropped to a quarterly schedule from Spring 1977 (issue #21) — but raised the page count (and price) to continue producing the same amount of material for the same yearly fee (40 pg, 75p ea. or £3/year). Issue #18 received a new semiregular feature entitled "Forteana Corrigenda", aimed at correcting "errors in

6900-709: The new age movement, including shamanism, Sufism and alternative medicine. Muz Murray is known in India as Ramana Baba and teaches mantra yoga and Advaita Vedanta worldwide. Dominic Monaghan , who played Merry the hobbit in the Lord of the Rings film, praised Muz Murray and Gandalf's Garden as a major influence in the United Kingdom in the documentary film Ringers: Lord of the Fans regarding Tolkien and his influence around

7000-530: The novel which became Sinister Barrier , in which he names Fort explicitly as an influence. Russell included some of Fort's data in the story. In chapter 3 of William Gaddis ’s 1955 novel The Recognitions , protagonist Wyatt Gwyon twice quotes from Fort’s The Book of the Damned --“By the damned, I mean the excluded”; “By prostitution, I mean usefulness”—and paraphrases him from the same book: “Charles Fort says maybe we’re fished for, by supercelestial beings.” Ivan T. Sanderson , Scottish naturalist and writer,

7100-450: The oceans , and animals found outside their normal ranges (see phantom cat ). He offered many reports of out-of-place artifacts (OOPArts), strange items found in unlikely locations. He was also perhaps the first person to explain strange human appearances and disappearances by the hypothesis of alien abduction , and was an early proponent of the extraterrestrial hypothesis , specifically suggesting that strange lights or objects sighted in

7200-531: The original Fortean Society (started in 1931, but in limbo since the 1959 death of its founder Tiffany Thayer ), Rickard began to correspond with the brothers, particularly Paul. Rickard was instrumental in encouraging the Willises to publish their own Fortean journal – the INFO Journal: Science and the Unknown began intermittent publication in spring, 1967 – and sent them many British newspaper clippings, although few came to print. Rickard later discovered that

7300-527: The orthodox and the unorthodox" and " toes no party line ". The range of subject matter is extremely broad, including: Fortean Times also frequently covers the Ig Nobel Prizes , as well as unusual aspects of mainstream science and research. The magazine's current regular contents include: Most of the articles in Fortean Times are written in the style of objective journalism , but this

7400-498: The previous volumes had not sold well enough to continue completely up to date. (Concern over the likely cost of reprinting issues in the new full colour format led to a publishing decision to stockpile 500 unbound run-on copies of each number to provide the basis of future reprint editions, and this project resulted in one further collection — Snakes Alive! , collecting #93–97 — but the in-between issues #78–92 have not yet been collected in trade format.) (The early collections, like

7500-462: The production was fraught behind-the-scenes, as Ronald Willis had been seriously ill, Paul thus finding it difficult to "keep up with things" on his own. Ultimately, the Willises were instrumental in inspiring Rickard to create his own periodical. Ron Willis succumbed to a brain tumour in March 1975. Bearing a date of November 1973, the first issue of Rickard's self-produced and self-published The News

7600-414: The readership, which Rickard constantly reiterates that he is loath to do, the early Fortean Times was constantly facing an uphill financial battle.) Early editorials of the new FT , therefore (in fact beginning with The News #15) featured a notification of donations received, naming and thanking the hardcore readership (which included many current and future contributors) for monies received, which aided

7700-433: The same inheritance was divided between Fort and his other brother, Raymond. Fort's experience as a journalist, coupled with his wit and contrarian nature, prepared him for his real-life work, ridiculing the pretensions of scientific positivism and the tendency of journalists and editors of newspapers and scientific journals to rationalize. Fort wrote 10 novels, although only one, The Outcast Manufacturers (1909),

7800-522: The skies might be alien spacecraft. Fort's work has inspired some people to consider themselves "Forteans". The first of these was Hecht, a screenwriter, who in a review of The Book of the Damned , declared, "I am the first disciple of Charles Fort... henceforth, I am a Fortean". Precisely what is encompassed by the term "Fortean" is a matter of great debate; the term is widely applied to people ranging from Fortean purists dedicated to Fort's methods and interests, to those with open and active acceptance of

7900-514: The text. The price was raised slightly for #6 — which also had its page count upped to 24 pages — due in large part to rising postal and paper costs. Helping behind the scenes was Steve Moore , a kindred spirit whom Rickard met at a comics convention when the latter was a subeditor at IPC . The two found they had much in common, including a love of Chinese mysticism, and Moore helped inspire Rickard to publish The News . The early issues featured some articles by different individuals, but were "largely

8000-427: The very early 1990s, Fortean Times produced a number of facsimile editions collecting the earliest issues of the magazine, in their entirety, including advertisements. These collections, prepared and edited for print by Paul Sieveking (including hand corrections to early typographic errors) are now out-of-print. Although demand was such to warrant reprints of several volumes, after collecting up to #77 FT decided that

8100-530: The wind because he couldn't be bothered to save them (they were supposedly returned to him by a gentleman on a neighbouring park bench). The notes were kept on cards and scraps of paper in shoeboxes, in Fort's cramped handwriting. More than once, depressed and discouraged, Fort destroyed his work, but began anew. Some notes were published by the Fortean Society magazine Doubt , and upon the death of its editor Tiffany Thayer in 1959, most were donated to

8200-467: The work of Bob Rickard, who typed them himself with some help from Steve Moore." Moore and Paul Screeton (then editor of The Ley Hunter ), both urged on the first few uncertain issues" and Moore frequently joined Rickard to "stuff envelopes and hand-write a few hundred addresses" to disseminate the early issues. Rickard also highlights amongst the key early Fortean Times advocates and supporters: Ion Alexis Will, who discovered The News in 1974 and became

8300-419: The work of Fort. Alfred Bester 's teleportation-themed novel, The Stars My Destination , pays homage to the coiner of the term by naming the first teleporter "Charles Fort Jaunte". Fort's work, of compilation and commentary on anomalous phenomena has been carried on by William R. Corliss , whose self-published books and notes bring Fort's collections up to date. In 1939, Eric Frank Russell first published

8400-725: The world of manifestation. GANDALF'S GARDEN is soulflow from the pens of creators - mystics, writers, artists, diggers, delvers and poets. A wellspring of love and anguish that those with searching thirsts may drink thereof. As in the Stone Gardens of the Orient, where Soul Wizards sit within the stimulus of their own silences, contemplating the smoothness of the million pebbles, so should we seek to stimulate our own inner gardens if we are to save our Earth and ourselves from engulfment. Gandalf's Garden had ceased to function in London by 1972 however Muz Murray continued to be active, touring

8500-793: The world. Fort also had literary friends who gathered at various apartments, including his own, to drink and talk. Fort was pleasantly surprised to find himself the subject of a cult following . Talk arose of the formation of a formal organization to study the type of odd events related by his books. Jerome Clark writes, "Fort himself, who did nothing to encourage any of this, found the idea hilarious. Yet he faithfully corresponded with his readers, some of whom had taken to investigating reports of anomalous phenomena and sending their findings to Fort". Suffering from poor health and failing eyesight, Fort distrusted doctors and did not seek medical help for his worsening health. Rather, he emphasized completing Wild Talents . After he collapsed on May 3, 1932, Fort

8600-467: Was a devotee of Fort's work, and referenced it heavily in several of his own books on unexplained phenomena, notably Things (1967), and More Things (1969). Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier 's The Morning of the Magicians was also heavily influenced by Fort's work and mentions it often. Author Donald Jeffries referenced Charles Fort repeatedly in his 2007 novel The Unreals . Joe Milutis writes

8700-498: Was a mystical community which flourished at the end of the 1960s as part of the London hippie -underground movement, and ran a shop as well as a magazine of the same name. It emphasised the mystical interests of the period and advocated meditation and psychedelics in contrast to hard drugs. The shop was based in World's End , at what was then the unfashionable end of Chelsea and a fair walk from Sloane Square tube station , passing

8800-597: Was abandoned and absorbed into Lo!. Fort suggested that a Super- Sargasso Sea exists, into which all lost things go, and justified his theories by noting that they fit the data as well as the conventional explanations. As to whether Fort believed this theory, or any of his other proposals, he himself noted, "I believe nothing of my own that I have ever written". Notable literary contemporaries of Fort's openly admired his writing style and befriended him. Among these were: Ben Hecht , John Cowper Powys , Sherwood Anderson , Clarence Darrow , and Booth Tarkington , who wrote

8900-424: Was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena . The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold well and are still in print. His work continues to inspire admirers, who refer to themselves as "Forteans", and has influenced some aspects of science fiction . Fort's collections of scientific anomalies, including The Book of

9000-633: Was available directly from him. The magazine which was to continue Fort's work documenting the unexplained was founded by Robert J. M. "Bob" Rickard in 1973 as his self-published, bimonthly, mail-order "hobbyish newsletter" miscellany The News — "A Miscellany of Fortean Curiosities". The title is said to be "a contraction taken from Samuel Butler 's The News from Nowhere ", (although Rickard may be conflating/confusing Butler's Erewhon and William Morris ' News from Nowhere ). The News had fairly regular bimonthly publication for 15 issues between November 1973 and April 1976. Debuting at 35p (£1.80/$ 4.50 for

9100-492: Was described as curious and intelligent, he was not a good student. An autodidact , his considerable knowledge of the world was mainly due to his extensive personal reading. At age 18, Fort left New York to embark on a world tour to "put some capital in the bank of experience". He travelled through the western United States, Scotland , and England , until becoming ill in Southern Africa . When he returned home, he

9200-480: Was dispersed in 1971 into various Gandalf's Garden Seed Centre s in different parts of Britain, e.g., Edinburgh and York , holding weekly meetings of short meditation and discussion, and often speakers invited from the list of address of Muz Murray's main contacts near each Seed Centre's location. The magazine emerged in 1968 and ran to 6 issues. It was part of the then-current Underground press (although they preferred to be called "Overground") as an alternative to

9300-547: Was moved to the website of the Charles Fort Institute. The magazine has also occasionally published both academic and lighthearted books on various aspects of Forteana. Many of the earliest issues of FT were collected in book format in the early 1990s. In recent years, the print volumes have been overtaken by digital files, available on CD. In addition, several smaller collections have been compiled on various themes and sold, or given away as 'free gifts' with

9400-531: Was nursed by Anna Filing, whom he had known since childhood. They were married on October 26, 1896, at an Episcopal church . For a few years, the newly married couple lived in poverty in the Bronx while Fort tried to earn a living writing stories for newspapers and magazines. In 1906, he began to collect accounts of anomalies. His uncle Frank A. Fort died in 1916, and a modest inheritance gave Fort enough money to quit his various day jobs and to write full-time. In 1917, Fort's brother Clarence died; his portion of

9500-545: Was one of the key Fortean-fiction writers he read in Campbell 's Astounding Science Fiction and Analog , and the author of "the first Fortean book I [Rickard] ever read": Russell's Great World Mysteries . Issue #26 trailed "a special series of 'Occasional Papers' in Fortean subjects" to be edited by Steve Moore, and #27 — the 5th Anniversary issue — welcomed Michigan-native David Fideler (whose Anomaly Research Bulletin

9600-525: Was painted by Una Woodruff (whose Inventorum Natura was reviewed within) to illustrate John Michell 's article on "Spontaneous Images and Acheropites," drawing on his 1979 Thames & Hudson book dealing with — and titled — Simulacra . Bob Rickard produced an article on one " Clemente Dominguez : Pope, Heretic , Stigmatic "; Michael Hoffman speculated on the occult aspects of a serial killer in " The Sun of Sam "; Robert J. Schadewald wrote about "The Great Fish Fall of 1859", while Hunt Emerson produced

9700-460: Was rushed to Royal Hospital . Later that same day, Fort's publisher visited him to show him the advance copies of Wild Talents . Fort died only hours afterward, probably of leukemia . He was interred in the Fort family plot in Albany, New York. For more than 30 years, Fort visited libraries in New York City and London, assiduously reading scientific journals, newspapers, and magazines, collecting notes on phenomena that were not explained well by

9800-634: Was then due to cease publication, although its subscribers, FT promised, would be absorbed by them) as FT 's "man in the New World". In 1978, mutual friend Ion Will introduced Rickard to Paul Sieveking, who recalls, "the Forteans used to meet every Tuesday afternoon above the science-fiction bookshop Dark They Were And Golden-Eyed in Soho to open post and interact. (Indeed, this was the semiofficial address of FT until that shop closed. With #35, Summer '81,

9900-424: Was then titled), for example," writes Rickard, "encouraged many authors to expand Fort's data and comments into imaginative stories." In the mid-1960s, while Rickard was studying product design at Birmingham Art College , he met several like-minded science-fiction fans, particularly crediting fellow student Peter Weston 's fan-produced Speculation magazine as helping him to "[learn] the art of putting together

10000-506: Was working on Large Cow Comix . Described by Rickard as "as much a disciple of George [Herriman] ... and my [Rickard's] favourite artists from Mad ( Bill Elder and Wally Wood )" as Rickard was of Charles Fort, the two got on well, with Emerson producing not only a series of headings, but also later strips and covers for issues to the present. The death of INFO co-founder Ron Willis was announced in #9, which described itself as providing "bimonthly notes on Fortean phenomena", and an index to

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