Fortean Times

Fortean Times chronicles the stranger side of life, delivering a heady mix of weird world news, up-to-date reports and features on every aspect of the unexplained: myths, monsters, ghosts and UFOs rub shoulders with ancient wonders and future science, while expert columnists bring you the latest on everything from cryptozoology to conspiracy theory. Open-minded, well informed and maintaining a healthy sense of humour, Fortean Times is the only place to go for a sensible look at our mad planet – it will change the way you see the world.

Fortean Times

EDITORIAL

SATANIC TAYLOR SWIFT • Is the world’s biggest pop star in league with the Devil – or maybe the Illuminati?

ANIMAL NEWS • Hermit crabs turn plastic pollution to good use, plus a tortoise murder mystery

GETTING WRECKED • Mystery ships wash up – plus Cook’s Endeavour identified?

NOT THE MOST HAUNTED • Well-behaved polt and naughty kids

THE CONSPIRASPHERE • Is the rise and rise of Taylor Swift part of a psyop to further the aims of the New World Order? And who, if anyone, killed Alexei Navalny? NOEL ROONEY looks for the clues…

ARCHÆOLOGY • PAUL DEVEREUX discovers an underwater megastructure, bronze age lippy and a surprising bone

CLASSICAL CORNER • FORTEANA FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD COMPILED BY BARRY BALDWIN

The weird and wonderful sky at night • DAVID HAMBLING looks forward to an exciting new era of astronomical discovery

MH370: STILL MISSING • As Malaysian investigators mark a decade since the flight’s disappearance, a new search is proposed

Let’s get physical • ALAN MURDIE explores celebrity reports of hands-on ghosts and touchy-feely phantoms

ALIEN ZOO • The Mexican mystery cats keep coming! KARL SHUKER examines some more feline enigmas

SUBSCRIBE NOW TO THE UK’S LONGEST-RUNNING MUSIC MONTHLY

FORTEAN FOLLOW-UPS • All the latest updates on dodgy old dogs, chain-smoking runners and fentanyl overdose scares

MYTHCONCEPTIONS

MEDICAL BAG • This month, a pair of particularly stomach-churning cases caused by errant insects, plus a potential new strain of syphilis and the dangers of stifling a sneeze

FAIRIES, FOLKLORE AND FORTEANA • SIMON YOUNG FILES A NEW REPORT FROM THE INTERFACE OF STRANGE PHENOMENA AND FOLK BELIEF

Solving the Socorro mystery? • NIGEL WATSON rounds up the latest news and views from the world of ufology

The call of the UFO • JENNY RANDLES recalls a fascinating BUFORA initiative from the 1980s – a UFO telephone ‘hotline’

THE LEVITATIONS OF ST JOSEPH OF COPERTINO EXPLAINED? • The 17th century Saint Joseph of Copertino was said to have performed astonishing feats of levitation on a regular basis, often attested by multiple witnesses. How can these aerial antics be accounted for? Joe Nickell, the chief investigator of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, thinks he has the answer, but BOB RICKARD questions Nickell’s disingenuous strategy and reductive explanations.

REAL GHOSTS AND CRYSTAL SKULLS THE WEIRD LIFE OF DAN AYKROYD • Dan Aykroyd is a world-famous comic actor, widely known for such classics as Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers, but he is also a prominent advocate for paranormal issues. BRETT TAYLOR explains how the creation of the ghostbusters wasn’t just a question of comedy, but the result of a lifelong fascination with the unexplained.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE LIRPA LOOF • In April 1984, BBC1’s popular magazine show That’s Life pulled off one of the greatest TV April Fool jokes of all time – convincing millions of viewers that London Zoo had taken delivery of a hitherto-unseen and rather oddly-behaved Himalayan animal called the Lirpa Loof. Forty years on, BOB FISCHER tells the full story for the first time, speaking to zoo employees DR BRIAN...