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

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS • A round-up of seasonal stories and festive oddities from around the world

EXTRA! EXTRA! • FT’S FAVOURITE HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

SIDELINES

SPIRITS, GODS, DEMONS • Supernatural goingson around the world

BACK FROM THE DEAD • Some people weren’t quite ready to check out

MONOPOLY MYSTERY • Abandoned board game hoard baffles villagers

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

ARCHÆOLOGY • PAUL SIEVEKING rounds up the latest finds, from a hermit’s hoard to a slab of Bronze Age butter

THE GREAT DRONE PANIC • The close of 2024 saw an old-school flap based on new technology and spread by social media

Edinburgh, city of ghosts • ALAN MURDIE is pleased by news of a healthy crop of hauntings in the Scottish capital

STRANGE CONTINENT • ULRICH MAGIN brings Europe’s weird news, from Slovakian lake monsters to Spanish cultists

THE CONSPIRASPHERE • When Luigi Mangione gunned down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, conspiracy talk soon turned to integers and eyebrows, but NOEL ROONEY wonders if it all adds up…

PEOPLE’S DAY OF DEATH 2024 • IAN SIMMONS reports from last November’s ceremony.

MYTHCONCEPTIONS • 287: NAUGHTY CORPSES

A bullshit of drones… • NIGEL WATSON takes a look at the recent drone panic and wonders if we’ve all gone crazy…

TURN OUT THE LIGHTS • Was Arthur Lowe a nascent Fox Mulder? ANDREW T SMITH dons his television archæologist hat and goes in search of a long-lost ITV series that saw Coronation Street character Leonard Swindley opening his very own X-Files in 1960s Britain…

CREEPS ON THE COBBLES

TURN OUT THE LIGHTS EPISODE GUIDE • As was all too common during the early decades of British television, no copies of Turn Out The Lights were retained in the ITV archives. What is more, no scripts are currently known to survive. It truly is a lost series. Here, we excavate the episodes’ plots from TV listings and press clippings.

The Strange Case of Tattarisuo • EMILIA UKKONEN digs up a forgotten story from Finland’s troubled 20th century history and recounts a grim tale of severed limbs, black magic, mystical visions and a circle of grave-robbing witches…

DROPPED OBJECT THE RENDLESHAM ACCIDENT? • With the release of a new documentary film about the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident imminent, DAVID CLARKE attempts to untangle the latest strands in the story as a new military whistle-blower comes forward with his version of events…

GOING POSTAL • Does a secret One-World Government of bomb-delivering postmen and strict Grammar Nazis really rule our world from behind the scenes? S-D: FULL-COLON TUCKER parses the strange rise of the Quantum Grammar movement, finding its writings ironically make very little sense indeed.

UFOs are here to stay! • Mark Pilkington appreciates an engaging, sweeping yet pleasingly concise history of the UFO phenomenon, and sees how it spread around the world remarkably quickly

Revisiting TV SF classics • Smegging excellent fannish book, says David V Barrett, but exterminate the official offering

Urban myths: alive and well • David...