Fortean Times

Fortean Times, named after maverick American writer Charles Fort, is one of the world’s most individual and best loved magazines. For over 35 years FT has been chronicling 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, FT 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 • WHEN GHOSTS WALK AGAIN

RE-CHALKING THE CERNE ABBAS GIANT • LISA GLEDHILL reports from Dorset on how Britain’s biggest sex-symbol has cleaned up his image

THE CONSPIRASPHERE • Are conspiracy theories really on the increase? Is half the world’s population mentally ill? Is Tupac still alive? NOEL ROONEY has the answers to these and other questions.

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

GIANT MAKE-OVER

ASTRAL BULLETIN • Interstellar objects, Martian water, and tardigrades on the Moon...

SIDELINES...

ALL FALL DOWN AGAIN • More from the world’s ‘mass hysteria capital’

SIDELINES...

HEALTH HAZARDS • Thai ‘magic cards’ are radioactive; alien contactee turns bombmaker

SIDELINES...

TREE HAS INNER FIRE

SIDELINES...

Trump versus the weather • DAVID HAMBLING looks at the science of hurricane control... and wonders if the Donald was right

ARCHÆOLOGY A MONTHLY EXCAVATION OF ODDITIES AND ANTIQUITIES • PAUL SIEVEKING surveys this month’s finds: a long-lost Lewis Chessman and an Ice Age wolf’s head

CLASSICAL CORNER • 241: WISER BUT SADDER

Faceless phantoms • ALAN MURDIE asks whether the motif of the faceless ghost might be neurophysiological in origin

MEDICAL BAG • Rare dental anomalies in Russia and India, extreme metal-munching in Bengal, and a grisly haul of body parts from an Arizona research centre

MYTHCONCEPTIONS • 241: VOICE OF THE WOLF

ALIEN ZOO NEWS FROM THE CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL GARDEN • KARL SHUKER goes in search of a cryptid cat and hears electrifying news from the Amazon

IS NESSIE A GIANT EEL? • New analysis yields an abundance of eels and unidentified DNA; plus China’s river monster...

STRANGE CONTINENT • Unfazed by Brexit, ULRICH MAGIN scours the papers for the weirdest news stories from across Europe...

NECROLOG • This month, we bid farewell to a prolific author and fortean all-rounder, and a flamboyant scientist with a taste for hallucinogens and unconventional thinking

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

In the Low Information Zone • PETER BROOKESMITH surveys the latest fads and flaps from the world of ufological research

Arresting investigations • JENNY RANDLES looks back at some occasions on which police became involved in UFO cases

WHERE GHOSTS GATHER • In 1977, Usborne published World of the Unknown: Ghosts, the children’s book that inspired a generation of junior forteans. Four decades on, following a concerted fan campaign, the book is back in print... and the perpetually haunted BOB FISCHER tracked down its pleasantly surprised writer, Christopher Maynard, to discuss its genesis and unexpected impact.

THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND IN SEARCH OF WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON • In his new book, EDWARD PARNELL goes in search of the ‘sequestered places’ of the British Isles and explores how these haunted landscapes shaped a kaleidoscopic spectrum of literature...