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.

EDITORIAL • MYSTERIES AND MUMMERS

Fortean Times

‘NAPOLEON’ DISMEMBERS LOVER • Russian academic pulled from St Petersburg river with backpack containing a woman’s arms

THE CONSPIRASPHERE • NOEL ROONEY stumbles upon a complex left wing plot to create an independent California which allegedly involves everyone from Mexican Mormons to the Vatican and the Chinese...

EXTRA! EXTRA! • THE ADVENTURES OF JESUS IN NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

THE GREAT PUMPKIN WEIGH-OFF

POLICE BLOTTER • The dragnet hauls in subcontract killers, a fugitive Chinese caveman and more...

SIDELINES...

OLD MASTER MYSTERY • Mediæval masterpiece turns up in house move

MAGIC MARKINGS • Rare polka dot zebra spotted in Kenya, plus Yorkshire meta-beagle

GIANT JELLIES

Fracked off • DAVID HAMBLING reports on the inconvenient truth that human activity can have seismic effects

ARCHÆOLOGY A MONTHLY EXCAVATION OF ODDITIES AND ANTIQUITIES • PAUL SIEVEKING reports on discoveries from Scotland, including some unique Pictish cravings

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

Murder in the Cathedral • ALAN MURDIE goes on a pilgrimage to Canterbury in search of the ghost of St Thomas Becket

WE HAVE LIFT-OFF • Ordinary men and women tap into their superhuman powers to rescue people trapped under cars and fallen trees

MYTHCONCEPTIONS

STRANGE INVADERS • The devil’s fingers reach out to the Mendips, while a supposed stowaway Turkish bee is sentenced to death

RENDLESHAM REVISITED • MATT SALUSBURY attended the ‘Colonel Charles Halt Returns to Woodbridge’ conference in Suffolk on 8 September 2019

FORTEAN FOLLOW-UPS • Updates on previous FT reports, including alien objects, controversial oldies and alien big cats...

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

Is anybody out there? • PETER BROOKESMITH surveys the latest fads and flaps from the world of ufological research

Scramble, UFO! Part Two: Origins • JENNY RANDLES continues her investigation of the MoD’s involvement in 1950s UFO sightings

A GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS • EDWARD PARNELL recalls a tradition of seasonal scares as he travels back to the 1970s and a golden age of television ghost stories produced by the BBC from the works of MR James and Charles Dickens – a tradition being revived once again this Christmas...

MARTIN’S CLOSE • EDWARD PARNELL travels to the mid-Devon village that provided the real-life inspiration for MR James’s tale

KEEPING MUMM • LISA GLEDHILL meets the mysterious men behind a curious Christmas custom that still persists in pubs and streets up and down the country every Boxing Day

REVISITING THE BISHOP’S TORPEDO • A century after Charles Fort presented one of his “most remarkable” cases in The Book of the Damned, MARTIN SHOUGH and WIM VAN UTRECHT attempt to solve the mystery of the Bishop’s Torpedo, a strange fiery object that exploded over Burlington, Vermont, in...