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

STRANGE DAYS • A DIGEST OF THE WORLDWIDE WEIRD

PIXIE-LED IN IRELAND • Being led astray by fairies is one way to increase your Fitbit step count

NEWS FROM SPACE • Alien meteors, ancient eclipses and a second Chicxulub

AI NIGHTMARES • Artificial intelligence art horrors, Bruce Willis’s face and a robot flop

BIGFOOT WORLD TOUR • The latest dodgy footprints and blurry film and photos

ARCHÆOLOGY • The intrepid PAUL DEVEREUX descends into the mummy’s tomb and unearths a Polish vampire

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

The microseism mystery • DAVID HAMBLING listens out for the tremors that make up the planet’s background noise

MISSION IMPROBABLE • This year’s Ig Nobel Prizes recognised excellence in the fields of doorknob turning and Mayan ritual enemas

SCIENCE FICTION AT THE SCIENCE MUSEUM • The Science Museum’s new exhibition, Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination, leaves DAVID V BARRETT feeling slightly overwhelmed – but he finds it’s the small details in this blockbuster show that really connect.

Season of the Witch? • ALAN MURDIE finds evidence of a growing interest in witchcraft, curses and demonic influences

MEDICAL BAG • This month’s health tips include baking an owl and grinding it into a health-restoring powder and keeping a close eye on unruly pubic hair

MYTHCONCEPTIONS

THE CONSPIRASPHERE • The ongoing whodunit of the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage has seen both the mainstream and the Conspirasphere trading in partisan theories rather than facts says NOEL ROONEY

CIRCLES & PUZZLING HOLES • A hostile environment for cereal artists, plus mystery marks on the ocean floor

NECROLOG • This month, we bid farewell to a pioneering researcher into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and the astronomer who helped put SETI on the map

Fairies, Folklore and Forteana • SIMON YOUNG FILES A NEW REPORT FROM THE INTERFACE OF STRANGE PHENOMENA AND FOLK BELIEF

The Seven Ages of Ufology • NIGEL WATSON listens to ASSAP’s Robert Moore outline the gradual decline of a field of study

Splicing the Mainbrace, Part One • JENNY RANDLES looks back to 1952, the Cold War and a series of dramatic UFO sightings

THE BIGFEET OF BRITAIN • STU NEVILLE crosses the country on a quest for the British Bigfoot as sightings continue to come in from Bristol to Bolam Lake, from Tunbridge Wells to Wallasey. But is there any decent evidence for a Big Hairy Monster in these Isles? And if not, then just what are people seeing in the woods?

Writing Between Ape and Human • Anthropologist GREGORY FORTH relates how he came to the conclusion that an unknown non-sapiens hominin probably survives on the remote Indonesian island of Flores where the local Lio people report seeing an elusive ‘ape-man’.

A MARTIAN IN MY MAILBOX • Back in 2007, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the dawn of the flying saucer age, Spanish ufologist LUIS R GONZÁLEZ MANSO wrote in these pages about postage stamps inspired by UFOs. Now, on the 75th anniversary of the birth of the phenomenon, he re-opens his stamp catalogues to bring this philatelic story up...