Fortean Times
A few days ago in the course of de-constructing the bogus science in a piece in the Daily Fail, regular Raccoonista and general stalwart SadButMadLad made a passing reference to the “Tunguska Event”.
This not very well known but the very real “event” took place in 1908 in one of the remotest parts of Siberia. Something – and what it was is still a matter of debate – exploded with a force which by some calculations was up to 1,000 times the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The blast caused detectable atmospheric phenomena all over Asia and Europe, including Britain, but because of the remoteness of the site no proper scientific expedition reached the site of the explosion until the 1920’s, when the scientist were greeted by a scene of utter devastation: over 80 million trees flattened over an area of about 2,000 square kilometres.
The probable cause was some form of comet or meteorite reacting rather violently to the earth’s atmosphere, although wilder theories (including the inevitable crashed UFO) abound.
As it happened, in the course of debate regular commentator JuliaM (who runs her own most excellent blog as Ambush Predator) pointed out that she was familiar with the Tunguska Event because she is a regular reader of “The Fortean Times”.
This pleased me greatly, for I, too, am a Fortean and reader of that publication.
What is a Fortean, and what does this entail?
Charles Fort was an American traveller and writer born in 1874. A small inheritance allowed him to dabble in novel writing and journalism, but Fort’s real genius and legacy was in researching and collating unusual phenomena of all kinds, trawling through books and scientific papers to find the bizarre and unexplained.
The Fortean Times was founded in 1973 to carry on Fort’s tradition, and is now a rather glossy and quite expensive (£4.25) monthly.
To quote from the Fortean Times’ own summary of Fort’s life and approach:
“He marshalled these together and set forth his philosophy in “The Book of the Damned” (1919), “New Lands” (1923), “Lo!” (1931) and “Wild Talents” (1932).
He was sceptical of scientific explanations, observing how scientists argued according to their own beliefs rather than the rules of evidence and that inconvenient data was ignored, suppressed, discredited or explained away. He criticised modern science for its reductionism, its attempts to define, divide and separate…
He had ideas of the Universe-as-organism and the transient nature of all phenomena, coined the term “teleportation”, and was perhaps the first to speculate that the mysterious lights in the sky might be craft from outer space. However, he cut at the very roots of credulity: “I conceive of nothing, in religion, science or philosophy, that is more than the proper thing to wear for a while…”
The Fortean tradition means then a fascination with the unexplained and unusual, a willingness to think outside the box and not take accepted explanations at face value, to investigate dispassionately but retain a truly open mind, and not to be bound by accepted science, which, as Fort pointed out, is often no more than the present fad.
To take an example, a few weeks ago I heard a radio presenter dismiss ghosts as a nonsense. He strikes me as a rather stupid man, and I will not name him because I think that would be unfair (but please come back Simon Mayo). He then proceeded to be rude, dismissive and patronising to guests invited onto his programme to explain their experiences.
So there is an accepted view: there is no such thing as ghosts. Whereas a Fortean might say: there have been recorded reports of “apparitions” since time immemorial. The Romans and the Greeks wrote about them. For example, there is a particularly cool story from Pliny the Younger about the philosopher Athenodurus.
Athenodorus was pestered by a phantom rattling chains, but being a Stoic he was rather unfazed by this possibly alarming spectacle. He followed when the spectre beckoned to him, and discovered the body on the man who was now the unhappy ghost, wrapped in chains. After a proper funeral for the body, the spectre appeared no more.
So a Fortean may say: What is going on? Are ALL these people who reporting phenomena lying or mistaken? If they are mistaken is there some other form of phenomenon going on, and if what that might it be? Are there different types of phenomenon being recorded here? How can this be investigated? Could some form of sightings be attributable to energy being stored or trapped in some way we do not understand? Could one type of “ghost”, for example, be the memory of some distant event somehow imprinted because of emotions, or for reasons unknown, onto the time and space around so that at the right time it replays, just like a tape cassette produces and produces music (which would certainly be viewed as a form “magic” in days gone by)?
As to the latter theory I always have in mind the story of Harry Martindale, a plumber. Whilst working on a cellar in York Mr Martindale was distracted by the blaring of a horn, and turned round to see a detachment of weary Roman soldiers marching along the line – and at the level – of the old Roman road. Mr Martindale’s description was so accurate that it could not have been produced without a great deal of research. For example, he correctly noted that the Romans wore their short stabbing swords on the right of the waist, contrary to later European practice; that they were small (I believe the average height of a Roman soldier was about five foot tall) and a bit scruffy and very tired. His description of arms, armour and equipment was precise and even contained one apparent anomaly which may actual strengthens his veracity. For anyone who wishes to watch an interview with Mr Martindale, who is seems a down to earth, sensible, salt of the earth sort of chap, a link is here so you can judge for yourself.
Or for those who would like to be entertained as well as informed, there was a seminal programme on the UFO enigma from the late 1970’s which featured both interesting information and the downright eccentric – no, bonkers – but still it makes fascinating viewing. The link to part 1 of 6 is here:
But it’s not all ghosts and ET over at Fortean Towers, by a long chalk. I think JuliaM’s personal area of interest is, very appropriately, “ABC’s”. That’s Anomalous Big Cats, to you.
Stories of strange, panther like carnivores such as The Beast of Bodmin abound in the UK. This forms a sub set of the wider field of “crypto zoology”, the search for lost, “mythical” or un-catagorised species.
There is plenty of social history too, by the way. I see this month’s edition has piece on “Victoriana”, including the weird tale of the Dog Faced Man (a counterpart to the Elephant Man) and an article on Queen Victoria’s stalker, as well as part II of a profile of the Nazi seekers for the Holy Grail.
Flicking through a random copy to my right I find a meticulous investigation into Psychic Spies (the USA’s attempts to develop “remote viewing” – have you seen “The Men Who Stare at Goats”?), a serious archaeological investigation which raises the question of a 100,000 old civilisation of Neanderthals, the usual “Strange Deaths” (dark but funny) and “Konspiracy Korner” columns, and a piece on black magic and the Romanian government. I have learned about the Black Ball of Trundle Hill (an unexplained phenomena that terrified a party of soldiers in Wolf War I). There is a round up of Sea Serpent stories and observations on the Chinese Invasion of California in the 1870’s: yes, there was one, and it didn’t go well. I note that that that legendary Alpine lizard the Tatzelwurm has been active again lately, and an expedition is being mounted to find living pterodactyls in the Congo. Mr Robert G. Cox of Westleton, Suffolk, is perplexed by the behaviour of mice who appear to be either committing suicide or being murdered in his house. There is a picture, too. Hmmm…
Whilst these topics may not be to everyone’s tastes, it strikes me that there should be a natural affinity for Forteans with the ethos of the Anna Raccoon site.
Forteans tend to be individualistic and independent. A Fortean should have an open, inquisitive mind. A Fortean has a willingness to go against the grain of mainstream authority and question the orthodoxy and the accepted status quo. A Fortean should be up for a good debate and take a jaundiced view of the mainstream science.
These are all characteristics which, rightly or wrongly, I associate with this site.
“Forteanism” has on one or two occasions found a reflection in the mainstream. Back in the early 90’s there was even a TV program called Fortean TV presented by the inimitable Reverend Lionel Fanshawe which used to enliven my Friday nights after a few bevies of mead. It was sadly short lived.
But, of course, the ne plus ultra of Forteanism in popular culture was the fantastically successful X Files, with the believer (David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder) and the sceptic (the gorgeous Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully) as his initially sceptic foil.
My final observation is this.
In a sense a Fortean is embarked on both and external and an internal journey of exploration, sensing that the universe on the one hand and the mind, and perhaps soul if that is your belief, on the other are, in the classic phrase, not only more mysterious than we imagine but more mysterious than we can imagine.
But I may perhaps not be a very good Fortean because I am not as dispassionate as I should be.
You see, a bit like Fox Mulder in the excellent X Files, I want to believe.
Happy Easter.
Gildas the Monk
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April 24, 2011 at 11:07 -
If you liked the x-files you might want to check out Fringe. Its very good and runs along similar lines.
The main problem with science is that the funding provided to institutions are to prove/disprove a theory or point of view rather than to find out what it actually is. Follow the money
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April 24, 2011 at 11:55 -
Oh, seconded for ‘Fringe’, an excellent series! Luckily I missed the first two seasons. Odd statement, I know, but I’ll explain!
My brother introduced me to it (I’d previously ignored it as ‘an X-Files wannabe’ and had too much stuff already to catch up on – ‘Castle’, ‘Burn Notice’, ‘Lie To Me’, ‘Walking Dead’, etc ) and then, when I liked it, I had a whole two seasons worth to catch up on, plus season three in full swing in the States!
It’s like reading – and enjoying – a new book and then discovering that the author has a whole series already published…
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April 25, 2011 at 17:41 -
‘Fringe’ is excellent, I’m in the same position as you Julia, having just discovered the show.
I used to buy the ‘FT’ fairly regularly, but WH Smith don’t seem to stock it any more. I now catch up on th’internet, although it doesn’t have the latest issues.-
April 27, 2011 at 07:51 -
My local branch (Southend) does, though they keep changing round the displays on a regular basis, so I think I’m going to go subscription soon.
Then I just need to wonder if the Royal Mail are going to lose it instead!
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April 24, 2011 at 11:11 -
Sublime!
Fortean TV is sadly missed.-
April 24, 2011 at 11:22 -
Indeed! There are a few fragments still available on youtube, and I hope the link enables you to find them. Happy days!
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April 24, 2011 at 11:57 -
I can remember looking forward to each new episode of ‘Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World’.
Boy, that dates me!
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April 24, 2011 at 12:12 -
An Amazon review of Frank Edwards’ book ‘Stranger than Science’ – did anyone elso grow up on that? – suggests that the late baby-boomers (which – just – includes you and me, JuliaM) were a massive market for this kind of stuff.
We grew up with parents discussing the space race in households full of books from the 1950′s boom in SF; this early exposure, combined with radical advances in science during our childhood (Tomorrow’s world, anyone?) has given us a lifelong interest and curiosity.
Now the internet lets us identify like-minded people and, as you point out further down, the more thoughtful bloggers are self-selecting for certain intellectual attributes.
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April 24, 2011 at 17:39 -
Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World! Yes, I had forgotten that!
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April 24, 2011 at 18:48
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April 24, 2011 at 11:17 -
I can probably solve the mystery for Mr Cox – the discovery of mouse carcasses in and around the house is quite common here. I have even been (un)fortunate enough to observe the process by which these carcasses are generated. The clue is in my avatar.
As for pictures, I have a few of those too.
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April 24, 2011 at 11:20 -
Well it’s a bit more complicated than that. These mice are regularly leaping head first into a hole in the wall which is too small for them and breaking their necks. That or something else odd is going on…
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April 24, 2011 at 23:45 -
Do these events coincide with the transmission of a party-political broadcast? There seems to have been a lot of them lately…
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April 24, 2011 at 11:58 -
“Forteans tend to be individualistic and independent. A Fortean should have an open, inquisitive mind. A Fortean has a willingness to go against the grain of mainstream authority and question the orthodoxy and the accepted status quo.”
Probably why so many of us are bloggers, indeed!
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April 24, 2011 at 12:41 -
“Wolf War 1″ ???? Do you know something I don’t?
Good post though… I’ve read Fortean Times (on and off) for years. Nothing strange about ME.
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April 24, 2011 at 13:47 -
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April 24, 2011 at 14:17 -
I suppose it depends who you ask; a well read Raccoonista or the “Man on the Clapham Omnibus”?
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April 24, 2011 at 15:18 -
It’s well known to anyone who read the Readers’ Digest in 1978.
Sometime during that year, the magazine published as its book choice extensive extracts from ‘The Fire Came By’ (Atkins/Baxter), which has fuelled speculation of the ‘atomic UFO’ variety ever since.
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April 24, 2011 at 15:46 -
Having seen the tungushka river and been within spitting distance (500km) of the site of the impact, I can testify to the remoteness there is nothing there but trees.
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April 24, 2011 at 15:44 -
“This not very well known”
It is a bit better known know. The popular new game Crysis 2 features a plot that began when a scientist steals alien technology at Tunguska.
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April 24, 2011 at 17:17 -
Is it just me that thinks most of us with the enquiring minds are the older generation because actually thinking about anything is being removed from the present generation by the education system as is the idea of reading a book to get another view point.
Macheath mentions 1950s SF books, those were the ones that started my interest in all things scientific and I read them when they were first published as well as having most of them still with me today.
Those were the days when people questioned almost everything. Yes there were some very strange theories kicked about but the established ideas were questioned. Unfortunately that does not happen today – there is a scientific establishment and woe betide anyone that goes against established thinking. Just look at the fuss that was created when the researchers first announced cold fusion and the way the establishment pulled together to prove it couldn’t be yet, this month, there has been a demonstration of a working reactor.
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April 24, 2011 at 17:36 -
‘The Independent Thinker is a genuine, well-meaning person who is not hidebound by convention and who is always ready to strike out on a line of his own. […] Usually, we must concede, the Independent Thinker is wrong; but, by his very nature, he is also apt to be devastatingly right when others ridicule him. And whether right or wrong, he has an invaluable contribution to make to this modern world of ours. His refreshing, thoroughly healthy revolt against orthodoxy makes other people concentrate hard; and from this, nothing but good can emerge.’
Patrick Moore: ‘Can You Speak Venusian?’ (1972)
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April 24, 2011 at 17:20 -
April 24, 2011 at 17:26 -
Charles Fort:- “He was sceptical of scientific explanations, observing how scientists argued according to their own beliefs rather than the rules of evidence and that inconvenient data was ignored, suppressed, discredited or explained away. ”
No doubt then, what his opinion of so-called ‘Global Warming’ would have been.
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April 25, 2011 at 08:52 -
Okay, confession time. I’m a hardened sceptic. Am I the only one here?
In my youth, I was amazed by “Supernature” and “Chariot of the Gods”. Took me a while to realise that I’d been conned. I won’t forget that.
It was Isaac Asimov’s factual writing that first impressed me with the power of real science. The world is truly amazing, there’s enough there already without making it up. Pick-and-mix “beliefs” are easier than knowledge, but a poor substitute.
Many scientists have now allowed themselves to become tarnished by chasing funding in the Global Warming Religion, but the established and growing body of real science is still one of our greatest enterprises.
(Scurries offstage under a hail of rotten fruit).
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April 25, 2011 at 09:24 -
“Okay, confession time. I’m a hardened sceptic. Am I the only one here?”
Doubt it! There’s no reason why scepticism shouldn’t go hand in hand with an interest in all things Fortean.
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April 25, 2011 at 09:44 -
No, I tend to believe most of this stuff is bunk too. There’s a striking lack of any actual evidence. As a generalisation, when it comes to finding anything solid, the result is the same as when you do a full sonar sweep of a Scottish loch in search of an alleged plesiosaur – you get nothing.
It’s entertaining bunk though.
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April 25, 2011 at 14:57 -
Scepticism and respect for empirical science isn’t contradicted by an interest in the “paranormal”. Indeed, a lot of Forteana is devoted to how pseudosceptical and unscientific criticism of such theories can often be.
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April 25, 2011 at 17:56 -
I consider myself a ‘hardened sceptic’ too. I’m a keen amateur astronomer and I’ve spent many hours looking at the sky through binoculars or with the naked eye but I’ve never seen anything odd that couldn’t be explained after a bit of research . But I’d really love to see a UFO
. As for other phenomena, I have a genuinely open mind but please provide real, physical evidence, not just someones unsubstantiated claims. -
April 25, 2011 at 18:21 -
Programmes like the X Files and Fringe may be good for posing questions to inquiring minds. But when it comes to uncovering the unexplained and revealing the true facts….then there is only one winner for me.
Step forward Scooby Doo! Without those pesky kids, a generation of School Janitors and a range of amusement park workers and mining officials would have gotten away with murder.
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April 27, 2011 at 07:49
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April 25, 2011 at 18:34 -
I could go on at length about the arguements for and against ghosts but here is perhaps not the right place. I was once fired from my strictly amateur late night radio presenter slot when a zealous born again Chrstian claimed I was bringing The Devil into people’s lives after a show in which my producer and I were supposedly locked in the cellar of the most haunted house in the area.
Anyone who knows anything about local radio, particularly the budgets available and the cost of getting an OB van out after normal office hours, will guess we never left the studio. I’ve been determined to support ghosts ever since, more out of bloody mindedness than anything elseThe sneery scientists who dismiss ghostly activities shoot themselves in the foot however. They have made ‘science’ their religion yet routinely deny the phenomonon of Quantum Entanglement which makes ghosts scientifically feasible (in spirit if not as physical manifestations).
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April 25, 2011 at 19:21 -
“…scientists… routinely deny the phenomonon of Quantum Entanglement…”
What?
A lot of scientists in other disciplines, (and most non-scientists!) have a rather hazy grasp of Quantum Theory, but I don’t think any serious scientists deny it. Entanglement is not a negotiable option, it’s just one of the aspects which make it so counter-intuitive.Einstein didn’t like it, admittedly, but it’s stood the test of time, (so far.)
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April 25, 2011 at 20:25 -
The word “Quantum” is often used to sell snake oil and other rubbish. The perpetrators think it sounds impressive, and most laymen don’t know enough to be able to laugh at this preposterous claptrap.
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April 26, 2011 at 03:26 -
Fortean Times subscriber here. I’ve even written a little ghosthunting book in another incarnation.
Basically, all the eletronics sold as ‘ghost detectors’ is better described as ‘idiot detectors’. There’s some truth in there somewhere but by now, it’s a needle in a very big haystack, and all the hay is telling lies.
I’ll make more sense when my head is clear of paint fumes… maybe.
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April 26, 2011 at 13:38 -
Long time back, I was an Engineer Officer on board an old, unlovely vessel which was German-built, but a war-prize to the British. The ship had been sunk twice in harbour, once by Resistance action, once by R.A.F. attack. The legend was that a German crew-member was trapped in the shaft tunnel as the vessel started sinking, and hung himself as the water level rose. In reality he needn’t have bothered, as the level ceased rising before the tunnel flooded.
So we were berthed in Constanta, Romania; and my mate, a sawn-off Glasgow man was working by himself on a generator diesel engine. He was working away, singing to himself, and found that he needed another spanner of a specific size. He turned to climb off the engine, and saw, six feet away from him, a fair-haired man wearing an old-fashioned brown boiler suit. So Wee Sammy said, in his inimitable Glasgie’ accent, “Dinna stand there looking useless, fetch me a 3/8th Whitworth ring spanner!”
He turned back to his work on the diesel top, but then remembered that no one on board wore a brown boiler suit, so he whipped his head back around, but the fair-haired man had dissappeared.
Wee Sammy would not go down into the engine room by himself for ages, and no matter what threats the Chief Engineer made, swore that he would not return alone ever.
Myself, with the truth that no-one even knows how big the Universe really is; can only comment that there is an awful lot we don’t know; and there are few certainties in this life we live!
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April 27, 2011 at 07:48 -
Amen!
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April 27, 2011 at 01:13 -
I used to read FT avidly until John Brown bought it.The price and number of advertisements went up and the quality of the articles went down.I guess it was selling out to JB or fold,so credit to them for surviving.
Have two books which you FT fans might like.Both from Readers Disgest,published in the early 70s:
Strange Stories,Amazing Facts – Like a big fat FT compendium.I still dip into it 40 years later.
Folklore Myths and Legends of Great Britain – Each chapter starts with a map of the county it explores,marked with icons representing all kinds of forteana; lists ancient traditions and celebrations.fascinating book..I take it with me if I visit distant friends or go away on work stuff.-
April 27, 2011 at 07:48 -
Yes, it’s gone through quite a few changes in the years gone by. But it’s seen off other (lesser) magazines, and I hope it’ll long continue to do so…
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April 27, 2011 at 04:40 -
As a lifestyle occultist of many years standing, I wonder if I may offer a contribution.
I actually do not want science and magic to meet. Once they do, you see, a new Inquisition will result. The State, during times they chose to accept magic as a possibility, have always persecuted it. I’m very serious, for example parts of Africa where the State accepts the existence of the occult, have specially trained witchcraft squads.
I don’t mean accepting it like the way our clergy do, most of whom, – apart from the pervs in hiding,- I reckon are probably quite good souls. Strange thing to say for an occultist perhaps, but I think the Archbishop of Canterbury is a good, honest man with real dependable advice to give. Occultists are not necessarily anti-Christian! Please do your research before you damn us all!Same with even way back, concerning for example the Emperor Tiberius. He banned soothsayers etc, bar his own. It isn’t a genuine scientific rejection, when such things are banned you see, it is often simply an attack on any possible rivals.
Of course anyone is allowed to disagree with me, and thankfully you are allowed to do so, in this remnant of democracy we call the UK.
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