Regular clipstershave provided the lifeblood ofFortean Times
since it began in 1973. One of the delights forthe editors is
receiving packets of clips from Borneo or Brazil, Saudi Arabia
or Siberia. We inviteyoutojoin in thefun and send in anything
weird, fromtrade journals,local newspapers,extracts from
obscure tomes,orl ibrary newspaperarchives.
To minimise thetime spent on preparing clippings foraFort
Sort, we askthat youcut them out and notfold them too small.
Mark each clip (on the front, where possible) with the source,
date andyour name, so that we can credityouinthe listing
(right) when we use thematerial. For UK local and overseas clips,
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Mailto:ForteanTimes,PO Box2 40 9, London NW5 4NP,UK
E-mail:[email protected]FORTEAN TIMESis amonthly
magazine of news,reviews and
research on strange phenomena
and experiences,curiosities,
prodigies and portents.Itw as
founded by Bob Rickardin1973 to
continue the work of Charles Fort
(1874–1932).
Born of Dutch stock in Albany,
New York, Fortspent manyyears
researching scientific literature in
the NewYork Public Library and
the British Museum Library.He
marshalled his evidence and set
forth his philosophy inTheBook of
the Damned(1919),New Lands
(1923),Lo!(1931), andWild
Talents(1932).
He wasscepticalof dogmatic
scientificexplanations,observing
how scientists argued according
to their own beliefsrather
than the rules of evidence
and that inconvenient data
were ignored, suppressed,
discredited orexplainedaway.
He criticised modern science for
its reductionism, its attempts to
define,divide and separate.Fort’s
dictum“One measures acircle
beginning anywhere”expresses
instead his philosophy of Continuityin which everything is in an
intermediate and transient state
betweenextremes.
He had ideas of the Universe-as-
organism and the transient nature
of all apparent phenomena, coined
the term ‘teleportation’, andwas
perhaps the first to speculate that
mysterious lights seen in the sky
might be craft from outer space.
However,hecut atthe very roots
of credulity: “I conceiveofnothing,
in religion, science or philosophy,
that is more than the proper thing
to wear,for awhile.”
Fortwas by no means the first
person to collect anomalies and
oddities–suchcollections have
abounded from Greece to China
since ancient times.Fortean
Timeskeeps alivethis ancient task
of dispassionate weird-watching,
exploring the wild frontiers between
the known and the unknown.
Besides beingajournal of
record,FTis alsoaforumfor
thediscu ssionofobservations
and ideas,however absurdor
unp opular,and maintains a
position of benevolent scepticism
towards both the orthodoxand
unorthodox.FTtoes no party line.78 FT389
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