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

PECULIAR PERSECUTIONS • A 60-year stalking case and other odd obsessions

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

SIDELINES

PREDICTIONS • Two new Nostradamuses, plus lions and meerkats, attempt to peer into the future

BETTER LATE… • More long errrant library books find their way home, sometimes over a century overdue

GNOME HOME • Scotland’s ‘Inch Gnome Island’ is home to a growing population of little people

THE CONSPIRASPHERE • As the US election campaign heats up, conspiracies are likely to haunt all the candidates, and, as NOEL ROONEY notes, the fall-out from 6 January 2021 may even reach Kamala Harris…

ARCHÆOLOGY • A MONTHLY EXCAVATION OF ODDITIES AND ANTIQUITIES

CLASSICAL CORNER • FORTEANA FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD

Secret punches and sudden death • Before delivering his fabled death blow, DAVID HAMBLING shares the science behind it…

SWORD SWIPED • Durandel, the “French Excalibur” said to be the fabled sword of French hero Roland, has been stolen from its rocky resting place

Scotland’s Spiritualist art • ALAN MURDIE examines the country’s rich tradition of mediumistic art and psychic photography

ALIEN ZOO • NEWS FROM THE CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL GARDEN

MEDICAL BAG • This month’s odd complaints include everyone around you turning into demons, computer-related ED and possibly the most horrific sneeze ever…

FORTEAN FOLLOW-UPS • Trump’s ear, dead tortoise mystery solved, the Voynich Manuscript and other cryptic texts

MYTHCONCEPTIONS

NECROLOG • This month, we bid a fond farewell to Tony ‘Doc’ Shiels, the Wizard of the West, whose surreal monster-raising exploits made him a regular fixture in FT

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

Fragments of reality • NIGEL WATSON finds the Betty and Barney Hill abduction in the spotlight, plus tales of cosmic debris

Star Dreamers • JENNY RANDLES reflects on the part creativity plays in cases of alien contact – and alien memories

FOLKLORE RISING • Artist BEN EDGE has travelled the length and breadth of Britain recording the weird and wonderful folk customs alive in communities all over the country, using his experiences and photographs as inspiration for a series of colourful and atmospheric paintings. In this extract from his new book, Folklore Rising: An Artist’s Journey Through the British Ritual Year, he finds himself in Devon to witness one of the county’s stranger traditions, and he speaks to FT about the redemptive potential of folklore in modern life.

ON THE RITUAL TRAIL • BEN EDGE talks to FT about his journey around Britain and how folklore changed his life

A FEAST OF FOLKLORE • In an extract from his new book about British food folklore, BEN GAZUR examines the weirdest culinary traditions, rituals, and tales cooked up across the centuries.

HARE TODAY • ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY’s 2019 novel Starve Acre was widely acclaimed for using elements of Folk Horror to explore the trauma of grief, and a new film adaptation – directed by DANIEL KOKOTAJLO – has lost none of the book’s potency....