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

SANDOWN SAM RETURNS • The Isle of Wight’s legendary ghost clown is back in the news

HALLUCI-NATIONS • Starting up your own country isn’t always an easy process…

DON’T PANIC! • Shrinking penises, mysterious illnesses at the doctors and phantom hazardous materials

THE CONSPIRASPHERE • The murder of Charlie Kirk is the latest grim spectacle to be streamed around our politically fractured world and has all the ingredients of a classic conspiracy theory says NOEL ROONEY.

ARCHÆOLOGY • PAUL SIEVEKING digs up the news on a newly discovered wooden henge and a very old loaf of bread

CLASSICAL CORNER

BETWEEN SLEEPING AND WAKING: HOSPITAL DREAMS AND VISIONS • “To sleep, perchance to dream…” DAVID V BARRETT visits a new exhibition exploring uneasy dreams, disturbing visions, and sometimes nightmares at the Museum of the Mind in London’s Bethlem hospital.

Jurassic Park for real • DAVID HAMBLING traces our ever-evolving understanding of prehistoric beasts

JUST PLANE WEIRD • Strange tales from the skies, including a serial mystery plane pincher, chemtrail controversies and a pilot tripping balls…

Call of Cthulhu in the valleys? • ALAN MURDIE heads to Wales in search of weird ghosts, silver spacemen and cosmic forces

ALIEN ZOO • KARL SHUKER finds crypto-discoveries in unlikely places, with a little help from his friends…

STRANGE CONTINENT • ULRICH MAGIN presents his regular round-up of the weirdest news from across Europe

COFFIN DODGERS • Austria’s “air-dried chaplain”, plus a skeleton in the attic, a Presley on ice and other strange cases of kept corpses

MYTHCONCEPTIONS • 295: BITS, SCRAPS AND SCRUMPS

Don’t believe the hype! • NIGEL WATSON rounds up the latest news and views from the world of ufology

The Blossoming of Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk • Down a muddy track in deepest Herefordshire, by the tower of an isolated 17th century church, LISA GLEDHILL meets the painted and anonymous devotees of a very modern take on ancient ritual.

HAUNTED ESSEX THE GRAVEYARD OF WITCHES • The county of Essex witnessed some of the most notorious witch trials in England and the executions of many women and men accused of consorting with the Devil or bewitching their neighbours. Nearly every village has its own story to tell, says REBECCA BATLEY, and many of them appear to be haunted by the victims of the witch hunts…

SABBATH, BLOODY SABBATH • In July, heavy metal’s Prince of Darkness got a right royal send-off in his hometown of Birmingham. BRETT TAYLOR traces the story of Black Sabbath’s occult dabblings, from Tony Iommi’s astral travels to Ozzy Osbourne’s Satanic panics…

FORTEAN TV REVISITED SERIES TWO • In 1997, Channel 4 viewers were treated to a television version of Fortean Times in which REV LIONEL FANTHORPE presented “a celebration of the miraculous, the mysterious and the downright weird”. After the show’s success, Father Lionel was back with a second helping of Fortean TV in 1998. Join RYAN SHIRLOW as he concludes his series rewatch…

From the Embassy Club to Eternity • Have you heard the one about Bernard Manning MC-ing his own funeral? KATE CHERRELL tells the story of Bernard Manning From...