Forteana

Charles Hoy Fort (1874-1932)

1872, The Low Countries, Belgium and Brussels imparticular; over this city late one August evening rises a star like object. In December of the same year at a railway station in Bristol, England, Thomas B. Cumpston and his wife are arrested and charged with disorderly conduct; both of them attired only in their nightclothes. An ocean away in Albany, New York a couple take off their nightclothes and conceive a child.

The Book of The Damned

"I think we're property. I should say we belong to something. That once upon a time, this earth was No-man's Land, that other worlds explored and colonised here, and fought among themselves for possession, but that now it's owned by something ... all others warned off."

New Lands

"One of the greatest of secrets that have eventually been found out was for ages blabbed by all the pots and kettles of the world ... A tree cannot find out, as it were, how to blossom, until comes blossom-time. A social growth cannot find out the use of steam-engines until comes steam-engine-time."

Lo!

"Horses erect in a blizzard of frogs, and the patter of worms on umbrellas. The hum of ladybirds in England - the twang of a swarm of Americans at Templemore, Ireland. The appearance of Cagliostro - the appearance of Prof. Einsteins theories. A policeman dumps a wildman into a sack, and there is alarm upon all the contents of this earth because of a blaze in (the constellation of Orion) ... All are related, because all are phenomena of one organic existence."

Wild Talents

"I have a story of a horse that appeared in what would, to any ordinary horse, be a closed room. It makes one nervous, maybe. One glances around, and would at least not be incredulous, seeing almost any damned thing, sitting in a chair, staring at one."

Many Parts - Remnants of an Autobiography by Charles Hoy Fort 

Charles N., fathered upon his first wife - Charles Hoy, Clarence N., and Raymond V. Fort, in that order, beginning with our Charles, Aug. 6, 1874.....

Head Case - A Simulacrum in Eire

.....when, just below the jagged prominence of the Hags Teeth my friend pointed out a most wonderfully shaped rock, a simulacra of a grinning hag, a witch or perhaps this being Ireland a banshee.

A Load of Balls

.....after almost ten years of using a digital camera I have finally managed to photograph a group/flock/pride/flange of 'orbs', other that is than the circular smudges that manifest themselves upon rainy days.

Pennies From Heaven.....

or 'Do French Francs Fall in the Philippines?' or 'A Local Sky for Local Lucre' or perhaps even Mysterious Manifestations of Mamon.

Bo(w)ne Head

.....I stumbled upon this stone 'bone head' half way up Bow Fell in the Lake District of northern England.

Writing To The Papers

When an FT reader found a letter from one 'Charles Fort' in an old newspaper at a local boot sale, and posted it on the message board of forteantimes.com, much discussion ensued.

"Skeedly Eedly Eddly Bee"

We hurry along, making a beeline for summit directly ahead of us, but it's of no use as we are soon encompassed in a noisy darting cloud of bee's, we crouch down, hold onto each other and wait for them to pass.....

The Haunting of RF398

No one is sure why the Avro Lincoln bomber, serial number RF398, should be haunted.....