Fortean Times

Founded in England in 1973 to “continue the work” of Charles Fort, an eccentric, Victorian-era investigator and documentarian of strange phenomena, Fortean Times has evolved over three decades from a rough-paper quarterly to a slick, full-color monthly. No matter what the printing media, the magazine has always been crammed full of arcane data, well-researched documentation, and good-humored skepticism regarding its own subject matter. Fort once said, “I conceive of nothing, in religion, science or philosophy, that is more than the proper thing to wear, for a while,” and with such an open-ended editorial perspective, the magazine has pursued topics ranging from UFO studies to Bigfoot investigations to crop circle documentation to cult-activity analyses, to examinations of characters as diverse as H.P. Lovecraft, Nicola Tesla and Aleister Crowley. And the front-of-the-book marginalia alone is worth the hefty $10 cover price. The 200th issue features a fine travel guide to the “Weird UK” and dozens of featurettes ranging from human mothers nursing baby animals to reviews of current books, video games and videos. Well worth investigating.