This article is not about Charles Forte.

Charles Hoy Fort (6 August 1874 – 3 May 1932) was an American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena. (According to some sources he was born on 9 August.) Charles Forte, Baron Forte (born 1908) is a famous hotelier born in Italy. ... Charles Fort, 1920. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... An anomalous phenomenon is an observed event (phenomenon) which deviates from the standard or expected (anomaly). ... August 9 is the 221st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (222nd in leap years), with 144 days remaining. ...

Jerome Clark writes that Fort was "Essentially a satirist hugely skeptical of human beings' — especially scientists' claims to ultimate knowledge". (Clark 2000, 123) (see Pyrrhonism for a type of skepticism strongly reminiscent of Fort's). Clark describes Fort's writing style as a "distinctive blend of mocking humor, penetrating insight, and calculated outrageousness". (Clark 1998, 200) Jerome Clark (1946 - ) is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Skepticism (Commonwealth spelling: Scepticism) can mean: Philosophical skepticism - a philosophical position in which people choose to critically examine whether the knowledge and perceptions that they have are actually true, and whether or not one can ever be said to have absolutely true knowledge; or Scientific skepticism - a scientific, or practical... Pyrrhonism, or Pyrrhonian skepticism, was a school of skepticism founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE and recorded by Sextus Empiricus in the 3rd century. ... Look up Humour in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Insight: Insight is a piece of information. ...

Writer Colin Wilson describes Fort as "a kind of patron saint of cranks" (Wilson, 199), and also argues that running through Fort's work is "the feeling that no matter how honest scientists think they are, they are still influenced by various unconscious assumptions that prevent them from attaining true objectivity. Expressed in a sentence, Fort's principle goes something like this: People with a psychological need to believe in marvels are no more prejudiced and gullible than people with a psychological need not to believe in marvels." (Wilson, 201; emphases his) Colin Henry Wilson (born June 26, 1931) is a prolific British writer. ... Saint Quentin is the patron saint of locksmiths and is also invoked against coughs and sneezes. ... Crank is a pejorative term for a person who holds some belief which the vast majority of his contemporaries would consider false, clings to this belief in the face of all counterarguments or evidence presented to him. ...

Fort's books sold well, and remain in print. Today, the term Fortean or Forteana is used to describe various anomalous phenomena. Anomalous phenomena are phenomena which are observed and for which there are no suitable explanations in the context of a specific body of scientific knowledge, e. ...

Biography

Charles Hoy Fort was born in 1874 in Albany, New York, of Dutch ancestry. Charles was the eldest of three siblings (he had two younger brothers, Clarence and Raymond). His grocer father was something of an authoritarian: Many Parts, Fort's unpublished autobiography, relates several instances of harsh treatment — including physical abuse — by his father. Some observers (such as Fort's biographer Damon Knight) have suggested that Fort's distrust of authority has its roots in his father's treatment. In any case, Fort developed a strong sense of independence in his youth. Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Location in Albany County and the State of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York County Albany Founded 1614 Incorporated 1686 Government  - Mayor Gerald D. Jennings Area  - City  21. ... Child abuse is the physical or psychological maltreatment of a child, often synonymous with the terms child maltreatment and child abuse and neglect. ... Damon Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was a science fiction author, editor, and critic. ...

While still rather young, Fort was a budding naturalist who would collect sea shells, minerals, and birds. Curious and intelligent, the young Fort did not excel at school, though he was quite a wit and full of knowledge about the world — yet this was only a world he had read of. Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ... The hard, rigid outer calcium carbonate covering of certain animals is called a shell. ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ...

So, at the age of 18, Fort left New York on a world tour to "put some capital in the bank of experience". He travelled through the western United States, Scotland, and England, until finally falling ill in South Africa. Returning home, he was nursed by Anna Filing, a girl he had known from his childhood. They were later married on 26 October 1896. Anna was four years younger than Charles, and was non-literary, a lover of films and of parakeets. She later moved with her husband to London where they would go to the cinema when Charles wasn't busy with his research. His success as a short story writer was intermittent between periods of terrible poverty and depression. Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic)1 Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder, or sometimes unipolar when compared with bipolar disorder, which is sometimes called manic depression) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily...

In 1916, an inheritance from an uncle gave Fort enough money to quit his various day jobs and to write full time. In 1917, Fort's brother Clarence died; his portion of the same inheritance was divided between Charles and Raymond. A day job is a form of occupation taken by a person in order to make ends meet while working another low-paying (or non-paying) job in their preferred career track. ...

Fort wrote ten novels, though only one, The Outcast Manufacturers (1906), was published — critics said it was ahead of its time but it was commercially unsuccessful. In 1915, Fort began to write two books, entitled X and Y, the first dealing with the idea that beings on Mars were controlling events on Earth, and the second with the postulation of a sinister civilization extant at the South Pole. These books caught the attention of writer Theodore Dreiser, who attempted to get them published, but to no avail. Disheartened by this failure, Fort burnt the manuscripts, but was soon renewed to begin work on the book that would change the course of his life, The Book of the Damned (1919). The title referred to "damned data" that Fort collected, phenomena for which science could not account and was thus rejected or ignored. A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. ... Theodore Dreiser, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1933 Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American naturalist author known for dealing with the gritty reality of life. ... The Book of the Damned - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Fort's experience as a journalist coupled with a contrarian nature prepared him for his real-life work, mocking the pretensions of scientific positivism and the tendency of journalists and editors of newspapers and scientific journals to rationalise the scientifically incorrect. This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Logical positivism is a school of philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge of the world — with a version of rationalism—the idea that our knowledge includes a component that is not derived from observation. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Fort and Anna lived in London from 1924 to 1926, having moved there so Charles could peruse the files of the British Museum. The British Museum in London is one of the worlds greatest museums of human history and culture. ...

His books earned mostly positive reviews, and were popular enough to go through several printings, including an omnibus edition in 1941.

By 1929, the Forts had relocated to New York City. Suffering from poor health and failing eyesight, Fort was pleasantly surprised to find himself the subject of a cult following. There was talk of the formation of a formal organization to study the type of odd events related in his books. Clark writes, "Fort himself, who did nothing to encourage any of this, found the idea hilarious. Yet he faithfully corresponded with his readers, some of whom had taken to investigating reports of anomalous phenomena and sending their findings to Fort." (Clark 1998, 235) This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Fort distrusted doctors, and did not seek medical help for his worsening health. Rather, he focused his energies towards completing Wild Talents. After he collapsed on May 3, 1932, Fort was rushed to Royal Hospital in The Bronx. Later that same day, Fort's publisher visited him to show the advance copies of Wild Talents. Fort died only hours afterwards, probably of leukemia.^[1] May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... The Bronx is New York Citys northernmost borough. ... Leukemia or leukaemia (see spelling differences) is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation (production by multiplication) of blood cells, usually white blood cells (leukocytes). ...

He was interred in the Fort family plot in Albany, New York. His more than 60,000 notes were donated to the New York Public Library.

Fort and the unexplained

Overview

Fort's relationship with the study of anomalous phenomena is frequently misunderstood and misrepresented. For over thirty years, Charles Fort sat in the libraries of New York and London, assiduously reading scientific journals, newspapers, and magazines, collecting notes on phenomena that lay outside the accepted theories and beliefs of the time. An anomalous phenomenon is an observed event (phenomenon) which deviates from the standard or expected (anomaly). ... New York, NY redirects here. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Fort in his lifetime must have taken tens of thousands of notes — he is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes, though there were no doubt many more than this. The notes were kept on cards in shoeboxes. They were taken on small squares of paper, in a cramped shorthand of Fort's own invention, and some of them survive today in the collections of the University of Pennsylvania. More than once, depressed and discouraged, Fort destroyed his work, but always began again. Some of the notes were published, little by little, by the Fortean Society until its dissolution. Shorthand is an abbreviated, symbolic writing method that improves speed of writing or brevity as compared to a normal method of writing a language. ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... The Fortean Society was started in Britain in 1931 by Tiffany Thayer in order to promote the ideas of Charles Fort. ...

From these researches Fort wrote seven books, though only four survive. These are: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932); one book was written between New Lands and Lo! but it was abandoned and absorbed into Lo!. The Book of the Damned - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... New Lands was the second nonfiction book of the author Charles Fort, written in 1925. ... Lo! is a book by Charles Fort, originally written in 1931. ... Wild Talents is the fourth and final book written by paranormal author Charles Fort, published in 1932. ...

Fort's writing style

Understanding Fort's books takes time and effort: his style is complex, violent and poetic, satirical and subtle, profound and occasionally puzzling. Ideas are abandoned and then recalled a few pages on; examples and data are offered, compared and contrasted, conclusions made and broken, as Fort holds up the unorthodox to the scrutiny of the orthodoxy that continually fails to account for them. Pressing on his attacks, Fort shows what he sees as the ridiculousness of the conventional explanations and then interjects with his own theories. Wilson opines that Fort's writing style is "atrocious" (Wilson, 199) and "almost unreadable" (Wilson, 200), and speculates that Fort's idiosyncratic prose might have kept him from greater popular success.

Fort suggests that there is, for example, a Super-Sargasso Sea into which all lost things go — and justifies his theories by noting that they fit the data as well as the conventional explanations. As to whether Fort believes this theory, or any of his other proposals, he gives us the answer: "I believe nothing of my own that I have ever written." (In other words, facts are underdetermined: for any given collection of facts, more than one theory will explain them adequately… this is widely accepted now, but was extremely controversial at the time Fort was writing.) Wilson suspects that Fort took few if any of his "explanations" seriously, and notes that Fort made "no attempt to present a coherent argument". (Wilson, 200) The dimension into which lost things go according to Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 - May 3, 1932), writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Fortean Phenomena

Despite his objections to Fort's writing style, Wilson allows that "the facts are certainly astonishing enough." (Wilson, 200) Examples of the odd phenomena in Fort's books include many of what are variously referred to as occult, supernatural, and paranormal. Reported events include teleportation (a term Fort is generally credited with coining); poltergeist events; falls of frogs, fishes, inorganic materials of an amazing range; unaccountable noises and explosions; spontaneous fires; levitation; ball lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort); unidentified flying objects; mysterious appearances and disappearances; giant wheels of light in the oceans; and animals found outside their normal ranges (see phantom cat). He offered many reports of OOPArts, abbreviation for "out of place" artifacts: strange items found in unlikely locations. He also is perhaps the first person to explain strange human appearances and disappearances by the hypothesis of alien abduction, and was an early proponent of the extraterrestrial hypothesis, specifically suggesting that strange lights or object sighted in the skies might be alien spacecraft. The word occult comes from the Latin occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to knowledge of the hidden. In the medical sense it is used commonly to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena. ... Teleportation is the movement of objects or elementary particles from one place to another, more or less instantaneously, without traveling through space. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Spontaneous combustion may refer to: The self-ignition of a mass, for example, a pile of oily rags. ... A cubical magnet levitating over a superconducting material (this is known as the Meissner effect). ... Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but it can also be golf ball sized or smaller. ... An unidentified flying object, or UFO, is any real or apparent flying object which cannot be identified by the observer and which remains unidentified after investigation. ... Phantom cats or alien big cats (ABCs) are a phenomenon of a number of countries and states including Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, and Hawaii. ... OOPArt, from the acronym for out-of-place artifact, is a term coined by American zoologist Ivan T. Sanderson for a historical, archaeological or paleontological object found in a very unusual, or even impossible, location. ... The Abduction Phenomenon is as umbrella term used to describe a number of kidnap individuals--sometimes called abductees--usually for medical testing or for sexual reproduction procedures. ... A photograph taken in Passoria, New Jersey, on July 31 1952 The Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) is the hypothesis that UFOs are best explained as being creatures from other planets occupying physical spacecraft visiting Earth. ...

Many of these phenomena are now collectively and conveniently referred to as 'Fortean' phenomena (or 'Forteana'), whilst others have developed into their own schools of thought, for example, UFOs into ufology, or the reports of unconfirmed animals classified as cryptozoology. These new disciplines per se are generally not recognized by most scientists or academics, however. UFO can mean: Unidentified flying object United Future Organization, a Japanese-Brazilian electronic jazz band UFO, the rock band that previously featured Michael Schenker UFO, the Gerry Anderson TV series United Farmers of Ontario, a political party that formed the government in Ontario from 1919 to 1923 U.F.O... Ufology is the study of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings, alleged physical evidence, and other related phenomena. ... Cryptozoology is the search for animals that are rumored to exist, but for which conclusive proof is missing. ...

Forteana and mainstream science

Some skeptics and critics have frequently called Fort credulous and naïve, a charge his supporters deny strongly. Over and over again in his writing, Fort rams home a few basic points that were decades ahead of mainstream scientific acceptance, and that are frequently forgotten in discussions of the history and philosophy of science: Science is a body of empirical and theoretical knowledge, produced by a global community of researchers, making use of specific techniques for the observation and explanation of real phenomena, this techne summed up under the banner of scientific method. ... Philosophy of science is the study of assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, especially in the natural sciences and social sciences. ...

• Fort often notes that the boundaries between science and pseudoscience are 'fuzzy': the boundary lines are not very well defined, and they might change over time.
• Fort also points out that whereas facts are objective, how facts are interpreted depends on who is doing the interpreting and in what context.
• Fort insisted that there is a strong sociological influence on what is considered 'acceptable' or 'damned' (see strong program in the sociology of scientific knowledge).
• Though he never used the term "magical thinking", Fort offered many arguments and observations that are similar to the concept: he argued that most (if not all) people are at least occasionally guilty of irrational and "non scientific" thinking.
• Fort points out the problem of underdetermination: that the same data can sometimes be explained by more than one theory.
• Similarly, writer John Michell notes that "Fort gave several humorous instances of the same experiment yielding two different results, each one gratifying the experimenter."^[2] Fort noted that if controlled experiments — a pillar of the scientific method — could produce such widely varying results depending on who conducted them, then the scientific method itself might be open to doubt, or at least to a degree scrutiny rarely brought to bear. Since Fort's death, scientists have recognized the "Experimenter effect" — the tendency for experiments to tend to validate given preconceptions. Robert Rosenthal (psychologist) has done pioneering research on this and related subjects.

There are many phenomena in Fort's works which have now been partially or entirely "recuperated" by mainstream science — ball lightning, for example, was largely rejected as impossible by the scientific consensus of Fort's day, but is now generally recognized as a genuine phenomenon. However, many of Fort's ideas remain on the very borderlines of "mainstream science", or beyond, in the fields of paranormalism and the bizarre. This is unsurprising, as Fort resolutely refused to abandon the territory beyond "acceptable" science. Nonetheless, later research has demonstrated that Fort's claims are at least as reliable as his sources. In the 1960s, American writer William R. Corliss began his own documentation of scientific anomalies. Partly inspired by Fort, Corliss checked some of Fort's sources and concluded that Fort's research was "accurate, but rather narrow" -- there were many anomalies which Fort did not include in his books.^[3] Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Strong Program/Programme is a variety of the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) particularly associated with David Bloor, Barry Barnes, and Bruno Latour. ... The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), closely related to the sociology of science, considers social influences on science. ... In psychology and cognitive science, magical thinking is non-scientific causal reasoning (e. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... The expectancy effect (or experimenter effect) is a common problem in scientific experiments, a researcher or subject expects a given result, and tends to find it in the data. ... Robert Rosenthal is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. ... Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but it can also be golf ball sized or smaller. ... Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of science at a particular time. ... William R. Corliss is a collector of data regarding anomalous phenomena. ...

Many consider it odd that Fort, a man so skeptical and so willing to question the pronouncements of the scientific mainstream, would be so eager to take old stories — for example, stories about rains of fish falling from the sky — at face value. It is debatable whether Fort did in fact accept evidence at face value: many instances in his books, Fort notes that he regarded certain data and assertions as unlikely, and he additionally remarked, "I offer the data. Suit yourself." In Fort's books, it's often difficult to determine if he took his proposals and "theories" seriously; however, as noted on the extraterrestrial hypothesis page, Fort did seem to hold a genuine belief in the presence of extraterrestrial visitations to the Earth. A photograph taken in Passoria, New Jersey, on July 31 1952 The Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) is the hypothesis that UFOs are best explained as being creatures from other planets occupying physical spacecraft visiting Earth. ...

The theories and conclusions Fort presented often came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science". Fort's works have — on nearly every page — reports of odd events which were originally printed in respected mainstream scientific journals or newspapers such as Scientific American, The Times, Nature and Science. Time and again, Fort noted, that while some phenomena related in these and other sources were enthusiastically accepted and promoted by scientists, just as often, inexplicable or unusual reports were ignored, or were effectively swept under the rug. And repeatedly, Fort reclaimed such data from under the rug, and brought them out, as he wrote, "for an airing". So long as any evidence is ignored — however bizarre or unlikely the evidence might seem — Fort insisted that scientists' claims to thoroughness and objectivity were questionable. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Scientific American is a popular-science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly) since August 28, 1845, making it the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... Nature is one of the most prominent scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ... Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ...

It did not matter to Fort whether his data and theories were accurate: his point was that alternative conclusions and world views can be made from the same data "orthodox" conclusions are made, and that the conventional explanations of science are only one of a range of explanations, none necessarily more justified than another. In this respect, he was far ahead of his time. In The Book of the Damned he showed the influence of social values and what would now be called a "paradigm" on what scientists consider to be "true". This prefigured work by Thomas Kuhn decades later. In a similar way the anarchic "anything goes" approach to science of Paul Feyerabend is similar to Fort's. A world view (or worldview) is a term calqued from the German word Weltanschauung (pronounced ) meaning a look onto the world. ... Since the late 1960s, the word paradigm (IPA: ) has referred to a thought pattern in any scientific discipline or other epistemological context. ... Thomas Samuel Kuhn (July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American intellectual who wrote extensively on the history of science and developed several important notions in the philosophy of science. ... Anarchism is a form of social criticism, a political movement as well as a political philosophy. ... Paul Karl Feyerabend (January 13, 1924 – February 11, 1994) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best-known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades (1958-1989). ...

Another of Fort's great contribution is to the humor of science. Although many of the phenomena which science rejected in his day have since been proven to be objective phenomena, and although Fort was prescient in his collection and preservation of these data despite the scorn they received from his contemporaries, Fort was more of a parodist and a humorist than a scientist. He thought that far too often, scientists took themselves far too seriously, and were prone to arrogance and dogmatism. Fort used humor both for its own sake, and to point out what he regarded as the foibles of science and scientists. Parody of Back to the Future In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... For the film Dogma, see Dogma (film) Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas, Greek , plural ) is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed or doubted. ...

Nonetheless, Fort is considered by many as the father of modern paranormalism, not only because of his interest in strange phenomena, but because of his "modern" attitude towards religion, 19th century spiritualism, and scientific dogma. By 1853, when the popular song Spirit Rappings was published, Spiritualism was the object of intense curiosity. ...

Followers and fans of Fort

Fort's work has inspired very many to consider themselves as Forteans. The first of these was the screenwriter Ben Hecht, who in a review of The Book of the Damned declared "I am the first disciple of Charles Fort… henceforth, I am a Fortean". Among Fort's other notable fans were John Cowper Powys, Sherwood Anderson, Clarence Darrow, and Booth Tarkington, who wrote the foreword to New Lands. Ben Hecht (February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter, even though he professed disdain for the motion picture industry. ... John Cowper Powys (October 8, 1872 - June 17, 1963) was a British (English-Welsh) writer, lecturer, and philosopher. ... Sherwood Anderson in 1933. ... Clarence Seward Darrow (April 18, 1857 Kinsman, Trumbull County, Ohio - March 13, 1938 Chicago) was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenaged thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Bobby Franks (1924) and defending... Time magazine, December 21, 1925 Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 _ May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist. ...

Precisely what is encompassed by 'Fortean' is a matter of great debate; the term is widely applied from every position from a Fortean purists dedicated to Fort's methods and interests, to those with open and active acceptance of the actuality of paranormal phenomena, a position with which Fort may not have agreed. Most generally, Forteans have a wide interest in unexplained phenomena in wide-ranging fields, mostly concerned with the natural world, and have a developed 'agnostic scepticism' regarding the anomalies they note and discuss. For Mr. Hecht as an example, being a Fortean meant hallowing a pronounced distrust of authority in all its forms, whether religious, scientific, political, philosophical or otherwise. It did not, of course, include an actual belief in the magical matters enumerated in Fort's works. The term agnosticism and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. ... Skepticism (Commonwealth spelling: Scepticism) can mean: Philosophical skepticism - a philosophical position in which people choose to critically examine whether the knowledge and perceptions that they have are actually true, and whether or not one can ever be said to have absolutely true knowledge; or Scientific skepticism - a scientific, or practical...

The Fortean Society was founded in Fort's lifetime by his friends, and led by fellow writer Tiffany Thayer, half in earnest and half in jest, like the work of Fort himself. Fort, however, rejected the society and refused the presidency; he was lured to its inaugural meeting by false telegrams. As a strict non-authoritarian, Fort refused to establish himself as an authority, and further objected on the grounds that those who would be attracted by such a grouping would be spiritualists, zealots, and those opposed to a science that rejected them; it would attract those who believed in their chosen phenomena: an attitude exactly contrary to Forteanism. It is ironic, then, that many such Fortean groups have been established. The Fortean Society was started in Britain in 1931 by Tiffany Thayer in order to promote the ideas of Charles Fort. ... Tiffany Ellsworth Thayer (March 1, 1902–23 August 1959) was an American author and founder of the Fortean Society. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ...

Most notable of these is the magazine, Fortean Times (first published in November 1973), which is a proponent of Fortean journalism, combining humour, scepticism, and serious research into subjects which scientists and other respectable authorities often disdain. There is also an International Fortean Organisation (INFO) and other Fortean societies, notably in Edinburgh and the Isle of Wight. Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. ... The International Fortean Organisation (INFO) is a group based in America dedicated to keeping the principles of Charles Fort alive. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Isle of Wight is an English island and county, off the southern English coast, to the south of the county of Hampshire. ...

Several modern authors, such as Loren Coleman who has written about the influence of Fort in his Mysterious America, are sincere followers of Fort. Jerome Clark has described himself as a "sceptical Fortean"^[4] Mike Dash is another capable Fortean, bringing his historian's training to bear on all manner of odd reports, while being careful to avoid uncritically accepting any orthodoxy, be it that of fringe devotees or mainstream science. Robert Anton Wilson's work is heavily influenced by Fort, especially The New Inquisition (1986). More recently, talented dark-fantasy author and paleontologist Caitlin R. Kiernan has often included Fortean elements and quotations in her novels and short stories; her most recent short fiction collection was titled To Charles Fort, With Love (Subterranean Press, 2005). She has also published a chapbook titled The Little Damned Book of Days (Subterranean Press, 2005) that chronicles some of her own Fortean experiences. Loren Coleman in a photograph featured in his profile on Cryptomundo. ... Jerome Clark (1946 - ) is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note. ... Mike Dash (b. ... It has been suggested that Timothy F.X. Finnegan be merged into this article or section. ... Cover of Robert Anton Wilsons The New Inquisition The New Inquisition is a book written by Robert Anton Wilson and first published in 1986. ... Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan (born May 26, 1964 in Skerries, Dublin, Ireland) is the author of numerous science fiction and dark fantasy works, including many comics, more than seventy published short stories, and numerous scientific papers. ... Cover art by Ryan Obermeyer To Charles Fort, With Love is a short-story collection by fantasist Caitlin R. Kiernan, published by Subterranean Press in 2005. ...

Fort's work, of compilation and commentary on anomalous phenomena reported in scientific journals and press, has been carried on very creditably by William R. Corliss, whose self-published books and notes bring Fort's collections up to date with a Fortean combination of humor, seriousness and open-mindedness. Mr. Corliss' notes rival those of Fort in volume, while being significantly less cryptic and abbreviated. William R. Corliss is a collector of data regarding anomalous phenomena. ...

Ivan T. Sanderson, Scottish naturalist and writer, was a devotee of Fort's work, and referenced it heavily is several of his own books on unexplained phenomena -- notable "Things" (1967), and "More Things" (1969). Ivan Terrance Sanderson (January 30, 1911 – February 19, 1973) was a naturalist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...

Paul Thomas Anderson, the director and writer of the critically acclaimed film Magnolia is a fan of Fort and many aspects of the film were inspired by his books. Paul Thomas Anderson at Cannes 2002 Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970[1] in Studio City, California) is an American filmmaker. ... Magnolia is a 1999 drama film, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. ...

The noted UK paranormalist, Fortean and ordained priest Lionel Fanthorpe presented the Fortean TV series on Channel 4. The Reverend Robert Lionel Fanthorpe is, inter alia, a priest and entertainer. ... Fortean TV was a Channel 4 TV show about the paranormal presented by Reverend Lionel Fanthrope in the late 90s. ... It has been suggested that Channel Four Television Corporation be merged into this article or section. ...

The 2003 children's book Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett makes heavy reference to Fort's work Lo! as the main characters struggle to make sense out of coincidences in their lives having to do with an art theft. Chasing Vermeer is a childrens book by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist, illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events. ... Elizabeth Blue Balliett Klein is an American author, best known for her award-winning novel for children, Chasing Vermeer. ... Lo! is a book by Charles Fort, originally written in 1931. ...

Quotations

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Charles Fort

• "Now there are so many scientists who believe in dowsing, that the suspicion comes to me that it may be only a myth after all".
• "One measures a circle, beginning anywhere".
• "My own notion is that it is very unsportsmanlike to ever mention fraud. Accept anything. Then explain it your way".
• "But my liveliest interest is not so much in things, as in relations of things. I have spent much time thinking about the alleged pseudo-relations that are called coincidences. What if some of them should not be coincidence?"
• "If any spiritualistic medium can do stunts, there is no more need for special conditions than there is for a chemist to turn down lights, start operations with a hymn, and ask whether there's any chemical present that has affinity with something named Hydrogen".
• "The Earth is a farm. We are someone else's property".

Often attributed to Fort, but not found in his books or letters, is: Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... A dowser, from an 18th century French book about superstitions. ... In spirituality, a medium or spirit medium (plural mediums) is an individual who possesses the ability to receive messages from spirits (discorporate entities), or claims that he or she can channel such entities — that is, write or speak in the voice of these entities rather than in the mediums...

• "If there is a universal mind, must it be sane?"

See also

• Anomalous phenomenon
• William R. Corliss
• Inoue Enryo
• Fortean Times
• Haunting
• List of magazines of anomalous phenomena
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

An anomalous phenomenon is an observed event (phenomenon) which deviates from the standard or expected (anomaly). ... William R. Corliss is a collector of data regarding anomalous phenomena. ... Inoue Enryo (井上円了, March 18, 1858 - June 6, 1919), founder of Toyo University (東洋大学), was a Japanese educator, philosopher and Buddhist. ... Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. ... Reputed ghost of a monk. ... This is a list of magazines (some now exclusively web-based) on anomalous and Fortean phenomena. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Partial bibliography

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Charles Fort

All of Fort's works are available on-line. See "External links." Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ...

• The Outcast Manufacturers (novel), 1906
• Many Parts (autobiography, unpublished)
• The Book of the Damned, Prometheus Books, 1999, paperback, 310 pages, ISBN 1-57392-683-3, first published in 1919.
• New Lands, Ace Books, 1941 and later editions, mass market paperback, first published in 1923. ISBN 0-7221-3627-7
• Lo!, Ace Books, 1941 and later printings, mass market paperback, first published in 1931. ISBN 1-870870-89-1
• Wild Talents, Ace Books, 1932 and later printings, mass market paperback, first published in 1932. ISBN 1-870870-29-8
• Complete Books of Charles Fort, Dover Publications, New York, 1998, hardcover, ISBN 0-486-23094-5

The Book of the Damned - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by Paul Kurtz and publishes scientific, educational, and popular books, especially those of a secular humanist or scientific skepticism nature. ... New Lands was the second nonfiction book of the author Charles Fort, written in 1925. ... Ace Books is the oldest continuing publisher of science fiction & fantasy novels, founded in 1953 by magazine publisher A. A. Wyn. ... Lo! is a book by Charles Fort, originally written in 1931. ... Wild Talents is the fourth and final book written by paranormal author Charles Fort, published in 1932. ... Dover Publications is a book publisher founded in 1941. ... New York, NY redirects here. ...

References

There are very few books written about Fort. His life and work has been almost completely overlooked by mainstream academia and the books written are mainly biographical expositions relating Fort's life and ideas.

• Gardner, Martin has a chapter on Charles Fort in his Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science 1957; Dover; ISBN 0-486-20394-8.
• Knight, Damon, Charles Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained is a dated but valuable biographical resource, detailing Fort's early life, his pre-'Fortean' period and also provides chapters on the Fortean society and brief studies of Fort's work in relation to Immanuel Velikovsky.
• Magin, Ulrich, Der Ritt auf dem Kometen. Über Charles Fort is similar to Knight's book, in German language, and contains more detailed chapters on Fort's philosophy.
• Louis Pauwels and Jaques Bergier's The Morning of the Magicians was also heavily influenced by Fort's work and mentions it often.

There has been more recent interest in Fort: Martin Gardner (b. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Damon Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was a science fiction author, editor, and critic. ... Immanuel Velikovsky photographed by Fima Noveck, ca. ... Louis Pauwels (born in Belgium, August 2, 1920 - January 28, 1997) was a French journalist and writer. ...

• Clark, Jerome. "The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis in the Early UFO Age" (pp. 122-140 in UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge, David M. Jacobs, editor; University Press of Kansas, 2000; ISBN 0-7006-1032-4)
• Clark, Jerome. The UFO Book; 1998, Visible Ink
• Colin, Bennett (2002). Politics of the Imagination: The Life, Work and Ideas of Charles Fort (paperback), Head Press, 206. ISBN 1-900486-20-2. 
• Kaplan, Louis, The Damned Universe of Charles Fort, Semiotexte, 1995, 156 pages, ISBN 0-936756-52-7.
• Kidd, Ian James. "Who was Charles Fort?" in Fortean Times no. 217 (dec 2006), p.54-55.
• Kidd, Ian James. "Holding the Fort: how science fiction preserved the name of Charles Fort" in Matrix no. 180 (Aug/Sept 2006), p.24-5.
• Wilson, Colin, Mysteries, Putnam, ISBN 0-399-12246-X

The latter two books, by Bennett and Kaplan, are arguably not worth reading: Bennett's is so idiosyncratic as to be unrecognisable as anything resembling Fort, and Kaplan's book is a collection of extended quotations, with unprofitably brief and unhelpful 'introductions'. Colin Bennett is a writer on anomalous phenomena and has written a book about Charles Fort. ... Louis Kaplan, (born October 15, 1901 in Kiev, Russia), better known as Kid Kaplan, was a professional boxer in the Featherweight division. ...

The Science Fiction book Into the Alternate Universe (1964) by A. Bertram Chandler seems to be inspired by Fort's idea of the "Super-Sargasso Sea", and depicts an actual such "Sea" in space - where the protagonist discovers many lost spaceships and ocean-going ones, some fictional and some historical, which have "fallen through a dimensional barrirer". 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Arthur Bertram Chandler (March 28, 1912 _ June 6, 1984) was an Australian science fiction author most well-known for his John Grimes novels and the Rim World series. ... The dimension into which lost things go according to Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 - May 3, 1932), writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena. ...

Although an unlikely superhero Fort has starred in two comics: For the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode, see Super Hero (Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode). ... Comics (or, less commonly, sequential art) is a form of visual art consisting of images which are commonly combined with text, often in the form of speech balloons or image captions. ...

• Necronauts (in 2000 AD # 2000, # 1223-1230, 2001 by writer Gordon Rennie and artist Frazer Irving)
• Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained (a 2002 4 part mini-series for Dark Horse Comics by writer Peter Lenkov and artist Frazer Irving)

Cover of the Necronauts graphic novel by Frazer Irving Necronauts was a 2000 AD comic strip, created by Gordon Rennie and Frazer Irving. ... Cover of the first issue of 2000 AD, 26 February 1977. ... Gordon Rennie is a former music journalist turned comics writer, responsible for White Trash: Moronic Inferno, as well as several comic strips for 2000 AD and novels for Warhammer Fantasy. ... Primarily a horror artist, Frazer Irving first sprang to prominence with the series Necronauts, written by Gordon Rennie and appearing in 2000AD. He has also enjoyed success with Storming Heaven, a psychedelic tale based around Timothy Leary and Charles Manson (written by Rennie), and Jack Point (the Simping Detective) and... Dark Horse Comics logo Dark Horse Comics is one of the largest independent American comic book publishers, behind dominant publishers Marvel Comics and DC Comics. ... Peter Lenkov is the writer of Comics. ... Primarily a horror artist, Frazer Irving first sprang to prominence with the series Necronauts, written by Gordon Rennie and appearing in 2000AD. He has also enjoyed success with Storming Heaven, a psychedelic tale based around Timothy Leary and Charles Manson (written by Rennie), and Jack Point (the Simping Detective) and...

Footnotes

1. ^ "Charles Fort: His Life and Times" by Bob Rickard; 1995, revised 1997; URL accessed March 09, 2007
2. ^ Common Ground.
3. ^ Scientific Exploration.
4. ^ Confessions.

External links

• The Charles Fort Institute
• The Sourcebook Project homepage
• The Skeptic's Dictionary: Charles Fort
• Fortean Times, a daily-updated site with unexplained happenings; often carries information about Fort himself
• Charles Fort's House at 39A Marchmont Street, London
• A Fortean Album from the papers of Theodore Dreiser, a selection of previously unseen photographs of Charles Fort, his friends and family.

The following online editions are on Resologist.net, the site of a Fortean named Mr. X. Each has been edited and annotated by Mr. X.

• Book of the Damned
• New Lands
• Lo!
• Wild Talents
• Many Parts (surviving fragments)
• The Outcast Manufacturers