eziofan
Ephemeral Spectre
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2005
- Messages
- 353
While thumbing through some early back issues of FT recently it occurred to me that 2023 will be the 50th anniversary of The News/FT.
This got me thinking about what has happened to Forteana over this period.
This is bound to be a contentious post as everyone will have their own views on whether certain Fortean topics continue to be relevant or not.
For my part, we have seen the rise, and fall, of crop circles, and ley lines.
The Millennium has come and gone with little happening of note (Heavens Gate excepted).
Ufology seems to have imploded on itself.
Fortean staples such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, ABC, Yeti, etc, still lack physical evidence with little sign of any on the horizon. Now that everyone has a camera strapped to their hands 24/7 we should be seeing more photographic evidence than ever before (even bloody doorbells have cameras now!).
I am a little puzzled over Cryptozoology. OOP animals are 10 a penny these days. The global trade in endangered species alone can account for the appearance of any number of weird species encountered outside of their normal environment. A browse through FT's Alien Zoo section shows that the majority of the stories relate to reclassification of known species or the discovery of previously unknown species, This seems to me more like Zoology. I had always assumed Cryptozoology was based on the discovery of unknown animals based on folklore.
The spiritual/religious world is obviously a rich vein of phenomenology and this is unlikely to end any time soon. Space exploration will undoubtedly continue to raise amazing questions. And don't get me started on the Quantum world!
We live in strange times. There will always be a place for strange phenomena. I don't expect I will be around to see the 100th anniversary of FT but I am interested to hear what others feel will be the future of Forteana.
This got me thinking about what has happened to Forteana over this period.
This is bound to be a contentious post as everyone will have their own views on whether certain Fortean topics continue to be relevant or not.
For my part, we have seen the rise, and fall, of crop circles, and ley lines.
The Millennium has come and gone with little happening of note (Heavens Gate excepted).
Ufology seems to have imploded on itself.
Fortean staples such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, ABC, Yeti, etc, still lack physical evidence with little sign of any on the horizon. Now that everyone has a camera strapped to their hands 24/7 we should be seeing more photographic evidence than ever before (even bloody doorbells have cameras now!).
I am a little puzzled over Cryptozoology. OOP animals are 10 a penny these days. The global trade in endangered species alone can account for the appearance of any number of weird species encountered outside of their normal environment. A browse through FT's Alien Zoo section shows that the majority of the stories relate to reclassification of known species or the discovery of previously unknown species, This seems to me more like Zoology. I had always assumed Cryptozoology was based on the discovery of unknown animals based on folklore.
The spiritual/religious world is obviously a rich vein of phenomenology and this is unlikely to end any time soon. Space exploration will undoubtedly continue to raise amazing questions. And don't get me started on the Quantum world!
We live in strange times. There will always be a place for strange phenomena. I don't expect I will be around to see the 100th anniversary of FT but I am interested to hear what others feel will be the future of Forteana.