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The Book(s) That First Got You Interested In Fortean / Strange Topics

First book....

The Magic Zoo by Peter Costello

1979 - a young cryptozoologist and later all round fortean was born!


:headbutt: :
 
Like many here, I always read SF and Fantasy. I cannot recall which book was first, but I know I read Fort's "Book of the Damned" by age 12. Around 9 or 10 I saw an article in National Wildlife Magazine about the Patterson Bigfoot film, and thought it was pretty neat to see something I'd read about. Lots of Ivan T. Sanderson, Baring-Gould, Monteque Sommers. There was one paperback publisher (Popular LIbrary? Ace?) that did books of short pieces. And there were a number of books by John Macklin, Brad Steiger, and Frank Edwards. I do recall buying a book through Scholastic Book Club called "The Marsh Crone's Brew" that was pretty good. Might have been 7 or 8 at the time.

A little digging indicates that I was avidly reading UFO books by age 8. I remember finding copies of True and Argosy around the house, stuff my dad read.
 
I've been pondering this for a while and I doubt I could pin it down. I read a lot (the house was full of books and I read them all) and I got a real taste of sci-fi and fantasy but it goes back before that. I suppose I might have to pin some of the blame on Alan Garner's books but before that there was always "Where the Wild Things Are" and the one with the train and the goblins coming to town - I still have them somewhere - I might dig them out.

[edit: and "Fungus the Bogeyman" and “In Search of the Zipperumpazoo” - that was cryptozoology for kids!!]
 
I've said this on here about a million times, but lets make it one million and one! I nicked my brothers' (Is that where it goes? You evil apostrophe police!:p ) Book of Fantastic Facts. It was a large paperback, bright yellow and full of really cool stories about SHC, kids with past life memories, cursed daggers dopplegangers and all sorts. I loved it.

Actually I retrieved from my parents loft a couple of months ago. It's still great, but not a source, reference or bibliography in sight.
 
Cider said:
I nicked my brothers' (Is that where it goes? You evil apostrophe police!:p ) Book of Fantastic Facts.
Depends. How many brothers did you have, and how many of them owned that book?
 
Hmmm....hard one to pin down as I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in downright strange and weird stuff, even as a child.
I read alot of Enid Blyton books about fairies and elves from an early age, and then books like The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner.
But as an adult Whitley Streiber's Communion had a prfound effect on me, and not a positive one either!!
 
Many brothers, but only one owned the book. I've buggered it up again haven't I? :rolleyes: From now on there will be NO apostrophes unless I'm confident that I know where they go. I can't get it right, so I'll just aim for consistency.:blah:
 
Rather unimaginatively ( it now seems from other posts ) my elder brother bought The unexplained and I nicked his copies and read them. All fine untill the One on SHC and THAT photo... ( The burnt easy chair and the foot and leg )

Cue on seven year old wandering around for six weeks completely convinced he was about to burst into flames any second.....

:eek!!!!: :eek!!!!:

Following that I was hooked on all the usual "strange" fodder, Ghost's UFO's etc.. untill during my early teens I read Susan Coopers, The Dark is Rising series. The effect of which I still think is with me today.

Mr P
 
"Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain" - Readers Digest.

My copy's got sticky tape holding the spine together that's itself gone dry and broken the repair's that old. I must have had it almost 30 years and it's been read, re-read, dipped-into and referred to time and time again all the while. Great book.
 
I have the early Alan Garner and Susan Cooper influences as well, to the extent that my favourite writers now are people like Robert Holdstock, Tim Powers and Mark Chadbourn who are continuing with themes of mythology and the modern.

I think the book that first put me on to the ideas of Fort and the unknown as an area deserving of serious consideration and exploration was The Unexplained by Colin Wilson, which I read when I was in my early teens and found fascinating and terrifying by turns- just the kind of book you love when in your early teens...
 
Originally posted by Mr Poultice (and others, including myself)
Rather unimaginatively ( it now seems from other posts ) my elder brother bought The unexplained and I nicked his copies and read them.


Time for a reprint, perhaps..? :)
 
Not so much a book, but a magazine: the indomitable FATE magazine. My uncle bought every issue and let me read them. This led me to UFO classics of the period, such as "Flying Saucers Are Real!" and others the names of which I have forgotten.

One of the eeriest books I have read was "The Silver Bridge" by Gray Barker. This was the first I had heard of Mothman, and it scared the crap out of me. I had previously read about the sighting of the Flatwoods Monster, which took place in West Virginia as well. After reading Barker's book I swore I would never set foot in West Virginia.
 
Marslight, thanks for reminding me about Fate. Under Curtis Fuller, it was great! That's where I first Loren Coleman's stuff.
 
I used to love reading ghost stories as a child - which sent me to the paranormal section of my local library. In those days UFO's were shelved in the same section as ghosts - perhaps they still should be.

I also loved the Alice books and also a book called something like Catweazle and the 13 Signs of the Zodiac, all about a 11th century magician who accidentally travelled forward in time to the 20th century. Like many great childrens books, it was later turned into a mediocre TV series by the BBC.
 
Morning of The Magicians, and T. Lobsang Rampa weregreat at the time. Fate magazine was read and reread in my crowd in the mid to late sixties.
 
I think I got interested in Forteana via UFOs, and the first UFO book I remember reading was, as far as I can remember, some sort of 'special' just on UFOs. If anyone from the UK remembers the 'World At War' series of books that came out in the 1970s, they may remember that various other books came out in the same format but covered other subjects. The UFO book I read was one of them. All I can remember was it contained alot of artwork, including a painting of Kelly 'aliens' and various 'types' of UFO (all made to look rather futuristic). Can't for the life of me remember any more details - in my defence this was when I was around 8 or 9 (i.e. 1977/78). I also remeber that 'Tiswas' used to often have little 'factoid' inserts during the show, which sometimes covered Fortean subjects - I remember the Belmez faces in particular.
 
For me it was Arthur C. Clarke's 'Mysterious World' too. Then a succession of one's like Colin Wilson's The Occult and The Unexplained. Then I got into Lovecraft and it was slippery slope from there to total Forteana.

LD
 
Bernard Heuvelmans' On the Track of Unknown Animals'. I can still see the librarian's puzzled facial expression when I heaved the book up onto the counter. 'Are you sure you want that book, little boy?', then offering to find me titles from the 'juvenile' section. Away with ye, witch! I wants my crypto-critters, and I wants 'em NOW! Changed my life, it did.
 
I've mentioned them before, but my early reading matter at school was a reading scheme which included several fortean tales - Kenneth Arnold in 1947, the Marie Celeste, possibly the Brown Lady in Norfolk. At home my sister and I had several of the Armada Ghost Books, a series aimed at children; I've left them in son no 1's room in the vain hope he might get with the fortean thing, but no luck so far (although he did just order "The Ghost Hunter's Handbook" from the school book club, so there's hope yet....) I too read plenty of Enid Blyton, fairies and flying chairs and strange lands. My sister had a large number of Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigator mysteries, some of which were seemingly supernatural, but always turned out (in the best Scooby-Doo spirit) to be some grown-up playing tricks. We also read Alan Garner and Susan Cooper.

As we got into our teens, sis picked up a copy of "Chariot of the Gods" and a paranormal book by some French bloke (not Morning of the Magicians, but something similar); a timeslip book by Joan Somebody (help me out here!) and a book on American archaeology which pushed back the colonization of the Americas by thousands of years. Seemed pretty radical in the 80s, but nobody would bat an eyelid these days. I read Doris Stokes (what can I say? I was young and foolish) and "The White Goddess", and a fine pair of books by Rosemary Harris which were leylines, telepathy - they were in the local library and I took them out time and time again. if I ever find those secondhand, I'll buy them in an instant.

And oh yes, "The Unexplained" - my dad bought it from the first issue, and my sister and I also read it avidly once he'd finished. God, I wish I hadn't let my mother throw that collection out....although I think I was at University when she did the evil deed, so there wasn't a lot I could do about it!
 
just general foretena i suppose, like hearing about mery celeste, bermuda triangle and ufos etc, then seeing it on tv etc, no real books.

Thoug XFactor magazine i think thats what it was, i read that alot.
 
bugmum said:
I've mentioned them before, but my early reading matter at school was a reading scheme which included several fortean tales - Kenneth Arnold in 1947, the Marie Celeste, possibly the Brown Lady in Norfolk. At home my sister and I had several of the Armada Ghost Books, a series aimed at children; I've left them in son no 1's room in the vain hope he might get with the fortean thing, but no luck so far (although he did just order "The Ghost Hunter's Handbook" from the school book club, so there's hope yet....) I too read plenty of Enid Blyton, fairies and flying chairs and strange lands. My sister had a large number of Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigator mysteries, some of which were seemingly supernatural, but always turned out (in the best Scooby-Doo spirit) to be some grown-up playing tricks. We also read Alan Garner and Susan Cooper.

As we got into our teens, sis picked up a copy of "Chariot of the Gods" and a paranormal book by some French bloke (not Morning of the Magicians, but something similar); a timeslip book by Joan Somebody (help me out here!) and a book on American archaeology which pushed back the colonization of the Americas by thousands of years. Seemed pretty radical in the 80s, but nobody would bat an eyelid these days. I read Doris Stokes (what can I say? I was young and foolish) and "The White Goddess", and a fine pair of books by Rosemary Harris which were leylines, telepathy - they were in the local library and I took them out time and time again. if I ever find those secondhand, I'll buy them in an instant.

And oh yes, "The Unexplained" - my dad bought it from the first issue, and my sister and I also read it avidly once he'd finished. God, I wish I hadn't let my mother throw that collection out....although I think I was at University when she did the evil deed, so there wasn't a lot I could do about it!

I think the Timeslip book you were referring to is called "The mask of time" by Joan Forman.
I had forgotten all about the Armada ghost books:)
Also seem to recall some books edited by Peter Haining,one which featured the Flatwoods case and another story about a boy who could communicate with animals,which was not scary in any way but a great read all the same.
 
ignatius said:
Bernard Heuvelmans' On the Track of Unknown Animals'. I can still see the librarian's puzzled facial expression when I heaved the book up onto the counter. 'Are you sure you want that book, little boy?', then offering to find me titles from the 'juvenile' section. Away with ye, witch! I wants my crypto-critters, and I wants 'em NOW! Changed my life, it did.

LOL, I had exactly the same experience with Ivan Sanderson's 'Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life'.
 
Conspiracist_x said:
Thoug XFactor magazine i think thats what it was, i read that alot.

Pleased to finally meet someone else who bought it! :)
 
Re: The Three Investigators, The Mystery of the Invisible Dog had a supernatural explanation, although I'll be darned if I can recall what it was.

I read as much about the paranormal as I could from the library when I was a kid, including many of the titles mentioned here. I also liked the Peter Haining books such as The Bones that Walked. The biggest mystery about those books were where he got the stories from, there were never any references and I never heard of them anywhere else.
 
PetersonBrian23 Had Written:

eek!!!!: Hey,
The first book i ever read that got me into all things fortean was a book by Daniel Cohen. I was in the 4th grade. I would really wanna see this book again but the thing is i forgot the name; i think it was something like: America's very own monsters or America's monsters...some crap like that. Anyway, it was the first time i ever read about mothman. My little bro is attending the same elementary school that i attened and i asked him to look for the book in the school library (cuz' thats where i checked it out from). anyway if any of you have any info i'd really appreciate it if you help me out.

ZERO

the book also contained a story about goatman.
peace.

My! Daniel Cohen likes his Forteana, as he's written a fair old library of books on the subject.
The one you're after is available either new or s/h on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Americas-monsters-Daniel-Cohen-1982-08-01/dp/B01K3IUGDY/ref=la_B001ITYSB4_1_31?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532764817&sr=1-31&refinements=p_82:B001ITYSB4
 
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