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Fortean Maps: Have Such Things Ever Been Attempted?

The_Discordian

Mmm... crunchy!
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Jun 14, 2002
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I've seen discussions on here relating to Fortean phenomena in specific areas, and it got to me wondering: Has anyone ever compiled a Fortean map of any particular part of the world? I appreciate it would be a long task, and I'm not even sure what groundwork would be neccessary, but it occurs to me that it would be a useful reference point.
 
Do you mean a map showing locations of particularly Fortean-related items?

Would UFO Stalkers' interactive map for UFO reports:

http://www.ufostalker.com/

... be an example of what you're referring to?
 
That sort of thing, but not so specific; something that shows *any* sort of reported Forteana in any given area.

(and I've just realised, I put this in the wrong subforum - could a kindly moderator move it to General Forteana?)
 
Again not a map of all things Fortean but a map of missing persons in the US features in David Paulides two books of the "Missing 411".

Would it be possible to map ALL things Fortean...there's a lot out there. How difficult would it be to map ghost sightings in London fr'instance....
 
Perhaps if you find several of these maps, you could merge them together and create your own?
 
Maps and Gazetteers of weird phenomena are not that rare, surely. Those old Readers' Digest volumes had maps on a county-by-county basis. The Bords have classified strange events by region in their volumes on Modern Mysteries of Britain, Ancient Mysteries of Britain and Modern Mysteries of the World, to name only the ones on my shelves.

Closer to home, the FT did a special Weird Britain number to celebrate its 200th Edition in 2005. There on the cover, you get gnomes, fairies, green children, big cats etc on a map of the British Isles. I was reading some of these tales to an audience of rather sceptical young things last week. :)
 
Do you mean a map showing locations of particularly Fortean-related items? Would UFO Stalkers' interactive map for UFO reports:
http://www.ufostalker.com/
... be an example of what you're referring to?

a map ? get with the twentieth century ... ive had this app on my phone for a while ... its not much cop though ...paranormal field guide

Update: FYI:

Both sites cited in these 2013 posts have gone MIA. Neither seems to have any content (relevant to this thread) archived in the Wayback Machine.
 
from memory that app was simply a (very limited) set of fortean tales, mainly ghostly, that popped up based upon search proximity, dunno, bit wasted ...
 
On a related note, I thought I'd covered most of the ghost sightings in this neighbourhood and today popped into our local library to help with a writing project. I was given a thick file of newspaper clippings and photocopies and it turns out theres more in the area than I thought, a fair fraction of which were new to me; there was a nice map of the county with paranormal reports and as i scanned it, I thought "God, i really don't know this area AT ALL!". I really could have cried.
 
@DrPaulLee tears of joy or of frustration?

So much of what I do now is electronic, but I love it when I get "a thick file of newspaper clippings and photocopies" to use. Something abuot the smell and the sight and.... it all seems more /real/ :)
 
One thing I am currently doing is emailing the locations on my map to see if anything has been reported recently, as some of the sightings I have are somewhat old. Unfortunately most don't reply to my queries. A few have said "yes, things are active" but they don't specify what even when I ask them. One reply I got was absolute gibberish and I think alcohol may have prompted the mental vomit that I got.
 
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it's this attention to detail and chasing things up that shows you are a REAL researcher Dr! :oldm:
 
One thing I am currently doing is emailing the locations on my map to see if anything has been reported recently, as some of the sightings I have are somewhat old. Unfortunately most don't reply to my queries. A few have said "yes, things are active" but they don't specify what even when I ask them. One reply I got was absolute gibberish and I think alcohol may have prompted the mental vomit that I got.
Or perhaps it was a poltergeist replying!
 
I had an interesting email from a pub during my ghost verification project. They asked what the source of my information was. I told them it was a blackboard inside their own pub!
BTW Gordon, I emailed the Gibberish pub back and got a reply that's nearly as strange. Either they're taking the piddle or the pub seems to have adopted a weird theme.
 
The back story to that is this: I'm thinking of compiling a book about local ghosts and so I visited the library, where there is said to be a spectre. The staff, one of whom I know quite well said that she and her colleague had worked there about four years and had experienced nothing. But she suggested I talk to another staff member who wasn't in this day (age disappeared for a while into the archives section but returned empty handed).
On my next trip to the library, I met said member of staff and I explained my interest he returned from the stores after 10 minutes with a thick folder marked "folklore".
The last attempt to compile a book was in 1986 and it produced a small pamphlet. I've contacted a lot of businesses etc in town asking about ghosts with an almost 100% failure rate! Even those places which have/had known spooks aren't talking!
 
The back story to that is this: I'm thinking of compiling a book about local ghosts and so I visited the library, where there is said to be a spectre. The staff, one of whom I know quite well said that she and her colleague had worked there about four years and had experienced nothing. But she suggested I talk to another staff member who wasn't in this day (age disappeared for a while into the archives section but returned empty handed).
On my next trip to the library, I met said member of staff and I explained my interest he returned from the stores after 10 minutes with a thick folder marked "folklore".
The last attempt to compile a book was in 1986 and it produced a small pamphlet. I've contacted a lot of businesses etc in town asking about ghosts with an almost 100% failure rate! Even those places which have/had known spooks aren't talking!
It's curious, but so many people have a real reluctance to talk about their experiences. It must be so frustrating.
 
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