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FT412

oxo66

Ephemeral Spectre
Joined
Nov 25, 2017
Messages
265
Dropped through my letterbox at noon. So is delivery on Wednesday a thing now?

DB Cooper, Sharon Hill on bottomless pits plus the last part of Arthur C Clarke's mysterious world.
Hunt Emerson's been moved to an inside page which threw me for a bit.

oxo
 
I was the same about the Emerson cartoon! Have had a chance to peruse some of this, and the DB Cooper article is an excellent round-up of the theories, while not explaining anything at all, because, well, how could you? Fifty years! He'll be gone by now, of course.

Cartoon with witches on Letters pages made oi laff.
 
First thoughts: the article about possibly 8000 year old rock carvings of camels found on a stony place in a desert in North Africa. The article referred to life-size carvings of camels together with depictions of something called "equids".

This threw me a little. my first thought was "Bloody hell, this is a misprint and a typo? The letter "s" is just below the letter "e" on the keyboard. Whoever it was meant to type "squids". But I thought Great Cthulu and his attendent fishy demons are buried underneath the Antarctic, not the Sahara? isn't it a bit hot for shoggoths? Dehydrated shoggoths are down there awaiting ressurection?"

followed by

"Evidently a follower of Great Cthulu deliberately inserted the typo to hide the secret in danger of being revealed, that the Lost city of Ry'Leh has been located in North Africa."

followed by

"This word "equid" must come out of the same dictionary as "fnord", for the same sort of reasons"

followed by

"Oh. Equid. Apparently a generic term for any sort of vaguely horse-like creature. Oh. It is a word after all. how boring."
 
The mailing had that unwelcome advertising insert in it again, from the not-quite-a-scam lottery syndicate company. Annoying.
 
What's happened to mythconceptions? Its been missing for a few issues now

 
Random observations: the back-page advert for Haunted magazine. Take a look. that's Greta Thunberg on the cover. What's she doing there? No explanation.

The review for "The Classical Werewolf" on page 62, dealing with the portrayal of the werewolf in antiquity. Daniel Ogden's book is reviewed by Gail-Nina Anderson. I'm really, really, surprised a theory that surfaced in FT a year or two back wasn't mentioned - the idea of how the werewolf fits into Jewish legend, rabbinical study and possibly even the Bible. The idea was that Yiddish-speaking Jews living in Central Europe in mediaeval times lived among gentiles who had the werewolf myth. Werewolves therefore existed. Fact of life. We live in Germany/Bohemia/Hungary/Poland. The challenge is - if G-d created them as He did the goyim, we should know about it and there should be mention of them in Scripture and a reason for their creation. Eminent rabbis devoted thought to this conundrum. and came up with a Biblical framework for the were-transformation that has an odd kind of logic to it. (G-d cursed the Serpent to lose his limbs and crawl on all fours. Therefore the were-transformation between species is there in the Bible. We are told the "sons of G-d" came to Earth and mated with women. Therefore that power to switch between species was passed from the fallen sons of G-d into humanity. The Nephilim included werecreatures who still walk the earth to this day. also - what was the mark of shame carried by the sons of Benjamin that made them unlike other men, and forced the other eleven tribes to nearly wipe them out? The FT article passed on the speculations of those rabbis that Benjamin was marked by the curse of lycanthropy. with the eviction from Palestine by the Romans, the Jewish diaspora that entered Europe also brought werewolves with them, unwittingly...
(Interestingly, St Paul somewhere mentions his own great shame and affliction; I vaguely remember reading - can't find the Biblical provenance yet - Paul of Tarsus was originally of the tribe of Benjamin...)
 
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Also, on the Letters page: Cake must NOT be removed from this site if the wind is blowing in an easterly direction.

From context - Scottish Water - I'd guess this is the sort of "cake" you wouldn't care to eat, the sludgy semi-solid residues from a sewage plant which might niff a bit if stirred around and disturbed. I'm guessing there is habitation to the east where such a wind will convey the full nasal bouquet to the neighbours.
 
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I've just bought this issue because titch tipped me off that the Mrs's 'Jesus' stone is in it. Her staff have just said "What the fuck's Fortean Times?" .. it only hit the shelves of Express News in Cromer yesterday and all copies have been reserved/sold out behind the counter except for the last one left I found on the shelf .... so I reckon titch and me should get commission for spreading the word. Or a mug :) (God loves a trier) . I'm looking forward to reading this one, it's got my kind of 'stuff' in it.
 
I've just bought this issue because titch tipped me off that the Mrs's 'Jesus' stone is in it. Her staff have just said "What the fuck's Fortean Times?" .. it only hit the shelves of Express News in Cromer yesterday and all copies have been reserved/sold out behind the counter except for the last one left I found on the shelf .... so I reckon titch and me should get commission for spreading the word. Or a mug :) (God loves a trier) . I'm looking forward to reading this one, it's got my kind of 'stuff' in it.
My son in law (who is about to begin his PhD in Folk Horror) had never heard of the Fortean Times either! I was horrified, because his entire degree and Masters were spent studying exactly the kind of literature that FT specialises in.

I soon put him right and now he has an annual subscription. But HOW can people not have heard of it?
 
My son in law (who is about to begin his PhD in Folk Horror) had never heard of the Fortean Times either! I was horrified, because his entire degree and Masters were spent studying exactly the kind of literature that FT specialises in.

I soon put him right and now he has an annual subscription. But HOW can people not have heard of it?
I bought my first issue in '91 or '92 when I was at college. Someone who works at the surgery on my street is obviously also a fan because they'd leave it in the waiting room for the public to enjoy so I'd nick it (saving me a fiver each month) until covid came along so you don't get magazines left in waiting rooms anymore. Damn you covid!.
 
My son in law (who is about to begin his PhD in Folk Horror) had never heard of the Fortean Times either! I was horrified, because his entire degree and Masters were spent studying exactly the kind of literature that FT specialises in.

I soon put him right and now he has an annual subscription. But HOW can people not have heard of it?

Instead of getting him a subscription you should have insisted your daughter divorces him.
 
Instead of getting him a subscription you should have insisted your daughter divorces him.
Well, they aren't actually married, but yes, I should have put my foot down! Except he's a nice chap. And she bought him the subscription after I'd passed on many of my back copies so he could check that it was really his 'thing'. It was.
 
Well, they aren't actually married, but yes, I should have put my foot down! Except he's a nice chap. And she bought him the subscription after I'd passed on many of my back copies so he could check that it was really his 'thing'. It was.

How old is he?
 
My son in law (who is about to begin his PhD in Folk Horror) had never heard of the Fortean Times either! I was horrified, because his entire degree and Masters were spent studying exactly the kind of literature that FT specialises in.

I soon put him right and now he has an annual subscription. But HOW can people not have heard of it?
I'd guess it's because the magazine never worked on enhancing their social media or web presence.
Paper magazines have been out of vogue for a decade now.
 
Is it too early to say physical media may be making a comeback? More and more people are realising that just because material is online to read or stream doesn't mean it's there permanently. Though I do know some don't like the clutter of "real" stuff.
 
I'd guess it's because the magazine never worked on enhancing their social media or web presence.
Frustratingly we were moving in the right direction in the early noughties, but then Dennis in their wisdom decided the mag didn't need a site any more. We're nonetheless grateful that they spared the message board, and allowed us to take ownership when they finally decided to stop paying the rent for us.

As for a future online presence, never say never.
 
Is it too early to say physical media may be making a comeback? More and more people are realising that just because material is online to read or stream doesn't mean it's there permanently. Though I do know some don't like the clutter of "real" stuff.
I hope so. I have a big collection of physical copies I'll have to get rid of in about 10 years.
 
Frustratingly we were moving in the right direction in the early noughties, but then Dennis in their wisdom decided the mag didn't need a site any more. We're nonetheless grateful that they spared the message board, and allowed us to take ownership when they finally decided to stop paying the rent for us.

As for a future online presence, never say never.
I will iterate - this would be a moneymaker. Now is the time. There are simply TERRIBLE "Fortean" websites out there that get a lot of hits and attention. A legit version would be most welcome.
 
I must admit that I do really like the Kindle version of FT. The Kindle app I use gives the option of flicking from an easy to read version to scans of the pages.
 
I must admit that I do really like the Kindle version of FT. The Kindle app I use gives the option of flicking from an easy to read version to scans of the pages.
Do you use it on an actual Kindle or through an ipad Kindle app? I have the ipad app for FT and it's good but not great.
 
Do you use it on an actual Kindle or through an ipad Kindle app? I have the ipad app for FT and it's good but not great.
The Kindle app on my Lenovo tablet. Works really well for me, I don't think it would look great on an e-ink reader though.
 
Bottom right corner of Page 66 has an ad asking if you want to be part of a documentary or podcast about seeing ghosts but no website or contact details?

Are you also expected to be psychic?
 
I'm reading Wilson's The Occult now, before I realized it was the big anniversary. Just read the review by Hierophant's Apprentice in this issue. It's always gratifying to note "Gee, so it wasn't just me who thought that about this author/book".
 
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