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What Did Fort Think Of 'Forteans' & 'Forteanism'?

I wonder what Charles Fort would have thought, had he known that a magazine and an entire society would spring out of his research?
Never mind a website!

He knew, and he didn't think much of it ...
The Fortean Society was initiated at the Savoy-Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 26, 1931, by some of Fort's friends, including such significant writers as Hecht, Theodore Dreiser, and Alexander Woollcott, and organized by fellow American writer Tiffany Thayer, half in earnest and half in the spirit of great good humor, like the works of Fort himself. ... Fort, however, rejected the society and refused the presidency, which went to his friend Dreiser; he was lured to its inaugural meeting by false telegrams. As a strict nonauthoritarian, Fort refused to establish himself as an authority, and further objected on the grounds that those who would be attracted by such a group 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. ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fort
 
He knew, and he didn't think much of it ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fort
How Fortean, I was just reading that page!
And it seems Fort was quite noteworthy and influenced many. I read a few of his books and remember 'Book of The Damned' was absolutely fascinating, one can tell it must have taken years of research to complete.
I recall walking into our Barnes and Noble bookstore to order the 'Book of The Damned', and the woman behind the desk said, 'What??' LOL
She works in a bookstore and had never heard of Charles Fort, I guess she thought I was ordering a witchcraft book or something.
Perhaps Fort was thinking along those lines? He must have been a very humble person.
 
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How Fortean, I was just reading that page!
And it seems Fort was quite noteworthy and influenced many. I read a few of his books and remember 'Book of The Damned' was absolutely fascinating, one can tell it must have taken years of research to complete.
I recall walking into our Barnes and Noble bookstore to order the 'Book of The Damned', and the woman behind the desk said, 'What??' LOL
She works in a bookstore and had never heard of Charles Fort, I guess she thought I was ordering a witchcraft book or something.
Perhaps Fort was thinking along those lines?
I always thought 'Books of the Damned' would be a cool name for a fortean bookshop. But who still goes to bookshops?
 
Overall, my opinion, is that we “ forteans “ are getting older and the paranormal is not attracting younger people.

It seems younger people are playing games on their phones constantly and not so interested in the paranormal.

Pew Research Center which studies habits of humans claim 34% people in the U.S. think UFOs are real, but these same people believe UFOs are not threatening and nothing to be concerned about.
 
Yep. Once yer on the hamster wheel, nothing else matters.
Yet there are hundreds of fortean themed podcasts, you tube videos and TV programmes, wonder what demographic they are aimed at?
 
Tangential discussion of libraries and library services (in general) has been moved to:

Nowadays What Are Libraries For?
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/nowadays-what-are-libraries-for.66045/


Tangential discussion of libraries, the Internet, and how Fort might perform his research nowadays has been moved to:

How Would Fort Pursue His Work Today?
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/how-would-fort-pursue-his-work-today.69577/
Sorry, think that's down to me. Goes off to give self a good thrashing with copy of FT.
 
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