What Was Your Entry To The World Of Weird?

[skinny]

That’s the one hazard you don’t often hear concerning UFO witnesses. Getting a massive crick in your neck.

There's a lifehack for that malady. A deckchair. I also employ a swag. Works really well.

 

[Tunn11]

Good question (s)

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? Cryptozoology, Hauntings, UFOs and plain weird.
• What was your worldview when your interest began? Not sure, always liked dinosaurs, astronomy etc. and just kept being interested in subjects where we obviously didn't have all the answers.
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? As above, but I do remember Patrick Moore admitting "We just don't know." which was unusual for TV at the time and finding "On the Track of Unknown Animals" in the library.
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? More cynical and as a Librarian more aware of analising information. I think a lot of stuff written is rubbish and unfortunately it brings the ideas down with it. e.g. nothing wrong with the ancient astronaut theory but too much of what is written is badly researched junk which means that a lot of people don't take it seriously (or perhaps take it too seriously)
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Pretty much, new information alters my view but so much is presented without any real analysis, so I find FT and this board great places to see what others, some with a lot of expertise/experience think. Interesting that even after all this discussion there are some things that I still can't make my mind up on (Patti, Thylacine survival, Oumuamua, UAPs,etc) but that's part of the fun.

 

[Fanari_Lloyd]

What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? For example, parapsychology, UFOs, bigfoot, time slips, etc.

Ghosts and hauntings, genius loci, timeslips (Glitch in the Matrix type things) after that any and all, really.

What was your worldview when your interest began? For example, devoutly religious, atheist, pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, skeptic (meaning inherently disbelieving and thinking people who do believe are deluded), etc.

I was very young. The family were Christian but ‘gentle’ about it, with a lot of Welsh — I wouldn’t call it paganism exactly but sort of hovering around there. Everyone in my family had experience ‘something’ and just accepted it.

What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? For example, book or magazine, popular electronic media (TV, movie, podcast, youtube, etc.), discussion with family or friends, personal experience, etc.

My nan used to relate ghost stories wonderfully, her own experiences or that of her family. We lived in a village with not one streetlight (pretty sure it’s still has no streetlights) and on dark autumn and winter nights when the fire was crackling and the wind was blowing outside it was extremely atmospheric. The land around there also felt very ancient and a little liminal.

How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?

I keep an open mind.

Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence.

Evidence can certainly change my mind, it’s just with these things solid evidence is extremely difficult. People tend to believe what they’ve experienced even if it’s not provable.

 

[Moth Twiceborn]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? Parapsychology, ghosts, magic
• What was your worldview when your interest began? I was very young, so I really wanted to believe in all the strange stuff I read about.
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Any book about 'true' ghost stories.
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? I became an atheist, then I did thirty years of research for my book, then I realised there are plenty of things that are real, even though they don't exist. Why struggle with the impossible task of proving/disproving a thing when you can struggle with the almost impossible task of explaining it?
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Pretty much, although I'm always on the lookout for more clues - evidence will always help me change my mind!

 

[Fanari_Lloyd]

Why struggle with the impossible task of proving/disproving a thing when you can struggle with the almost impossible task of explaining it?

This is fair

 

[BS3]

A few people seem to have mentioned specific things that they first got interested in - I suppose I should add that that as a kid I was probably most taken with lake monsters and (in an early flirtation with the 'strange / folklore / uncategorisable' end of Forteana) that bleedin' mongoose.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? Answer: parapsychology, reincarnation, bigfoot.
• What was your worldview when your interest began? Answer: pragmatic, agnostic, not sure.
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Answer: personal experiences.
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? Answer: definite evolution over time. I went from pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, to extreme skeptic, to not sure, to sure that some aspects of parapsychology do have an external reality not dependent on persons.
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Answer: I have not changed my mind for several years about the big stuff (existence, types of things) and expect that I will not change my mind with more or different evidence.

The 1977 Broad Haven school UFO sighting when I was nine years old. Myself and my siblings watched the tv news report (Nationwide?). I then bought a generic “Investigating UFOs” book and soon afterwards found Peter Paget’s “Welsh Triangle“ book whilst on a family holiday in North Wales.

I was convinced UFOs were the craft of aliens visiting our planet until 1984 when Jenny Randles pulled the Welsh Triangle narrative apart for an article in The Unexplained magazine. I was now 16 and the doubts began to surface: I no longer believed everything self-styled ‘Ufologists’ claimed.

I retained an interest over the coming years but would become seriously fed up with the Internet-led ‘alien greys’ trope that was everywhere and enmeshed with youth cannabis culture. Ditto the interlinked hypnosis-led contactee boloox which became so ridiculous that the night skit’s of the USA must have been filled with aliens trying to keep up with the insane number of reported abductions.

I believe most UFO witnesses are and were sincere, but the sad fact is that here in the UK we haven’t had a UFO and occupants case with named witnesses and that has been thoroughly researched since 1992 (A70 case). So I no longer believe UFOs are solid craft piloted by aliens who have traveled through space from a distant star system. There are, however, some decent sightings that suggest unknown atmospheric phenomenon and even something inter-dimensional

However, I am really intrigued by ghosts, poltergeist, cryptozoology, time-slips etc.

 

[Fanari_Lloyd]

The 1977 Broad Haven school UFO sighting when I was nine years old. Myself and my siblings watched the tv news report (Nationwide?). I then bought a generic “Investigating UFOs” book and soon afterwards found Peter Paget’s “Welsh Triangle“ book whilst on a family holiday in North Wales.

I still have that book and enjoy reading it for the ‘feeling’ it gives me as I often holidayed there at the time. I found the Dyfed Enigma more thought-provoking and a very different ‘take’ on it.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I used to believe many things. Now I err on the side of Fox Mulder and only want to believe. As a scientist, I like to see evidence these days.

So you're more like Scully, then?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I still have that book and enjoy reading it for the ‘feeling’ it gives me as I often holidayed there at the time. I found the Dyfed Enigma more thought-provoking and a very different ‘take’ on it.

Yes, a decent book with a scientific approach, something very strange was going on, but the two other main books (The Welsh Triangle and The Uninvited) were in parts pure fiction and other parts pure confirmation bias.

i personally believe the existence of the nearby NATO base played a key role in what was going on.

 

[Fanari_Lloyd]

i personally believe the existence of the nearby NATO base played a key role in what was going on.

Very likely, yes. I haven’t read The Uninvited.

 

[bugmum]

So you're more like Scully, then?

I suppose you could put it like that. Except I'm taller than she is. And I'm prepared to give belief a chance.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? For example, parapsychology, UFOs, bigfoot, time slips, etc. Ghosts, time slips, folkloric stuff like eccentric 1960s' satanists/people who see fairies
• What was your worldview when your interest began? For example, devoutly religious, atheist, pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, skeptic (meaning inherently disbelieving and thinking people who do believe are deluded), etc. Atheist from birth. One very religious christian parent, one agnostic parent - brought up with both worldviews, equally although xian parent was very open to other religions, and ideas and I always thought the agnostic parent didn't need to be sitting on the fence. You'd think a natural sceptic but I lived in a very haunted house from a very young age.
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? For example, book or magazine, popular electronic media (TV, movie, podcast, youtube, etc.), discussion with family or friends, personal experience, etc. The classic answer for a child of the late 60s/early 70s - Man, Myth & Magic magazine. I still have the lot.
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? Not much change. I don't want to believe it. I can't not believe it. I'm not too scared of whatever I see or experience, the older I get.
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence. Yes, can't see me evolving.

 

[Victory]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you?

Astral travel, UFOs, ghosts.

• What was your worldview when your interest began?

Slightly religious

• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness?

Had a few books as a child about mysteries, UFOs, ghosts etc.

• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?

With increased religious knowledge, I believe that there are a number of things not accounted for by science which religious people can explain.

• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable?

My religious beliefs are firm, but evolve as I learn more.
I remain open to examine evidence and await future events.

 

[sudi5]

Thanks for the interesting thread!

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? UFOs; Shadow People/Hat Man; Precognition; Ouija Board; anything unexplainable
• What was your worldview when your interest began? Brought up in the Lutheran Church, so Christian grounding with Eastern Philosophies and Buddhism mixed in as I grew up and read more widely
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? My mother gave me a Ouija Board for my birthday when I was in second grade; pilfering my brother's paranormal magazines whenever they ran a "Yeti" story; hearing my mother and her three sisters tell ghost stories
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? Acceptance: It's only gotten stronger and more wide ranging
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Yes. Stable. It's gotten more like Nietzsche said: "... if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." Or, on the other side of the coin: "...seek and ye shall find." The more I look the more I find. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

 

[Cochise]

My entry - not sure. One of two things - a child's comic called Ranger

https://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/uk_comic.php?tc=ranger

that had ghost stories and other macabre things from the past - I'm pretty sure a thing on Jack the Ripper , but I was like 10 at the time, also a Reader's digest book of mysteries - can't find it on t'web but I remember it as having a dark red cover. .

 

[GNC]

My entry - not sure. One of two things - a child's comic called Ranger

https://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/uk_comic.php?tc=ranger

that had ghost stories and other macabre things from the past - I'm pretty sure a thing on Jack the Ripper , but I was like 10 at the time, also a Reader's digest book of mysteries - can't find it on t'web but I remember it as having a dark red cover. .

The legendary Reader's Digest compilation! My primary school teacher had that book and used to read to us from it, much to our horrified fascination. She lent it to me and I was under strict instructions from my fellow pupils NOT to read it before bedtime!

 

[Solexman]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you?

UFOs, ghosts.

• What was your worldview when your interest began?

completely agnostic. Even at 9 years old.

• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness?

The magazine, The Unexplained. Then any documentary or book I could get hold of.

• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?

With increased scientific knowledge I’m more sceptical and questioning.

• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable?

Totally

 

[Paul_Exeter]

My entry for ghosts:

Fascinated by ghosts and hauntings since my earliest memories (probably influenced by Scooby Doo etc.!). Can remember trying to build a haunted house out of cardboard when I was about five years old or younger.

At the age of about 10, one evening we visited friends of the my family at their home in rural East Devon. It was an old farmhouse and the friends proudly told us all about their resident ghost upstairs. Needless to say I crept up the stairs a number of times and scared myself silly.

Once I began my hotel career (I now work in education), every hotel I worked in seemed to have a resident ghost. In my first job, the hotel company in Barnstaple built an annexe on the site of what had been an adjacent hospital. Once the housekeepers began to prepare all the new beds there was an outbreak of poltergeist activity that seriously upset them (a bedside table moving itself was one occurrence) and a priest was called in. This and further hauntings and experiences cemented my fascination with ghosts, hauntings and poltergeists, my current workplace is allegedly haunted (have spoken to witnesses) and I still read extensively on the subject.

Fair to say, I am much more believing of ghosts than nuts-and-bolts UFOs

 

[the_flycatcher]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? Answer: hauntings, reincarnation, ghost lights, demonology
• What was your worldview when your interest began? Answer: Believer in something, not sure what
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Answer: personal experiences. Partner speaking 'in voices' in new house, visited by recently departed sister, strange figure seen in dark lane in 1600's clothing.
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? Answer: Still slightly skeptic but knowing there is SOMETHING out there that cannot / has not been explained. I have a stash of old 90's FT mags and I cannot believe how - in the X Files days - how little people showed interest in traditional ghosts etc. It was all UFOs, FT was a boring read at those times, and quite non-PC in places. It seems far more accommodating these days to all sorts of weirdness.
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Answer: No change. My personal experiences are real to me. Always will be.

 

[Lord Lucan]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? I like it all, ghosts, Cryptozoology, UFOs, psychic ability, mediums, folklore, I could go on all day. Though, if I had to narrow it down, I read more about mysterious creatures and UFO encounters than anything else.
• What was your worldview when your interest began? Christened a Methodist, Sunday Church when young and a Catholic high school which ultimately only broadened my interests as religion is full of strange and unexplained happenings, even in this day and age. Would consider myself an agnostic if I had to pigeon hole myself today.
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Can't pin point an exact moment or occurrence but I've always had a fascination with death and the afterlife from a very early age. My Mother had the Reader's Digest Mysteries of the Unexplained book (which I still have) when I was young. I devoured this from cover to cover time & time again. Also watched the 'In Search Of' series with ardent fervour as well as Arthur C Clarke's 'Mysterious World'.
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? I'm fairly steadfast in my own beliefs and am open to other's. The Internet has been both a boon to people like us and also a thorn in our sides providing a wonderful tool to engage with other's and research our interests but conversely, it allows anyone with a camera & minimal Photoshop skills to upload bogus material which has muddied the waters immensely. Also, not everyone with an opinion deserves to be heard (some could say that of me).
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? No real change. I have seen things that have convinced me that strange things indeed do occur and no one can convince me otherwise.

 

[charliebrown]

Like me an interesting trend in that people who firmly believe that they have seen a real paranormal event claim their mind will never be change.

Lonnie Zamora, Jess Marcel, Antonio Villas Boas, astronaut Gordon Cooper just a few who never backed down from their UFO stories until the day they died.

 

[Sogna]

My father was interested in folklore, ghosts, the paranormal and we had books on the subjects all around the house. My grandmother had a particular dedication to St Therese, who she was convinced had appeared to her in 1939 and told her that the family must go back to Egypt, quickly, so mysticism and paranormal happenings were every day topics of conversation.

We also lived in a house that was permanently cold, and which never had a good feeling, I saw something in the garden which looked like my sister and actually spoke to my mother, but which my mother couldn’t see. My interest in ghosts, normal looking ones not red eyed demons or poltergeists, started then.

I am most interested in ghosts, time slips and glitches, things that are quite normal, but are in completely the wrong place.

 

[Floyd1]

My father was interested in folklore, ghosts, the paranormal and we had books on the subjects all around the house. My grandmother had a particular dedication to St Therese, who she was convinced had appeared to her in 1939 and told her that the family must go back to Egypt, quickly, so mysticism and paranormal happenings were every day topics of conversation.

We also lived in a house that was permanently cold, and which never had a good feeling, I saw something in the garden which looked like my sister and actually spoke to my mother, but which my mother couldn’t see. My interest in ghosts, normal looking ones not red eyed demons or poltergeists, started then.

I am most interested in ghosts, time slips and glitches, things that are quite normal, but are in completely the wrong place.

What was the relevance of Egypt? Did your family used to live there?

 

[Sogna]

That does sound rather random, apologies, yes, they did my grandmother was born in Alexandria

 

[GNC]

Like me an interesting trend in that people who firmly believe that they have seen a real paranormal event claim their mind will never be change.

Lonnie Zamora, Jess Marcel, Antonio Villas Boas, astronaut Gordon Cooper just a few who never backed down from their UFO stories until the day they died.

I saw UFOs at an early age, but was able to identify them as UFOs (if you see what I mean) so there was obviously a cultural saturation point reached in that era. I wouldn't say I'd never change my mind, though, if anyone came up with a reasonable, non-UFO explanation I'd listen to it.

 

[charliebrown]

GNC,

That is the problem, there is no reasonable explanation to what we have seen unless you believe in swamp gas or mass hysteria.

 

[eziofan]

• What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? For example, parapsychology, UFOs, bigfoot, time slips, etc - I suppose its UAPs, mythology, anomalous falls and just anything weird.
• What was your worldview when your interest began? For example, devoutly religious, atheist, pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, skeptic (meaning inherently disbelieving and thinking people who do believe are deluded), etc. - I was young, but definitely atheist
• What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? For example, book or magazine, popular electronic media (TV, movie, podcast, youtube, etc.), discussion with family or friends, personal experience, etc. - I was about 13 when I read Chariot of the Gods and thought I knew it all! Then I found the Atlantis Bookshop in London and the rest is history!
• How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? - I have become much more skeptical as time moves on. This has much to do with the lack of evidence for the existence of Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, UFOs, etc. I was excited by the emergence of new phenomena like ley lines and crop circles, only to realize they were no more than wishful thinking.
• Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence. I have changed my stance considerably over time. In my innocent years I accepted everything at face value. Life experience has taught me to question everything and I have yet to experience anything that has changed that. A disappointing end to a field that offered so much promise.

 

[Eyespy]

Top types of Forteanana : ABCs, time slips &OOPs. Fairies and their ilk.
World view has always been one of wonder and curiosity. I think I became interested in "Fortean stuff" at secondary school when I had a run in with a hardline Sunday school teacher. Made me realize how closed some minds are.
Has my world view changed?
Yes, I am less inclined to take tales and accounts of things at face value. Stll think that there are more things on heaven and earth that we can comprehend, suspect that we humans only see a small section of the spectrum.

 

[dannycheveaux1]

Great topic - really interesting to read everyone's thoughts

What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you?
Ghosts, UFOs, Bigfoot etc, Ancient Technology, Leys - there's still enough doubt to interest me

What was your worldview when your interest began?
Belief in an afterlife, other life in the universe, God - but not in an organised religion sense

What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness?
Remember seeing The Stone Tapes, The Gimlin-Patterson film and what I thought was a UFO
all around the age of 12

How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?
Still think of ghosts as recordings, still believe it was an actual bigfoot
The UFO I saw was probably a plane with the sun reflected off it
Though a few years later did later see something I still think of as a UFO
which rekindled the interest

Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable?
Constantly changing but coming to the conclusion that there will never be a definitive answer for
most of the Fortean subjects. It would be really hard for me to accept that a topic was fully debunked, or "case closed".
One of these, sadly is the "crop circle" - great fun for a time