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JESS FRANCO how snippy got snipped the truth about animal mutilations THE WORld’S mOST DaNGerOUS boston bombing ConspiraCies False Flags and inside jobs FILMMAKER i was saved by monkeys! a modern day wild Child reveals all

FORTEAN THE WORLD’S WEIRDEST NEWS STORIES TIMES iRanian time maChine • Chilean humanoid • liveRpoool’s moleman • faiRy Rings 302 ThE WORld OF STRANGE phENOMENA WWW.FORTEANTIMES.COM ThE REAl MAdAME

blA FT302 JUNE 2013 £4.25 vA

TSky the real • pRINCESS dIANA ’S

dAMNEd Madame dRESSES • TuRkISh Blavatsky

FIRESTARTER FaNTaSIST, FRaUdSTER OR mOTHER OF mOdERN • jESS OCCUlTISm? FRANCO REMEMbEREd • ANIMAl MuTIlATIONS diana’s damned dResses THE CURSE OF THE PRINCESS STRIKES angel in the flames TURKEy’S TEENagE juNE FIRESTaRTER 2013 Presented on Blu-ray, newly restored and loaded with extras including an audio commentary with director Jack Hill, three new documentary featurettes, trailers and a booklet featuring a rare new interview with Pam Grier and much, much more!

Presented for the first time in the UK in a director-approved HD transfer loaded with extras including Jack Hill’s early short film starring Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses), a new panel discussion on the film, interviews, featurettes, alternate and extended sequences and much, much more! JESS FRANCO how snippy got snipped the truth about animal mutilations THE WORld’S mOST DaNGerOUS boston bombing ConspiraCies False Flags and inside jobs FILMMAKeR i was saved by monkeys! a modern day wild Child reveals all tHe WoRLD’s WeIRDest neWs stoRIes iRanian time maChine • Chilean humanoid • liveRpoool’s moleman • faiRy Rings ThE World of sTrangE phEnomEna WWW.forTEanTimEs.Com

FT302 JUNE 2013 £4.25 the real Madame 302 Blavatsky FaNTaSIST, FRaUdSTER OR mOTHER OF mOdERN OCCUlTISm?

diana’s damned dResses THE CURSE OF THE PRINCESS STRIKES angel in strange days the flames TURKEy’S TEENagE FIRESTaRTER

Altacama alien is a (very small) human; Iranian time machine; woman saved by monkeys; Namibian fairy ring mystery solved; the TED censorship affair; in contents London; Hobbit ring on display and much more. 12 SCIENCE 27 CLASSICAL CORNER the world of strange phenomena 19 KONSPIRACy KORNER 28 NECROLOG 20 GHOSTWATCH 29 STRANGE DEATHS 23 ALIEN ZOO 30 THE uFO FILES 26 ARCHæOLOGy features

CovEr sTory 32 ThE madamE and hEr masTErs GeS

iMa To most people, Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky is a colourful fake who fooled gullible occultists until she GeTTy /

P was rumbled by the Society for Psychical Research. gary aF / laChman argues that this received wisdom is based on an oft-repeated lie that disguises a far more complicated honda

an truth, and that it’s time to reassess the legacy of HPB. ST 38 prinCEss diana’s damnEd drEssEs 38 diana’s damnEd drEssEs is di wreaking revenge from beyond the grave... through her favourite frocks? Is Princess Diana reaching out from beyond the grave to blight the lives of those who bought up her wardrobe in the hope of exploiting it? TEd harrison reports on the curse of Diana’s dresses… 42 angEl and ThE firE dEmon A series of unexplained fires has plagued a family in south-eastern Turkey for almost eight months. Fortean Times correspondent paul CroppEr tracked the family to Cizre, on the Syrian border. illan GilF GeS iMa reports eTienne / GeTTy / GeS Sh

iMa 46 diCTionary of ThE damnEd RoGa

iM No. 50. Animal Mutilations J GeTTy 52 ThE bosTon bombing filEs 32 ThE madamE and hEr masTErs 74 forTEan TravEllEr Conspiracy, cover-up and the media blavatsky revisited and reappraised No. 86. The Williamson Tunnels by Rob Gandy 78 sToriEs from ThE illusTraTEd poliCE nEWs No. 22. Miss Vint and her reincarnated

forum

51 The real Arthur? by 52 Boston bombing conspiracies by Chris Saunders 54 Jesús vs the other Franco by Maria J Pérez Cuervo regulars CRoPPeR

ul 02 EDITORIAL 72 IT HAPPENED TO ME Pa 79 READER INFO 42 angEl and ThE firE dEmon 54 jEsús vs ThE oThEr franCo 57 REVIEWS Turkey’s teenage firestarter spain’s late master of subversive cinema 69 LETTERS 80 TALES FROM THE VAuLT

COVER IMAGE: GETTy IMAGES / ETIENNE GILFILLAN

FT302 1 www.forteantimes.com fortean times

editor dAVid SUttoN ([email protected]) foUNdiNg editorS bob rickArd ([email protected]) pAUl SieVekiNg ([email protected]) Art director etieNNe gilfillAN ([email protected]) editorial book reViewS editor VAl SteVeNSoN ([email protected]) reSideNt cArtooNiSt HUNt emerSoN Weird and wonderful women SUbScriptioN eNqUirieS ANd bAck iSSUeS www.subsinfo.co.uk [email protected] dinG donG! The symposium will be held from 10am-5pm FORTEAN TIMES is produced for by Wild Talents Ltd. Postal address: Fortean Times, Following the media-fuelled national debate on Saturday 1 June at The Art Workers Guild, 6 PO BOX 71602, London E17 0QD. accompanying the death and funeral (or, in some Queen Square, LondonWC1N 3AT. You can manage your existing subscription through places, burning in effigy) of Margaret Thatcher, Further Information and tickets (£45/£40/£25) http://www.subsinfo.co.uk/ – this should be your first port our thoughts turned to the feminine side of forte- are available on 01233 813663 or by emailing of call if you have any queries about your subscription. ana – witches, girls, cursed couture and [email protected]. Change your address, renew your subscription or report problems female mysticism… UK subscriptions: 0844 844 0049 Our original cover girl was to have been the myStEry of thE miSSinG cArtooniSt USA & Canada subscriptions: (+1) 888-428-6676 fabled Witch of Scrapfaggot Green, but a last- Regular readers will have noticed the absence of Fax (+1) 757-428-6253 email [email protected] Other overseas subscriptions: +44 (0)1795 592 909 minute technical hitch (or possibly a hex) put paid our resident cartoonist, the one and only Mr Hunt Fax: +44 (0)1795 414 555 to that idea (though she will rise again next issue). Emerson, from this issue (and the lack of his Who better to replace her, though, than the mag- regular Phenomenomix strip from the last). No, licEnSinG & SyndicAtion Fortean times IS AvAILABLE FOR isterial figure of Helena he hasn’t been abducted INTERNATIONAL LICENSINg AND SYNDICATION – CONTACT: Petrovna Blavatsky, a by aliens, sucked into a Syndication Senior Manager ANj DOSAj-HALAI TEL: +44- (0) 20 7907 6132 woman whose life and sinkhole or whisked off [email protected] legacy have divided the by an angry djinni. He Licensing Manager CARLOTTA SERANTONI TEL: +44- (0) 20 7907 6550 spiritual sphere quite as has though, undergone [email protected] much as Mrs T did the an operation which has Licensing & Syndication Assistant NICOLE ADAMS TEL: +44- (0) 20 7907 6134 political? These days, left his wrist – an essen- [email protected] the received wisdom tial bit of any cartoonist yoU cAn rEAch ft on thE intErnEt is that Madame was – under strict doctor’s www.forteantimes.com a formidable faker orders to rest.We’re whose parlour tricks hoping that Hunt will be (including apports back in our next issue. and apparitions) were pUbliSHed bY prodUctioN ASSiStANt exposed once and for mAkinG WAvES deNNiS pUbliSHiNg, SopHie VAleNtiNe 30 cleveland Street 020 7907 6057 all by the eagle eyes of Quinton Winter’s cheeky london w1t 4Jd, Uk sophie_valentine@dennis. the Society for Psychi- round-up of and co.uk tel: 020 7907 6000 ILLAN groUp pUbliSHer depUtY AdVertiSiNg cal Research. Gary phenomena from the pAUl rAYNer mANAger Lachman – who has Kentish town of Whitsta- gILF 020 7907 6663 ciArAN ScArrY [email protected] 020 7907 6683 recently written a book ble last issue provoked ETIENNE circUlAtioN mANAger ciaran_scarry@dennis. on HPB – here argues the occasional bemused / james.mangan@ co.uk

that the time is right for response from readers. gES seymour.co.uk SeNior SAleS execUtiVe export circUlAtioN rYAN giSborNe weAr a comprehensive reas- One swore (via Twitter) IMA mANAger 020 7907 6763 sessment of one of the that the giant frozen gareth.viggers@ [email protected] key figures in the birth wave towering over gETTY seymour.co.uk clASSified SAleS SeNior prodUctioN execUtiVe of the modern world. Her approach to religion and the Neptune pub could not possibly have been execUtiVe JoY lAzeNbY eboNY beSAgNi spirituality surely paved the way for the multi- real, as his girlfriend used to live in Whitstable 020 7907 6060 020 7907 6717 national approach to faith we see around us today. and had certainly never seen such a photograph. ebony_besagni@ [email protected] dennis.co.uk As to Blavatsky’s – well, the evidence Well, there are some remarkable photos of the against them is far from conclusive. As with Mrs T, sea at Whitstable frozen over (see Douglas West, PrintEd BY BENHAM gOODHEAD PRINT LTD the jury on Mme B is still out… Portrait of a Seaside Town: Historic Photographs of diStriBUtion Whitstable, vols 1-4, Emprint, 1984-91 for some distributed in Uk, ireland and worldwide dAncinG With PlAto And fort excellent examples), but this particular example by Seymour Distribution Ltd. 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT Speaking of modern mystics, there will be a indeed involved some ‘artistic licence’. Tel: 020 7429 4000 / Fax: 020 7429 4001 chance to explore some of the work of the late Of course, the Giant of Whitstable was Queries on overseas availability should be emailed to [email protected] this month when the Tenemos Acad- quite real and was reported in the local press and Speciality store distribution by Worldwide Magazine emy holds a one-day symposium entitled “John duly mentioned in FT; sadly, the back reference Distribution Ltd, Tel: 0121 788 3112 Fax: 0121 7881272 Michell – Dancing with Plato & Fort: Crop Circles, provided was the wrong one, and should have StAndArd SUBScriPtion rAtES 12 issues: UK £39.98; EU £47.50; Cosmology & Ancient Metrology”. John’s inter- read: FT264:2. ests (as most readers will know) ranged far and fortean times (USPS 023-226) is published every four weeks by Dennis Publishing Ltd, 30 Cleveland Street, London, W1P 4JD, . wide, but the focus here will be on the numerical The US annual subscription price is $79.99. and geometrical underpinnings of his work, seen Airfreight and mailing in the USA is by Agent named Air Business, C/O Worldnet Shipping USA Inc., 149-35 177th Street, Jamaica, through the lens of some of his main collaborators daVid SUTToN , 11434. and intellectual heirs.We are promised “forays Periodical postage paid at Jamaica, NY 11431, USA. into the story of the 1992 Making bob rickard US Postmaster: Send address changes to: Fortean Times, 3330 Pacific Avenue, Suite 404, Virginia Beach, VA, 23451-2983, USA. Competition conceived by biologist Rupert PaUL SiEVEkiNG REST OF THE WORLD £55; US $79.99 ($143.98 for 24 issues) Sheldrake; the geometry of the Solar System and dEnniS PUBliShinG limitEd post-Keplerian harmonies of the spheres; the GroUP finAncE dirEctor IAN LEggETT New Diagram; and ancient metrology Why fortean? finAncE dirEctor BRETT REYNOLDS ExEcUtivE dirEctor KERIN O’CONNOR explained as evidence that the ancients knew the chiEf ExEcUtivE jAMES TYE dimensions of the whole Earth.We will also ask Everything you always wanted chAirmAn why such studies are important.” The Guest of to know about Fortean Times Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations. but were too paranoid to ask! Circulation 17,024 (jan-Dec 2011) Honour is Professor Keith Critchlow, and speakers Printed in the UK. ISSN: 0308 5899 will include Allan Brown, John Martineau, John © Fortean Times: MAY 2013 Neal, John Nicholson and Christine Rhone. SEE PAGE 78

2 FT302 www.forteantimes.com

a digest of the worldwide weird strangedays

lioness found in a Lancashire lake in 1980, the same year as a puma The missing ? was trapped near Inverness and dubbed Felicity. This famous ABC was well groomed, overweight Stuffed specimen found in Bristol Museum could be UK’s earliest ABC and tame, although analysis of her droppings showed she had been living in the wild. BBC News, bout three years ago, telegraph.co.uk, 25 April 2013. zoology student Max Blake came upon a reCeNt aBC sightiNgs a Hundreds of ABC sightings across stuffed ABC (alien big ), twice the size of a domestic Britain continue to be reported cat, in storage at Bristol City every year, logged by various Museum and Art Gallery, and ABC researchers – although press thought it might be significant coverage seems to have declined (FT279:21). Records state that it since 2010. had been shot after attacking and In mid-January 2013, farmer killing two dogs close to Newton Lyn Williams in Prince’s Gate, Abbot in , and was given Pembrokeshire, reported the loss to the museum in 1903. Curators of seven ewes and a ram over misidentified it as a Eurasian two weeks. “They were being lynx (these once existed in the picked off every other night,” wild in Britain, but were almost he said. He was adamant that a certainly extinct by the seventh puma-like creature, which he had y century). The exotic beast was spotted on previous occasions, stuffed, its skeleton preserved, was to blame. “If a dog had been gAller

& and the remains tucked away responsible, there would have in the museum’s stores. These been wool about the place.” Back

museum have now been studied by a team in November 2010, there were of scientists from four British nine sightings of a huge black cat city

ol universities, including Dr Ross in the same village. Barnett, a molecular biologist On 27 February, staff at a Brist from the University of Durham, ABOVE: Bristol’s stuffed specimen turned out to be a North American lynx. caravan site in , , and FT contributor Dr Darren reported seeing an Alsatian-sized Naish from the University of the lynx had been in captivity evidence: William Cobbett black cat, and a dead muntjac Southampton. Their report has for some time, but they were recalled that as a small boy in the deer was found nearby. At 8.30am appeared in Historical . unable to find any records of its 1760s, he had seen a cat “as big on 5 April, a terrified woman fled An analysis of the skeleton and owner. “Was it someone’s pet? as a middle-sized Spaniel dog” and rang the police after spotting mounted skin revealed that the Was it part of a small menagerie climb into a hollow elm tree in an enormous black cat in a cul animal was not a , that was travelling through the grounds of de sac near a primary school in but a North American lynx (Felis the area? There aren’t really near in . Later, in New Cross, south London. Around lynx canadensis), a close relative. any zoos nearby where it could New Brunswick, he saw a ‘lucifee’ the same time, lorry driver Kevin Its teeth were badly decayed. have escaped from,” Dr Barnett (North American lynx) – “and it Fillary, on his way to Bridport Ancient DNA analysis of hair said. They can’t tell how long seemed to me to be just such a in , reported seeing a proved inconclusive, possibly due the animal had been at large in cat as I had seen at Waverley” “large black panther” in a field to chemicals applied to the pelt Devon before it was killed. Its (Rural Rides, 1830). A Northern adjoining the A35 near Monkey’s during taxidermy. “We think it decayed teeth would have limited lynx was shot near Beccles, Jump roundabout. In early March, had probably been in captivity its chances in the wild, but the Suffolk, in 1991 after it killed two sisters, driving near St at some point in its life,” said lynx is an adaptable animal, and about 15 sheep over a two-week Martins in , saw a huge Dr Barnett. “It had lost all of its might have been able to survive period. Another one turned up dark cat-like creature leap over a incisors, which would have been by preying on small mammals. It in Cricklewood, north London, fence. Returning in daylight, they a pretty debilitating injury for is now on public display at Bristol in 2001; it was tranquillised and found enormous paw prints in a wild cat, but not a problem Museum. They believe this is the taken to London Zoo. At least five the mud, indicating a 3ft (90cm) for one in captivity. It also had earliest recorded example of an cats, three jungle cats stride, and a strange ‘lair-like’ massive amounts of plaque on its ABC on the loose in the UK – at and seven assorted ABCs have structure. on Sunday, 13 molars, which are an indication of least the earliest example backed been shot, trapped, found or run Jan; BBC News, 1 Mar; Shropshire it not having a wild diet.” up by physical evidence. over in the UK since 1975 (see Star, 6 Mar; Sun, 6 April; Bridport The researchers believe that There is earlier anecdotal FT167:28-37), including a dead News, 10 April 2013.

4 Ft302 www.forteantimes.com No piCNiC Crypto- paperBaCk for ted CluBBers writer Why Sheldrake Mermaids and We bid farewell and Hancock dead ducks at to British horror were silenced a new London fiction at the TED talks conference James Herbert page 14 page 22 page 28

for between six and eight years. “I can say with absolute certainty that Chilean humanoid it is not a monkey,” said Garry Nolan, director of stem cell biology at Stanford University’s School of Medicine in The ‘Atacama alien’ is a human, say scientists – if a very small one California. “It is human – closer to human than chimpanzees.” How Ata On 19 October 2003, a man called Oscar survived is unknown; sceptics remain Munoz, looking for objects of historical to be convinced he/it is not a hoax. value in La Noria, a town in Chile’s “After six months of research by leading Atacama Desert, came upon the skeletal scientists at Stanford University, the remains of a tiny creature wrapped in Atacama Humanoid remains a profound cloth near an abandoned church. The mystery,” said Dr Steven Greer, founder 6in (15cm) -long “Atacama Humanoid” of the Disclosure Project.The test results – nicknamed Ata – had hard teeth, dark, are included in a recent documentary scaly skin, a bulging head with a lump called Sirius, which explores the subject on top, and nine ribs. Its odd rib count of UFO and ET visitation, the disclosure and huge head led some to think it was of secret UFO files, and the investigation some kind of extraterrestrial creature. of advanced and alleged alien Others suggested it was a monkey or an propulsion technologies. Fox News, 24 aborted fœtus. April; Sun, D.Mail, 25 April 2013. However, after studying a DNA Curiously, another tiny ‘humanoid’ sample from bone marrow in one of the had allegedly been found in Chile a year creature’s ribs, a group of scientists have earlier, in October 2002.The discovery concluded that Ata is an “interesting was made under some bushes in the mutation” of a male human that had southern town of Concepcion by a small beaten the odds at birth and lived boy called Julio Carreño. (FT166:7).

FT’S FAvoUriTe heAdlineS Extra! Extra! FroM AroUnd The world

D.Express, ––Dec 2012.

Salisbury Journal (Wiltshire), 15 Nov 2012.

Somerset Standard, 6 Dec 2012. Sun, 12 Dec 2012.

Toronto Star, 8 Dec 2012. Worcester News, 27 Nov 2012.

Boston (Lincs) Standard, 17 Oct 2012. Adelaide Advertiser, 4 Dec 2012. Hull Daily Mail, 17 Dec 2012.

Ft302 5 www.forteantimes.com lenticular clouds

These spectacular lenticular cloud formations were photographed by John Gibson, who tell us: “They were taken by myself and a friend looking out eastwards over the Sound of Iona towards Mull at around 6pm on 12 March.” PHOTOS: JOHN GIBSON 6 FT199 www.forteantimes.com

strangedays

SIDELINES... Iranian ‘time machine’ INEFFECTIVE MAGIC A group of miners among the 34 shot dead at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, The future in a small case, and dodgy explosives detectors South Africa, on 16 August 2012 used a potion to render them bulletproof. The hardcore IRANIAN TIME LEFT: Golfball finder – gang of ‘Makarapa’ had a MACHINE or bomb detector? ‘muti’ medicine made from the Ali Razeghi, 27, a tongue and chin of a murdered Tehran scientist and It is entirely possible security guard, which they managing director of that the implications poured into cuts on their bod- Iran’s state-operated of Iranian trans- ies before storming towards Centre for Strategic chronal access are armed police with spears and Inventions, announced already rippling axes, thinking it would render that he had invented backward in time them “strong, invincible and “The Aryayek Time across the multiverse, invisible”. Metro, 12 Mar 2013. Travelling Machine”. transforming EXPLOSIVE SQUID He told the Fars state reality in ways When Mr Huang, a Chinese news agency that the that are difficult fishmonger, was gutting a squid device could predict to comprehend.” caught off Guangdong prov- the future in a printout telegraph.co.uk, 10 ince, his knife hit an 8in (20cm) after taking readings April 2013. live bomb. The 3ft (90cm) squid from the touch of a is thought to have confused user (suggesting it FOR the explosive for its usual diet has something to do BOMBS of small fish and prawns. The with fingerprints – or James McCormick,

1.5kg (3lb 5oz) bomb was GeS maybe ). He 57, CEO of an detonated at another location. IMA explained that the explosive detector It might have been dropped GeTTY device worked by a set company that sold / into the sea by a fighter jet, but of complex algorithms £37 million worth of it could not be dated.

RAedLe to “predict five to eight hand-held ADE 651 Independent, 26 Mar 2013.

JOe years of the future life detectors to Iraq at LATE FOR XMAS of any individual, with up to £30,000 each, Around 30 firefighters spent 98 per cent accuracy”. “The device was jailed for 10 years on 2 May two hours rescuing an uncon- Razeghi has 179 other after being found guilty of fraud. scious 39-year-old man who inventions registered under his He claimed the gizmo worked was trapped naked 30ft (9m) own name. “I have been working could predict from 100ft (30m) underwater or down a chimney in Berlin. Sun, on this [time-travelling] project from a plane three miles (4.8km) 13 Jan 2013. for the last 10 years,” he said. “My the future in a up, and needed no power except OBEDIENCE REWARDED invention easily fits into the size the “electrostatic energy from of a personal computer case. It printout” the human body”. In fact, it is a A bank clerk foiled a knife- will not take you into the future, £13 novelty golf ball finder with wielding robber by telling him it will bring the future to you… no ability to identify explosives. to “join the queue”. He waited Naturally a government that can to play God” with ordinary lives McCormick, of Langport, patiently for 10 minutes until see five years into the future and history. “This project is not , is thought to have the police arrived to arrest him in Munakata, Japan. Sun, 7 would be able to prepare itself for against our religious values at made £14 million from clients Nov 2012. challenges that might destabilise all,” he insisted. “The Americans including the Kenyan police, it. As such we expect to market are trying to make this invention Hong Kong’s prison service, this invention among states as by spending millions of dollars on the Egyptian army, Thailand’s well as individuals once we reach it where I have already achieved border control and Saudi Arabia. a mass production stage.” He it for a fraction of the cost. The He denied fraud, telling the claimed the device could help reason that we are not launching jury: “I never had any negative the government predict military our prototype at this stage is results from customers”. As conflict and forecast fluctuations that the Chinese will steal the David Hambling pointed out in the value of foreign currencies idea and produce it in millions [FT301:12], the ADE 651 may be and oil prices. overnight.” a convenient way of accessing Razeghi’s claims were almost As Spencer Ackerman unconscious knowledge through immediately derided on Iranian commented on the Wired website, the ideomotor effect, in the same social media sites, and removed tongue firmly in cheek: “An way some believe dowsing rods from the Fars website shortly Iranian chrononautical effort or boards work. After all, after the story appeared in the gives the Islamic Republic a an inquiry by the Iraqi Interior

ROSS British press. Razeghi himself near omniscience: the ability to Minister concluded that the ADE

TIN said he had been criticised by access, process and utilize data 651 did what it said on the tin.

MAR friends and relatives for “trying before it even enters existence. D.Telegraph, 24 April, 3 May 2013.

8 FT302 www.forteantimes.com strangedays

city of Bergen. “We received about SIDELINES... 60 text messages from people Bizarre books SNAKE ON A PLANE complaining about the stacking in the programme,” said Mytting. Astonished Quantas pas- “Fifty per cent complained that sengers watched out of their Goblins and tea cosies battle for prize the bark was facing up, and the windows on 10 January as a rest complained that the bark 10ft (3m) scrub python clung was facing down. One thing that to their plane’s wing during really divides Norway is bark.” In a two-hour flight from Cairns Norway, 1.2 million households in Queensland to Papua New have fireplaces or wood stoves, Guinea. The snake pulled itself and nearly a million people, or forward, only to be pushed 20 per cent of the population, back by the minus 12˚C (10˚F) tuned in at some point to the high-altitude wind. It was dead programme. by the time the plane landed. Curiously, a week earlier, david Fresh wood was periodically R ellis, 60, director of the 2006 added by an NRK photographer film Snakes On A Plane, was named Ingrid Tangstad Hatlevoll, found dead in a Johannesburg aided by viewers who sent advice hotel room. [AP] 10+11 Jan via Facebook on where exactly to 2013. place it. For most of the time, the only sound came from the fire. TRIAL BY FIRE Hatlevoll’s face never appeared on dinesh Parmar of deria village screen, but occasionally her hands in north Gujarat, India, lost a could be seen putting logs in the local election, so on 5 February fireplace, or cooking sausages he and his campaign manager, and marshmallows on sticks. “I Amrut Laxman Parmar, forced YEAR’S ODDEST TITLE (7,800).There’s either a magnum couldn’t go to bed because I was so about 100 villagers to as- The Bookseller’s 35th annual of champagne or a bottle of claret excited,” a viewer called niesa36 semble and dip their hands Diagram Prize, for the oddest for the person who nominates the said on the Dagbladet newspaper in boiling oil to prove that they title of the year, went to Reginald winning title. thebookseller.com, 22 website. “When will they add new had voted for him. They were Blakeley’s Goblinproofing One’s Feb; Guardian, 22 Feb, 22 Mar 2013. logs? Just before I managed to assured that if they had been loyal, then they would not be Chicken Coop, billed as a practical tear myself away, they must have burned – but many needed guide to how to “clear your home NORWEGIAN WOOD opened the flue a little, because medical treatment. Both men and garden of goblins and banish Lars Mytting’s book Solid Wood: just then the flames shot a little were arrested the next day. The them forever”.The book claimed All About Chopping, Drying and higher. I’m not being ironic. For Hindu, 7 Feb 2013. 38 per cent of an online vote. Clint Stacking Wood – and the Soul of some reason, this broadcast was Marsh, Blakeley’s US editor, said: Wood-Burning spent more than very calming and very exciting TWO BY TWO “On behalf of Reginald Bakeley a year on the nonfiction best- at the same time.” On Twitter, a Tressa Montalvo, 36, gave and Conair Press, I am honoured seller list in Norway. By February viewer named André Ulveseter birth by cæsarean section to to accept this award. Reginald this year, sales had exceeded said: “Went to throw a log on the two sets of identical in and I take this as a clear sign 150,000 copies.The book inspired fire, got mixed up, and smashed it Houston, Texas, on Valentine’s that people have had enough of National Firewood Night, a 12- right into the TV.” day – allegedly defying odds of goblins in their chicken coops. hour TV programme by NRK, the Solid Wood, the title of 70 million to one. She and her Our campaign against the fairy Norwegian state broadcaster, aired Mytting’s book, has a double husband Manuel named them kingdom continues.” on 15 February. It opened with meaning in Norwegian, in alphabetical order: Ace and Other shortlisted titles included the host, Rebecca Nedregotten signifying also a person with a Blaine were first, Cash and dy- How Tea Cosies Changed the World Strand, promising to “try to get to strong, dependable character. lan a minute later. She hadn’t by Loan Prior (Murdoch), the the core of Norwegian firewood Its publication appears to have taken fertility drugs. (Sydney) follow-up to Really Wild Tea Cosies; culture – because firewood is the given older Norwegian men, a D.Telegraph, 21 Feb 2013. God’s Doodle: The Life and Times foundation of our lives.”Various traditionally taciturn group, of the Penis by Tom Hickman people discussed its historical and permission to reveal their (Square Peg), an analysis of the personal significance. “We’ll be deepest thoughts while seemingly up-and-down relationship between sawing, we’ll be splitting, we’ll be discussing firewood. “What I’ve man and his manhood; How to stacking and we’ll be burning,” learned is that you should not ask Sharpen Pencils by David Rees said Ms Nedregotten Strand. a Norwegian what he likes about (Melville House); Was Hitler Ill? by The first four firewood, but how he Henrik Eberle and Hans-Joachim hours consisted does it — because Neumann (Polity); and Lofts of mostly of people that’s the way he North America: Pigeon Lofts by in parkas chatting reveals himself,” Jerry Gagne (Foy’s Pet Supplies). and chopping in said Mytting. “You The Diagram Prize receives the woods and then can tell a lot about considerable press coverage every eight hours of a a person from his

year. In 2008, more people voted fire burning in a firewood stack.” New ROSS for the Diagram (8,500 votes) farmhouse fireplace York Times, 19 Feb TIN than for the Best of Booker Prize in the west coast 2013. MAR

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SIDELINES... ThE mysTEry oF namibia’s Desert highland discs Fairy rings is soLvEd HORSE LOVE When Andrew Mendoza, 29, of Wharton, Texas, was caught having sex with a horse, he said: “I was trying to make the horse have a baby. I was thinking it’d have a horse-man baby.” He was jailed for four months – for public lewdness rather than stupidity. Sun, 5 Feb 2013. LONG WAY FROM HOME A Giant Atlas Moth with 12in (30cm) wingspan was discov- ered by the Blackmore family in their garden in Ramsbot- tom, Lancashire – about 6,000 miles (9,600km) from its south-east Asian habitat. It was taken to Animal World in Bolton, where it laid eggs that turned into caterpillars. D.Express, 23 Oct 2012. ‘NESSKI’ FIND divers in Siberia claim to have spotted the jaws and skeleton of a ‘devil’ creature 80m (262ft) down at the bottom of

Lake Labynkyr in Yakutia, one JüRGeNS of the world’s coldest, using a T

scanner. Tales of a 10m (33ft) NORBeR

monster in the lake, related dR by evenk and Yakut people, pre-date the 1930s accounts The so-called “fairy circles” of The so-called the desert grass species Lolium of Nessie. Russia Today, 1 Feb; Namibia and South Africa are multiflorum was found to Sun, 2 Feb 2013. discs of completely bare sandy flourish in soil taken from under soil anything from 2m to 10m ‘fairy circles’ milkbushes, both living and dead. ASKING FOR IT (6ft to 33ft) in diameter, found Further hypotheses have ranged The highest paid banker in exclusively along the western look like giant from “self-organising vegetation Wall Street owns a $24 million fringes of the Namib desert, dynamics” to carnivorous ants. glass penthouse in Manhattan about 100 miles (160km) inland, chicken pox Might termites be responsible? – and is called dick Handler. in a band stretching 1,500 When a research team under Feel free to make up your own miles (2,400km) from southern Gretel van Rooyen, a botanist at . D.Telegraph, 29 Mar Angola to the Orange River in preyed upon them over the the University of Pretoria, dug 2013. South Africa. A recent study centuries. Another story, thought deep trenches in the circles a has estimated that the smaller to originate with fanciful tour decade ago, no signs of termites circles have average life spans of guides, attributes the circles were found. Last year, Walter R 24 years, rising to 75 years in the to the poisonous breath of a Tschinkel, a biologist at Florida case of the largest. They are easy dragon living in a crack deep State University, assumed to spot – barren in the middle, yet underground. Scientists at the termites were implicated in the ROSS with unusually lush perimeters of University of Pretoria in South phenomenon and looked for nests TIN tall grasses, which stand out from Africa have suggested that natural of harvester termites. Failing to MAR the otherwise sparse vegetation gases such as methane or other find any, he seemed resigned to a of the desert, looking like giant toxins rise to the surface and mystery unsolved. Now, however, chicken pox or splash marks from wipe out vegetation, but test Norbert Jürgens, a professor giant raindrops. Fortean Times results have been inconclusive. of ecology at the University of featured this spectacular natural Radioactive soil was suggested Hamburg, reporting in Science mystery in 2004 [FT185:4, 6–7]. as an explanation, but soil (28 Mar 2013), proposes that the Some indigenous tribes samples all tested negative for circles are an example of natural believed that each circle marked radioactivity. Toxic debris left in ecosystem engineering by the the grave of a bushman killed the soil by Euphorbia damarana, sand termite Psammotermes in clashes with colonialists, the poisonous milkbush plant, allocerus, which transforms much both black and white, who had was another hypothesis, but of its desert habitat into an oasis

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of permanent grassland. which nourishes SIDELINES... Dr Jürgens said that Dr the surrounding Tschinkel was looking for the grassland and TUNNEL FONDUE wrong termite species and that supposedly On 17 January, a truckload of it was easy to overlook the one accounts for the Brunost (caramelised brown that was actually living deep circular patterns goat cheese), weighing 27 beneath the surface of the red – although some tons, caught fire in the Brattli sandy spots, feasting on grass still regard Tunnel at Tysfjord, northern roots to keep the patches of land this aspect as Norway. The high fat and sugar content meant it burned free of vegetation. In this way, unexplained. “almost like petrol”. The fire the soil is better able to absorb And Yvette raged for five days and smoul- rainfall quickly, with little water Naude, a

dering toxic gases slowed the JüRGeNS loss due to evaporation. The chemist at the recovery operation. The tunnel T absence of vegetation also means University of

was badly damaged and was NORBeR

that rainwater is not lost through Pretoria, said expected to remain closed for dR transpiration, the evaporation of that Dr Jürgens’s paper “does on grasses at their outer margins. several weeks. BBC News, 23 water from plants. It should be not address the key question as In dry seasons, the termites Jan 2013. pointed out that Dr Jürgens found to what is the primary factor that remain alive and active by a few other termite species, as causes sudden plant mortality, i.e. moving out from the circles, still FLYING TRAIN well as three ant species, at fairy the birth of a fairy circle”. underground, and surviving on Swedish authorities dropped circles in areas that get some Dr Jürgens said that P. allocerus roots of the outlying grasses. charges against a 22-year- rain, but P. allocerus was the only was “quite clandestine”. The The fairy circles are vital to the old woman who had been species found at all the sites he species builds no nests or mounds sparse population of the Himba suspected of stealing a studied. above ground. Its underground people, spread over an area about Stockholm commuter train, Dr Jürgens measured the water galleries and passages are deep half the size of Italy. They depend she might have started content of the soil in the circles and narrow. “They sort of swim on the grasses around the circles it by accident as she was cleaning it. At 3am, the train from 2006 to 2012: more than in the loose sand, not leaving to graze their livestock, moving rolled a mile to a terminus, 5cm (2in) of water was stored tracks,” he said. His team studied the herds to the best localities where it ploughed through in the top 100cm (39in) of soil, the presence of the termites in through the seasons. They say the buffers, vaulted a street even during the driest period of the earliest stages of a circle’s the circles were made by their and crashed into the first the year. The soil humidity below formation, establishing that they “original ancestor, Mukuru” – floor of an apartment block about 40cm (16in) was five per were in on its creation, not merely or, more poetically, that they 25m (82ft) away, missing five cent or more over a four-year occupying it at later stages. They are “footprints of the gods”. sleeping occupants. Only the stretch. The absorbed water are also responsible for enlarging LiveScience.com, 28 Mar; Int. cleaner was injured. Syds- spreads evenly in the sandy soil, the circles, as they steadily feed Herald Tribune, 29 Mar 2013. venskan, D.Express, 16 Jan; D.Telegraph, 15+23 Jan 2013. RAINING SPIDERS Thousands of spiders fell from the sky in the southern Brazil- ian town of Santo Antonio de Platina on 3 February. Film of the fall was posted online by erick Reis, 20. A local biolo- gist identified the spider as Anelosimus eximius, known for its massive colonies and “sheet webs”. Brazilian news portal G1, via gawker.com, 8 Feb 2013. DIAMOND GEEZER A homeless man who returned a diamond ring that was accidentally dropped into his donation cup a day earlier received more than $145,000 (£95,500) in donations from 6,000 people around the world. The honesty of Billy Ray Harris, who was begging in Kansas City, prompted ring owner Sarah darling and her husband to set up an online JüRGeNS

T fundraising page for him. (London) Eve. Standard, 26 NORBeR Feb 2013. dR

FT302 11 www.forteantimes.com TTINSON

PA SCIENCE TT MA

than a trichromat. (In the animal world, tetrachromats are not so TETRACHROMATS uncommon: many species or bird, fish and insect are known to Colour is in the eye of the beholder, new research suggests. DAVID HAMBLING looks at be tetrachromats, although the human tetrachromats and wonders exactly what they can see that we can’t... evolutionary benefits of this are not understood). Identifying a tetrachromat n the 18th century scientists is a challenge for a trichromat were surprised to find that researcher in a trichromatic some people see fewer world. All our methods for Icolours than others; in the reproducing colours on the page 21st century they have found or on screen rely on a three- that some women can see colour system; these are not millions more colours than the suitable for producing shades rest of us. It has taken so long to indistinguishable to the trichromat discover this because colour is but different to the tetrachromat. an everyday, ubiquitous mystery: Gabriele Jordan, a senior you can describe a dragon or a lecturer in neuroscience at the ghost to someone who had never University of Newcastle, has seen one, but green cannot be been pursuing tetrachromats for expressed in terms of anything many years. (She has already but greenness. But does my shown that colour perceptions are green look the same as your different between individuals: my GES green? green may not be your green). In IMA Humans are trichromats with 2012 her team tested 24 women

GETTY three types of colour-sensitive with colour-blind children and so cell – red, green and blue – with were carriers of the anomalous overlapping sensitivities. We Colours that commonest cause is a mutation trichromat gene. In one test they distinguish colours by how much in one receptor so it covers a looked at three yellow lights on they stimulate the different to Dalton were different part of the spectrum a screen: to most people they receptors. Anyone with graphics from the normal (making would look the same, but to a software will be familiar with the indistinguishable the person an ‘anomalous tetrachromat one light, a mix of red/green/blue mixing process trichromat’). In some cases the red and green, would look very to generate every possible hue. looked different person is an actual dichromat different to the others which were Humans distinguish about 100 with only two types of receptor. pure yellow. graduations in each colour to others Colour blindness can be a One of the test subjects, dimension, so the total is 100 liability; if you can’t distinguish identified only as subject cDa29, x 100 x 100 – a million different green of others,” wrote Dalton shades of red and brown then you was able to make the distinction colours. in his paper ‘Extraordinary Facts can’t see when meat is cooked. – Dr Jordan had finally found her We have always known colour Relating to the Vision of Colours But it may give advantages. first tetrachromat. 3 This validates was slippery. The Iliad and The with Observations’. This was Research has shown that colour- the previous work, and opens up a Odyssey, great epics composed the first scientific description of blind people can see through whole new area for research: what around the 8th century BC, are colour blindness, a condition still camouflage more easily, 2 an do tetrachromats see that the rest curiously lacking in colour words. known in French as Daltonisme. ability that was reportedly utilised of us are blind to? They repeatedly refer to ‘the wine- Different types of colour by the US military in WWII. Looking further ahead, one dark sea’ as well as ‘wine-dark blindness affect about eight per Colour blindness differs day we might be able to acquire oxen’ and ‘dawn in her yellow cent of men but only one per between the sexes because tetrachromacy artificially. Jay Nietz, robe’ and ‘green honey’. This cent of women; nobody seems to genes for red and green colour a professor of ophthalmology in may be due to changes in colour have noticed this in the preceding vision are carried on the Seattle, is using gene therapy to language – the ancient Greeks centuries. Widespread colour is X-chromosome only. Woman have cure colour blindness in monkeys. do not even appear to have had an invention of the modern world. two Xs, men an X and a Y. He says the same technique a word for blue. 1 For centuries Previously newspapers, books, If the relevant gene is defective might allow humans – even mere colour was purely a subjective television and cinema and most or absent on one X-chromosome, men – to become tetrachromats. experience. pictures were black-and-white. women have a backup which men The world will be more colourful In 1794 the English Artificial colour only became do not. – though we will need new scientist John Dalton common with the invention This raises an additional tetrachromatic televisions, (pictured right) was of chemical dyes, so it possibility, first suggested in display screens and cameras to working with chemical may not be a coincidence 1948 by Dutch researcher Hl. reproduce what we can see. dyes when he discovered that colour blindness was de Vries. Because of mosaicing something peculiar: discovered then. (see FT254:14), women with the NOTES colours that to him were Like Dalton, most gene for anomalous trichromacy 1 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/ indistinguishable looked colour-blind may have four different types exchange/node/61 very different to people can of colour receptor: the red http://tinyurl.com/c7e8e4k others. distinguish and blue, plus some normal 2 www.staff.city.ac.uk/~morgan/ “My yellow some green receptors and some Camouflage.pdf (http://tinyurl.com/ comprehends colours. anomalous green ones. These cpmaxvb) the red, The women would be tetrachromats 3 FT295:24, http://w.journalofvision. orange, with four dimensions of colour, org/content/10/8/12.short yellow and seeing 100 times more colours (http://tinyurl.com/btycvwr)

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teD: IDeAs wORth suPPRessIng?

When our old friends Rupert Sheldrake and Graham Hancock challenged the orthodox scientific establishment, all hell broke loose as attempts were made to censor them. BOB RICKARD reports.

f there’s one thing that sharpened the barbs of LEFT: Rupert Sheldrake’s attack on ’s wit it was scientific ‘dogmas’ was unwelcome. Ithe spectacle of scientists ABOVE: As was Graham Hancock’s behaving unscientifically attack on “materialist scientists”. – by which he meant when they argued from their own visionary brew of the Amazon.” 2 Protest groups spreading”. beliefs and prejudices rather Sheldrake’s was based on his 2012 As news of TED’s heavy- than from their vaunted rules book The Science Delusion, which handedness spread, noted one of evidence. His particular questions whether “science sprang up on commentator, “hundreds of targets were scientists who already understands the nature people independently uploaded sought autocratically to suppress of reality.” 3 Both were videoed Facebook and Hancock’s talk to their own evidence, data, or discussion that and posted on the TEDx channel YouTube”. One critical site even they simply disagreed with. In on YouTube. elsewhere redesigned the TED logo to read effect, they acted, as Fort would It was inevitable that orthodox “ideas worth suppressing” 7 – say, like over-zealous priests scientists on the TED advisory an ironic echo of the notorious guarding religious dogma against team – especially those of a from TED’s sites. Sheldrake review by Nature of Sheldrake’s heresy. ‘skeptical’ persuasion – should was accused of making “serious first book A New Science of Life I imagine that, had he lived in object to these two talks. factual errors”, “misleading (1981) that condemned it as “a our time, Fort would have noted Both Sheldrake and Hancock statements”, and “crossing book worth burning”. 8 the recent brouhaha that erupted attacked what they believed the line into ”. On Monday, 18 March, in a part of the modern media was the moral bankruptcy of Hancock’s claims,TED declared, TED responded to the storm in which such authoritarian a materialistic reductionist were “both nonscientific and by putting up an ‘Open for behaviour was never intended science. Sheldrake outlined 10 reckless” and, adding a touch Discussion’ page, albeit tucked to be part of the agenda. In fact ‘dogmas’ of the modern scientific of mockery, they said it was away in their Blog section.Their the TED talks (see panel) were worldview, which, he said, “no surprise” as his work is original statements were retained conceived as an antidote to cannot withstand scrutiny and “characterised as pseudo- – still legible but now struck elitism and exclusionism, and actually hold back the pursuit archæology”. 4 through with a deletion line – and the vigorous growth in TED’s of knowledge (see FT286:38- What really took TED by prefaced by a concession that, in popularity is due to its cachet 40).They include the belief surprise was the number and reacting to the criticisms from as a hip forum using the latest that nature is mechanical and force of comments condemning their science advisors, they “used social networking technologies purposeless, that the ‘laws’ and the action. Psi blogger Craig language that in retrospect was to spread news of ‘trending’ ideas ‘constants’ of nature are fixed, Weiler 5 appeared to speak for clumsy… We suggested that we in both arts and sciences.Yet and that psychical phenomena many in calling this autocratic were flagging the talks because here they were, being accused like are ‘impossible’. move “an act of breathtaking of ‘factual errors’ but some of the of cowardly narrow-mindedness. Hancock was more specific: stupidity”. As soon as people specific examples we gave were What went wrong? “If we want to know about this realised what was happening, less than convincing. Instead This year’s talks from their mystery [life, consciousness and protest groups sprang up on of the thoughtful conversation TEDx franchise in London’s death] the last people we should Facebook and elsewhere and, we had hoped for, we stirred Whitechapel 1 included one by ask are materialist, reductionist like a virtual flash-mob, staged up angry responses from the Rupert Sheldrake and another by scientists”. a riot in TED’s in-box.Within a speakers and their supporters.” Graham Hancock, both of whom In mid-March came the couple of days,TED was clogged For some, these disingenuous are well known to FT readers. bombshell announcement with more than 700 posts. 6 words only made matters worse Hancock’s discussed death, from TED that their science Quickly, this rose to more than as former loyal TED followers consciousness and “true cognitive panel had “grave concerns” a million. Not all of them were noticed that most of the “angry liberty” based upon “how his 24- about the scientific adequacy from supporters of the two, but responses” were actually quite year relationship with cannabis of both presentations and they expressed dismay that this reasonable and coherent; and was brought to an abrupt halt “recommended that they censorship betrayed TED’s own that TED’s examples of the in 2011 after an encounter should not be distributed”. mission of promoting a “broad supposed errors were not just with ayahuasca, the sacred Consequently, they were removed understanding” of “ideas worth “less than convincing” but in

14 FT302 www.forteantimes.com Sheldrake’s case, wrong, and in science journalist Simon Singh Hancock’s, completely fictitious. wrote: “Having campaigned for A BRIEF HISTORY OF TED Nor, to date, has there been an libel reform for the last three apology to either speaker for years, I am a fan of free speech. these calumnies. How, went But quarantining the talks by In 2000, Wurman wanted to the howl, can we trust TED’s Sheldrake and Hancock is not a retire and sought a successor. assurance that “great pains” and free speech issue. It is a quality He settled on Chris Anderson, “due diligence” were taken in the and accuracy issue.” He went a keen TeD enthusiast and decision to ban the presentations on to say that TED had a right media entrepreneur, who had when so many errors were to guard its credibility. “I think founded his own non-profit revealed in their own reasoning? TED has made exactly the Sapling Foundation in 1996 to And, if the talks had “strayed well right decision.The talks are not foster something very similar beyond the realm of reasonable ‘banned’.They are still available. TeD – or ‘Technology, (“the spread of great ideas”). science” as TED had said in They are flagged with warning entertainment, Design’– is Speaking at a TeDTalk in their judgement, why had they signs and an explanation of the a global platform for talks February 2002, Anderson said slipped through their supposedly falsities in each talk.That seems disseminating new ideas, new his vision as a curator was “to “thorough” screening process? perfectly fair and reasonable.” techniques and new insights – in provide a platform for the world’s To their credit, however, the Singh does not say what fact for anything new that is also smartest thinkers, greatest ‘Open for Discussion’ page also he thinks of the presenters’ inspiring. It is one of the New Age visionaries and most inspiring included links to both video convincing rebuttals, but goes legacies that has matured into teachers, so that millions presentations so people could on to ask “Are there other talks an almost ubiquitous influence of people can gain a better judge for themselves; as well as that need to be quarantined upon modern Western culture. understanding of the biggest more pages to satisfy the call for in the same way? If so, who Speakers are selected by issues faced by the world, and further debate on each of the decides what gets quarantined? special panels from nominations, a desire to help create a better banned offerings. 9 As a measure TEDx events are curated, so not many submitted by members future. Core to this goal is a of the interest these videos everyone has a right to have a of the public. They are given up belief that there is no greater attracted, we note that Hancock’s platform.That decision is up to to 18 minutes before an invited force for changing the world than presentation was viewed around the curator. And who decides on audience and the recordings a powerful idea.” 132,000 times on the TEDx curators… well, that goes back are posted for free viewing Today, TeD has expanded to YouTube channel in the two to TED.” on TeD’s website or youTube include many ‘departments’, months before it was deleted; and The suspicion is that this channel, from both of which among which is TeDx, formed more than 27,000 times in the 10 five-man secret cabal is open to hang moderated comment and in 2009 to grant licences days after TEDx restored it. abuse.TED keeps the names of discussion pages where they to third parties to organize In that forum, both Sheldrake the members of their selection have accumulated an estimated independent TeD-like events in and Hancock responded calmly, and advisory boards secret, which billion viewings to date. communities around the world. politely and in appropriate is their right, of course, but the TeD originally sprang from These franchises – such as the detail. Since then, Sheldrake lack of transparency has led a conference organised by TeDxWhitechapel which invited has accused the TED to criticisms, not least that by architect and graphic designer Rupert Sheldrake and Graham administrators of “publically hiding behind anonymity they Richard Saul Wurman (below), Hancock to speak – are subject aligning themselves with the defamed and libelled the two to discuss the convergence to a strict code under which old paradigm of materialism, speakers. However, two were of ideas in technology, the organisers are vetted, the which has dominated science named by Sheldrake 11 as Jerry entertainment and design. That speakers are not paid, and TeD since the late 19th century”. Coyne – professor of biology at first conference, in monterey, in reserves the sole right to edit He also asked TED’s Chris the University of who 1984, included presentations and distribute the recorded Anderson “to invite a scientist has declared that religion and by Benoit mandelbrot, Stewart presentations. from TED’s Scientific Board or science are irreconcilable Brand and other ‘digerati’ along At the end of 2012, there had TED’s Brain Trust to have a real and incompatible – and PZ with demonstrations of the been more than 16,000 talks debate with me about my talk, Myers – professor of biology at latest gadgets. The second at over 5,000 TeDx events in or if none will agree to take part, the University of Minnesota event took place six years 1,200 cities in 133 countries. In to do so himself… [because] it Morris, an outspoken atheist and later and, to accommodate march 2012, Anderson said: “It is not possible to make much self-avowed “godless liberal” who the increasing demand for the used to be 800 people getting progress through short responses has a reputation for being highly ($6,000) invitation-only together once a year; to nebulous questions like ‘Is confrontational. According to tickets, it moved to a now it’s about a million this an idea worth spreading, or Craig Weiler, both are “radical larger venue in Long people a day watching misinformation?’” 10 So far, no skeptics” who have “inserted Beach, California. TeDTalks online. one has taken up the challenge. themselves into the vetting Since then, its remit The conference is Not all the responses came process at TED for the purpose has broadened the engine, but from supporters of Hancock of pushing a somewhat extreme to include the the website is the or Sheldrake. Obviously, the view of science that is intolerant sciences, arts, amplifier that takes banishment pleased the camp of ideas they don’t agree with.” philosophy, music, the ideas to the of “reductionist materialistic While declaring that they spirituality and world.” scientists” who were accused of “respect and support the philanthropy among www.ted.com/

asserting their influence over exploration of unorthodox ideas,” other subjects. GeS

TED in the first place, while TED face a difficult problem: ImA GeTTy

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“With that stance we would spinning, hinting at a possible soon find the TEDx brand and “reactionless propulsion”. platform being hijacked by those This effect seemed to defy with dangerous or fringe ideas.” Newtonian physics, but rather Against that TED acknowledges than investigate the mystery, the that “There’s a sense in which all members rejected his ideas.This scientific truth is provisional… is believed to be “the first and [and] there are also instances only time an invited lecture to the where scientific assumptions get Royal Institution has not been turned upside down. How do we published”. 13 separate between [sic] these two?” TED wound up their clumsy In the present case, few thanked ‘correction’ by appealing for a them for judging that Sheldrake “calmer, reasoned conversation… and Hancock were “so radical and if only to help us define how far far-removed from mainstream you can push an idea before it is scientific thinking that we think no longer ‘worth spreading’.” it’s right for us to give these talks It seems to me that TED a clear health warning”. Many still doesn’t ‘get it’.The main commentators were further message from Sheldrake and outraged about being regarded as Hancock was not to encourage so child-like that they couldn’t be swigging ayahuasca or uncritical trusted to think for themselves. belief in abilities, Interesting comparisons were any more than Laithwaite was made with campaigns against promoting anti-gravity. On the other scientists who fell foul of contrary, they were all pointing scientific orthodoxy. For example, at a mystery, saying: “This in 2008, Professor Michael Reiss deserves investigation. It might be who was hounded from his post at important.” the UK’s Royal Society “as a result Unorthodox concepts and of complaints based on newspaper ‘damned’ phenomena deserve headlines and material he did to be discussed in a mature and not write”. According to BBC inquisitive way. Experiments and correspondent William Cawley, investigations should be done who interviewed Reiss after his to determine what is valid and resignation, some elements in genuine.That is surely the proper the RS were outraged to learn scientific way; not a knee-jerk that Cawley “was trying to give rejection because it sounds like Creationism equal time in the pseudoscience, or because, ex nation’s classrooms”. However, Dr cathedra, it is deemed nonsense, Reiss, an evolutionary biologist or because the speaker is not a who has repeatedly argued TOP AND ABOVE: Some websites took revenge by creating their own versions of scientist, or because he might be a against Creationism, is also a TeD’s slick, corporate-style branding, here seen at edinburgh in 2012. scientist but speaking outside his part-time priest – an association, speciality. Cawley says, that left him “suspect clergyman. Reiss told Cawley that Eric Laithwaite at the hands Inspiring curiosity about the in the minds of some Fellows, he took that as a compliment. 12 of the Old Guard at the Royal world – and our existence – is including Richard Dawkins”. The treatment meted out Institution in 1974 when, in his a noble task. It was inherent in When Reiss was first appointed, to Sheldrake and Hancock famous Christmas lecture, he TED’s original mission.They Dawkins likened it to appointing put me more in mind of the demonstrated an apparent loss should be encouraged to get back someone from Monty Python as a drubbing suffered by Professor of weight when a gyroscope is on track. Ft

REFS TeDx-Talk-Rupert-Sheldrake- a wealth of links to other worth-suppressing/ the-psi-wars-come-to-ted/ 1. ‘Visions for the Future’, The-Science-Delusion/. reports and reactions – see (9 march 2013); and also http://weilerpsiblog. 8. See my interview with http://weilerpsiblog. TeDxWhitechapel - http://www. 4. ‘Open for Discussion’: Sheldrake in FT37:4-21 ted.com/tedx/events/5612/. wordpress.com/2013/03/30/ wordpress.com/2013/03/18/ http://blog.ted. ted-not-satisfied-with- (Spring 1982). ted-chased-by-army-of- 2. Graham Hancock, ‘The War com/2013/03/14/open- current-censorship- passionate-supporters- for-discussion-graham- 9. http://blog.ted. on Consciousness’, recorded tedxwesthollywood-is-taken- com/2013/03/19/ escapes-into-tardis/. at TeDxWhitechapel, 13 hancock-and-rupert- down/. sheldrake/comment-page- the-debate-about-rupert- 12. William Cawley, ‘michael Jan 2013: www.dailygrail. sheldrakes-talk/. com/Shamanism/2013/2/ 10/#comments/. Later 6. See also http:// Reiss: Why I resigned from Graham-Hancock-TeDx-Talk- quotes are from the same www.dailygrail.com/ 10. http://blog.ted. the Royal Society’ - http:// Ayahuasca/. source. Fresh-Science/2013/3/ com/2013/03/19/the- www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ TeD-Deletes-Talks-Rupert- ni/2009/03/michael_reiss_ 5. The Weiler Psi: http:// debate-about-graham- 3. Dr Rupert Sheldrake, ‘The Sheldrake-and-Graham- hancocks-talk/. why_i_resigned_f.html/. Science Delusion’, recorded weilerpsiblog.wordpress. Hancock/. at TeDxWhitechapel, 13 com= TeD Swings the 11. The Weiler Psi blog: 13. http://en.wikipedia.org/ January 2013: www.dailygrail. Banhammer: It Rebounds Into 7. www.consciousfrontiers. http://weilerpsiblog. wiki/eric_Laithwaite/. See com/Fresh-Science/2013/2/ Their Face/. Weiler’s other com/press-release-teds- wordpress.com/2013/03/09/ also FT8:18-20 (Feb 1975). blogs on this topic contain censorship-problem-ideas-

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Craig Shergold’s card mountain, more sinkhole fortean follow-ups surprises and WWII pigeon’s mystery message

BUDDY CAN YOU SPARE or Shelby) Road, Carshalton. brought to her when she lived in remains ongoing”. BBC News, 8 A STAMP? [FT59:26-27, By 2013, Craig – now 33 and in Hamburg and she looked after Feb 2013. 141:66] good health – had received 350 him in the weeks before he was million cards and business slips. trafficked to Britain by Kingsley D-DAY PIGEON [FT296:20, They were still arriving at his old Ojo, a bogus asylum seeker who 297:21] address, now occupied by Diane used three different identities Haines, who said: “We have lived and first came to London in 1997. here for 18 years and [the cards] Officers investigating the Adam still come at Christmas wishing case arrested Ojo in London in Craig well.” Metro, 8 Feb 2013. 2002. In his flat they found a In 1989, Craig Shergold, a seven- plastic bag containing a mixture year-old with a brain tumour, THAMES TORSO MYSTERY of bone, sand and flecks of gold wanted to scoop the record for [FT155:29, 277:22] very similar to a concoction found After GCHQ (Government the largest number of ‘Get Well’ in the dead boy’s stomach.There Communication Headquarters) cards – and sent out a round-robin was also a video marked ‘’, in Cheltenham were stumped letter. Millions were touched showing a B-movie in which by a 1944 coded message found by the dying boy’s appeal and an actor cuts off a man’s head. on the leg of a dead pigeon cards flooded into the Royal Ojo said the video and mixture in a Surrey chimney, Gord Marsden Hospital, where he was belonged to other people in the Young and other researchers at being treated, and later, when house and detectives could not Lakefield Heritage Research in the hospital could no longer On 21 September 2001, the establish a link between him and Peterborough, Ontario, claimed cope, to his home in Selby Road, headless and limbless torso of an the Adam case. In 2004, Ojo was to have cracked the code in just Carshalton, Surrey. Among the Afro-Caribbean boy aged about jailed for four and a half years for 17 minutes, using a Royal Flying well-wishers were Bill Clinton, five was fished out of the Thames people trafficking. Corps (RFC) artillery code book Kylie Minogue and Arnold near Tower Bridge. He was Retired detective Nick from World War I. The message Schwarzenegger, who told him wearing a pair of orange shorts. Chalmers, who worked on the was sent by Sgt William Stott, to “keep on pumping”. Craig The police investigating the case Adam inquiry for seven years, said 27, a paratrooper from the featured in The Guinness Book of called him ‘Adam’ and believed the development with the name Lancashire Fusiliers who was Records and was the subject of he had died in a killing. given by Osagiede was “really parachuted behind enemy lines a television feature called The Forensic evidence showed that interesting”, but cautioned that on a reconnaissance mission. He of Cards. he came from the Benin City area she had psychiatric problems was killed in action a few weeks By 1997, a fully recovered Craig of Nigeria. A tip-off led to Joyce and had been unreliable in the later. Part of it supposedly reads: had received 140 million cards Osagiede who, in 2002, was living past. In 2011 she identified a “Found headquarters infantry and was begging people to stop in Glasgow. Officers thought she photograph discovered by the right here. Final note, confirming, sending them, a plea seconded by was involved in some way, but due police – and shown to her by a found Jerry’s whereabouts. the Post Office.Two years later, a to a lack of evidence and doubts journalist – as the dead boy and Go over field notes. Counter chain letter asked the recipient to about her mental state she was said his name was “Ikpomwosa”. measures against Panzas not send Craig a business compliment deported to Nigeria. Osagiede now says that was all a working. Jerry’s right battery slip and forward the letter to 10 Osagiede, interviewed in Benin misunderstanding and that the central headquarters here. other businesses. Craig’s name City by the BBC, has now revealed photo in question was of “Danny, Artillery observer at ‘K’ sector had morphed into John Craig or that the name of the sacrificial my friend Tina’s son, who lives in Normandy. Mortar, infantry attack Craig John, but the address was victim was Patrick Erhabor and Germany”.This was later verified. panzers.” still (more or less) that of his that his mother’s surname was A spokesman for the Metropolitan However, Michael Smith, the former home in Selby (or Selsby Oghogho. She said the child was Police said: “The investigation author of The Secrets of Station

PLUMMETING MAN Angolan because of currency from Zambia, which suggested [FT297:29] found in his pockets and the fact he had travelled through those On 9 September that flight BA76 from Luanda, countries before crossing the 2012, the body the Angolan capital, passed border into Angola.There, his of a man landed over west London shortly before hopes of finding work seem in Mortlake, the body was found. However, to have been dashed and in southwest London, officers found a SIM card in the desperation he tried to reach on the flight path to man’s jeans and after contacting Europe. Under cover of darkness, Heathrow airport the phone numbers stored on he eluded security at Luanda about 10 miles (16km) away. It it they established he was Jose airport and stowed away in the was assumed he had fallen from Matada, 30, from Mozambique. plane’s undercarriage. 22 Dec the undercarriage of a plane, and He was also carrying a coin from 2012; (London) Eve. Standard, 12 police originally thought he was Botswana and a second SIM card April 2013.

18 FT302 www.forteantimes.com KONSPIRACY KORNER Robin Ramsay, editoR of LobsteR, RepoRts fRom the bunkeR on… the media’s poLiticaL inhibitions

hat shall we consider? Well, yes, there is a recent video W claimed to show that a shape-shifting alien has joined the US Secret Service’s presidential detail. (It certainly shows a man with a quite extraordinary jaw-line!) 1 But much more significant (and more interesting) is the recent discussion of Richard Nixon’s 1968 conspiracy with the government of South Vietnam to prolong the Vietnam war for political reasons. Faced with the possibility that the peace talks between the US and North Vietnam might succeed in time for the presidential election that year, in which he was the Republican candidate, Nixon got intermediaries to contact the South Vietnamese government who were persuaded to walk out of, and thus halt, the peace talks. 2 This used to be known as treason, and is an example of an ‘October surprise’ (US presidential elections are held in October); or, more accurately, the prevention of an October surprise. There have been several other examples of such ‘surprises’, 3 and the 1980 version, in which the Republicans are alleged to have persuaded the Iranians not to release the American hostages held in Tehran before the presidential elections in October that year, which would have boosted President Jimmy Carter, is strikingly similar to that of 1968. 4 Little of this kind of material ever gets into the major media until many years after the event, if GES ever. The American media are reluctant to report IMA material which makes America look bad (this is

GETTY apparently the reason that then President Johnson did not publicise Nixon’s treason, even though SINKHOLE PANIC [FT301:25] he knew about it in detail) and the UK media are The bizarre death of Jeff Bush, swallowed by a sinkhole that opened reluctant to offend our powerful ‘ally’. up under his bedroom in suburban Tampa on 28 February, unleashed a But there is a wider inhibition on this side of wave of sympathy, and not a little fear. The Bush tragedy was followed the Atlantic. Take former Foreign Secretary David by another Tampa sinkhole and ones in Allentown, Bethlehem and Miliband’s announcement in April that he was Rockledge, Pennsylvania.The Rockledge hole swallowed a creek and moving to America to head the International drained a duck pond. A 10-acre (4ha) sinkhole in Assumption Parish, Rescue Committee (IRC). Miliband described it as Louisiana – caused by the mining of a salt dome by a brine-making “a global humanitarian aid organisation based in

company – drew a visit from environmental activist Erin Brockovich. New York” and mentioned that Albert Einstein was among those GES

Then on 11 March, just as sinkhole madness was starting to die down, who founded it. 5 The mainstream British media blandly reported IMA one 10ft (3m) wide opened up on the 14th hole at Annbriar Golf Course it to be an international charity. But a couple of minutes on Google GETTY in Waterloo, , swallowing a mortgage broker. Mark Mihal, 43, would have shown that the IRC was little more than a front for the was investigating an unusual depression when the earth gave way. He CIA during the Cold War 6 and that more recently it was funded was hauled out of the 18ft (5.4m) deep hole with nothing worse than a by the US Government’s National Endowment for Democracy, dislocated shoulder. Such holes are common in south-western Illinois, which was set up to finance the kind of propaganda and political where old underground mines frequently cause the earth to cave in. warfare activities that the CIA used to run covertly. 7 Among the According to Sam Panno, a senior geochemist with the Illinois State corporate figures on its boards of directors and overseers are Geological Survey, there are as many as 15,000 sinkholes in the region. former Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs Condoleeza Rice, On 12 March one opened up in the Adams Morgan neighbourhood of Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger. 8 Washington, followed the next day by one 16ft (5m) deep in Holyoke, None of this was difficult to find out and, apart from a tiny Massachusetts. snippet in the Guardian diary, none of it made it into the British Actually, sinkholes, both natural and man-made, are quite common, major media reports on Miliband’s move. Are we not supposed to but they have garnered more attention than usual following the Florida learn that David Miliband has gone to work for an arm of American tragedy. See thesinkhole.org, a website that bills itself as “the world’s foreign policy? Or did the British media decide that this wasn’t largest collection of sinkholes”. BBC News, 13 Mar; NY Times, via worth reporting? Or did our journalists simply not do a quick (Melbourne) Age, 17 Mar 2013. Google on ‘International Rescue Committee’?

1 www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/03/secret-service-reptile- aliens/ X about Bletchley Park, the centre pretty specific about it.” He added 2 See www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/17/1194862/-What- s-new-in-BBC- of British code-breaking in WWII, that Mr Young “has taken the string report-on-Nixon-s-treason-on-Vietnam-Not-much said: “The idea that a World War I of 27 five-letter groups and decided 3 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_surprise code would have been used during on the basis of this World War I code 4 See http://archive.truthout.org/article/robert-parry-part-i-the-original-october- the Second World War is just silly. that individual letters stand for surprise It wouldn’t have been used because something. So for example HVP is 5 In his letter to the chair of his constituency party http://labourlist. it would have been well known to ‘have panzers’.This is nonsense.” org/2013/03/david-milibands-resignation-letter/ the Germans and insecure… You Here’s another example to ram the don’t have to take my word for it. point home: CMPNW is supposed to 6 At http://liberalengland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-international-rescue- committee.html. The 1995 Eric Chester book, Covert Network: Progressives, GCHQ have looked at it.They are mean “Counter measures [against] the International Rescue Committee, and the CIA, is discussed. very good at diagnosing codes and Panzers not working”. BBC News, 16 7 www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=International_Rescue_ ciphers as the people at Bletchley Dec; D.Telegraph, 17+27 Dec; 27 Committee#Funding Park were in the war. They can be Dec 2012. 8 www.rescue.org/board-and-overseers

FT302 19 www.forteantimes.com TTINSON ghostwatch PA TT MA

alan murdie reports on another TV row about whether we should scare the children... COMMOnS TIVe CReA / yeMBee1969 jA

ABOVE: Chatham Dockyard – home to a number of restless spirits say workers. OPPOSITE PAGE: Medium Derek Akorah’s “contorted face” as he channels a dead child.

painted devils “malevolent” ones, which were supposedly acorah spoke in responsible in life for mistreating or murdering ‘Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted children in their care. There were also several devil’, wrote Shakespeare (Macbeth, Act a rasping and reports from current staff working at the 2, Scene 2). In March this year, the UK dockyard of the presence of these evil spirits broadcasting regulator Ofcom agreed with the aggressive voice: chilling the air, appearing as dark shadows, Bard, reprimanding Pick TV (carried on the Sky and pushing them over or off chairs, as TV platform) for showing an edition of Most “what’s your well as poltergeist activity, such as the Haunted when children might be watching. movement of objects. In particular, Richard The offending show was transmitted at 6pm name, leper?” Felix, introduced as a historian, mentioned on 17 October 2012 and was a repeat of a “dark evil shadows wandering around... programme first broadcast in 2009 featuring self-proclaimed medium Derek Acorah People get this horrible feeling of foreboding... a supposed investigation at the haunted contacted and was supposedly possessed by Whatever haunts that building doesn’t want Chatham Dockyard in . Ofcom found a nine-year-old boy called ‘Barney Little’ and them to be there”. There were also reports that the decision to air the programme at another malign entity called ‘Lizzie’ who in life of spirit children inside the building, including 6pm was a breach of the Broadcasting Code, had supposedly whipped Barney. Contorting a murdered and decapitated boy wandering deeming it too frightening to be broadcast his face, Acorah was shown speaking in the site and a young girl who hanged herself before the 9pm ‘watershed’. This is the hour a rasping and aggressive voice: “What’s on the stairway. These elements were at which it has been long presumed that your name, leper?” Bleeps were used to considered upsetting for children. children of tender years have been put to bed mask offensive language. This performance Sky TV sought to justify the broadcast or shielded from unsuitable material on TV by reduced an employee of the dockyard to saying that the scenes – shot on night conscientious parents. tears (presumably of distress) because she cameras giving them a green colour – were According to the programme, the Chatham recognised “Lizzie” as the person responsible “not very distressing or upsetting.” Acorah’s Dockyard contained a colourful collection of for the death of Isabelle, a child who had alleged possession “was only visually spectres, noted by Ofcom as including “a allegedly once resided in the building. apparent from his contorted face and the headless drummer boy; duelling cavaliers; Acorah also claimed to have contacted different tone and pitch to his voice and what a dark shadow that walked towards people; other spirits including a military man, a female Derek says was not gruesome, distressing or a grey lady with no feet who hovered; a child murderer, the spirits of six or seven shocking”. woman smelling of lavender; the ghost of children and a man called Leonard (also evil) However, in Ofcom’s view, the cumulative a woman called Mary who had committed whom he heard running around. effect of the malevolent nature of the entities suicide, the ghost of a woman looking out of Ofcom first considered whether the that supposedly manifested through Derek’s a window; and the ghost of one of the port’s material was suitable for children. In the “possessions” or were described in the commissioners, Peter Pett, who had later episode, the investigators declared that experiences presented, and the repeated been killed in the Tower of London...” the majority of spirits in the dockyard were references to children being harmed, The episode featured a séance in which “benign” but the show concentrated upon the mistreated or murdered, had the potential to

20 FT302 www.forteantimes.com cause distress to younger viewers. is time to leave the board alone” to calm the Also in its own defence, Sky TV referred to situation (Sun, 17 Mar 1970). Ofcom’s decision of 5 December 2005, which The mother of writer Sophia Kingshill ruled that the format of was suffered a severe shock as an eight-year- “for entertainment purposes” and contained old child by being told a blood-curdling “a high degree of showmanship that puts traditional Scottish ghost poem by the it beyond what we believe to be a generally folklorist Katherine Briggs. “My mother was so accepted understanding of what comprises frightened that she was ill for a fortnight” (The a legitimate investigation [into psychic Lore of , 2008, by jennifer Westwood phenomena]”. On this basis, Sky TV argued and Sophia Kingshill). that the audience would have understood that According to the late Susan elliot, wife of “the intended purpose of these programmes British actor Denholm elliot, their daughter was for entertainment” and it would thus not jennifer never really recovered from the be taken seriously. childhood trauma of being read extracts This plea was also rejected by Ofcom, from The Exorcist as a bedtime story by a which considered that although the thoughtless babysitter in Ibiza. (see Denholm closing five minutes of the show provided Elliot: Quest for Love, 1994, by Susan elliot). a final signpost to the viewer as to the jennifer elliot later became addicted to drugs entertainment nature of the programme, teatime shows like Dr Who would have been and hanged herself in 2003. The broadcast of it was not explicitly suggested that events ‘X’-rated in the 1960s, although the show the infamous BBC television play Ghostwatch were not real or that the investigators might has become so politically correct and soppy in 1991 was blamed for causing post- simply be performers. Indeed, the concluding now that many traditional fans traumatic shock in children. section featured Dr Matthew Smith declaring must despair. Fortunately, almost all casual yet at the same time, many children that there were three possible explanations and regular viewers of Most Haunted with joyfully play games based around the idea for the alleged possession of Acorah – it whom I have ever spoken have expressed of and hauntings (several traditional was a fake, it was real, or some unusual strong doubts as to the reality of the games called ‘Ghosts’ are recorded) and psychological process was involved. proceedings, a wholly justified scepticism even create phantoms for themselves as Consequently, Ofcom found the broadcast shared by actual observers on the spot dares and hoaxes. At Harrow School in the was a breach of paragraph 1.27 of the (see Will Storr The Supernatural, 2006, 19th century, a game called ‘j ack O’ Lantern’ Broadcasting Code which provides: by Will Storr concerning a show recorded at was played on the “darkest, foggiest nights”. “Demonstrations of exorcisms, occult Canewdon in essex). This involved chasing a boy carrying a lantern practices and the paranormal (which purport Like that of adults, the individual sensitivity to impersonate a glowing ghost or “Willow to be real), must not be shown before the of children exposed to ghost and horror the Wisp”. In King’s Lynn in norfolk children watershed (in the case of television) or when stories varies enormously. just over a week climbed into a box tomb in St nicholas’s children are particularly likely to be listening after the Ofcom ruling, the Bradford Telegraph Churchyard to ‘moan and howl’ until at least (in the case of radio). Paranormal practices and Argus (27 March 2013) was reporting one poor boy or girl had run away crying in fear which are for entertainment purposes must how primary school children at Wyke, (see Owen Davies in The Haunted, 2007). not be broadcast when significant numbers of , “have been hunting a headless In Cambridge, at Cutter Ferry Path in 1928, children may be expected to be watching, or horseman, said to ride through judy Woods gangs of boy scouts went after the ghost, a are particularly likely to be listening.” at dead of night”. The headless horseman strange light seen moving around the area Whilst the Chatham Dockyard episode did is said to be a certain “Captain Beavers” whilst young pranksters hung a sheet and a not feature any demonstrations of exorcisms, and the children were being encouraged to box painted with a face from a tree to scare occult practices or the paranormal, Ofcom develop a ghost heritage trail through the passers-by. This was swiftly detected as a took the view that “it did include paranormal area. Project leader Malcolm Hanson told hoax and another juvenile trickster was pelted practices, such as ‘possessions’ and a the paper there were plenty of spooky with missiles when he appeared dressed up séance shown when a significant number of around Wyke, and the enthusiastic pupils in a sheet. Harry Price condemned teenagers children were likely to be watching (Ofcom – gave a presentation on what they had learned who came into the grounds of Borley Rectory Broadcast Bulletin Issue number 226, 18 Mar to parents and teachers. in essex before its destruction to peer in 2013). It has long been recognised that ghosts windows and make noises (Price, Most Ofcom’s ruling seems entirely sensible, have great appeal to children and a yet in , 1940). Ten years even in the age of reality television when greater capacity than adults to scare them. earlier, he had to put up with ‘Battersea it appears almost anything short of overtly jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels imagined hooligans’ who had threatened to break criminal acts can be performed live and the fear-filled conversations of his flying the windows of a haunted property in eland broadcast on a TV channel somewhere. island of Laputa as being comparable to the Road unless allowed to ‘investigate’ the Although it may appear Ofcom is being way “that boys discover in delighting to hear phenomena themselves (Price, Poltergeist oversensitive (and fighting a losing battle in terrible stories of spirits and hobgoblins, Over England, 1945). the age of the Internet), spirit possession which they greedily listen to, and dare not go Perhaps the last word should be given is certainly a subject that many people to bed for fear”. to Lord Halifax. In his introduction to Lord find upsetting, and exorcism even more In 1970 schoolboys from Arnold School, a Halifax’s Ghost Book (1936), the son of so. Certainly, no responsible psychiatrist, private school in Blackpool, formed an ‘Occult the noble compiler recalled how his father priest or worker in the field would invite TV Society’. However, they scared themselves faced opposition when wanting to read the cameras along to film a serious exorcism for with ouija board séances when messages stories to the children of the family. “My entertainment purposes, not only because of came through purporting to be from a hanged father, however, used to justify the method the intrusive nature of cameras but because sailor and a woman murdered with an axe. as calculated to stimulate the imagination, of the possible effects upon gullible and The hysteria over the events became national and the victims themselves, fascinated and suggestible individuals viewing any resultant news, with warnings being issued by local spell-bound by a sense of delicious terror, broadcast. Both age and experience in life clergy and john Cutten of the Society for never failed to ask for more… Apart from the result in different degrees of resilience, as Psychical Research commenting: “When moralities, few charges in his eyes were more do the effects of changing wider cultural people begin to believe messages are coming damaging to persons than that they should and broadcasting norms. Some material in from the spiritual world and get frightened it be devoid of imagination”.

FT302 21 www.forteantimes.com strangedays

MATT SALUSBURY grabs his pink-headed duck lure and reports THERE BE BEASTS from a mini-conference organised by the London Cryptozoology Club

It was a full house in the basement at Treadwell’s ‘esoteric beliefs’ bookshop in Bloomsbury for ‘There Be Beasts’, the first London Cryptozoology Club (LCC) mini-conference in April. James Newton, founder of the LCC and one of the conference’s organisers, introduced the day’s proceedings before allowing Richard Freeman, zoological director of the Centre for Fortean LEFT: Burmese children examine Zoology, to kick off, resplendent Richard’s pink-headed duck lure. in a waistcoat emblazoned with ABOVE: The only way you’re likely to gold dragons. His pet hate is see a P-HD: as a plate in a book.

Hollywood’s tendency to depict BELOW: Scanning the Horniman THoRnS dragons as having only two legs, Museum’s monkey-fish mermaid.

when they should have four. RicHaRD The two-legged versions aren’t dragons, they’re wyverns, he It was sighted ‘artwork’ gifts like knotted stalks headed duck guy”, has been on says. “People who put wyverns of grass left in return, or a mother three trips to Burma in search in films and pass them off as looking out of the kitchen window of that elusive and supposedly dragons” drive self-described by a Dutchman to see her child handing some extinct bird – a large, mallard- “cryptozoological pedants” like biscuits over the fence to their sized diving duck with a long, Richard into a murderous rage. atop a hired “big hairy friend”. ramrod-straight neck, chocolate He reeled off a list of mystery London’s Horniman Museum brown in colour with a “bubble- animals, a list that until 1904 elephant has in its collection a specimen gum pink” head (a gentler pink would have included the gorilla, known as ‘Japanese Monkey-Fish; in the females). The duck was then regarded as just “a hairy Merman (Ningyo).’ Paolo Viscardi, shy and solitary, preferring deep ogre from ‘native’ folklore”. the Horniman’s natural history pools in wetlands. We’re unsure Richard feels that Gigantopithecus curator, took us through an if it was a species of pochard or a – a huge fossil Asian ape whose “unnatural history of mermaids”. genus all of its own. It was always fragmentary remains suggest It seems that in 19th century a rare bird. A 1920s captive it walked upright – is a good Japan, small representations breeding programme in Surrey candidate for the identity of a of nature spirits were made – failed, and the last recorded pink- current cryptid, the yeti. from a monkey and a fish – for headed duck (P-HD) was seen in

MuSeuM While earlier researchers shrines. When the first Western 1935, in the north Indian state perceived – North sailors turned up, a monkey-fish of Bihar. The wetland habitats America’s manimal – as an mermaid cottage industry grew around India’s mega-cities HoRniMan ape akin to Gigantopitchecus, up in response to demand. have gone the same way as the THe “armchair cryptozoologist” Everyone assumed the P-HD, but numerous marshes James Newton introduced us girl named Misti Bad Horniman mermaid, and all other resembling those “vanished to current trends in Bigfoot pointed to an illustration of mermaid ‘gaffes’, were made ecosystems” still exist over the research which suggest we’re Chewbacca in a Where’s Wally? from the head, arms and torso of border in Burma. Richard’s first dealing with something much book and said: “That’s Bigfoot”. a monkey sewn on to the back Burma trip took him to Kachin closer to us humans. James Recent takes on Bigfoot, by end of a fish. It transpired the State, three days upriver from worked as a volunteer at South the likes of researchers Autumn Horniman ‘monkey-fish’, while it Mandalay. Eventually, witnesses Dakota’s Cheyenne River Youth Williams – herself a childhood probably has the back end of a (often reluctant to come forward) Project with the Cheyenne River Bigfoot witness – and the carp, contains no monkey parts at reported two P-HD sightings Sioux Tribe, a division of the ‘Tennessee Bigfoot lady’ Mary all. It has wire for fingers, a clay at one lake, and Richard heard Lakota Nation. Over 20 years Green, describe “habituation and papier-mâché head, fish jaws, about an unconfirmed sighting – of experience in youth work scenarios” – years of interactions bamboo neck, and arms of wood lasting only a few seconds – by a means he’s good as spotting between rural families and and wire. Under X-Rays or put Dutchman atop a hired elephant when children are trying to pull Bigfoot communities. The through medical scanners, most during a 2003 expedition to a lake his leg, but he was struck by witnesses “were people who lack ‘monkey-fish’ mermaids display at Naung Kwin. One fisherman how the Lakota kids he worked the sophistication to make it an absence of actual monkey bits. said of the mystery duck: “It with described their attitudes in cities… but were tuned in to Leiden’s Blomhoff Specimen is was here once”. A broken hand and encounters with Bigfoot in a their environment”. Encounters the only mermaid that actually from a motorbike accident cut matter-of-fact way. Like the time could take the form of gift has the front end of a monkey. short Richard’s most recent in 2006 when, out of the blue, a exchanges – missing animal feed, Richard Thorns, the “pink- expedition, while the Kachin

22 FT302 www.forteantimes.com presents his regular round-up from the crypto- ALIEN ZOO zoological garden

Independence Army insurgency meant “unauthorised contact with foreigners” would land his guides in jail. He thinks one of the photographs he took just might show a P-HD on the lake. Time may be running out for the duck, if it does still live in Burma. Saffron and mustard cultivation are encroaching on the wetlands. Says Richard: “if Burma opens up, it would T be very bad news for the pink- aR

headed duck.” STeW London Fortean Society co-

ordinator Scott Wood described DonaLD the legendary parakeets of DR London and friends (including DREADLOCKED MINI-PYGMIES case. in an illustrated monograph of 1829, Swiss the new ‘Fordham Park panther’, The tribe of pygmies first reported on 17 March of biologist Louis agassiz (later to become an eminent sighted by a woman in that this year by forest rangers in southern Sumatra’s professor in zoology) described in detail an arapaima south London neighbourhood Way Kambas national Park in Lampung Province are specimen that had been collected in the Brazilian earlier in .) Ring- nothing if not distinctive. according to the rangers’ amazon a decade earlier, which he had examined. necked parakeets are now testimony, they don’t wear any clothes, have in 1847, a French zoologist formally described and endemic to a 19-mile (30-km dreadlocks hanging down to their waist, named it Arapaima agassizii (agassiz’s arapaima), stretch of west London (and and stand no more than 50cm (1ft 8in) deeming it to represent another, hitherto- Ramsgate), while south London tall, making them more like Little People unknown arapaima species. This classification is home to the Monk parakeet. than pygmies in stature (pictured right). was based upon a number of morphological Scott is fascinated by the urban a group of about 15 have been seen characteristics relating to its eyes, teeth and far-fetched “escape moving out of the forest towards the and fins, considered distinct enough from scenarios” surrounding the PT nusantara Tropical Fruit plantation those of A. gigas to warrant taxonomic parakeets’ arrival in the capital. by several rangers using binoculars, delineation. These include Jimi Hendrix’s for about 15 minutes and at a in 1868, however, this classification two parakeets escaping from distance of just under 40 yards was discounted in a major ichthyological his Portobello Road flat at the (37m). They were possibly after the catalogue, since when A. agassizii has moment of his death, fugitives plantation’s fruit crops, but when languished in scientific obscurity – from the Twickenham aviary the rangers tried to approach largely due to the rarity of the obscure of the exiled King Manuel the them, they swiftly ran back into monograph in which agassiz’s original Unfortunate of Portugal (still the forest. The rangers glimpsed description had been published. commemorated in Twickenham’s them again on 20 March, but Moreover, this species’ type (and Manuel Road), and break-outs for less time and at a greater only known) specimen, which had been during the filming of Anthony distance. This national park has an preserved in a German museum ever since and Cleopatra and/or The area of just under 500 square miles being described by agassiz, was destroyed African Queen at Shepperton (1,300 km2), so there is plenty of room by an allied bomb during World War ii. in Studios (except the latter was here for such entities to remain concealed recent times, however, while researching filmed in Isleworth). Parakeet very effectively. Some cryptozoologists have the arapaima, fisheries expert Dr Donald lore has turned the birds into speculated that they may be one and the Stewart (pictured above with an arapaima a metaphor for immigration same as Sumatra’s cryptozoological bipedal skeleton) from the SunY college of panic, a celebration of London’s man-beast, the orang pendek. Yet whereas environmental Science and Forestry (eSF) multiculturalism or a harbinger the latter does allegedly possess a waist- in Syracuse, new York, came upon a copy of global warming. The problem length mane that may resemble dreadlocks if of agassiz’s ultra-rare monograph and with these “scenarios” is tangled in clumps, and especially if only recognised that this long-forgotten that a DEFRA report says seen from a distance, it is said to stand species fully merited its distinct MoRRiS parakeets have been kept in 3-5ft (90-150cm) high, thereby making it taxonomic status. accordingly, after 145 TiM English captivity since 1855, considerably taller than the tiny mini-pygmies years, agassiz’s arapaima has finally been reinstated and are known to have been of Way Kambas. http://www.thejakartapost.com/ by Stewart as a valid, second species of arapaima “naturalised” by 1960, well news/2013/03/30/rangers-sight-pygmies-way- in the March 2013 issue of the scientific journal before the demise of Hendrix. kambas-national-park.html 30 Mar 2013. Copeia. Yet because the collector of its only known Plans are afoot for “a bigger (and now lost) specimen died before recording its event in 2014” and for a summer BIG FISH RECOGNISED precise provenance, no one knows where it lives expedition to Dorset searching Sometimes exceeding 8ft (2.4m) long and weighing in the wild (or even if it still survives). So although for traces of . up to 440lb (200kg), the arapaima or pirarucu its taxonomic status is now accepted, agassiz’s Arapaima gigas of the amazon basin is one of the arapaima remains very much a mystery fish, albeit Email: london.cryptozoology@ world’s biggest species of freshwater fish. Since an exceedingly large one. http://www.sciencedaily. gmail.com 1868, this is the only species of arapaima to be com/releases/2013/04/130422111110.htm 13 Twitter: @WeAreTheLC recognised by science, but it wasn’t always the April 2013.

FT302 23 www.forteantimes.com strangedays

Paul Sieveking considers the most detailed fi rst-hand SAVED BY MONKEYS account of growing up with wild animals ever published

arina Chapman grubs or brightly coloured poisoned me, just as I’ll never as if it were a stranger; and a girl Mof Bradford, West berries. She copied one clever know how Grandpa monkey confined to a lunatic asylum in Yorkshire, has long monkey’s technique of cracking knew how to save me. But he did. Bursa,Turkey, in the 1930s, who been reluctant to reveal her nuts by putting them in a hollow I am convinced of it.” Though had reportedly been raised by exotic life story to anyone and whacking them with a this seems hard to believe, bears, would sit for hours gazing beyond her closest family, but a branch or rock. primates have been observed at herself in a mirror. ghost-written memoir, The Girl She lost all sense of time and picking effective medicinal Marina reckons she had been With No Name, has now been imitated monkey vocalisations to plants and self-medicating. in the jungle about three years published, to raise funds for stave off loneliness. Like them, After her recovery, the when she saw an indigenous charities that combat human she whistled to scare off snakes, monkeys befriended and woman going into a thicket trafficking and child slavery in and gradually groomed her; and emerging with a baby. She Colombia. Marina’s daughter learnt to by tthishis time she followed her back to a group Vanessa James, a 23-year-old vocalise a wide was crawling of huts. Shooed away by the fi lm score composer, spent six range of feelings. with lice and dominant male, she thereafter years talking to her mother and She told Fortean other insects. made furtive raids to steal piecing together her memories Times that she She learned cooked food, such as snakes and of jungle life. She was born in still has simian to appreciate spiders; she was particularly about 1950, either in northeast mannerisms but spiders and use fond of juicy ants. She made Colombia, or maybe over the her memory of moss to wipe pigments from seeds, nuts and border inVenezuela, so is now monkey language her bottom. fl owers to decorate her skin, as about 63. Colombia had yet to has largely faded Like her simian well as bark, rocks, and branches. plunge into La Violencia (its long after almost half a companions, She made orchid and vanilla civil war beginning in 1964), century. SheShe added she learned pod chains as ‘jewellery’ and as but abductions for ransom were that her sense to climb up decoration. common and children were of smell remains to the forest One day, she saw a man and frequently snatched by ransom acute; for instance, canopy during a woman collecting butterflies gangs.This appears to be what she can tell from a the day. One and other wildlife and, coming happened to Luz Marina (a name distance when fruit time, sshehe found a tiny out of hiding, she approached she chose for herself at the age of is ripe. shard of mirror and was startled the woman and touched her about 14). In the most astonishing to fi nd her face was not the same hand. She was driven away in a According to her account, episode in the book (pp49-52), as those of the capuchins. Not truck with caged animals. She she was snatched shortly before she became very ill after eating long afterwards, she lost this was naked and black with dirt, her fi fth birthday. All she can poisonous fruit (described as precious talisman.The reaction with hair down to her knees. remember is being chloroformed tamarind’s ‘deadly twin’), but of feral children to mirrors is Years later, she calculated she with a hand over her mouth; was cured by ‘Grandpa monkey’, curious. Neither Kaspar Hauser had lived with the monkeys for and all she can recall of her life who pushed her through the norVictor of Aveyron could about fi ve years, judging by before that is her black dolly undergrowth to a water hole recognise their refl ections; rate of hair growth – about 7in and the fascination of splitting and held her under the brackish anthropologist Jean-Claude (18cm) a year. The couple sold open peapods. She regained water until she swallowed some Auger observed the gazelle boy her for a parrot and a fi stful of consciousness in the back of and vomited. “I will never know of the Spanish Sahara looking at “leaves” (banknotes) to a fat a truck with other children for sure what it was that had his refl ection in a pool of water woman in the village of Loma before blacking out again. de Bolívar, who turned out to be Then she recalls being carried the madam of a brothel. ‘Gloria’, by a man running through the as they called the wild child, jungle with another man, before learned to walk upright, eat off being abandoned and fi nding a plates and twist door handles, hollow tree to sleep in. Sitting and was forced to mop fl oors and in a clearing on about the do routine menial tasks. “Why third day, she realised she was did humans have so many things surrounded by a troupe of about that weren’t fi t for purpose?” she 30 monkeys – which, judging mused years later. “Windows that from her description, were got dirty, fl oors that got dusty probably weeper capuchins.Two and things to eat and drink from of the senior monkeys came and that broke if you dropped them?” knocked her over, after which the She got used to the bitterness of troop gradually came to accept coffee, the ‘lardiness’ of butter, GES her. She copied some of their the strange rubbery texture and IMA eating habits: seeds, nuts, and blandness of pasta. GETTY

/ fruit (small green bananas, fi gs, When her sexual services P

AF guava, tamarind, etc) – but not were offered to a client, she lizards, fl owers, grass, insects, LEFT: Weeper capuchin monkeys of the kind that Marina says she lived with. ran away and made it to the

24 FT302 www.forteantimes.com city of Cúcuta, where OPPOSITE PAGE: The earliest she slept in a park with known photograph of Marina other homeless children, Chapman, aged 17. LEFT: Marina learned to scavenge from says she still retains some simian bins and steal food from characteristics. restaurants, as well as set up temporary car Abundant Life Church in parks with cones and Bradford, near their house collect fees. As she was in Shipley. Here, Marina met small and dark, the other John Chapman, a 28-year- gaminas called her “Pony old bacteriologist, and Malta” after a malt drink they married in 1978.Their in a small dark bottle. daughters were born in 1980 She is still only 4ft 9in and 1983. (145cm) tall.To escape “Part of the wild child is life on the street, after still very much with her,” a couple of years she according to her literary became a servant for a agent, Andrew Lownie. “She family who turned out has spent much of her time to be gangsters.They in England embarrassing fed her scraps and kept her children by scaling her locked in the house. trees in seconds, catching After more adventures wild birds and rabbits with (you’ll have to read the her bare hands, as well as book), she was taken in by milking the odd passing the family of Maria and Her memory than a year (maybe three) and cow.” In Bradford, Mrs Amadeo Forero Eusse and their lived with vervet monkeys – or Chapman is known for once five children in Bogotá, where she possibly black and white colobus cooking a quiche at a local remained as maid. of monkey monkeys, according to some fair for the Duke of Kent, who Marina’s story sounds far- sources (FT130:18, 161:39). Now apparently declared it the best fetched, but she relayed the main language has approaching 30, he adapted he had ever had. She recently details to Nancy Forero Eusse well to life with humans after started her own business called soon after her adoption by the largely faded his rescue in 1991. He has been Marina Latina Food. Sunday Eusse family. Both Ms Eusse and studied by a number of experts, Times, 21 Oct; D.Mail, 22 Oct; her cousin CarlosVelásquez, all of whom are convinced by his Sunday Telegraph, 28 Oct 2012. who had not coordinated their HolocaustYears, Mount Ivy Press, behaviour and interaction with stories before being interviewed Boston, 1997.) Several years monkeys that he is a genuine All pictures courtesy of last year by journalist Philip later, Defonseca was exposed as feral child. Another boy, this Mainstream Publishing. Sherwell, separately noted that a fantasist. one deaf and dumb, had been Marina showed both great agility, The jungle area where found living with a troupe of The Girl With No Name: The demonstrated by her penchant Marina lived was probably vervet monkeys in Uganda in Incredible True Story of a Child for tree-climbing, and strength, around Catatumbo, in recent 1982, and named Robert at the Raised by Monkeys by Marina despite her small physique, after years controlled by the Marxist Naguru orphanage in Kampala. Chapman withVanessa her years in the jungle and on the guerrillas who have waged Latin Then there was ‘Bello’, a two- James and Lynne Barrett-Lee street. America’s longest insurgency. year-old boy found by hunters (Mainstream Publishing, Edin., The detail of Marina’s recall of Antonio Ramirez Rodriguez, in 1996, living with a family of 2013). ISBN 9-781-780-575797. her jungle life is unprecedented chief biologist and Catatumbo chimpanzees in Nigeria’s Falgore in the annals of feral children, veteran, thought a small child forest. When first brought to and ultimately has to be taken could learn to scavenge from a children’s home in Kano, he on trust; determined sceptics capuchin monkeys. “They are walked like a chimp, moving on will believe she made it all up, omnivores who eat anything, his ‘hind legs’ but dragging his or at least embellished her from fruits and vegetables to arms on the ground (FT161:20). account. It’s true that we have to insects, lizards and rats,” he The earliest ‘monkey boy’ that be cautious; the present writer said. “They organise hunting FT is aware of was found in Sri accepted the account of Misha parties, have social structures, Lanka in 1973, and named Tissa Defonseca, who claimed that, they protect, help each other (FT161:38). as a Jewish orphan between the and follow a group leader. It’s MrVelásquez said that Marina ages of seven and 11, she had possible that a child could have worked for his family as a maid wandered through occupied adapted to those structures.” in Bogotá for about 10 years; then Europe in World War II, living Monkeys are known to accept his father’s textile business went on wild berries, raw meat and young humans into their fold. bust and he moved to Yorkshire, food stolen from farmhouses, and For example, John Sesebunya, taking Marina along to look occasionally teaming up with a four-year-old Ugandan boy, after the children.The family wolves (Misha: a Mémoire of the was left in the jungle for more worshipped at the evangelical

FT302 25 www.forteantimes.com TTINSON

PA ARCHÆOLOGY TT MA

Our archæological round-up is brought to you by PAUL DEVEREUX, Managing Editor of Time & Mind – The Journal of Archæology, Consciousness and Culture (www.bloomsbury.com/timeandmind)

over an Iron Age mine on a prominence known locally as Dwarfs Hill. Here a farmer unearthed a clay tablet inscribed with a curse by a Roman, who petitioned the god to ensure the return of his stolen ring from someone he apparently knew. The Latin curse translates as: “A mong those who bear the name of Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens”. The third part of this curious story slotted into place in 1929, when Lydney was being excavated. JRR Tolkien was called in as a consultant regarding the Nodens dedication in his role as a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford; he apparently visited the site a number of times. The obvious speculation, therefore, is that the possibly cursed Vyne ring was the inspiration, or an inspiration, for the magical, inscribed ring the hobbit Bilbo Baggins found in Gollum’s cave. Guardian, 2 April 2013.

TALKING OF HOBBITS We have mentioned Homo fl oresiensis in previous editions of this column: skeletal remains of the diminutive creature were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, and it is now generally thought to be a previously unknown species of small hominin that lived until c.18,000 years ago. Unsurprisingly, it was quickly nicknamed “the hobbit”. Now, Dr Susan Hayes and colleagues of the University of Wollongong’s Centre for Archæological Science have used forensic technology based on CT scans of the creature’s skull to model fat and skin, giving a pretty good idea of what Homo fl oresiensis would have looked like. This is the closest you will get to seeing a real hobbit! The Australian, 6 April 2013.

BILBO’S RING? An intriguing golden ring features in a special display mounted with the help of the Tolkien Society at the Vyne, a Tudor mansion in . The ring is thought to have been discovered in the 18th century at Silchester, a Roman and indeed pre-Roman town abandoned by the 7th century. It seems that it was then acquired by the family who lived at The Vyne, the Chutes, who had antiquarian interests. It is a substantial piece that only fi ts on a gloved thumb. It has a Latin inscription reading: “Senicianus live well in God”. Decades later, and some 100 miles (160km) distant at Lydney, , an apparent link to the ring occurred. Lydney was a Roman version of the earlier Greek Aesculapeia, where dreaming was used for healing purposes. Lydney, though, was dedicated to the local god Nodens rather than Aesculapius, and dogs were used to lick the afflicted parts of patients rather than harmless snakes as in ancient Greece. Lydney is located

26 F T302 www.forteantimes.com CLASSI CAL

COSMIC BLAST IN THE PAST CORNER Examination of Japanese cedar tree rings dating back to AD 774-5 have revealed higher levels of radioactive FORTEANA FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD COMPILED BY BARRY BALDWIN carbon-14 than would have been normal. Scientists deduce that this was caused by a gamma-ray blast that 164. ANCIENT IRON LADIES impacted on the Earth caused by the collision of two black holes or two stars “Queen Elizabeth – well, whatever she was somewhere in our own Milky Way galaxy. doing – maybe it wouldn’t be any too discreet “Over the last 3,000 years this was to inquire into just what she was doing” – Fort, the most energetic event to have hit Books, p725. the Earth,” Professor Ralph Neuhauser Our former Prime Minister was not averse of Germany’s University of Jena is to being compared to Gloriana, and must have reported as saying. Fortunately, the envied QE1’s power to decapitate such real blast was so short-lived and sourced so or imagined enemies as Essex and Walter far away it did not cause any species Raleigh – fluting Shall We Withdraw Our Love extinctions. But this, along with the was hardly an adequate substitute. recent meteorite impact in Russia and Attila the Hen would, though, have scorned near-miss by an asteroid (FT300:7), the royal motto, Video et Taceo (I See and reminds us that we live in a larger and Remain Quiet): Q. What were Denis’s last busier neighbourhood than we usually words? A. None. She was with him to the end. appreciate. 21 Jan 2013. By now, Mrs T will have privatised God and stoked high the fires of Hell in readiness MYSTERY IN GALILEE for Heseltine (“The trouble with Michael is A curious cone-shaped feature has that he has had to buy all his own furniture” been found on the bed of the Sea of – Alan Clark). Admirers are promoting her Galilee in Israel. It is a cairn-like stack of metallurgical status to gold. Detractors are not basalt cobbles and boulders, some over echoing Rod Stewart’s “Wake Up, Maggie...” 3ft (90cm) in length, and is estimated But, from either point of view, how does the to weigh about 60,000 tons as a whole. Lady from Lincolnshire stack up against capsule description by Peter Green, Alexander It is almost 32ft (10m) tall and has a ferrous females of the past? of Macedon (1974, p107): “A woman who base diameter of approximately 230ft Egypt had Queen Hatshepsut (1508-1458 committed at least five political murders (70m). Its purpose is unknown. BC). In traditional Pharaonic male style, she (including roasting a baby over a brazier), and The structure was actually first wore a false beard – no sign of a handbag, ordered over a hundred executions, can hardly detected in 2003 during a sonar survey though. Despite her military exploits, be called squeamish” – milk-snatching hardly (below), and divers have been down she declined the title of ‘Strong Bull’ – compares with baby-barbecuing. subsequently to make a preliminary hieroglyphic for Iron Lady? After her death, Neither could Boudicca (aka Boadicea; cf. observation. Although it is considered attempts (political or popular) were made to Antonia Fraser’s The Warrior Queens: Boadicea’s to be a deliberate construction, the eradicate all physical symbols of her rule. Chariot, 1988), whose anti-Roman uprising boulders are unworked, and no sign of Despite Greek mythological accretions, caused 70-80,000 deaths, with captured a retaining wall or arrangement of rocks Semiramis was based on the historical (820- noblewomen impaled, their breasts lopped off was noted. It is thought the feature 806 BC) Assyrian Queen Shammuramat. and sewn into their mouths (Dio Cassius, bk62 was originally built on dry land, but Supposedly the daughter of a fish-goddess ch7 para2) – her Falklands Factor. was submerged by a rise in the water rather than a Grantham grocer, she was Fredegund (d. AD 597; cf. Gregory of Tours, level of the Sea of Galilee. Researcher (Ammianus, bk14 ch6 para17) the first to bk9 for the full story), Queen of Frankish King Yitzhak Paz (who has been published castrate youths of tender age for the eunuch Chilperic, got into the royal bed by strangling in Time & Mind, incidentally), of the market – can see Geoffrey Howe wincing. the incumbent Galawintha. She may have Israel Antiquities Authority and Ben- Additional accusations of home-wrecker and wearied of hubby, mysteriously assassinated Gurion University, reckons it could be harlot, she was also – topical touch coming up in 584. After procuring or attempting the more than 4,000 years old (there are – reputed to be a witch. murders of various inconvenient royal allies Stone Age structures in the general Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus (modern and relatives, she and son Clothar II took their region). Paz states that an underwater Bodrum) brought five ships to assist Xerxes’s long-deferred revenge on Brunhilda, sister of archæological expedition will hopefully Greek invasion. At Salamis, she aroused Galawintha and sworn enemy. Having racked be sent down in the near future to see the King’s admiration by ramming a ship the hapless sexagenarian for three days, they if detailed, expert investigation can – GOTCHA! Snag was, neither she nor he had her torn to pieces by a quartet of four yield more information about the nature realised it was one of theirs. wild horses – a fate our beloved hippophile of the structure. LiveScience, 9 April; Amestris, Xerxes’s wife, earned notoriety Queen Mum managed to escape. Yahoo! News, 10 April 2013. (Herodotus, bk7 ch114) for burying alive 14 Byzantine Queen Irene (797-802) usurped children of Persian nobles – drying out some the throne by having her son Constantine’s ‘Wets’? She also mutilated her daughter-in- eyes gouged out, thus disqualifying him for law’s mother after seeing her parade around office – as well for Mark he never stood in (prefiguring Edwina Currie) in an eye-catching the way of Mummy’s ambition, though he dress. was of course the apple of Her eye. A 17-day Alexander the Great’s ferocious mother solar eclipse and total darkness followed, Olympias (she was Albanian, which explains supposedly signifying Heavenly horror at this a lot) is no stranger to this column, hence expression of maternal affection. I content myself with this unimprovable –Irene, Goodnight!

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This month, we say ta ta to two sons of London market traders – one a writer who NECROLOG changed the face of modern horror, the other the creator of his own offshore principality

Jim was born on 8 featuring psychic investigator David April 1943 in the East Ash, which began with Haunted End of London, the and The Ghosts of Sleath. son of street traders. Alongside the full-length works, His family lived at the The City was a graphic novel in The back of Petticoat Lane Rats sequence illustrated by Ian in Whitechapel, once Miller, while James Herbert’s Dark the stalking ground of Places: Locations and Legends Jack the Ripper, and was an atmospheric collaboration just around the corner with photographer Paul Barkshire. from the Krays. “Ours James Herbert’s books have GES was the only Catholic sold more than 54 million IMA household in the street,” copies worldwide and have been GETTY her recalled. “A ll the translated into more than 35

rest were Jewish.” He languages, including Russian and GES JAMES HERBERT won a scholarship to St Aloysius Chinese. The Rats, The Survivor, IMA

I knew James Herbert from the Grammar School in Highgate, and Fluke, Haunted and The Secret of GETTY 1980s – fi rst as a young book at 16 went to Hornsey College Crickley Hall have all been fi lmed, reviewer and then as a friend. of Art, where he studied graphic the latter as a BBC mini-series in After the war Major Bates Although he basically created the design. Then he joined a London 2012. He was awarded an OBE in imported meat from the Irish modern mass-market horror genre advertising agency, where he 2010. Republic to the rationed North, with the publication of his fi rst worked his way up to become Jim died peacefully in his bed, and rubber from Malaysia to make novel, The Rats, in 1974 (for the Group Head/Associate Director. aged 69. It was far too early. He frogmen’s fl ippers. He then built record, Stephen King’s Carrie was Feeling there was more he had more books in him (although up an inshore fi shing fl eet on the published a few months later), he could do, at the age of 28 he he recently admitted to me that he Essex coast, and ran a chain of was always wary of the “fandom” started secretly writing a novel. Ten was beginning to slow down – not butcher’s shops, a wholesale meat aspects of the genre (although months later he had completed surprisingly, since he wrote them depot and, at one time, an estate not of the fans themselves, The Rats – inspired by his all in longhand). He was one of the agency. In 1965 he established whom he embraced with genuine childhood upbringing and depicting genuine nice guys in the genre. I’ll Radio Essex on Knock John enthusiasm and affection). It a London overrun by monstrous, miss him more than I can say – fortified tower in the North Sea was therefore something of an fl esh-eating rats of unknown origin. but so too will his millions of fans off the Essex coast, claiming it as achievement when I convinced He submitted the manuscript to six around the world. Britain’s fi rst 24-hour pirate pop him to be a Guest of Honour at publishers on the same day. Within James Herbert, author, born London station – but it was swiftly closed the World Fantasy Convention in three weeks he had received three 8 April 1943; died 20 Mar down by the Labour government. London in 1988. As always, he replies. Two publishers turned 2013, aged 69. After taking legal advice, Bates was friendly and garrulous with the novel down, while the other Stephen Jones bought Rough Sands or Roughs everyone he met and over the accepted it enthusiastically. Tower, another derelict artillery years I managed to persuade him New English Library published PRINCE ROY OF installation, anchored to a sandbar (albeit always with some initial The Rats in 1974 with a fi rst SEALAND just outside British territorial scepticism on his part) printing of 100,000 Roy Bates, the son of a Smithfield waters; but before he could revive to participate in several paperback copies. He meat market salesman, travelled his radio transmissions, the Marine other such events, most was paid an advance to Spain aged 15 to fi ght for Broadcasting (Offences) Act of notably the World Horror of £150 with a royalty the International Brigade in the 1967 outlawed the employment Convention 2010 (where of fi ve per cent. Within Spanish Civil War. During World of British citizens by pirate we presented him with weeks that fi rst printing War II he became an infantry major stations. Embracing the ancient the convention’s Grand was completely sold and saw action in Africa, Iraq, Syria legal doctrine of jus gentium, Master Award, which out. The book has never and elsewhere, narrowly escaped Bates declared independence he was incredibly proud been out of print, and a Greek fascist fi ring squad in on 2 September 1967 (his of) and, more recently, from that point on he Rhodes, and took part in the battle wife’s birthday). Henceforth, he FantasyCon in Brighton reigned as Britain’s of Monte Cassino in Italy. Wounded announced, he would be known just last September. undisputed number one several times, he survived malaria, as Prince Roy and his principality While I was researching my author of horror fi ction, with 23 sandfly fever, frostbite and would be Sealand. He refurbished 1992 book about him, James novels to his credit. snakebite. When a German stick the platform, abandoned by the Herbert: By Horror Haunted, I was Jim’s list of best-selling titles grenade smashed his jaw and British military in the 1950s, and a guest in his Sussex home on a includes The Fog, The Survivor, showered shrapnel in his face, an moved there with his wife and two number of occasions, and I was Fluke, The Spear, Lair, The Dark, Army surgeon told him he would children. Soon his bleak windswept lucky to attend several events in The Jonah, Shrine, Domain, Moon, never fi nd a wife as he would , with its twin towers of steel- his honour over the years, not The Magic Cottage, Sepulchre, be so badly disfigured – but as reinforced concrete spanned by least his 25th wedding anniversary Creed, Portent, ‘48, Others, Once, his wounds healed, he met Joan a 5,920ft2 (550m2) rusting iron to his wife, Eileen, who survives Nobody True and The Secret of Collins, a former beauty queen platform just over seven miles him, along with their three Crickley Hall. His fi nal novel, Ash from Essex, at a dance, and within (11km) off Felixstowe, became not daughters. (2012), was the third in a trilogy three months they had married. only res derelicta but terra nullius

28 FT302 www.forteantimes.com strangedays

– effectively disputed territory. When the rival Radio Caroline claimed the platform for itself, Bates and his crew repelled a boarding party with Molotov cocktails and warning shots. Strange deathS After a Royal Marine vessel was seen off in similar fashion, Bates was summonsed under the Firearms Act UNUSUAL WAYS OF SHUFFLING OFF THIS MORTAL COIL and in November 1968 appeared in the dock at Essex Assizes. The judge decided that that since Sealand was An angler in Belarus died after a beaver showed no signs of swelling or pus. outside British territorial waters, the bit him on the thigh, severing a main A year later, the coroner recorded a courts had no jurisdiction. Bates artery. The unnamed 60-year-old and verdict of accidental death. Brannigan saw this as Sealand’s first de facto two friends encountered the rodent was put down. “He was a gentle giant,” recognition. near Minkovichi as they headed out said a friend. “He never meant any harm During the 1970s Bates created on a fishing trip to Lake Shestakov and Lesley would never hear a word Sealand’s own constitution, flag (red in the region of Brest. The victim tried against him.” D.Mirror, Sun, 11 Aug 2012. and black with white diagonal stripe), to approach it to be photographed, but it passports, stamps, currency (the attacked and bit him twice. He bled to death Gary Richardson, 57, was killed by septic shock Sealand dollar, bearing the image before an ambulance could reach him. Beaver after his terrier CeeCee bit him on the finger. The of his wife ‘Princess Joan’), national attacks are rare and fatal cases almost unheard plasterer had owned the tiny dog for three weeks anthem and motto: E Mare Libertas of. The animal was possibly rabid, or a young when it began fighting with his Jack Russell at (“From the Sea, Freedom”). In 1978, beaver seeking new territory after being forced his home in Canterbury on 20 February 2011. He while Bates and his wife were away out by its parents. The attack was filmed by the tried to separate the animals and received the on business, German entrepreneur victim and the disturbing video can be seen nip on his finger. The bite was so small it didn’t Alexander Achenbach staged a coup at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq_BEh1dhEw draw blood. His health deteriorated and two days d’état, but within days Bates had D.Telegraph, Metro, 12 April 2013. later he went to a doctor, but was diagnosed at retaken the platform in a dramatic first with food poisoning. The next day he was predawn helicopter raid of his own. A British woman, believed to be a grandmother in taken to hospital but died from the bacterium For many years, to make ends meet, her late fifties and of Asian origin, was bitten by a capnocytophaga, found in the saliva of cats and he sold aristocratic titles (“Lord, puppy on a visit to India and died from rabies at dogs. A verdict of accidental death was recorded in Lady, Baroness – from £29.99”). He the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London in late May 2012. D.Telegraph, Metro, 1 June 2012. stopped issuing Sealand passports May last year. She was bitten about two months in 1997, to counter widespread earlier, but only sought help after seven weeks. In January 2012, Bhoop Narayan Prajapati, 65, fraud. His tiny fiefdom became a She had twice visited Darent Valley Hospital in was attacked by a bull after he hit the animal with magnet for people seeking sanctuary Dartford, Kent, with mild and indistinct symptoms, a stick, and spent more than a month in hospital from the law, from gambling but was sent home. She failed to inform medical recovering from a leg injury. Then on 26 July, he operators (whom Bates rejected) to, staff there that she had been bitten – but the threw hot water on the same bull for sitting in more recently, Wikileaks, which was delay in diagnosis is highly unlikely to have made front of his thatched hut on the main road of Deori reportedly exploring the possibility of any difference to her chances of survival. Unless Township in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, moving its computer servers to the those bitten by rabid animals have received prior India. The furious animal kept watch and attacked principality. vaccination, or get an emergency vaccination, the him the next day while he was having his morning Roy and Joan Bates retired to disease is usually fatal. D.Telegraph, Metro, 29 tea. Prajapati ran inside his hut to escape, Spain in 2006. Their son Michael, May 2012. but the bull followed him, pushed him to the latterly “Prince Regent” and acting ground twice and gored him. Neighbours Bhura head of state since 1999, opted Brannigan, a 10-year-old Rottweiler, was given a Khan and Nikhil Soni beat the bull with sticks to for the terra firma of Essex, leaving bravery reward for saving landlady Lesley Banks drive it away and rushed the victim to hospital, the platform in the hands of a when fire broke out at the Three Horseshoes pub where he was pronounced dead from internal lone caretaker. In 2007, a Spanish in Wheathill, Shropshire, in October 2009. The dog injuries. Shortly afterwards, the bull turned up property company valued the woke his owner as the pub living quarters filled at the hospital – and as Pajapati’s remains were platform at around £500 million. With with smoke. “I am so grateful to Brannigan,” she consigned to the flames, the bull also turned Michael having appointed his own said. “I was asleep and he jumped on the bed. He up at the crematorium. “It’s something strange son James as Prince Royal, Sealand began to pull at my arm, which normally means and surprising,” said Deori police inspector remains one of the few micro-nations something is wrong.” RP Sharma. “We are going to write a letter to to have established a viable dynasty. In August 2011, after a pheasant shooting the civic body to put this bull in a government In a 1980s television interview, Major trip in Craswall, , Brannigan bit Ms shelter.” Times of India, 31 July 2012. Bates said: “I might die young or I Banks’s right hand as she put him back in her might die old, but I will never die of car. She refused to seek medical help, convinced boredom.” that the dog would be confiscated or destroyed, THE FORTEAN TIMES Paddy Roy Bates, ‘Prince Roy of and tried to treat the wound using bleach and BOOK OF STRANGE Sealand’, born Ealing, London 29 antiseptic wipes. It appeared to be healing at Aug 1921; died Leigh-on-Sea, Essex first, but she developed septicæmia and began DEATHS VOL 2 9 Oct 2012, aged 91. suffering from vomiting and diarrhœa. A friend ON SALE NOW FROM For other micro-nations, see called an ambulance that rushed Ms Banks to WH SMITH AND AMAZON.CO.UK FT98:34-39, 160:12, 242:22-23. hospital, but she died hours later. The bite still TO ORDER DIRECT CALL 0844 844 0053

FT302 29 www.forteantimes.com the UFO files FORTEAN TIMES presents our monthly section featuring regular sighting reports, reviews of classic cases, entries on major ufological topics and hands-on advice for UFO investigators. The UFO Files will benefit from your input, so don’t hesitate to submit your suggestions and questions.

To contact The UFO Files, email: [email protected]

ANDY ROBERTS & DR DAVID CLARKE PRESENT FLYINGSAUCERY THEIR REGULAR SURVEY OF THE LATEST FADS AND FLAPS FROM THE WORLD OF

THE HOTTEL MEMO GOES VIRAL Two years ago, we reported how mainstream media got itself worked into a lather about the ‘release’ of an FBI memo in which a fi eld agent relayed an unconfirmed rumour about crashed fl ying saucers and their occupants recovered in New Mexico (FT276:30). Dated 22 March 1950 and addressed to FBI Director J Edgar Hoover, the memo, written by Guy Hottel, has been in the public domain since the late 1970s. The rumour-legend passed on by Hottel’s informant refers not to Roswell but to the crashed saucer hoax perpetrated by conman Silas Newton that was exposed by investigative reporter JP Cahn in 1953 (see Nick Redfern’s feature in FT181:30-36). But as every fortean knows, you can never kill off a good story, particularly if it appears to confirm what many people want to believe. Since the Hottel memo was uploaded to the FBI Vault in April 2011 this single page has become the most popular document in the agency’s entire online reading room. In March, an FBI press release revealed Hottel’s memo had ‘gone viral’ and had been viewed nearly one million times. A spokesman pointed ABOVE: Brazilian UFO Magazine editor AJ Gevaerd meets military personnel at a meeting on 18 out that, contrary to press reports, it had April to discuss a project to make official documents concerning UFOs available to the public. not posted proof of the legendary Roswell crash and Hoover had ordered his agents to Forum held in December 2012, where a This much vaunted government transparency stop collecting UFO stories four months after communiqué demanded Brazil’s secret will then be reframed by ufologists as further the memo was sent, “suggesting that our government UFO archives be opened and evidence of conspiracy and cover-up. As Washington Field Office didn’t think enough an official committee for UFO investigations Margaret Thatcher said: “You can’t tell the of that fl ying saucer story to look into it”. created under the country’s air force. AJ people”. www.ufo.com.br/public/carta_foz/ Indeed, the lack of interest is underlined by Gevaerd, Brazilian UFO Magazine’s editor, iguassu_falls_letter.pdf; www.ufo.com.br/ Hottel’s memo; it ends by saying that no sees this official disclosure as a major step documentos further evaluation of the rumour was deemed forward, noting: “Many questions remained necessary. Hoping to draw a line under this unsolved about famous incidents such as ‘STRAY MISSILE’ OR UFO? the FBI said: “The memo does the Varginha Case, the Mearim corvette Staying on the subject of cover-ups, in January not prove the existence of UFOs; it is simply incident and the Trindade Island sightings”. Italy’s top criminal court ruled there was clear a second or third hand claim that we never The Brazilian Government’s offer seems evidence that an unidentified “missile” had investigated… Sorry, no smoking gun on genuine, with the Secretary for the Ministry’s caused an Italian airlines jet to crash near UFOs.” Times, 6 Apr 2013, quoting: www.fbi. Institutional Coordination and Organization, Ari Sicily in 1980, killing all 81 passengers. The gov/news/stories/2013/march/ufos-and-the- Matos, announcing that any cases in which cause of the Itavia DC-9 crash during a fl ight guy-hottel-memo information was not publicly available were from Bologna to Palermo has never been exceptions: “The general rule is to make explained, but an appeal court has now ruled BREAKTHROUGH IN BRAZIL all documents accessible.” Unsurprisingly that Italy must now compensate families as Something of a breakthrough appears to have Brazilian ufologists were jubilant. “Today is a its air defence system had “failed adequately occurred in relations between ufologists and day to remember in the history of ufology,” to protect the skies”. Theories about the government agencies in Brazil. On 18 April, said Fernando Aragão Ramalho. “We are cause have ranged from a bomb on board the Brazilian Ministry of Defence formally optimistically standing at the door that has to the aircraft being caught in a dogfight with invited UFO researchers to discuss the been opened to us, and we expect to move Libyan jets, but so far UFOs have not been subject at their headquarters in Brasilia. Over forward with our discussions.” mentioned despite many sightings of “mystery 20 people attended the meeting, including So far, so good. Flyingsaucery suspects missiles” by pilots during this period. NATO the Minister of Defence and representatives that the honeymoon period will be over officials have always denied there was any from the Brazilian Air Force, Navy and Army. when released documents do not reveal any military activity in the sky that night. Guardian, The meeting followed the 4th World UFO evidence of extraterrestrials or their craft. 29 Jan 2013.

30 FT302 www.forteantimes.com WONDERS WHETHER UFOS AND UFO CASEBOOK SHC MIGHT SHARE A COMMON ORIGIN

FIRE FROM THE SKY in a number of close encounter reports. For Over the past few weeks I have been working example, service engineer Ken Edwards saw with Peter Hough to publish an e-book version a glowing white mass cross the road in front of an investigation that we carried out into of his vehicle as he returned home late one the mystery of SHC (Spontaneous Human night at Risley, Cheshire, in March 1978. His Combustion) and the ensuing debate over radio receiver ‘exploded’ as if absorbing a potential natural and more extraordinary discharge, his fi ngers on the steering wheel causes that might explain what occurs in exposed to the light were left with the familiar these cases. sunburn effect for days. And his watch We were fortunate to be able to work stopped at the moment of encounter and with coroners, scientists, fi re officers and would no longer work if he tried to wear it. But witnesses. However, during one investigation when someone else picked it up the watch into the possible science of SHC we were led, operated normally – indicating that the ‘charge’ somewhat unexpectedly, into contact with inside Ken remained after his encounter and UFOs. This is not a major feature of the book, was causing this long-term reaction. but I wanted to say something here about the I received an excellent close-up description connections that emerged, as they warrant of this phenomenon from a man who had further consideration. served in the RAF for many years. In 1953, Our research revealed the idea that ‘super when based at Changi, Signapore, he and his carriers’ of static electricity might potentially wife and another service couple were in their ‘overheat’, resulting in an electrochemical bungalow at Katong. Suddenly, an ‘orange’ ball reaction inside the body. It is not that unusual appeared atop telephone wires; it rolled along for people to ‘store’ static charge, only to the wires, fl oated into the air and passed discharge it with a jolt or spark when they through the shutter windows into the house. touch something metallic. Indeed, I often At very close proximity, all four watched it move

experience this myself when using the ceiling through the house making a fi zzing noise as it GILFILLAN tracker hoist during my caring duties. However, travelled about one metre above the fl oor.

we looked into a number of extreme cases They were now able to view it in great ETIENNE where people became so supercharged that detail, noting that it was actually bluish-white almost every piece of electrical equipment As it came very but had yellow patches like soap bubbles they touched went haywire. moving about inside it. The description is We had instances where house sweepers very suggestive of a plasma ball. That it would overheat and burn, or cases where near to his had an energy that could be inducted into irons would catch fi re when the ‘super carrier’ the environment (or people) was further held them. One woman from Stockport made illustrated when it passed the fridge, which TV sets switch channels just by walking face, his skin then started to overheat, causing the motor to past them when ‘charged up’ and had even react violently. The house lights (all switched produced small electrical fi res when she began to tingle off) turned a dull orange until the ball left the plugged something into a wall socket and room and shot off over the phone wires. A sparks emerged. fl uorescent light tube in the kitchen had also It is not difficult to recognise the possible cases where glowing balls have appeared to illuminated as the ball passed underneath; its links here with UFO witnesses during close physically alter the atmosphere in this way. An induced charge presumably excited the gases encounters. For example, one man returning example occurred on 30 December 1977 at in the tube, as normally occurs when electric from a late night shift at a car plant in Exhall, Warwickshire, when several witnesses current is applied. Halewood, Merseyside, told of how a white saw a golden ball surrounded by a fuzzy mist There are many other cases that cement ‘balloon’ appeared alongside him on an open or aura. This hovered over electricity pylons this link between balls of light and physical/ path. As it came very near to his face, his skin for a short while before streaking away. In the physiological effects being inducted into the began to tingle. But only when his wife greeted totally overcast sky immediately above this surroundings. Whether SHC is caused by high him at home did he discover that his arm was spot the witnesses now spotted an oval hole levels of static charge being input into the a mass of ‘goose bumps’ and his hair was that took a few minutes to close. body of unfortunate ‘super carriers’, leading standing on end, full of static. So severe was I think there are significant clues in the in extreme cases to tragedy, is an arguable this ‘charge’ that it took 48 hours to dissipate. science here. The hair standing on end theory, but not one that I am advocating here. Such cases are quite common, as are effect occurs because hair has become Rather, I am suggesting that we appear to sunburn-like rashes that appear on exposed charged from an external source and each have accidentally discovered some science parts of the skin after close encounters. For strand, carrying the same charge, repels that illuminates the physics of UFO close instance, in the very impressive car-stop the others, just as magnetic poles push one encounter cases in which an energetic episode at Loch Raven Dam near Baltimore, another apart. The hole in the cloud effect UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon) Maryland, on 26 October 1958, a lens-shaped suggests a large-scale version, in which the or atmospheric phenomenon forms object caused an electrical failure that led to charged particles of the glowing object repel spontaneously and introduces charge into the the two frightened occupants getting out of similarly charged particles within the clouds, surrounding atmosphere or into a susceptible the vehicle whilst the object glowed brightly. creating the temporary hole. The fact that UFO human who comes into close proximity. It was now surrounded by a cloudy mist and witnesses also often describe the glowing ball Perhaps people who are ‘super carriers’ exploded with a bang. As they looked on, the as being surrounded by a mist suggests that may prove to be especially prone to witnesses felt a sensation on their faces that this ionised vapour has formed by attracting undergoing hyper-reactive close encounters, “didn’t seem like the heat of a burning object opposing charged particles from within the air whereas others would just report seeing a but something like an ultraviolet light”. After during the same process. light in the sky. So perhaps we should add calling police and being taken to hospital, they Another interesting pointer involves a question to our case investigation reports were found to have a reddish coloration akin to watches: people who are ‘super carriers’ of and ask whether or not a witness suffers sunburn that faded over several days. static electricity often have great problems from recurring electrostatic shocks in daily Other clues in UFO reports include puzzling wearing them. They tend to go haywire or life or has unusual problems using electrical holes in clouds. There are a number of stop working. Exactly the same thing occurs equipment. It might provide important data.

FT302 31 www.forteantimes.com THE MADAME AND HER MASTERS

To most people, Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky is a colourful fake N N who fooled gullible occultists until she was rumbled by the Society for Psychical Research. GARY LACHMAN argues that this received wisdom is based on an oft-repeated lie that disguises a far more complicated truth, and that it’s time to reassess the legacy of the legendary HPB.

ne of the most controversial creed. Practically all the major fi gures fi gures of 19th century occultism of modern esotericism and spirituality – was the remarkable Russian names like Rudolf Steiner, PD Ouspensky, noblewoman Madame Helena GI Gurdjieff, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Dion OPetrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), Fortune, RA Schwaller de Lubicz, and or HPB, as she was known. A many more – emerged from Theosophy’s political and social radical, world traveller, ample folds.TS Eliot lampooned her in magician, and author of hugely influential his modernist masterpiece The Waste occult tomes such as Isis Unveiled (1877) Land; Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s fi rst and The Secret Doctrine (1888), Blavatsky prime minister, was initiated into the is probably best remembered as one Theosophical Society; and there is even of the founders of the Theosophical suspicion that Albert Einstein kept a well- Society, a spiritual movement that had thumbed copy of The Secret Doctrine by his a profound impact on the esoteric and bedside. 1 Small wonder, perhaps, that the mainstream cultural currents of modern esoteric historian Christopher Bamford times. Beginning in New York City in 1875, questioned why Blavatsky was not counted, the Theosophical Society soon spread along with Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, around the world, and by the early 20th as one of the “creators of the twentieth century could claim many key cultural century”. 2 fi gures of the modern world as followers. We may think this pitches Blavatsky’s Blavatsky’s message of a universal claims too high; but even with this caveat, brotherhood, devoted to the study of the it is clear to any unprejudiced reader that world’s religions and the hidden powers Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society of the human mind had a wide appeal. were an important influence in shaping The inventor Thomas Edison, the poet WB the modern world. Our own multicultural, Yeats, the composer Alexandre Scriabin, multi-faith, pluralistic sensibilities were

the painters Wassily Kandinsky and Piet one of the central aims of the TS, as it was illan

Mondrian, the American Civil War hero often called. Sometime after its founding, gilf and purported inventor of baseball Abner the society produced a ‘mission statement’ Doubleday, the creator of The Wizard of Oz that informs its different branches today:

L Frank Baum, and the future leader of the ges/etienne

Indian independence movement Mohandas LEFT PAGE: Isis Unveiled, one of the influential ima Gandhi: all embraced the Theosophical occult tomes penned by madame Blavatsky. getty

32 ft302 www.forteantimes.com

1. To form the nucleus of a universal brotherhood LEFT: a sorceror; just one of the spirits mani- fested to Henry steel Olcott by HPB in 1874. of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour. human type, at séances and other mystical 2. The study of ancient and modern gatherings. It was in fact her ability to do religions, philosophies, and sciences, and the this that so impressed her colleague Colonel demonstration of the importance of such study. Henry Steel Olcott at their fi rst meeting in 1874 at a ‘haunted’ farmhouse in Chittenden, 3. The investigation of the unexplained laws of Vermont, that the Colonel was reporting nature and the psychical powers latent in man. on for a New York newspaper, The Daily Graphic. Until HPB’s arrival, the spirits in One central manifestation of the fi rst, question were relatively unremarkable for and for Blavatsky, most important, of the the time and place, mostly dead relatives Theosophical Society’s aims was the World’s and Red Indians. But when the crimson- Parliament of Religions, held in 1893 during bloused and ostentatiously bejewelled the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Blavatsky turned up – specifically intent on There, for the fi rst time, Buddhists, Jains, meeting and wooing Olcott – suddenly the Bahá’ís, Muslims, Hindus, and Theosophists farmhouse was full of Russian, Georgian and shared a platform with Catholics, Protestants, other exotic spooks, seemingly shipped in and Jews. Although, by then, Blavatsky from the Caucasus. Blavatsky also claimed herself was gone – she died of Bright’s disease, to be able to ‘de-materialise’ objects and to overwork and a medley of other ailments in ‘materialise’ them elsewhere, rather like Star London in 1891 – she would have regarded Trek’s ‘transporter’.The most famous items this gathering of different faiths as an in question were a teacup and saucer that important step in the evolution of the human Madame obligingly materialised during a race. Our current grassroots interest in a SHE CLAIMED picnic in Simla, India, in 1880, while a guest of direct, immediate knowledge and experience the journalist and future Theosophical leader of spiritual reality, with us now for some Alfred Percy Sinnett. When an unexpected half a century – and unfortunately too often TO BEABLETO guest joined their party, the servants were associated with the amorphous term ‘New embarrassed that they were one tea setting Age’ – is another result of Blavatsky’s earlier short. Madame was importuned to set things work, as is our lingering, if underfunded and MANIFEST SPIRITS right. She agreed and after some time she over-criticised, research into . asked one of the party to dig at a particular Whatever we may think of Blavatsky or spot. Lo and behold, six inches (15cm) below Theosophy, it is difficult to deny the impact AND ELEMENTALS the hard surface, caught in roots and sunk both have had on who we are today. into the dark soil, was a cup. A little further down was the saucer. How she could have MEETING THE MASTERS short answer to this question is that, for most done it is, I admit, difficult to explain, and I Why is it then, you might ask, that outside of people who know anything about her at all, go into some detail about the incident in my the esoteric/spiritual community Blavatsky Blavatsky was, to put it simply, a fraud. book. But she was also known to materialise is little known, and her influence on the One has to admit there are ample reasons brooches, cigarettes, handkerchiefs and modern world so unrecognised? It was in for this suspicion. Blavatsky, and the people other items, and the number of independent order to answer those questions that I wrote around her, made some remarkable, often reports of this phenomenon make it almost as my book, Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of unbelievable, claims. For example, Blavatsky impossible to believe in fraud and collusion Modern Spirituality. 3 Aside from the fact that claimed to be able to manifest and command as in her magical powers. It was one type of until relatively recently practically anything ‘elementals’, the sylphs, salamanders, gnomes, materialised article, in fact, that led to her to do with esotericism or spirituality has and undines of magical legend. She was also downfall, and I will return to it shortly. been ignored by mainstream historians, the said to be able to manifest spirits of a more Another of HPB’s claims is that she spent considerable time in Tibet, in an era when its borders were sealed and even white men had little luck getting into the Forbidden Kingdom. Most likely she never crossed its borders, and she often fudged about being in ‘Little Tibet’ – Ladakh and other neighbouring lands – but there is just enough circumstantial evidence to support her claims. More than one report of a lone white woman travelling in the area at the time she claimed to be there seems to lend some credence to her tales, although the idea of a 200lb (90kg) HPB trekking up the Tibetan trail makes them seem doubtful (she was for most of her life what we would nowadays call ‘obese’).Yet one of her lasting legacies is that the Tibetan Buddhism embraced by many in the West today made its fi rst popular entry into Western consciousness via Blavatsky and her followers, through texts like her late work The Voice of The Silence (1889). Some of the earliest exponents of Tibetan and Mahayana Buddhism (or their variants), such as Christmas Humphreys, Edward Conze TOP: madame Blavatsky pictured with Colonel Henry steel Olcott, fi rst president of the theosophical society. and DT Suzuki, were either Theosophists or

34 ft302 www.forteantimes.com Theosophical fellow travellers. WY LEFT: first issue of the theosophist. Evans-Wentz, who gathered and published by Blavatsky from Bombay. edited the Tibetan funerary texts that we know today as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, was a Theosophist, them through ‘precipitation’.Then the and Theosophical ideas run through Masters would reply, their answers the work. arriving in the same ‘precipitated’ Yet perhaps the most unbelievable manner, often in a matter of moments. of Blavatsky’s claims is that while in Sometimes Blavatsky ‘transmitted’ Tibet she learned how to master her the questions telepathically. Along psychic powers, through the mystic with the letters, there were also many tutelage of the strange individuals sightings of the mysterious Masters she called ‘the Masters’, and who, by many of Blavatsky’s Theosophists. in her later, Indian years, came to In his account of the history of be called ‘the Mahatmas’.The two the Theosophical Society and his best known of these enigmatic association with Blavatsky, Old Diary characters were called Morya and Leaves, Olcott provides many such Koot Hoomi. It was at the Masters’ sightings. One has to admit that some behest, Blavatsky said, that she was are quite unbelievable, but there are sent to the West to stop the modern others where a ‘rational’ explanation world’s drift into materialism.To simply won’t work. claim to have magical powers and to Emma Coulomb’s alleged letters have entered Tibet was bad enough. from HPB made clear that these To claim to have been sent into the sightings – at least the ones that modern world by mysterious Hindu had taken place in Adyar – were Masters in order to battle with a a hoax.The letters explained, she repressive religion (Christianity) and claimed, that the Masters were either a narrow-minded soulless science Coulomb’s husband dressed up in was, one has to admit, pushing it. Hindu garb, or a cloth dummy of Although Blavatsky claimed that Morya that either she or her husband the Masters, in one form or another, carried about when HPB wanted were with her since childhood – to fool one of her yokels. Later there was more than one occasion in her early Society’s headquarters in Adyar, told the Emma admitted that she had destroyed years, she said, when “the mysterious Hindu editors of a Christian missionary newspaper this mysterious dummy in a fi t of pique, so of her dreams” saved her life – her major that she possessed letters, allegedly written it was never available as evidence. Other meeting with Master Morya took place in by Blavatsky, spelling out in detail her plan ‘evidence’ against Blavatsky was equally London, in 1851, during the Great Exhibition. to fool her followers about the reality of the unforthcoming.The so-called incriminating As with much else in Blavatsky’s relentlessly Masters. Coulomb had various grievances letters themselves were routinely unavailable eventful life, there is more than one version against her one-time friend, and was not on for study; only selections of them were shown of this encounter. The upshot, however, good terms with others at the headquarters, to Blavatsky, and neither she nor anyone was that Blavatsky was given a mission: to where she was seen as a troublesome Nosey else ever had an opportunity to examine reach Tibet, where she would enter a secret Parker meddling in everyone’s affairs. them properly. What Blavatsky did see of monastery and be tutored in the mastery of Coulomb was also believed to have been them she dismissed as forgeries. A long-time her psychic abilities. After she had gained dipping her fi ngers in the Theosophical till critic of Blavatsky, the spiritualist William complete control over her powers, she would and often made veiled remarks about “telling Emmette Coleman, gave them to a renegade be sent back into the world in order to everyone” what was “really going on” unless Theosophist named Elliot Coues, who hoped prevent the increasingly materialistic West she was treated with more respect. to use them against HPB. Coues is believed to from sliding into perdition. One bulwark For some time now, Blavatsky had been have destroyed them when he realized they against this fate was the founding of the receiving mysterious letters from the were forgeries; at least they were never heard Theosophical Society. Masters. Although their contents, usually of or seen after he had them in his possession. profound teachings about recondite occult A PASSAGE TO INDIA matters, were unusual enough, what was EXPOSURE By early 1879, for various reasons which I even more remarkable was their method While Blavatsky and Olcott were away in discuss in my book, Blavatsky and Olcott had of delivery. They would literally appear England, making contact with the newly- upped stakes in New York and decamped to out of thin air, fl oating down from the formed Society for Psychical Research, India.There, they were an immediate success. ceiling, or turning up in other equally the Coulombs, so the story goes, tried To have two distinguished Westerners reject inexplicable ways.They were, as she to blackmail the Theosophists at Adyar their own culture and teachings for the described it, “precipitated”, materialised with threats about going public with the ancient wisdom of India, at a time when somehow through the superhuman powers letters.They asked for large sums of money. Christian missionaries were busy converting of the Masters. In my book I provide several The Theosophists staunchly refused. In Hindus, was a triumph for the natives. accounts of these ‘precipitated’ letters; they Blavatsky’s absence, Alexis Coulomb was Blavatsky made no bones about her dislike are now known as the ‘Mahatma Letters’ allegedly making ‘improvements’ to her room of the Raj and of the Christian missionaries, and several volumes of them, part of a as well as the occult room – the two were and soon after their arrival, both she and correspondence between the Masters and AP separated by the wall on which the ‘shrine’ Olcott took pansil and converted to Buddhism Sinnett, are available at the British Library. hung – and he refused to allow anyone – albeit Blavatsky’s Buddhism was always In Adyar, Blavatsky had set up a space she access to either. By this time Blavatsky had of a peculiarly eccentric sort. For the next called the “occult room”. Here she installed been told of what was happening and had fi ve years, the Theosophical Society grew in a cabinet, which she called “the shrine”. informed the Theosophists at Adyar that no stature and importance, and Blavatsky and Behind its lacquered doors Blavatsky put such incriminating letters existed. She was Olcott were feted and celebrated throughout ‘precipitated’ portraits of her Masters Koot sorry her old friend was stirring up such the subcontinent. But then, disaster struck. In Hoomi and Morya, a statue of the Buddha trouble, and bid her good luck in her future 1884, a disgruntled old friend of Blavatsky’s and other sacred objets d’art. Followers would affairs – in other words, it was time for her called Emma Coulomb, then employed with place letters to the Masters in the shrine, to go. By May 1884, the managing committee her husband Alexis as caretakers at the and Blavatsky would then magically ‘deliver’ at Adyar formally charged the Coulombs on

ft302 35 www.forteantimes.com a number of counts.They were expelled she intended to refute the claims in court. chamber had been hastily plastered over. If and asked to return the keys to Blavatsky’s But the crisis couldn’t have come at a worse the Coulombs had arranged things so that rooms.The Coulombs eventually agreed, time. While in England, Blavatsky had made HPB would appear a fake, the actions of her but not before they ‘revealed’ to the board a good impression on FWH Myers and Henry followers in her absence only made things the odd discoveries they had made in the Sidgwick, two of the founders of the SPR. worse. HPB soon came to feel that Hodgson’s occult room and the shrine. A strange hole Blavatsky may have referred to them as the attitude was hostile.The upshot was that he in Blavatsky’s wall led into the occult room, “Spookical Research Society”, but she and never really investigated any phenomena, and some mysterious sliding panels opened Olcott knew that a good report from the SPR merely took down the reports of others. In directly onto the shrine.The Theosophists would help Theosophy and its mission, and the end, he accepted the Coulombs’ account saw that the hole had been freshly made they accepted the Society’s idea of sending lock, stock and barrel. When his report was and that the sliding panels hadn’t been one of their investigators to Adyar to look fi nally published a year later, he concluded used. Alexis’s handyman skills had indeed into the stories about the Masters and their that Madame Blavatsky was, among many come in handy. After pointing out these remarkable letters. In December, when other things, “one of the most accomplished, embarrassing details, the Coulombs again Blavatsky fi nally arrived in Adyar, fuming ingenious, and interesting impostors in asked for money. The Theosophists declined, at the course of events, she was surprised history”. He also said that she was most but it was clear that the Coulombs intended to hear that only two days earlier Richard likely a Russian spy. This was the time of the Alexis’s ‘improvements’ to serve as evidence Hodgson, whom she had met in London, had ‘Great Game’ between Russia and England that HPB was faking her ‘precipitated’ arrived, authorised by the SPR to check out over influence in India, and Hodgson was postal service. (How they could account for the Masters. convinced that Blavatsky was in some way the numerous other ‘precipitated’ letters Hodgson himself was not in a very aiding her countrymen. that didn’t arrive via the shrine is unclear). friendly mood. He had been refused access Blavatsky herself was prevented When the Theosophists refused to bargain, to the occult room until HPB’s arrival, from taking the Coulombs and the the Coulombs took their alleged letters and when he asked to see the shrine was Christian College Magazine to court by the from HPB to the Madras Christian College told it had been destroyed by one of the Theosophical Society, who felt that a legal Magazine. Its editor was only too happy Theosophists. Why remains unclear. When he battle would only give their enemies fresh to print an attack on Blavatsky and the fi nally got into the occult room, he saw that opportunity to ridicule them. She had, in Theosophical Society, who had been thorns the hole between it and Blavatsky’s private fact, become a liability to the movement, and in the missionaries’ sides since their arrival in May 1885 she left India for Europe, never in India. In September 1884, the article to return.To many of her followers and to ‘exposing’ HPB, ‘The Collapse of Koot the rest of the world she had been exposed Hoomi’, hit the newstands, and suddenly SHE IMMEDIATELY as a fake, and that is pretty much how things Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society continue to stand today. Yet till the end of were involved in a very damaging scandal. her days, HPB asserted her innocence and The story quickly, as we’d now say, went WROTETOTHE defended the honour and the reality of her viral. A Times correspondent had cabled Masters. the news back to London, and from there it went around the world. Blavatsky was TIMES, DENYING REHABILITATING BLAVATSKY staying with friends in Germany when she Most histories of or the occult heard about it. She immediately wrote to site Hodgson’s report as conclusive proof the Times, denying the accusations, and THEACCUSATIONS that Blavatsky, lovable rogue that she headed to England, en route to India, where was, was after all a phoney. It is routinely

ABOVE: the masters, morya and Hoot Koomi. HPB claimed she had learned to make contact with them in tibet. OPPOSITE PAGE: Blavatsky and Olcott in india.

36 ft302 www.forteantimes.com stated that the SPR ‘proved’ that began its investigations with the Blavatsky was a fraud. So, in her determination not to be fooled; otherwise excellent history which suggests that they of the SPR, Ghosthunters, began with the belief that Deborah Blum applauds the people involved were Hodgson’s report out to fool them. But for “demolishing if that were so, would a medium’s Blavatsky and Olcott reputation”.4 And purposely woo the in his recent attack SPR and invite them on spiritualism and to come to India to belief in the survival investigate? Blavatsky of bodily death, The may have thought they Immortalization Committee, were fools, but she knew John Gray states that: “It they weren’t idiots. Blavatsky was only after a thoroughgoing was one of Hodgson’s earliest SPR investigation that Sidgwick cases, and Inglis also points out recognized that Blavatsky was a that Hodgson’s report on another famous and impostor”. 5 But the reality is that this medium, Eusapia Palladino, was also highly is simply untrue. Photographic Society, examined Hodgson’s fl awed. 7 Ironically, in the end, Hodgson What these and other work in detail and his conclusions were himself came to believe in the reality of of Blavatsky leave out, either through damning. According to Harrison, Hodgson spirit communication. 8 ignorance or conscious omission, is the was “prepared to use any evidence, however In making these points I am not trying to fact that the SPR itself had serious second trivial or questionable, to implicate HPB”. ‘prove’ that the Masters were real or that thoughts about Hodgson’s work and He “ignored all evidence that could Blavatsky had magical powers or that she eventually retracted his report, stating its be used in her favour,” and his report, never pulled the wool over anyone’s eyes. I validity was “in serious doubt” and that Harrison argued, “is riddled with slanted keep an open mind on all these matters. In Blavatsky herself was wrongly charged. statements, conjecture advanced as fact or his books on the subject, K Paul Johnson In 1986, a century after Hodgson’s report probable fact, uncorroborated testimony of has done some groundbreaking research fi rst appeared, the SPR issued a worldwide unnamed witnesses, selection of evidence into who might have been the fl esh and press release headed “Madame Blavatsky, and downright falsity”. Harrison concludes blood models for Blavatsky’s Masters. He Co-Founder of the Theosophical Society, that “the Hodgson report is not, as has been tells a remarkable, if controversial, story Was Unjustly Condemned”. Although widely believed for more than a century, a and I suggest interested readers look into both Blum’s and Gray’s books appeared model of what impartial and painstaking it. 9 My interest here is to show that the well after this revelation, neither refer to research should be: it is the work of a man received knowledge that the SPR ‘exposed’ it when discussing Blavatsky’s ‘exposure’, who has reached his conclusions early on in Blavatsky as a fake, like much else said nor do any of the other books that have his investigation and thereafter, selecting about her, is a that has acquired the reiterated that Blavatsky was ‘found out’ by and distorting evidence, did not hesitate status of fact simply because of its lazy Hodgson, even after the SPR’s retraction. to adopt fl awed arguments to support his repetition. It’s lamentable that scholars Peter Washington’s highly critical but very thesis”. Harrison’s examination so moved and historians who should know better readable Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon, for the SPR that it issued a statement clearly still echo such inaccuracies as truth. In example, which appeared in 1993, makes distancing itself from Hodgson’s work, which Blavatsky’s case, this is important because no mention of it. One can only assume that it insisted was his alone and had no bearing she had a tremendous influence on modern the idea that Blavatsky was a fraud is so on the SPR’s opinion. Leslie Price, a member culture, both esoteric and mainstream, and ingrained in the collective consciousness of the SPR’s Library Committee, even she deserves due credit for this. As long as that people writing about her simply accept remarked that “any writer or speaker who the accepted perception of her as a fake it as read. says the SPR exposed Madame Blavatsky continues unchallenged, we are, I believe, Yet, ever since it fi rst came to light, is only exposing his own ignorance”. 6 Has doing her and ourselves a disservice. FT Hodgson’s report had been subject to John Gray caught wind of this? much criticism pointing out its fl aws, its In his classic history of parapsychology AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY omissions, prejudice and bias. It was argued Natural and Supernatural, Brian Inglis that Hodgson’s belief that Blavatsky was points out the motivation that may have GARY LACHMAN was a Russian spy was motivated by his own been behind Hodgson’s work. For much of a founding member of loyalty to the Crown.These salvos, however, its history, Inglis argues, the SPR adopted Blondie, is a regular came mostly from devotees, who would a highly defensive attitude and was contributor to FT and be expected to take up arms to defend determined to show that it wouldn’t be the author of numerous their teacher. What prompted the SPR to fooled by any fraudulent activities.This books. His latest is retract Hodgson’s report was something resulted in an overly critical and suspicious Madame Blavatsky: quite different., a forgery approach to its material. Inglis argues that The Mother of Modern expert and past president of the Royal on many occasions, perhaps most, the SPR Spitituality (tarcher, 2012).

NOTES 1993) p8. 2006) p92. blavatsky.net/gen/refute/ Press, 1992) p389. 1 http://theosnet.ning. 3 gary lachman, Madame 5 John gray, The sprpress.htm, also michael 8 Blum, pp218-21. com/profiles/blogs/what- Blavatsky: The Mother of Immortalization Commission gomes, The Coulomb Case, theosophical History 9 K Paul Johnson, The everyone-should-know Modern Spirituality (new (new york: farrar, straus, Masters Revealed (new york: york: tarcher/Penguin, and giroux, 2011) pp52-53. Occasional Papers vol. X, 2 Christopher Bamford, 2005. state University of new york introduction to Cg Harrison, 2012). 6 for more on the sPR, Press, 1994). The Transcendental Universe 4 Deborah Blum, Ghost Vernon Harrison and the 7 Brian inglis, Natural and (london: temple lodge, Hunters (new york: Penguin, Hodson report see www. Supernatural (Dorset: Prism

ft202 37 www.forteantimes.com Diana’s Damned Dresses

Is Princess Diana reaching out from beyond the grave to blight the lives of those who bought up her wardrobe in the hope of exploiting it commercially or indulging their daydreams of celebrity? TED HARRISON reports on the curse of Diana’s dresses…

nce upon a time there was a beautiful Princess who was famous the world over for her amazing magical clothes.Then Oone day she decided she’d had too many of her dresses for far too long. What if I sell them, she said, and give the money I raise to the people who really need it?” In real life, however, fairy tales do not always have the traditional happy ending. When the New York glitterati

gathered at a Christie’s charity auction Ges

to bid for Princess Diana’s surplus Ima wardrobe, it was the most glamorous Getty /

occasion of the city’s 1997 social P aF

calendar. Yet 10 weeks later Princess /

Diana was dead, killed in a car-smash leVy

in a Paris underpass with her lover. The Jon dresses that had been bought in a spirit ABOVE: the 1997 Christie’ss auction at which 80 of Diana’s dresses were sold. of glamorous joy became instant relics of death. The successful bidders discovered “DRESSES TO DI FOR” had been in an accident. We pulled that instead of being the happy owners Initially, it was buyers who had invested everything. Hid the truck, cancelled the of world-famous fashion garments in dresses for commercial reasons who marketing. We had to move quickly – it they were now custodians of sacred had most reason to wonder if their was in such horrible taste.” souvenirs of a world-shattering tragedy. purchases had bought them bad luck. And so began six tough years for the The clothes leapt in value, monetary Television executive Kate McEnroe TV industry high-flier. During that time and sentimental, but so did the owners’ had bought three dresses for a total her marriage collapsed and she lost her sense of responsibility. They now had of $185,000 and was planning to take job – fi red in a very public move by her care of irreplaceable items of the Diana them around the country in a travelling bosses. She and 13 of her staff at AMC heritage. exhibition.Through August 1997 her were dismissed amidst allegations that In the dark days that followed the television company had been planning they had been involved in improper princess’s death, as conspiracy theories a high-profile publicity campaign.They accounting of expenses. 1 were hatched and spread, sinister and had chosen a clever catchy slogan: When McEnroe walked out of her mysterious rumours began to surface ‘Dresses to Di for’. office, she left behind all responsibility about the dresses.They were not just Then came the news from Paris. Kate for the dresses she had bought on behalf

reminders of an untimely death, it was had no option but to abandon the entire of the company – thankful never to have Ges

hinted, but might themselves harbour project and write off the investment. to see them again.The last she heard was Ima bad karma. Were they in some way “The truck was all lined up with the that they had gone into storage. She later Getty /

cursed? Stories were told to justify the slogan painted on it,” she recalled. “I said, “I don’t know if there’s a curse, but P aF

rumours – tales of misfortune. got a call on the eve of the tour; Diana life has been difficult. Just like Diana I / neal leon

38 Ft302 www.forteantimes.com

went through a messy divorce. I lost my job. not before the Mint experienced an alarming I don’t think I would like to see the dresses slump in sales.Two hundred staff were laid again. It all brings a sadness to me looking off and its once bustling headquarters and back at the tragedy of her death.” museum in Pennsylvania closed. When I While, in the long term, Kate’s reputation visited the site it was like a ghost town. It recovered and she found a new top media was a sorry episode all round.The Memorial post, the owner of the Fashion Café chain Fund suffered as well and at one stage had (a sort of ‘couture’ version of the Hard Rock to delay payment of funds due to charitable Café) was far less fortunate.Tommasso causes. Eventually, the Franklin Mint’s gown Buti also planned to use Diana’s dresses came to Britain under the terms of the legal to publicise his business. He had paid out agreement and has been exhibited at The $120,000 at the auction and hoped to entice Victoria and Albert Museum. customers to his restaurants by putting the dresses on display. Diners in London, New DUNKEL’S DRESSES York or Milan, he hoped, would admire the The owner of the greatest number of Diana princess’s fuchsia pink silk evening dress as gowns was Maureen Rorech Dunkel from they ate their up-market burgers and fries. He Florida. She bid at the auction and later convinced several big-name fashion models sought out more Diana memorabilia for her such as Elle Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer collection. Mrs Dunkel had had an ambitious and Naomi Campbell to back his idea, before plan to take an exhibition of over a dozen the rumoured curse of Diana’s dresses struck. dresses around the world to raise money By 1998 the cafes were in deep fi nancial for a charity she had set up to raise funds trouble.Tax agents issued warrants against for victims of Aids, cancer and land mines. the New York branch for failing to pay They were indeed shown at several locations taxes for months, forcing the restaurant to ranging from Kensington Palace to the Flying fi nd immediate payments or face seizure. Monkey Movie House at Mill Falls, New Next, legal action was taken against the DUNKEL HAD A Hampshire. But the exhibition was expensive business for both failing to pay premiums to mount and debts began to accrue. Her on unemployment insurance and to collect ambition was her undoing and eventually she back rent and utility fees owed to the café’s PLAN TO TAKEA faced the public humiliation of selling her landlord, the Rockefeller Center. 2 entire collection to pay her creditors following The fi nal blow came in 2000, when Buti’s bankruptcy. business partners accused him of milking DOZEN DRESSES In 2010, after taking her road show to the cafes’ takings to fund his extravagant Branson, Missouri, Dunkel ran up a bill of lifestyle.The business collapsed. Buti was $64,000 with a company that built display arrested and found himself in court facing ROUNDTHEWORLD cases to house the exhibition. 3 When she charges of conspiracy, fraud and money failed to settle her account, the company’s laundering. owner, Tom Gass, applied to the local courts. A The Franklin Mint was another business a trust set up in the late royal’s honour. The law officer took a Catherine Walker creation, that mistakenly thought that the princess’s Franklin Mint had a popular line in Diana which Diana had originally worn on a 1992 magic would lift their balance sheet, and dolls wearing replicas of her most famous trip to India, and held it until the debt was then, arguably, fell a victim to the curse of outfits.The trust accused the company of settled. It was not the fi rst time Mrs Dunkel Diana’s dresses.The company paid $151,000 exploiting the image of the dead princess, had faced legal debt-collection actions. A year for a high-collared number known as the Elvis “like vultures feeding off the dead”.The Mint earlier her bank claimed she had defaulted on gown. successfully defended its right to use the a £1 million loan. Frantic behind-the-scenes However, after Diana’s death the Mint princess’s image, and then counter-sued. It negotiations prevented a dress from being became embroiled in a bitter legal battle with was not a popular move with Diana fans.The taken by bailiffs from Kensington Palace, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, case was eventually settled out of court, but where it was on temporary display. On that Ges Ima Getty / lUCIeR enCe WR la TOP: the Franklin mint ended up embroiled in a legal battle over Diana. ABOVE LEFT AND CENTRE: Unhappy bidders Kate mcenroe and maureen Rorech Dunkel. ABOVE RIGHT: the bizarre wax effigy of Princess Diana, sporting one of her dresses, placed by celebrity-hunter Frans Billen in the museum above his car showroom in Belgium.

40 Ft302 www.forteantimes.com occasion, however, feathers were smoothed LEFT: the Victor edelstein evening gown worn before the bailiffs were called in. 3 by Princess Diana when she danced with John Mrs Dunkel acquired minor celebrity travolta at the White House in 1985. status through her ownership of the gowns. At the same time as she was racking up One owner will not touch her fi ve dresses Diana-debts, she was getting into further without wearing gloves, lest she contaminate deep fi nancial water through her business them. Another will only allow her dress out of activities as property developer. She invested her house accompanied by a security guard. in a project called the Enclave at Palma The exception to these tales of worried Ceia, using the dresses as collateral for loans. and cautious owners is celebrity-hunter Frans Then the market collapsed. In June 2011, a Billen. His hobby is collecting photographs forced sale of the dresses was arranged. Mrs of himself standing with the famous – actors, Dunkel hoped that the hype surrounding musicians, politicians, or whoever he admires Prince William’s marriage might raise and can persuade to pose with him. He met interest and attract bids. However, at the fi rst Princess Diana and bought the dress she was attempt many of the gowns failed to sell and wearing at the time, bidding by phone. He the auction attracted much criticism when had a life-size wax effigy of the princess made the auctioneers were left with unsold lots, to wear the dress, which he put on display in including the most famous dress in the entire the museum of celebrity souvenirs he set up collection, the one worn by Princess Diana at above his car showroom in Belgium. the White House when she danced with John Every dress Diana sold at the 1997 auction Travolta. was a memory she may well have been “Amid legal wrangles and a bitter dispute attempting to exorcise. At the time of the Ges

over ownership,” the Sunday Telegraph auction, even before her death, one observer Ima reported, “the dress never sold at all. Nor noted darkly that the bidders were really Getty did a further nine gowns, all once owned buying into her unhappy life, and warned: / P aF

by Princess Diana, which were said to have beware the curse of Diana! It certainly / been sold at the same auction for a little appears that many misfortunes have come neal over £2 million.Their ownership is now in the way of the new owners, in particular dispute and is likely to lead to a fl urry of those who attempted to mix ownership with leon further legal claims against the Florida-based commercial activity. businesswoman who tried to sell them.The Of course a reputed ‘curse’ cannot be the “Is she reaching out from beyond the grave reputable auction house, meanwhile, is being sole explanation.The top magazine editor like Tutankhamun?” asked the experienced accused of holding a ‘fake’ sale.” 5 who died within a year of becoming the owner royal reporter Susan Maxwell Skinner, who “Turns out it was a bogus, sham deal,” Al of a royal cast-off was already aware she had knew and followed Diana in her lifetime. Gomez, an attorney for the creditors, later a short time to live and bought it to enjoy “For some it’s a romantic concept.They like told Florida newspaper the Tampa Bay one last indulgent moment. Following her to think of Diana’s story as full of intrigue Times. 6 “The owner of the dresses is still death, a year later, the dress was given to the and espionage, but this is just a charming Maureen Dunkel.” Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. fantasy.” True, said Mrs Dunkel’s Tampa attorney, Another dress had sad associations even However the strangest story of all has Jeffrey Warren, but “she’s very disappointed before Diana died. It was bought at the 1997 nothing to do with illness or fi nancial disaster. that all of the dresses weren’t sold.” The charity auction in memory of a nine-year-old It is told by Nancy and Frank Zacharias, who auctioneers explained that only four of the girl who had died of cancer a few months paid $43,000 for Lot 46, an Ivory satin gown dresses had found buyers and the other 10 earlier. It never brought any pleasure to its with a bodice adorned with simulated pink “failed to meet the reserve price set by the purchaser, children’s author and animator pearls, glass beads and sequins. consignor.” Pamela Henn. Later she experienced a They kept the dress carefully wrapped in a Eventually, the dresses were sold and the traumatic divorce and the dress became double box and some time after the auction latest owner of the iconic dress from the embroiled in a custody battle. In an ironic Nancy was showing the dress at her home. White House dance paid £240,000 for it at an twist, Pam noticed that the last time her “I was opening the box to show a friend and auction in London in March 2013 as a surprise dress was worn by the Princess “was the last the outer box started to shut by itself. I was present for his wife. He is no doubt hoping the time she was officially with Charles prior spooked.” curse, if there is one, does not transfer to him. to the divorce. Unfortunately in my life my “I have no explanation,” said her husband husband went through a mid-life crisis and Frank, “it was like a coffin closing.” FT FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE did the same thing that Charles did to Diana. The idea for the 1997 auction had been Prince Our divorce was played out in front of the NOTES William’s. Princess Diana, by then an ex-HRH, entire staff. I had a little taste of what she 1 Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jun 2003. is said to have wanted both to raise money for went through. I lost my house, my job, lots 2 New York Times, 12 Dec 2000. good causes and discard memories of her old of changes, it overwhelms me. But towards 3 Branson Tri-Lakes News, 15 apr 2011. 4 Daily Mail, 19 Jan 2013. marriage and royal lifestyle. She was herself a the end of her life she rebuilt her life.That 5 Sunday Telegraph, 11 sep 2011. great believer in fate and fortune and psychic inspired me.” 6 Tampa Bay Times, 13 sep 2011. healer Simone Simmons, her spiritual adviser, Many of the dresses were, unsurprisingly, says she asked her to help chose which of the bought by very rich Americans – although royal gowns were to be sold.They selected 79 some were bought by true Diana fans without AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY of her most photographed dresses to auction enormous bank balances. A nurse from Los to raise money for charity. On the day lots 1 Angeles and her sister pooled their savings TED HARRISON is a to 80 were sold for a combined sum of $3.26 to bid for a silk dress designed by Bruce former BBC religious million.There was no lot 13 lest it brought the Oldfield. A woman from Boston used part of affairs correspondent, sale bad luck. her divorce settlement to buy three dresses regular FT contributor While many of the successful private for a total of $100,000.The owner of a stud and author of a bidders remain, despite sad associations, farm inVirginia paid $30,000 for a blue number of books. His happy with their dresses, several talk of cocktail dress. latest, Apocalypse misfortune over recent years. Since buying However, the dresses have brought as much When?, is out now their dresses a number have experienced anxiety as pleasure. Several are kept in high from Darton, longman illness of various kinds and broken marriages. security vaults and never see the light of day. and todd.

Ft302 41 www.forteantimes.com ANGEL AND THE FIRE DEMON

A series of unexplained fi res has plagued a family in south-eastern Turkey for almost eight months. FT correspondent PAUL CROPPER tracked the family to Cizre, on the Syrian border.

he terror began in the town of Siirt, by a Kanal 56 television crew, promptly on the night of 13 August 2012, FIRES BROKE visited, interviewed the family and when street vendor Zeki Toprak, inspected the damage. Although the djinni T his wife and four children were refrained from starting any major fi res, woken by the smell of smoke and OUTONWALLS cameraman Soyler Ozan, on leaving the discovered a fi re in their simple three-room residence, felt a burning sensation and residence. found that a section of the sole of his shoe Although fi remen quickly extinguished AND CEILINGS, had melted. Duly impressed, the Governor the blaze, they were baffled as to how it declared the problem a “transcendent (i.e. started – because it had, most unusually, paranormal) event”. broken out on a bare ceiling, well away CLOTHESAND By now the story had reached the from readily combustible material. Power mainstream Turkish media, and dozens of company technicians also attended and reports soon appeared in regional and city found nothing wrong with the house’s PRAYER MATS newspapers, on television and radio. 2 wiring. Over the course of the next few months, DR ERMAN INVESTIGATES (‘SIIRT OF’) scores of other small fi res broke out, As interest peaked, the Rector of Siirt during both day and night, on walls and WHO YOU GONNA CALL? University, Professor Murat Erman, ceilings, as well as on clothes, prayer mats, Feeling, not unreasonably, that something decided to see if science could shed some carpets, plastic tubs and inside closed decidedly uncanny was going on, the light on the situation. In late December, his cabinets. Topraks appealed for help to the local team, including a psychiatrist, a sociologist, Terrified of being incinerated, the imams, who declared the phenomena to a physicist and several engineers, family moved their bedding and most be the work of mischievous djinn, and interviewed the family and, together with precious belongings onto a balcony, where attempted to cleanse the site with prayer. the police, set up cameras to monitor key they slept for nearly two weeks – until the Djinn (djinn is the plural; the masculine points throughout the house. Frustratingly fi res followed them outside. singular is djinni – or genie) have featured for the scientists, the poltergeist, djinni Although not as frightening as the prominently in Middle Eastern folklore – or hoaxer – refused to perform on cue, fi res, plenty of other strange phenomena since time immemorial and many of the and all the fi res that occurred during the disturbed the tranquillity of the home. tricks they reputedly play are identical month-long investigation fl ared up just Clothes and other objects repeatedly to those attributed, in other cultures, to outside the cameras’ limited fi elds of view. disappeared, only to reappear in unlikely . 1 In late February, in a three-page places. A washing machine also got in on Each time the family called the clerics, report that addressed only the fi res and the act, plugging itself into a socket and however, the fi res fl ared up even more ignored the other strange aspects of the beginning its cycle. frequently, seemingly aggravated by the case (such as the cameraman’s hot foot), Desperate to escape the potentially religious ritual. the boffins presented their predictably lethal weirdness, the family moved to The imams having failed, Mr Toprak sceptical conclusions: “This commission a relative’s house – but the fi res again appealed for help to the Siirt District believes that: possibility of metaphysic followed. Governor, Ahmet Aydın, who, accompanied involvements is negligible. Wholly

42 FT302 www.forteantimes.com stepped into another room, and returned moments later to fi nd them gone. They were discovered arranged neatly in the garden. A TV remote, a mobile phone and other appliances also vanished from closed rooms and were, apparently, teleported outdoors. As at Kota Bharu, food was often interfered with: salt mysteriously appearing in a sugar bowl and a water bottle fi lling with vinegar. Perhaps the weirdest of all the fi res broke out inside a refrigerator: “It was empty and [when] we looked inside… there were clothes in there, burning.” Family members found and extinguished most of the fi res, but, interestingly, all of the others extinguished themselves before major damage was done: “We sometimes smell smoke and look around and can’t fi nd anything, and later fi nd something has been burnt.” CROPPER UL

PA THE MIRACLE ABOVE: The Toprak family (Melek at far left) at their home in Cizre on the Syrian border. Mr Toprak was still very annoyed about Dr Murat’s report, particularly his allegation that the children had been caught with cigarette comprehending the problem requires a long dwelling. As we sat outside on soft mats, lighters. The truth was somewhat different. time observation of a socio-physiologic nature he told me how the family’s reputation “One night in Siirt,” he explained, “we of all members of the Toprak family.” had preceded them to Cizre, and how as a were all sleeping in the same room because The clear suggestion was that the family consequence they’d had trouble fi nding a we were so scared, and all of a sudden we was hoaxing the phenomena. Most damningly, place to rent. Their fi rst night had been spent smelled smoke and searched the other rooms. the report stated, falsely, that the Toprak on the street. We found nothing, but when we returned to children had been caught with cigarette He was adamant that no family member our bedroom we saw our beds burning. Then I lighters. was starting the fi res: “We bought all our own found a lighter under my pillow – but where it Deeply insulted, and exhausted by the furniture; I worked hard for it – why would we came from we don’t know.” attention, the family packed up and moved burn it?” He didn’t want money or notoriety, So the academics would never have 140km (87 miles) south to Cizre, hoping once just a peaceful place to live and work. known about the lighter if Mr Toprak hadn’t again to outrun their demon. “We always pray,” he said, with evident mentioned it – yet they gave a different By March 2013 they’d lived in six different sincerity, “that nobody else will have to account of its discovery and implied that residences, but each time they moved the experience this.” the entire family were mentally disturbed fi ery nightmare dogged their steps. In the His wife and children eagerly confirmed hoaxers. seven months since the terror began, it all the facts as reported in the media, and While I found the detail of the lighter was claimed, no fewer than 300 blazes had provided interesting additional details. a little disconcerting (why would the occurred. Shortly before the fi rst fi re, they’d had to spook, apparently capable of all kinds of call a locksmith when a key inside the front supernatural feats, have needed it?) this MEET THE TOPRAKS door of their original house had, seemingly wasn’t the fi rst time I’d heard of a polt Just as Dr Erman was endeavouring to stifle impossibly, turned and locked them all employing one. When a colleague, Squadron it, an English language report of the case outside. Leader Ken Llewelyn, was investigating a arrived in my inbox. Its similarity to the 2010- Mrs Toprak described how, on another polt-plagued brothel in Canberra in 1996, he 11 Kota Bharu, Malaysia, case 3 was so striking occasion, she’d set out plates for breakfast, watched as a lighter sailed slowly across a that I decided to follow the advice of Brazilian researcher Hernani Guimaraes Andrade, as quoted by Guy Lyon Playfair in This House is Haunted: “When spontaneous cases come up, we drop everything and go after them. They will not wait for us.” So, after a 21-hour fl ight from Sydney to Istanbul, two connecting fl ights to Siirt, and a three-hour bus ride across the barren, snow- covered mountains of southeastern Turkey, I arrived at the border town of Cizre. I was fortunate to be accompanied by two very friendly and helpful government officials, Arzu and Faik, who would act as translators. Our fi rst point of contact was the Sirnak District Governor, and, just as I walked into his office, Mr Toprak, whom I recognised from the media reports, walked out. The confounded fi res, as he’d just informed the Governor, had started yet again, on 21 March, at his latest residence. CROPPER

The well-spoken, intelligent man readily UL PA agreed to escort me to his new home, an ABOVE: A carpet in the Topraks’ home burned by the pyro-poltergeist. unfurnished three-room, ground fl oor

FT302 43 www.forteantimes.com room, lighting itself as it passed him. (He’d just taken out a cigarette and was looking for a match). 4 Mr Toprak was also exasperated that the academics focused entirely on the fi res and ignored the other strange phenomena: “We told them, but they didn’t publish what we’d said.” He had also told them the fi res probably wouldn’t happen for their cameras: “Because even we never see them start. We are at home always and nobody saw it in 300 times. It happens at our back, in another room; we smell it, then we realise. I think whatever happens doesn’t want to be seen.” Though sceptics may scoff, it seems that refusing to perform for cameras is standard operating procedure for polts. This was certainly the case during the 1998 Humpty Doo episode where Tony Healy, myself, and several professional cameramen tried in vain CROPPER UL

to fi lm the many objects that fell and fl ew all PA around us. 5 ABOVE: Government officer Zaik examining fi re I was somewhat surprised to fi nd that damage at the Toprak house in Cizre. the family, rather than being emotional and THE PHENOMENA disturbed, appeared quite calm – serene even – considering what they’d been through. SEEMTO BE It seems that Melek’s own guardian angel They had, they admitted, been very had been kept very busy these past few frightened at fi rst, but, as no one had been months, shielding her from serious harm. even slightly injured, they’d slowly become FOCUSED ONAN One day she arrived at school to fi nd that used to living with the nuisance. They also all of her books had moved from the top of found comfort in their religion: “Allah will her desk to the fl oor beneath and were then protect us… and we had a miracle, that’s why ADOLESCENTGIRL scorched by an unexplained fi re. Her teacher, we are not scared.” Erhan Stars, later moved them to his own The ‘miracle’ occurred when they found a table, from which they promptly disappeared, blanket covering their sleeping three-year-old entire episode, I should mention that after the only to be found smouldering under Melek’s son engulfed in fl ames a metre high. “We had fi rst blazes, when Mr Toprak sent his family desk once again. only a cup of water to put on it, but when we away from the original house for safety, fi res In another bizarre incident, Melek returned took him out there was no injury to him – not continued to occur when he was home alone. home with her favourite jacket, only to have even his clothes – nothing!” It seems rather appropriate that this case it suddenly vanish. In the morning she was should involve both an ‘angel’ and a possible told that her teacher, while working after ANGEL IN THE FLAMES djinni because, according to Muslim , hours, had found it smouldering on a peg in Students of poltergeist lore will be completely God fi rst created angels, then djinn, and only his classroom. When Mr Stars searched all the unsurprised to learn that the fi ery phenomena later, as an afterthought, human beings. children for matches he found none, and, as seem to be focused mainly on one particular In any case, I found this young angel to he later told a journalist: “These events have family member – and that that person is an be a polite, good-natured child, but with ruined the children psychologically. They don’t adolescent girl. In this case it is the Topraks’ a sometimes intense manner and rather listen, they don’t pay attention. The whole eldest daughter, 11-year-old Melek, whose piercing eyes. She was certainly intelligent: school is affected.” name translates as ‘Angel’. her conversation and style of speech, In view of all the weirdness that whirls In case sceptics are tempted to assume according to the translators, “seemed far older around her, Melek is remarkably calm and that Melek must therefore be hoaxing the than her actual years”. seemingly well-adjusted – quite different, it seems, from the troubled tweenagers at the centre of many other poltergeist episodes. She is no longer, she says, at all afraid: “At fi rst I was scared, but now I’ve got used to it and I don’t even feel surprised any more.” Everything that had happened was simply “the will of Allah”. A little angel, indeed. When, after hearing their story, I told the Topraks about the remarkably similar Kota Bahru episode and showed them several pictures I’d taken there, their interest and excitement seemed entirely unfeigned. “Yes, yes,” they kept exclaiming, “Just like here! Just like here!” As I departed his weirdly beleaguered dwelling, Mr Toprak asked me if the fi res would ever end. I told him that while some such episodes run their course within a couple of weeks, others, like this one, last for months. All, however, eventually wind down and fade away. (I didn’t add to his worries CROPPER

UL by mentioning the few cases where fi ery PA persecutions have culminated in dwellings ABOVE: Zeki Toprak holding a scorched prayer mat. being razed to the ground).

44 FT302 www.forteantimes.com REASONS TO BELIEVE During the long drive back to Siirt I concluded that the events being endured by the brave and stoical family constituted a genuine fi re-poltergeist case. That wasn’t only because of the Topraks’ quite evident honesty (plus the testimony of the Kanal 56 cameraman) but also because their story corresponded, in six significant ways, to events recorded during other well- attested fi re-polt episodes:

• None of the fi res spread to cause major damage, as would be expected from conventional blazes.

• Some broke out, improbably, on bare walls and ceilings.

• Objects inexplicably vanished and reappeared.

• Foodstuffs were interfered with.

• Religious ritual aggravated, rather than ameliorated, the situation.

• The invisible tormenter followed the family from house to house, and from town to town. POLTERGEIST GIRLS In Wild Talents (1932) Charles Fort examined several cases in which adolescent girls were at the centre of similar outbreaks. The common elements that intrigued him are very reminiscent of the Toprak case: the fi res were CROPPER

always highly localised, the damage rarely UL spread, most took place during the day and PA they often broke out, improbably, on ceilings, ABOVE: Melek (‘Angel’) Toprak fl oors and walls. He speculated that the power to spontaneously generate fi re might be a latent poltergeist phenomena, including fi res, NOTES human ability: are generated by the externalised angst 1 For more on djinn, see FT138:17, 147:30-33, 268:8, of adolescents via recurrent spontaneous 291:16-17. For a discussion of the links between … we can think of a fi re-inducing (RSPK). Others believe djinn and poltergeists, see Paul Cropper and Tony power appearing automatically in some disembodied spirits really are involved, at Healy, ‘Pyro-Poltergeists’, FT281:40-44. For a round- human beings, at a time of its need in the least in some cases. It is speculated that up of other cases of fi restarters and pyrokinesis, see development of human phenomena. So fi re- to intrude from the ‘Other Side’ and mess FT290:20. geniuses appeared. By a genius I mean one with us hapless mortals, those mischievous 2 Various video segments of the Siirt outbreak can who can’t avoid knowledge of fi re, because he spooks might need to draw strength from be viewed on Turkish media web sites including CNN Turkey, Zaman and Haber. Use the Google search can’t help setting things afire. the seething emotions of natural mediums, terms SIIRT & TOPRAK. usually adolescents like Melek. 3 See FT281:40-44. Steven King’s 1980 novel Firestarter But no less an authority than Guy Lyon 4 Caressa, From Call Girl to God’s Child, Sandstone featured a young girl with the ability to Playfair cheerfully admits that after many Publishing, Leichhardt, NSW, 2002 and FT170:62. generate fi re hunted by the US military, eager decades of research, he and his Society for 5 Tony Healy and Paul Cropper, ‘Stone Me!’, to turn her unique abilities into a weapon. Psychical Research colleagues are still far FT116:34-39, Nov 1998. Fort, too, toyed with the notion of units from understanding just what poltergeists of adolescent female fi re-starters being are and why they engage in such seemingly deployed on the battlefield: pointless mischief. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY So, in the weird fi eld of poltergeist Girls at the front – and they are discussing research, where uncertainty is the name of PAUL CROPPER has their usual not very profound subjects. The the game, I think it would be very rash to investigated all manner alarm – the enemy is advancing. Command engrave any particular theory in stone. of strange phenomena to the poltergeist girls to concentrate… and Although many poltergeist episodes in since the mid-1970s. under their chairs they stick their wads my fi les don’t involve adolescent girls, many With Tony Healy he co- of chewing gum. A regiment bursts into others, including all three apparent fi re-polt authored Out of the fl ames, and the soldiers are torches… The cases that I have investigated at fi rsthand – in Shadows – Mystery little poltergeist girls reach for their wads of Malaysia,Vietnam and now Turkey – certainly Animals of chewing gum. do. Why this should be so is still anybody’s (1994) and The Yowie guess, but I suppose we should, at least, be (2006). In 1998 So, are the Topraks’ fi res the work of – to grateful that spontaneous blazes don’t occur they witnessed the use Fort’s term – a fi re genius (Melek) or a every time an anguished adolescent throws a remarkable Humpty Doo poltergeist episode. genie (djinni)? hissy-fit – otherwise every second house in the Their next book, Australian Poltergeist, will be Some polt researchers suggest that all world would be engulfed in fl ames! FT published later this year.

FT302 45 www.forteantimes.com The Fortean Times Random Dictionary of the Damned compiled by the Hierophant’s Apprentice

No 50: ANImAl mUtIlAtIoNs

wo kinds of animal mutilations have interested However: while the depradations of Britain’s depraved may forteans. One is mentioned, almost in passing, by be only marginally fortean,2 the assumptions made about them Charles Fort. In Chapter 7 of Wild Talents, Fort dealt form a curious contrast to those made about animal mutilations Twith only two instances: the first, as reported by in the USA. For the emergence there in the mid 1970s of a more the Daily Mail of 18 May 1925, was an “alarming obviously fortean – more fortean than Fort – animal mutilation epidemic of sheep-slashing and cattle ripping” that “for some phenomenon is another matter altogether. years... had been breaking out, in the month of April, on Kenya stock ranches.” Fort implicitly derided the Mail correspondent’s From AlAmosA to the stArs explanation that chacma baboons were responsible. But he didn’t The waves of mutilation reports that spread through the prairie say, perhaps because he didn’t know, that Kenya’s native baboon States from Spring 1973 and tailed off in 1979–80 had a much is actually the olive variety (Papio cynocephalus), or seem to earlier founding event – the mysterious fate of Snippy the Horse, realise that the creatures are omnivorous and might, perhaps, found dead on the King ranch at the foot of Mount Blanca, near have reason to take advantage of the lambing and calving season Alamosa, Colorado, in September 1967. Written in miniature following the Long Rains. Instead, as the context makes clear, here is the pattern of the reports and claims to come. The bald Fort wanted his readers to wonder whether these were a species outline: Snippy (also reportedly named Lady) was a three-year- of vampire attack. Thick presumptions based on thin evidence got old Appaloosa mare (or gelding) who hadn’t been seen for a off to an early start in the history of this phenomenon. couple of days when Harry King found her dead, the flesh and Fort’s second instance is of a kind familiar enough to country skin missing from the shoulders to the ears, and the exposed lawyers and their drinking companions. He concentrates on the bones clean and white. Mr King thought that it had been cut ‘Great Wyrley Outrages’ of 1903 in Staffordshire – a series of away. The horse’s owner, Mrs Nellie Lewis, thought the same. slashing attacks on sheep, cattle and horses – and its unfortunate There seemed to be no blood in the body. Whether there was upshot. Local solicitor George Edalji was wrongfully convicted anything more that was apparently unusual about the carcase at of the outrages, although eventually pardoned after a campaign that point is moot, as tales about it have grown over the years. (and even some actual Holmesean detective work) led by Sir Mrs Lewis was a UFO buff, however, and some crushed bushes Arthur Conan Doyle and others. Fort was led off his already and what she thought were ‘exhaust marks’ near where the horse tenuous point into a rant against this gross miscarriage of justice, was found decided her that the aliens had done it. And Mrs and that shouldn’t detain us here.1 The Kenyan and Wyrley Lewis’s 87-year-old mother said she had seen “a large object” events and, in Chapter 9 of Wild Talents, a 1927 case of tortured fly over her cabin at tree-top level on the night Snippy/Lady was and mutilated chickens in Soho, London, constitute the whole presumed to have died. (She was not wearing her spectacles of Fort’s expressed interest in anything resembling the current at the time.) A Forest Service ranger tested the carcase and sense of the phrase ‘animal mutilations’. In Chapters 13 and its surroundings with a Geiger counter and claimed it gave 14 of Lo!, Fort catalogued various reports of large-scale killings unusually high readings. Mrs Lewis’s boots were also said to be of livestock, variously attributed to rogue dogs, , wolves radioactive. A later test, perhaps conducted by someone who and jackals – culprits whose guilt he inevitably begged leave to knew how to calibrate his equipment, failed to replicate these doubt. But these were not mutilations. results. About a month after LEFT: Dr Wallace leary with Snippy’s death, Mrs Lewis, Snippy’s skeleton. BELOW: a stringer for the Pueblo Snippy, pursued by his alien Chieftain, published her murderers on the cover of the particular take on things in february 1968 issue of Flying the paper, and Associated Saucers magazine. Press picked up the story. There were further reports just had never seen them, of UFOs seen in the area. On and least of all were animal 9 October, a then-unnamed pathologists – entered the pathologist performed an collective ufological conscious- autopsy on the unfortunate ness, alias folklore. The Appaloosa, and found animals may have died, but the animal’s innards and the phenomenon had been brain were absent. He was born. It pupated for a few particularly struck by the years before emerging full- lack of blood.3 Press stories blown to distress the innocent, caught the eye of Dr Edward and divert the deluded, and Condon’s UFO-debunking arouse the unscrupulous. project at the University of Colorado, which called in UC’s symptoms oF Dr Robert O Adams, head of strANgeNess Colorado State University’s The first waves of cattle- College of Veterinary and mutilation reports surfaced Biomedical Science School. in 1973 in Minnesota and “Bacteria, birds, and coyotes were responsible for the absence Kansas. In 1974, in Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, and eastern South of organs in the abdominal cavity… predators had eaten away Dakota there was a rash of reports, plus some from Oklahoma. part of the horse’s rump,” Dr Adams reported. And: “Because In 1975, the ‘mute phenomenon’ hit Colorado, with 203 reports all tissue was gone from the skull, the opening in the back was between April and December. The following two years were quiet: exposed to the air. Since the brain, after death, liquefied in a handful in Idaho, a mere three in Illinois; and the first reports hours, the fluid evaporated quickly in the warm prairie air... I emerged from New Mexico. Arkansas was struck in 1978 and know it’s going to pop the bubble, but the horse was not killed 1979; New Mexico too suffered a wave of reports in those years, by a flying saucer.” Dr Adams also found signs that there had most of them emanating from Rio Arriba County, in which lies been a severe infection in Snippy’s right flank, and evidence Dulce, later to become notorious as the alleged site of a massive that her throat had been cut – by someone, he speculated, who underground ‘alien base’. wanted to put her out of her misery.4 Mrs Lewis objected that What, one might ask, is a ‘mutilation report’? A ‘classic’ one none of this accounted for the lack of blood, a feature of animal includes all or most of the following features:6 mutilations that continues to fascinate ufologically-oriented researchers. Robert Low, co-ordinator of the Condon study, 1: Certain parts of the animal are removed ‘with surgical tracked down the unnamed pathologist – who turned out to be precision’. Parts most commonly removed are the sexual organs, Dr John H Altshuler, later to become a pillar of MUFON – who one eye, one ear, tongue and, in female animals, the udder. (pace Low) was a pathologist as well as a hematologist, but not 2: A perfectly cored anus, as though a large cookie cutter was a veterinary one. However, he did broadly agree with Adams’s used to perform the operation. findings and had been “widely misquoted”. 3: The carcase is devoid of blood, Snippy’s carcase lay where it had which is taken to mean that the fallen until December 1967, when animal has been deliberately veterinary surgeon Dr Wallace exsanguinated. Leary acquired it to skeletonise and use in his practice. When he 4: The unusual rate of decay of boiled the flesh off the bones, he the carcase, which decays either discovered two bullet holes in the extremely slowly or extremely left pelvis and right thighbone. rapidly. Leary theorised in 1968: “I think 5: The deliberate selection of the a couple of kids hit the horse best livestock. with a couple of .22 rifle slugs. 6: The absence of human or tyre Then, the horse is scared and she tracks at the scene. takes off at a high lope and runs through a barbed wire fence. I’ve 7: Other animals deliberately seen it before. That wire can clean avoid the carcase. Animals that do an animal like a knife slicing approach usually circle at a safe cheese.”5 So the ‘infection’ in the distance. hindquarters and neck incision 8: The sighting of strange lights found by Dr Adams were most or aircraft – variously described probably accounted for. Although as UFOs or unmarked helicopters y Dr Adams was a veterinary surgeon, – within the vicinity of a reported librar not a veterinary pathologist, he did mutilation. know a bit about equine behaviour. 9: Family pets react unusually – for picture So it was that a certain image of instance, on the night a mutilation ean deceased livestock – whose grisly rt occurs, the family dog, which fo

/ post-mortem state looked peculiar usually barks at everything, is o to people who hadn’t looked very ot exceptionally quiet. pf closely at such things before, or to There are occasionally more exotic aspects, such as the steer BELOW: a cattle ‘mutilation’ from 2009 – note the ‘perfectly cored’ discovered dead in a tree, or various animals found with broken anus. BOTTOM: the cover of ex-fbi agent Kenneth rommel’s 1980 legs, as if they had been dropped from a great height, supposedly invesigation into animal mutilations. from UFOs or helicopters. Or unusual drugs (for instance, mescaline) are found in the carcase. Not only cattle are savaged: carefully for perhaps the first time, and what they saw surprised sheep, goats, horses, swine and other domestic animals suffer. and worried them, and the sheriffs who came in their wake. At Linda M Howe’s slide presentations have included a photograph least one of those lawmen (a State trooper) came to believe in the of half a cat (the front half, most neatly severed).7 weirdness of it all, and, in spirit at least, joined the ranks Before exploring the accuracy of these reports, of the mutologists. The veterinary surgeons on it’s worth looking at some numbers. Howard whom both the media and the researchers Burgess, a former instrument designer and tended to rely to reinforce their sense of ‘independent researcher’, calculated strangeness were not pathologists – a that between 1973 and 1979, some specialism for which it takes about 10,000 animals had been mutilated. twice as long to qualify – and Actual reports, however, rarely not surprisingly were often as amounted to more than a baffled or confused as anyone few dozen in any year, and by what they saw. represented a tiny percentage And this brings us of the US national herd (132 back to the numbers. The million cattle in 1975). In mutologists (it turned out Colorado, for example, the much later) were constantly 1974 USDA farm census treating reported mutilations shows there were 3,087,884 as confirmed, classic ones, cows and calves in the State; and besides had hugely in 1978 there were 3,174,161 – inflated the numbers of so the 203 reported mutilations reports on the evidence-free of 1975 represented no more presumption that mutilations than 0.0066 percent of the cattle were under-reported.10 But of the population. Of those more than 203 reports in Colorado in 1975, 150,000 might be expected to die of for example: “Thirty-five suspected natural causes in the course of a year, so mutilations were examined by Colorado apparent mutilations did not amount to what State University, 19 of which were found you might call a plague.8 So one may well ask why suitable for tests. Of these 19 animals, the various cattlemen’s associations put up large rewards (in university determined that 11 died of natural causes. Colorado the total fund reached $25,000) for information leading In the remaining eight cases, the cause of death could not be to the arrest and conviction of the culprits, vigilante committees determined. Five cases were confirmed as predator attacks and were formed, and the occasional helicopter was fired on by nine as willful mutilations. Three incidents were thought to nervous ranchers. Whence this disproportionate fear? involve a possible combination of the two. The university also The short answer is ignorance, but it was an ignorance fed determined that in all mutilations involving the use of sharp to and promulgated by the media. A small number of reporters instruments, the cuts were made following the animal’s death.” 11 in cattle-raising States retailed accounts by puzzled ranchers, In other words, perhaps five per cent at most of reported cases deputy sheriffs, and vets and, worse, stirred into the mix the involved actual mutilation, and in none of those was that the febrile rationalisations of the phenomenon emanating from an cause of death. The pattern was repeated in other states in other equally small but enthusiastic group of years. ‘independent researchers’, soon to be known as ‘mutologists’. The latter were A poIrot momeNt... variously suggesting that aliens (in If the numbers touted by mutologists their oft-reported UFOs) were hacking were wonky, so were their claims about at animals for their own unseemly the nature of ‘classic’ mutilations. In reasons; that the US military (or its May 1980, the district attorney for New contractors) or the CIA were conducting Mexico’s First Judicial District published biochemical, microwave or laser weapons a report on former FBI agent Kenneth experiments; that a vast, rich, highly Rommel’s year-long investigation into organised Satanic cult was taking animal animals allegedly mutilated in New parts for rituals; or that mining and Mexico. Rommel explained, with all the prospecting companies were secretly meticulous pedantry of Hercule Poirot sampling the flesh for deposited traces of gathering his suspects in a library, each of exploitable metals, minerals and oil. In the traits of a ‘classic’ mutilation. 1976, in Cattle Mutilation: The Unthinkable The ‘surgical precision’ of the Truth, Frederick W Smith, a devout mutilations, where it could be found, was Swedenborgian, proposed that the mutes actually the work of predators’ teeth. Once were “symbolic messages from the spirit the skin has shrunk and contracted – as world”, warning us all of our failures and it does – only microscopic examination shortcomings. Mr Smith’s theory did not will determine whether the hair around catch on among independent researchers an incision has been cut with a blade or or, indeed, with anyone else.9 bitten by animal scavengers. (It hadn’t This network of feedback loops probably had its ultimate occurred to anyone that people might be biting chunks out of origins in a folk memory of Snippy the horse. One shouldn’t cows, and not even the mutologists had suggested that aliens expect ranchers, deputy sheriffs or vets – who deal in the business were chewing them to death.) Likewise, the ‘perfectly cored’ of the living – to be veterinary pathologists, but one might expect anus of the carcases was the work of scavengers, who naturally reporters to be a little more enquiring. Essentially, ranchers set about a dead animal’s softer portions first. As for ‘surgical and farmers don’t examine dead animals that closely; they have precision’, a mantric cant-phrase among mutologists, Rommel had no call to. The feverish press reports, though, made them look asked a distinguished Santa Fe surgeon about the term. Said the doctor succinctly: “Well, it means I try to cut in a straight line.”12 7) both confirmed Rommel’s verdict (but not without picking Blood was absent in the carcases simply because lacking a some holes in his findings beyond New Mexico) and went much heartbeat it will rapidly pool, coagulate, and dry out at the point further, and in excruciating detail – lacerating the irresponsible nearest the ground. Apparently unusual rates of decay of carcases media, demolishing the mutologists’ credentials and claims, depend “upon a number of factors, such as the disease from deconstructing numerous individual cases, and calling on the which the animal died, the temperature, the weather conditions, USA’s most prestigious animal pathologists in support. They and the types of scavengers present in the area. Depending on debunked the biochemical experiment/government conspiracy which factors are present, the carcass may appear to decay more mythos, and found only sporadic evidence linking the mutes rapidly or more slowly than normal.” The impression that the to Satanic cults (and those only local ones); in each case, ‘best’ livestock were ‘chosen’ for mutilation has a tiny germ of police never garnered enough evidence to prosecute. Kagan truth, in that some diseases (such as blackleg) do strike animals and Summers also put the budding and florescence of the in top condition; but Rommel found no general tendency for the phenomenon squarely in its historical and psychosocial context. A healthiest to appear in mute reports.13 That other animals avoided telling fact they uncovered: none of the major ranching operations apparently mutilated carcases must, logically, have been observed in the affected States reported mutilations. By the mid 1980s, the only after the carcases had been found: and it was the odour left mute phenomenon had faded from public concern in the USA and by people that they were avoiding. The association between UFOs shrivelled into minor if somewhat fanatical branches of ufology and mute reports was tenuous (some UFO or helicopter sightings and .16 were made weeks apart from the supposed mutilations), while No doubt there are people, some callous copycats, others the theory that extraterrestrials were involved “has no evidence perverts and deviants and pagans of various stripes, who found, to support it”.14 There never was a steer found in a tree, or a and find, entertainment in hacking at dead animals. There cow found with legs broken from a fall, and those ‘drugged’ with remains a small puzzle. In the USA, it was assumed, sometimes mescaline had probably eaten peyote growing freely on the range. accurately, that Satanic-or-similar cults – that is, organised groups, Of the last on the list of ‘classic’ signs, Rommel wrote: “One or maybe one huge, covert and wealthy one – were responsible for common claim... is that the night a mutilation occurs, the family the mutilations. The notion that individual weirdos, other than dog is unusually quiet. I have no quarrel with this observation, copycat pranksters, might be at work seems not to have crossed for... it’s hard to bark when your mouth is full of fresh meat.” anyone’s mind. But in the UK that is the default assumption. FT’s Rommel’s conclusion that “the vast majority of livestock 1996 analysis of horse-ripping (see note 2), for instance, contains mutilations are caused by nothing more mysterious than nature’s no comment on possible cult activity either by the writer or by own ecologists hard at work” calmed ranchers and inhibited the the many experts he interviewed. Given the thoroughness of the sensationalist press. It did not go down well with mutologists, piece, one would infer that there isn’t any on this side of the pond. who accused him of being mentally ill, susceptible to bribes, It’s curious that in Europe, home of syndicalism and socialised a liar and a fraud, and generally part of the Great Cover-Up.15 medicine, that this kind of depravity appears to be a personal Unfortunately for the buffs, an exhaustive (re)examination of bent, while in the USA, home of rugged individualism, it’s the the phenomenon by Daniel Kagan and Ian Summers (see note collective that’s fingered first. Make of that what you will. FT

NOTES AND REFERENCES 1980, pp172–5. ilM/proinfo/cdn/2006/ • philip S Duke: “the 14 in nailing the role of 4 rommel, op. cit., p174, DairymortalityJan.pdf. these mutilation body materials hysterical press reports in 1 George edalji was probably quoting the New Mexican, 14 papers give the mortality rate taken all correspond with spreading the mute panic, the victim of racism, a october 1967. for beef cattle in colorado as sites of HiV transmission or Kagan & Summers (op. leading exponent of which averaging 1.5 per cent, and replication (blood) in humans, cit., p39) note that Dorothy was Staffordshire’s chief 5 Duran, op. cit. that for dairy cattle as 9.1 per except for the ear, which aldridge’s article “ufo pilots constable. He seems to 6 adapted from rommel, op. cent. Kagan and Summers may contain a locator device. not the cause of cattle have loathed edalji’s father cit., pp9–10. (op. cit., pxiv), however, cite circumstantial evidence Mutilations” in the Colorado uSDa figures for Minnesota Shapurji, a bombay-born 7 between presentations suggests cattle are mutilated Springs Gazette-Telegraph in 1973 that suggest a 30 parsi turned parson: he had at a conference at which [by extraterrestrials] primarily was printed at a time when no per cent mortality rate. this converted to anglicanism, this picture was shown, we to harvest HiV antibodies and ufo sightings had been made seems implausibly (not to say taken Holy orders, and in were entertained by lionel virus from blood in quantity, in colorado at this time. So unprofitably) high and may be 1876 became the incumbent beer’s hilarious account of and to obtain information what, they ask, was the article based on a misreading. at Wyrley. to the county’s his attempt to persuade Ms relating to possible HiV rebutting? they also report white nawabs it was probably Howe that horse rippings in 9 two more entertaining transmission in humans, by (p95) Kenneth rommel noting bad enough that the rev. the uK (then in full spate) explanations: study of the materials taken at a press conference that edalji – who was well -loved by were not the work of alien from corresponding cattle an article in a new Mexico his parishioners – was both • thomas bearden: “the mutilation sites. the left ear paper had made a connection butchers – even if their mutilations are the physical dusky and a former heathen; perpetrators might be slightly is always taken, presumably between ufos and mutes but he no doubt compounded manifestation of the whole to facilitate locator when ufos had been seen, less than human. Daniel human unconsciousness these errors of destiny by Kagan and ian Summers retrieval.” (“cattle Mutilation but no mutilations reported. having the gall to marry an which is somehow aware phenomenon and HiV”, 1999, (Mute Evidence, bantam that the Soviets will, probably 15 as Kagan & Summers englishwoman. See Gordon 1984) devote a devastating www.angelfire.com/wa/ufo/ remarked (op. cit., p175) of Weaver, Conan Doyle and within three years, invade page39.html) both the above chapter to her tendentious and destroy the Western the mutologist network, “the the Parson’s Son, Vanguard film A Strange Harvest and gentlemen rejoice in having whole thing was... a closed 2006, and roger oldfield, world. … cattle are female been awarded ph.Ds. elsewhere (pp375–6) refer symbols representing system, self-referential, Outrage: the Edalji Five and to her as “an experienced 10 See Kagan & Summers, solipsistic, which allowed the Shadow of Sherlock the u.S., and the surgical distorter of the truth”. Ms precision of the mutilations op. cit., p396. no fresh information to Holmes, pegasus elliot Howe remains one of the enter unless it was properly MacKenzie, 2010. See also indicates the precision of the 11 rommel, op. cit., p175. few promoters of alien military operations to come. polarized to support the FT21:8-9, 94:27. involvement in animal 12 Kagan & Summers, op. prevailing attitude of mystery, the removal of genitals and cit., pp93–4 2 See rob irving, “they mutilations. organs signifies the end of conspiracy, weirdness, and/or rip Horses, Don’t they?”, 8 figures from uS children in the Western world 13 Mutologists maintained ufos and space aliens.” FT94:22–28 and paul Department of agriculture and the cutting off of ears that these cattle were 16 in recent years the animal Sieveking and Dennis Stillings census of 1978 (http:// and tongues predicts the end selected by marking them in pathology field unit has been “poor cow”, FT68:23-29. agcensus.mannlib.cornell. of free speech.” (Quoted by a manner that showed only doing its not wholly successful 3 See frank Duran, “the edu/agcensus/censusparts. cecil adams, The Straight under ultra-violet (‘black’) best to revive the mute exciting Mystery of Snippy the do?year=1978;); “beefacts”, Dope 27 april 1984 [www. light. So many substances panic on the Welsh Marches, Horse”, http://snippy.com.; Cattle Feeders Annual straightdope.com/columns/ fluoresce under black light repeating most of the rabble- Wikipedia, “cattle Mutilation”; 2008, texas cattle feeders read/519/whats-the-story- that the marks found could rousing strategies and exotic Kenneth M. rommel, association, p117 (www.tcfa. with-cattle-mutilations]). have been picked up in yards claims deployed in the uSa in Operation Animal Mutilation. org/beefacts/beefacts.pdf); See also thomas bearden: or barns. and there is no the 1970s. See www.latest- report of the District attorney, frank Garry, “current Mortality “Species metapsychology, known case of any of the live ufo-sightings.net/2010/04/ first Judicial District, State of rates on uS Dairies”, www. ufos and cattle Mutilation”, animals so identified having aliens-are-attacking-our-sheep- new Mexico. District attorney, cvmbs.colostate.edu/ FT26:14-20. been subsequently mutilated. ufo.html.

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French Arthurian romances known as The Vulgate Cycle, The real Arthur? which was considerably abridged by Sir Thomas Malory in his Morte d’Arthur. STEVE MOORE ponders the ever-increasing That by then the stories literature on the ‘real King Arthur’ and finds it older were plainly fictional hardly and stranger than it first appears. mattered; the narratives were important, and characters such as Arthur, Guinevere STEVE MOORE is a longtime FT in his History of the Kings and Merlin were believed to contributor, has edited many of Britain.2 Whatever his have lived and walked the volumes of Fortean Studies, sources may have been Earth. That was before the and written quite a lot of stuff. (and if there ever was an Age of Reason, of course. His novel, Somnium, was pub- ‘old history in the British That Arthur continues lished in 2011. tongue’, supposedly given to have a hold on our eading and reviewing (p60) Guy to him by Walter the imagination is obvious from Halsall’s thorough debunking of Archdeacon of Oxford, no the vast amount of literature books seeking to identify a ‘real, one’s ever seen it), Geoffrey still being published about R 1 started historical’ King Arthur, basically offered his readers him, to say nothing of his me thinking about the whole unreal, an Arthur portrayed as a appearances in films and unhistorical business, particularly with real, historical king, rather television series. But now regard to what the attraction might than a vague figure of that we realise that the be, and just how long ago the pursuit . That he was promptly Arthurian romances are of this curious chimera first began. Of called a liar by the more plainly fictional, we’re back course, popular history books aimed conservative historian in the same position as at the general reader have become William of Newburgh readers of Geoffrey’s day: enormously fashionable in recent years, (c.1136-1198) is neither here we have an eager audience and works about Arthur have an extra nor there. For Geoffrey’s readership, Above: Detail from for an alluring character about whom frisson of lost tradition and unsolved Arthur was someone who really lived, a tapestry showing there is virtually no certain information. mystery. There may also be something fought the Saxons, invaded Europe, King Arthur as one of To fill the gap, we now have the ‘real of a nationalistic desire to restore a and was taken, dying, to Avalon in the the Nine Worthies, c. Arthur’ industry, with its conjectural strayed British king to his ‘rightful’ year 542. 1400. Sarmatian cavalry and obscure (and far position in history, though it has to be To modern readers, it’s quite plain too early) Roman commanders called said that both authors and readers of that Geoffrey was writing a ‘Romance Lucius Artorius Castus, its Scottish, this material seem to spread across the of the Kings of Britain’, but mediæval German and pagan kings (and so on, whole of the English-speaking world, romance falls in a strangely nebulous ad infinitum), so brutally exposed by and often beyond as well. area somewhere between fact and Halsall. In some ways I’m reminded of fiction. For all that the romances may I’d suggest that, rather than writing ‘Biblical archæology’ where alleged have borne the names of authors such these books off as nonsense, it might be finds such as Jesus’s house, Joshua’s as Chrétien de Troyes and Gottfried von more useful to regard them as ‘modern altar or even one of Judas’s silver Strassburg, that didn’t mean they were romances’. They purport to be factual pieces (all at FT51:30-31) are somehow necessarily thought to be fictional; while having virtually no factual basis; thought to validate Christian belief these were simply the versions of the but once again, it’s the narrative that and demonstrate the literal truth of the narratives produced by those writers, is important, providing as it does a key Bible. But perhaps a nearer parallel and particularly so when the romances to ancient mysteries and a discovery of (with additional batty conspiracy featured characters known to be real, something wonderful. I’d go further and theories and apparent secret societies) such as Charlemagne or Alexander the suggest the modern romance label could might be the Rennes-le-Chateau Great. We know that during the Middle NOTES be applicable across a broad range of industry, with its historical and Ages, Merlin (as full-blown magician, fortean topics, from the ‘Holy Blood’ 1 Guy Halsall: Worlds religious mysteries and lost treasure, rather than half-remembered bard) was of Arthur. Oxford UP, literature to , crashed 3 besides. Where’s the lost treasure in believed to have been a real person, 2013. saucer retrievals, alien abductions… the Arthurian tradition? Why, the Holy and similarly it was plainly assumed 2 Geoffrey of and so on, once more, ad infinitum. Grail, of course. that Joseph of Arimathea had brought Monmouth [Trans. Perhaps it’s not really important We’ll come back to these parallels the Holy Grail to Britain. Lewis Thorpe]: The whether these notions are ‘true’ or later, but for now let’s turn our Given obvious reader demand for History of the Kings not. Instead, these are narratives that attention to just how long this ‘real more material about this apparently of Britain. Penguin we want to be true, and so they tell us Books, 1966. Arthur’ tradition has been around. historical King Arthur, writers of the something about ourselves, our desire to Personally, I think a good case could 12th and 13th centuries responded with 3 Anne Lawrence- escape from mundane reality, and our Mathers: The True be made for 1136, when Geoffrey of further romances, filling in the story History of Merlin the wish for the wondrous. They are, quite Monmouth gave us the first major and adding extra characters, ending up Magician. Yale UP, simply, romantic … and that, no doubt, exposition of the Arthurian legend with the vast, anonymous collection of 2012. is the greatest part of their appeal. FT

FT302 51 www.forteantimes.com forum conspiracy Boston bombing conspiracies

chris saunders considers the conspiracy theories that quickly sprang up in the wake of events in Boston

Chris saunders is a London- based journalist and sometime FT contributor who also writes fiction as CM Saunders. His latest novel, Rainbow’s End, is available now from Flarefont Publishing.

t 14.49pm EDT on 15 April 2013, millions watched on aTV, thousands competed, and thousands more lined the streets for the climax of the world- famous Boston marathon.The winners had already crossed the finish line, but around 5,700 participants were still being cheered on by the crowds when there was a flash of light accompanied by a deafening crash.Thirteen seconds later, as bystanders struggled to comprehend what was happening, there was another explosion 190 metres (620ft) away. ABOVE: Conspiracy confused about the timing of events. The twin blasts caused three deaths; Was Boston websites have “Twitter displays tweets in your local those of Krystle Marie Campbell, a provided helpful time zone. So a 3:53pm tweet in Boston 29-year-old a restaurant manager, Lü graphics pointing looks like a 12:53pm tweet on the “another false 3 Lingzi, a Chinese graduate from Boston out the apparent West Coast.” Two Facebook pages University, and eight-year-old Martin presence of Craft memorialising the attack were allegedly William Richard. A further 282 were flag staged International created before the explosions occurred. injured. In addition to the human ‘mercenaries’ at This theory can be swiftly debunked by cost, the explosions caused damage the scene. the fact that Facebook allows creators that could run into millions of dollars. attack?” to choose the date when their page is However, perhaps the biggest blow was FACING PAGE: supposed to have been created – leaving a psychological strike on the Western Ex-Navy SEAL and plenty of room for human error, and, yes, psyche – arguably the whole point of and the bomb squad out there.They Craft International for malicious trolls to plant misleading terrorism. As the dust settled, so did the kept announcing to runners not to founder Chris Kyle. information. Perhaps the most bizarre realisation that the American public’s be alarmed, that they were running a theory of the they-knew-it-was-going-to- worst nightmare had been realised: training exercise”. 2 In the absence happen variety was that the bombings Terrorists had struck again. of other testimony, despite the sheer were predicted in an episode of the Fox Or had they? number of people in the area, this theory animated show Family Guy. Within hours of the incident, the first would seem to rest solely on the words Back to reality, and after a manhunt conspiracy theories began to circulate of one traumatised individual. However, and subsequent shoot-out which left on the Internet.The initial wave many conspiracy theorists used it as a a police officer, Sean Collier, and a suggested that the attack was a ‘false key piece of evidence indicating that the suspect,Tamerlan Tsarnaev, dead, a flag’ operation – a staged event to enable authorities knew the attack was going second suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, an expansion of governmental power. In to happen; clearly, these commentators younger brother of Tamerlan, was a televised press briefing, Dan Bidondi, were unwilling to let the fact that wounded and taken into custody. It a reporter for the controversial website sniffer dogs and trained bomb crews later emerged that the authorities Infowars.com, asked the Governor of are a common fixture at major public had acknowledged at least one of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick: “Is this events in the US get in the way of a good the brothers had been identified as a another false flag staged attack to take conspiracy theory. clear security threat. 4 While raising our civil liberties and promote homeland Social media were also abuzz with questions (such as, “How was a terror security?” 1 The answer was a terse reports that the Boston Globe had suspect still able to assemble, plant “No”; but as was pointed out on several tweeted about the explosions before and detonate a bomb.Twice?”), such message boards, it would be, wouldn’t it? they happened. However, a little digging acknowledgment is still a world away Another popular theory centres on an soon establishes that while the Globe from having prior knowledge of a account by runner Alastair Stevenson, did indeed tweet extensively about the specific attack which could have been who said a bomb drill was held before incident in an effort to reassure the prevented. One theory suggested that the event. “At the starting line this residents of Boston, it didn’t foresee an the brothers were CIA agents who had morning, they had bomb sniffing dogs explosion. Observers simply become “gone bad”, another that Tamerlan

52 FT302 www.forteantimes.com forum conspiracy

Tsarnaev was still alive (sometimes or early twenties (who) did it because drew considerable flack for running a backed up by pointing to the news he was unstable”, which turned out to headline: “BAG MEN: Feds seek these footage of a naked dark-haired man be somewhat prophetic.7 He seems two pictured at Boston Marathon”, being apprehended by police officers). to have been unnervingly accurate along with an image of two men.The Another theory surrounds one of about those gunpowder laws, too; problem was that neither man was being the victims, Jeff Bauman, captured in in the aftermath of the tragedy, US sought by the FBI, or anyone else, in a wheelchair with a femur protruding Senator Lautenberg announced plans relation to the bombings, and again the from what was left of his thigh in a now- to introduce background checks on story led to widespread false reports.12 iconic picture released to the media. anyone buying even small amounts, In a society that prides itself on the Conspiracy theorists point to the fact which would push up the price. 8 quality and transparency of its news that for a man who has just had both his There is a growing belief in coverage, should these ‘mistakes’ be legs blown off, there is surprisingly little some online communities that the happening? Is this plain incompetence? blood at the scene. It has been suggested Tsarnaev brothers were little more Or is something else going on? that the wounds were cauterised by the than stool pigeons and that a group We should remember that Western blast; but surely, if this were the case, of government-funded mercenaries media work on a consumer-driven, free there would be scorching and other called Craft International were heavily enterprise model. In the most basic evidence of extreme heat elsewhere involved in the atrocity (if there was terms, this amounts to generating sales on the victim or in the immediate one). Numerous pictures taken that or boosting viewing figures in order to vicinity. To play Devil’s advocate for day seem to show individuals wearing increase profit. And in the world of news a moment: granted, the victim could items of clothing emblazoned with the journalism, sensationalism sells.That be suffering from shock, but he looks outfit’s distinctive logo. 9 Incidentally, said, when there has just been a fatal remarkably calm for a man in such an Craft International was founded by terrorist attack on the Boston marathon awful situation. And what is he doing in Chris Kyle, retired Navy SEAL and – a shocking headline-maker in itself – is a wheelchair, anyway? Isn’t it standard author of American Sniper; in another there any real need to push the envelope practice to transport casualties on strange twist, Kyle was shot dead on further? When considering all this, one stretchers? And wouldn’t somebody 2 February at a Texan gun range by a should keep in mind that a basic tactic think to at least put a blanket over him? fellow veteran suffering from PTSD.10 of political media manipulation is the It’s almost as if the photo was... rigged. Could the anonymous tweeter be a use of disinformation, whereby some That’s what Florida Atlantic member of Craft International, who controlling power floods the public University Professor James Tracy – yes, have so far neither confirmed nor domain with so many lies and untruths the man who believes that the Sandy denied their presence in Boston that that a decidedly unsavoury (but true) Hook Elementary School shooting was day? element is effectively buried. a hoax – thinks. “In short, the event A growing trend surrounding these Perhaps the real question raised by closely resembles a mass-casualty kinds of public tragedies has been these conspiracy theories, though, is drill, which for training purposes are inaccurate press reporting.The New what is it about modern society that designed to be as lifelike as possible,” York Post initially reported that 12 had makes citizens so distrustful of their Tracy wrote on his blog. In a variant been killed in the explosions and that governments – the very people they theory, Sandy Hook principal Dawn a suspect, a Saudi Arabian male, was voted into the corridors of power? Hochsprung didn’t die in the (fake) in custody and being questioned. 11 In shooting, but was an actress who turned fact, at that time three were dead and notes up again in Boston. A supposed screen no suspects had been apprehended. 1 www.infowars.com/secret-service-tried-to- grab from Fox News was put up as proof In later articles the Post backtracked block-press-from-bombing-questions/ that the Boston Marathon bombing to claim, “[An unspecified] law 2 http://blog.al.com/live/2013/04/boston_ marathon_explosion_univ.html was also a staged event.5 And all this is enforcement source told the Post that before we even touch on the uncanny (the death toll) could be as high as 12,” 3 http://storify.com/dkiesow/the-controlled- explosion-farce similarity between Bauman and double- but did not retract the story about the 4 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ amputee NickVogt, who lost both suspect, leading to northamerica/usa/10022299/Boston-bombs- legs in an IED attack in Afghanistan misleading reports Former-US-terror-official-questions-Tsarnaev- in November 2011. A full and graphic on CBS News, intelligence-response.html account of this particular theory, CNN and others. 5 http://thecount.com/2013/04/16/sandy- complete with pictures, is provided on Conversely, a hook-dawn-hochsprung-boston-marathon/ B’Mans Blog. 6 Be sure to check the couple of days 6 http://buelahman.wordpress. comments at the end; they make for later, the same com/2013/04/20/are-you-just-a-believer-or-do- you-think/ interesting reading. paper 7 www.heavy.com/news/2013/04/boston- If there was some kind of cover-up, the bombing-conspiracy-theories-false-flag/ obvious question is... why? Was it meant 8 http://gunssavelives.net/blog/gun-laws/ to stir up anti-Islamic feeling? Or might breaking-senator-lautenberg-introduces- there be more practical motivations? legislation-to-regulate-gunpowder/ An anonymous Twitter user claiming to 9 www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2313303/ work on a “security commission” said in Dzhokhar-Tsarnaev-innocent-Facebook-page- a mysterious post that the bomber used attracts-11-000-fans-worldwide.html gunpowder in making the bombs, and 10 www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/03/ that “they” wanted to limit and tax the sniper-chris-kyle-shot-dead amount of such materials members of 11 www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik- wemple/wp/2013/04/16/new-york-post-12-still- the public could buy. Earlier in the post, dead-in-bombings-that-killed-at-least-3/ the user said the crime was going to be 12 www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/18/ “pinned on someone in his late teens new-york-post-boston-suspects-cover

FT302 53 www.forteantimes.com forum movie maverick Jesús versus the other Franco

maria J Pérez cuervo celebrates a maverick grindhouse director’s escape from the censors of Fascist Spain

Maria J Pérez Cuervo is a Tenemos quince años, as well as several Bristol-based Spanish journalist documentaries in subsequent years. whose interests include history, It wasn’t until 1961 that he directed popular culture, Victoriana, rock his first genre film, Gritos en la noche, and roll and doppelgängers. She tweets from @mjpcuervo. also known as The Awful Doctor Orloff. The film was a French-Spanish co- production, and a rarity in his country he cult horror director once of birth (the only other references were described by theVatican as “the the forgotten silent films of Segundo T most dangerous film-maker alive” Chomón and the 1944 Gothic mystery passed away in April at the age La torre de los siete jorobados, which of 82 in Málaga, Spain. Affectionately featured a group of sinister hunchbacks known as Tío Jess (“Uncle Jess”) among terrorising the daughter of a deceased his fans, Jess Franco was one of the archæologist). Gritos en la noche was the most prolific directors of all time (the first seed of fantaterror, the genre that exact number of his films, around 200, is blossomed in Spain during the 1960s the subject of much debate), adopting and 70s, influenced by Hammer Horror several pseudonyms to avoid, as he put and Italian giallo and cultivated by it, being hated by his colleagues. His legendary names in the horror industry, films, a concoction of horror, fantasy, such as Franco, Paul Naschy, Ibáñez- eroticism and the surreal, were at the Serrador and Armando de Ossorio. same time the subject of controversy and Part of the reason it was possible for international censorship and the focus of Franco to produce the first Orloff film a cult following, with Quentin Tarantino were the changes in film-making policy citing them as a huge influence. Franco in the country, intended to help the

GES is best known for the films he made with economy through foreign investment

IMA British producer Harry Alan Towers and thus encouraging international co-

ETTy and Christopher Lee and for those that productions. /G

P featured the infamous mad scientist The plot of Gritos en la noche revolves AF / Doctor Orloff. around a mad scientist named after the RE Along with Paul Naschy, the Lon character played by Bela Lugosi in The Chaney of Spain, who died in 2009 (see Dark Eyes of London, an adaptation of ARMEST FT259:54-55), Franco was a seminal an Edgar Wallace novel. Franco’s Orloff

PEDRO figure in Spanish horror. Both of them is a former prison kidnaps were true mavericks who dedicated young girls and skins them to repair their lives to exploring a genre that was ABOVE: Jess the face of his daughter, scarred after a consistently repressed in their country of Horror was Franco receives fire.The film’s premise is clearly taken birth by the other Franco – the dictator his honorary Goya from the haunting French classic Eyes who ruled the country from 1939 until his a recurrent at Spain’s Goya Without a Face (1960) that also inspired death in 1975 and who, ironically, shared Awards ceremony Michael Myers’s mask in (not his surname with the subversive director. in 2009. to mention the Billy Idol song of the As a teenager, Franco, born Jesús element, as same name). Franco Manera in Madrid, was already Orloff would be a recurring character a cinema lover who went to the was eroticism in Franco’s filmography, often played by pictures almost every day. He went to Swiss-born Howard Vernon, one of his music school and learnt to play piano regular actors.Vernon’s last appearance and trumpet, dreaming of becoming how delighted he was to discover those as the mad doctor would be in Faceless a jazz trumpeter. Eventually, he films that were forbidden by the Fascist (1987), officially considered a gory decided he preferred “the glorious regime in his native country being remake of Eyes Without a Face, though life of a moviemaker” and enrolled screened at the French Cinemathèque it could also be defined as another take, in the Instituto de Investigaciones and the Sorbonne. When he returned and not the only one in his career, on y Experiencias Cinematográficas to Spain, he got his first job in the Gritos en la noche. while simultaneously working as an industry as a composer. Soon he was Horror, especially of the surgical actor and writing pulp novels under working as an assistant director on kind, was clearly a recurrent element in the pseudonym of David Khume. several Hollywood projects shot in Franco’s oeuvre, but so was eroticism. In He moved to Paris to escape the Spain, such as KingVidor’s Solomon the early days of fantaterror, it was usual dictatorship and complete his training and Sheba (1958). He directed his first to produce at least two versions of each as a cinematographer. He often recalled feature in 1959, the teenage comedy film: one with nudity, destined for the

54 FT302 www.forteantimes.com forum movie maverick

more open-minded European market, and a chaster version that would escape the sharp scissors of the Fascist censors. Franco’s sadistic, voyeuristic gaze is already noticeable in his early films, such as the first Orloff and The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus (1962). Later in the Sixties, the director worked with Christopher Lee and British producer Harry Alan Towers on two of Lee’s five films as Fu Manchu, as well as The Bloody Judge (1969), in which Lee played the sadistic Judge Jeffreys, and on the actor’s sole non-Hammer Dracula (1970), which was reportedly also his favourite. Franco spent most of the 1970s making international co-productions free from the restrictions of his own country, and eroticism and gore progressively became more prominent in his works. He was a keen reader of the Marquis de Sade – forbidden, of course, in Fascist Spain – and adapted a number of his works for the screen: Justine (1969) and Eugenie (1970) were also produced by Harry Alan Towers. Towers asked Christopher Lee to play who started shooting without a script, ABOVE: Striking quality of the original material. But the part of the narrator in the latter. with most scenes quickly sketched in posters for two critics’ opinions never had any impact The actor accepted and only found out Spanish the night before filming and Franco classics. on Franco. He thought that it was his that the film was essentially softcore translated into English by actor Jack job as a director to entertain people, pornography after some friends told Taylor the following morning. BELOW: Artwork not to try and achieve the artistic him it was being shown in Old Compton Lang wasn’t the only “serious” from Franco’s heights of Cervantes or Shakespeare Street in London’s Soho. Lee was film-maker who admired Franco’s 1977 contribution – though he recognised that Welles or furious. work. In 1965, Franco was hired as to the Ilsa John Ford came close. In 1971, Franco met his muse Lina the second unit director in Orson exploitation series In 2009, Franco received the Romay, then just 17. She became the Welles’s Chimes at Midnight. They starring Dyanne honorary Goya, an award given by the star of Female Vampire (1973) and worked together on several occasions, Thorne, Ilsa the Spanish Film Academy to celebrate a his lifelong partner, whom he finally including the incomplete Treasure Wicked Warden lifetime achievement.With this gesture, married in 2008. She died in 2012. It Island, with Welles as Long John (aka Wanda the the Academy rewarded the creativity, was easy to guess why they seemed Silver. Franco regarded his time with Wicked Warden, productivity and pioneering efforts of made for each other: Romay was at Welles as “the most important vital Greta the Torturer, the master of grindhouse cinema. In his least as fearless as Franco. She starred experience in my life”. In 1990, he Greta - Haus ohne speech Franco was humble, as usual, in over 100 of his films and was a legend purchased the rights to some of the Männer etc). acknowledging Romay’s support and in the hardcore porn industry of the footage of Welles’s unfinished Don encouraging the efforts of young would- time, working as an actress, director, Quixote. The American director had be film-makers. “To make a film”, he producer and writer. spent several decades of his life, said in several interviews, quoting the When asked which of his films until his death in 1985, trying to words of director José Luis Berlanga, he would save from a fire, Franco complete what initially was going “you only need two things: a camera always referred to Venus in Furs, to be a 30-minute TV special. and freedom”.The quote captures not an adaptation of theVon After it was cancelled by CBS, the two most important principles of Sacher-Masoch novella, but a Welles decided to go ahead his career: his love of cinema and his hallucinogenic thriller with and create his own version hatred for Spain’s Fascist regime. In cult actor Klaus Kinski. But of the Spanish classic, the 2010 documentary Llámale Jess his favourite was probably set in the 20th century he recalls how he was offered several Necronomicon (also known and sponsored by Frank propaganda films that he emphatically as Succubus), a surreal trip Sinatra. But the project rejected: “I won that battle against with a nightclub stripper, was never completed. those sons of bitches. I’ve always done mannequins, S&M and Franco worked on a new whatever the fuck I wanted”. dancing midgets (before edit that included scenes In the last year of his life he David Lynch made of his own creation.The completed three films, among them Al them mainstream). result premièred in Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies, released Metropolis director Cannes in 1992 under in Spain just before his death. Franco Fritz Lang called it the title Orson Welles’ was busy until the end and even “a beautiful piece of Don Quixote. Critics though he didn’t care about posterity, cinema”. It was largely hated it and remarked he’ll be remembered for his films, his improvised by Franco, upon the superior authenticity and his fearless attitude. FT

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SEND REVIEW COPIES OF BOOKS TO: BOOK REVIEWS, FORTEAN TIMES, PO BOX 71602, LONDON E17 9PG, UK. Thisreviewsmonth’s books, films and games The Martian and regular guy A warts-and-all portrayal of the outsider who did not invent flying saucers (though he helped invent science fiction fandom) but enjoyed paradoxes and sowing confusion

endless controversy about his Fantastic Adventures. Along personality and motivation, if he Shaver “was one nut with it, Palmer planted seeds had been only a regular guy. among many who that flowered in Fate and other In The Man from Mars popular- magazines, not least Fortean Times, culture scholar Fred Nadis offers felt compelled to which, if eschewing Shaver’s up a sophisticated portrayal outlandish claims (with their of one who contained worlds, communicate their roots in what looks very much many of them in collision, and irritating delusions” like paranoid schizophrenia), The Man from resists the temptation, which the highlighted unexplained subject of Palmer often excites, phenomena. (Oddly, Charles Mars to hyperbole. In these pages years Fort is mentioned here only Ray Palmer’s Amazing Pulp ago, the late fatuously guns got hooked as much on the once, and in passing within a Journey proclaimed Palmer “the man editorials and correspondence quote. Yet Fort and the Fortean Fred Nadis who invented flying saucers,” pages as on the fiction, lurid stuff Society were at least as important

Jeremy P Tarcher/Penguin 2013 which he didn’t, even in the loose, often labelled (not flatteringly) as Palmer – who also drew on Hb, 304pp, illus, bib, ind, $28.95, ISBN 9780399160547 metaphorical definition. Still, “space opera”. Those who were their material in his magazines FORTEAN TIMES BOOKSHOP PRICE £20.00 it’s true that he was the first to not enthralled were repelled, and – in generating broad cultural exploit their commercial potential soon critics – those who sought interest in anomalies and the Ray Palmer, who barely towered as co-founder, with Curtis Fuller, literary respectability for SF – paranormal.) By 1949 Palmer was above four feet, was a Martian. Or of the still-extant paranormal chided him as a cynic who catered out from Amazing, laying plans so he would inform children who digest Fate. Nadis makes no to readers without taste or even for a move to rural and gawked at this curious spectre as grandiose pretence to Palmer’s brains. Yet he revived a failing his own series of SF and true- he ambled past. Then again, he status as a cultural mover; yet he magazine and kept many a hack mystery magazines. He sold his might tell the truth, which was was there, and we – well, some of writer, and even the occasional share of Fate to Curtis and Mary that he looked that way because us – are still talking about him. master, in groceries during the Fuller, who quickly ratcheted as a child he had failed to check One thing Palmer, who was lean years of depression and down the content to a level that in both directions before crossing born in Milwaukee in 1910, did world war. saner readers could more easily a street. The result was a grisly help to invent was science fiction But it was the Shaver mystery entertain. encounter with a moving vehicle fandom. In 1928, with a friend and that pushed his critics beyond For the rest of his days, and spine-crushing injuries which fellow enthusiast of the emerging the brink. Richard Shaver steps Palmer had a lower profile and would stunt his growth. Then genre then (if briefly) known as into the story in 1943. To other a smaller audience, but if they again, even the first explanation “scientifiction,” he created the Ziff-Davis editors he was only were so inclined, those who contained a degree of truth. In “Science Correspondence Clubs” one nut among too many who felt were interested in UFOs (he private, and sometimes in a rare which within two years had compelled to communicate their published Flying Saucers) and public admission, he thought of evolved into the first SF fanzine, irritating delusions to Amazing. the occult (Mystic, later Search) himself as an outsider who might The Comet. His large and active As Nadis interestingly documents, could keep abreast of the legend as well have landed on Earth from role in SF (not then “sci-fi”) however, he arrived just as Palmer of Ray Palmer. Palmer kept their another planet. Late in life, a promotion landed him a job as was seeking a way to stimulate SF interest by hinting at profound planned autobiography was to be editor of Ziff-Davis’s Amazing with some fresh concepts. With his secrets he would one day divulge titled Martian Diary. Stories, the original SF pulp weird tales – said to be based on and by challenging readers to On the other hand, people founded by Hugo Gernsback in Shaver’s experiences – of ancient puzzle out his true beliefs. Shaver who came to know him tended to 1926. It was 1938, and Palmer was astronauts and their demented made occasional appearances, pronounce him a “regular guy” not quite 28 years old. descendents who torment but Palmer also promoted the after all. In many ways, Palmer Reinventing himself as “Rap” unsuspecting humanity from (which he was doing had a normal life: a marriage of – for Raymond Alfred Palmer – caverns under the earth, Palmer when I boarded the mystery train long standing, three children, he fashioned a lively, personal believed he now knew how he as an adolescent) and anything friends, career success. On yet editorial style which defined him could fuse SF with occult beliefs else that he thought would stir another hand – this Martian in various publishing contexts and “true mysteries.” discussions and subscription had an abundance of tentacles until his death in 1977. Casual The Shaver mystery lasted renewals. In his sad final years, – he would not have merited a readers who had stopped by for about five years in the pages Palmer was reduced to spinning biography, and preceding that for the space monsters and ray of Amazing and its companion Continued on page 61

FT302 57 www.forteantimes.com reviews BOOKS

Who Was Dracula? his descriptions of how visitors were co-opted onto stage as extras, Quantum man Bram Stoker’s Trail of Blood including Stoker himself, and, Jim Steinmeyer on one occasion prime minister A guide to Schrödinger’s life and work is Tarcher Penguin 2012 Gladstone, help capture the chaos Hb, 336pp, refs, ind, $26.95, ISBN 9780142421888 and energy of the 19th century better at his science than his life FORTEAN TIMES BOOKSHOP PRICE £18.00 theatre. Certain subjects in Although Stoker never went Victoriana are so well to Transylvania, Steinmeyer about the Schrödinger equation studied they have all tracks the influence of journeys and quantum mechanics, they but crumbled to dust to Whitby, Nuremberg, and the were presented as immutable fact through over-handling. . He also lays – they might as well have been The title of Jim Steinmeyer’s out how the world came to written on stone tablets. book doesn’t inspire confidence. the Lyceum, as guests at the Gribbin’s biography is a blend Yet get beyond the name and Beefsteak Room, and Stoker in his of science history and revelations this exploration of the origins role as Acting Manager came into about Schrödinger’s colourful life. of Dracula is insightful, never contact with people such as the Erwin Schrödinger The book lacks emotional insight resigned to providing simple adventurers Arminius Vambery into Schrödinger, though it is answers. Steinmeyer is best known and Henry Morton Stanley. and the Quantum clear he loved women, the great as an historian of stage magic. Two chapters stray into riskier Revolution outdoors and financial security. By approaching Bram Stoker’s territory – Jack The Ripper, a topic On the subject of science creation from the theatre stage that causes many researchers to John R Gribbin history there are some rather than literature professor’s stumble, mainly through their own Black Swan 201 excellent commentaries on the study or psychoanalyst’s couch, he certainty. In such a short section Pb, 383pp, illus, notes, bib, ind, £9.99, ISBN 9780552777599 personalities of the leading brings a fresh perspective. it is impossible for Steinmeyer FORTEAN TIMES BOOKSHOP PRICE £9.49 scientists of the age. We get an In his introduction he asks us to present an in-depth argument John R Gribbin is a British insight into their views about to pity Bram Stoker, laying out about the influence of the case on science writer, astrophysicist, what might be true in this the workaday reality of Stoker’s Stoker’s work. Instead, he uses the and author of biographies and abstract new world of quantum life, before discussing the storm example of a single suspect and science fiction. He was one of mechanics. The argument raged of investigation that has dissected demonstrates how he and Stoker Fred Hoyle’s research students about the wave–particle dualism the world’s most notorious blood- could have come into contact at the Institute of Theoretical of sub atomic ‘particles’. It is sucker. As he points out later in socially. Even then, he ably shows Astronomy around the time of fascinating to consider that the book, “Perhaps Stoker’s most the ambiguity of the evidence the discovery of pulsars. He is strength of personality and remarkable achievement was without losing the reader’s trust. no stranger to taking theory a personal popularity play such a composing a novel called Dracula, There are no simple answers little too far: his co-published massive role in the rate at which while writing almost nothing here, but the book is stronger The Jupiter Effect predicted that theory develops. And inability about Dracula.” for it. The clarity of Steinmeyer’s planetary alignment could cause to pay for publication in a Over the years the vampire writing and his exhaustive gravitational effects that would highly respected journal led to has been picked over again and knowledge of the theatrical trigger earthquakes, possibly several years of delay before an again, so what is fresh about community of the late 19th wiping out Los Angeles. He later important idea was picked up. Steinmeyer’s study? In the past century make this book a pleasure distanced himself from this Gribbin attempts to discuss many of the explorations of to read. theory. In 1984, Gribbin published the underlying science behind Dracula have tried to frame his Who was Dracula? Bram Stoker’s In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat: this bizarre world. Readers origin around a single source, Trail of Blood could have ended Quantum Physics and Reality, with a strong grasp of quantum whether that is Henry Irving’s up as literary criticism, another which continues to sell. mechanics probably find this relationship to his Acting autobiography of Stoker, or a In this new work, Gribbin very instructive; to those like me Manager or unidentified 15th potted history of the Lyceum rekindles his fascination with who know a little, it is at times century manuscripts. Theatre. It succeeds in being Erwin Schrödinger, best known helpful; people new to the subject The strength of Who Was none of these. Steinmeyer has for his eponymous cat paradox. will probably be baffled. Dracula? is in capturing the written a book that articulates The book is described as On the subject of the benefits complexity of influence on the the complexity and messiness “The first accessible, in-depth of quantum mechanics and the writing process. The chapters are of influences on the writing biography of the Nobel Prize- revolution that Schrödinger was a organised around themes such as process, clearly showing how winning Austrian physicist Erwin part of there can be no argument. his relationship with Henry Irving, this influential novel grew in Schrödinger.” It promises to However, I will hide behind his obession with the poetry of the rich soil of the 19th century explain “the captivating world Blackadder and reveal that Walt Whitman and the court case London theatrical community. An of quantum mechanics, which quantum mechanics is to me as that saw Oscar Wilde residing in a excellent investment for anyone underpins all of modern science.” ‘The Ravelling Nancy’ is to cotton: prison cell. interested in theatrical history, Biographies of the scientists “I am one of these people who are A large part of his exploration cultural icons and symbols, who shaped the last century’s quite happy to wear cotton, but revolves around the Lyceum Victoriana or the origins of breakthroughs in physics are have no idea how it works”. Theatre, London, where for many modern horror. fascinating because they give Paul Little years Stoker was Acting Manager, Steve Toase an insight into the often volatile and it is here that Steinmeyer’s period of change, and the Fortean Times Verdict experience and knowledge makes Fortean Times Verdict theories, experimentation and A lIFE OF THE MAN WHOSE IDEAS the story of Stoker’s most famous gRIPPINg FOR FANS OF THEATRE, argument. When I was learning uNDERPIN MODERN SCIENCE 6 novel come to life. For example, vICTORIANA AND HORROR 9

58 FT302 www.forteantimes.com reviews BOOKS

Continued from page 59 conspiracy theories, embracing far-right politics, and flirting with Mushroom and ritual anti-Semitism while maintaining just enough distance to allow for Interesting – though maybe untethered – speculation and some plausible deniability. Outside observers wondered more supported theories about mushrooms in Mesoamerica what Palmer’s beliefs were. The Fullers told me it was impossible to know, in good part because Although his careful avoidance of two or three hallucinogens that Palmer took perverse delight proselytising language, by today’s enjoyed superlative prestige”, in fooling people even over expectations possibly rendering refuting “our Western fixation on inconsequential matters. Non- the book rather impersonal, alcohol”, is well-argued with good admirers within SF, who never hard research was Wasson’s illustrative support. forgave him for the excesses main strength, combined with Even stronger evidence for the of his Amazing tenure, were an appetite for venturing into esteem in which mushrooms were confident he was a charlatan; the geographic and speculative areas held by early Mesoamericans late Martin Gardner The Wondrous that scholars dared or cared not are the carved mushroom stones proclaimed that Palmer didn’t to, pushing back or dissolving of the Maya, from which Wasson believe a word he wrote. Mushroom boundaries in a true psychedelic finds links with toads (a ‘cthonic This is almost certainly a false Mycolatry in Mesoamerica spirit. deity’) and the female sexual reading, Nadis argues. While Each chapter is a self-contained organ (a theme that recurs in R Gordon Wasson Palmer undeniably possessed inquiry, from the reportage Hieronymus Bosch’s Seven Deadly carnival-barker instincts (in one City Lights Publishers 2013 of the mushroom ritual, to a Sins and even the ceiling mosaic Pb, 280pp, £16.99/$24.95, ISBN 9780872865921 part emanating from his early mycological reinterpretation of of the Baptistry in Florence), and FORTEAN TIMES BOOKSHOP PRICE £15.29 life in the freewheeling magazine the Xochipilli ‘Prince of Flowers’ the Mayans’ infamous rubber ball culture of the pulps, in another In the 1950s R Gordon Wasson statue in the National Museum of game: a path not half as bizarre from his outsider’s psyche), he and his wife Valentina Pavlovna Mexico, seeing in floral decorative as it might sound. The worst also was an authentic spiritual became the first Westerners to devices tobacco and morning- drawback is that the generously seeker, privately captivated by describe shamanistic cultures depictions, and mysterious sized illustrations are not in the channelled epic Oahspe and of Russia and Mexico, where double-spiral motifs as the sacred colour as intended. driven by his own encounters of entheogenic mushroom. If one of the effects of the with (as he called it) the “hidden mushroom use persisted. Despite In pre-conquest Nahuati poetry sacred mushroom on Wasson world,” including dramatic the decades that have gone and various codices, ‘flowers’ was to impel him to put as much psychic experiences and a by since then, and Wasson’s become linguistic devices for distance as possible from his sighting of an elfin figure along death in 1986, the recent news mushrooms, as do themes of previous life, it could hardly have a Wisconsin highway. In Nadis’s that David Nutt, professor of children dressed as birds and found a more suitable candidate analysis Palmer’s critics failed neuropsychopharmacology at butterflies. Wasson’s persistence, than in this former JP Morgan to grasp his love of paradox and Imperial College London, is fleshing out his thesis with a banker. confusion, visible both in his deploring the British government’s steady persuasion as he goes onto In him, the mushroom found hucksterism and in his sincere stance on psilocybin, the active examine the syncretism of the its earliest, and most historically convictions. ingredient in magic mushrooms, ancient mushroom tradition with rigorous ‘Western’ convert, a Though he also exploited him, which he wants to trial for the Christianity in the resplendent man who upon entering “portals Palmer was honestly intrigued by treatment of depression, makes decoration of certain churches to the playing fields of the Shaver’s alleged experiences. The this a timely edition in the and their icons, could be gods” bequeathed a mountain two remained close for most of discourse on psychedelics, giving stunningly insightful or over- of validating background the rest of their lives. Palmer was cultural perspective on a subject speculative since no mushroom knowledge to the next generation keenly aware of Shaver’s history mostly bedevilled by mainstream literally appears in these contexts. of psilocybin explorers – of mental illness. He thought, media. With no way of telling for sure, notwithstanding the political however, that this wasn’t the end Beginning with an account of secondary sources of evidence cowardice currently belying their of it. Perhaps madness opened up an all-night Mazatec mushroom must suffice. progress. realms not ordinarily visible. ritual led by a female shaman in Possibly on firmer ground, Jerry Glover Palmer could not have central Mexico in which Wasson the labyrinthine complex asked for a more sympathetic participated, his comparisons of and reconstructed murals of Fortean Times Verdict chronicler, or a better one, than the effects of mushrooms with Teotihuacan in which Wasson sees PROBlINg, SCHOlARly INQuIRy – Fred Nadis. His prose and his those of alcohol allow the reader “a vast sanctuary dedicated to lONg DElAyED BuT RElEvANT 8 pronouncements are everything to draw their own conclusions. Palmer’s practically never were: For despite seeing the potential To order any of these titles – or any other book in print – contact the restrained, nuanced, intelligently for therapists to “find some considered. Nadis has a great lasting use for the extraordinary FORTEAN TIMES BOOKSHOP story, and he relates it exquisitely. substances we have discovered in Jerome Clark these strange plants”, Wasson’s Telephone: 08430600031 Fax: 01326 569555 Email: [email protected] interest in the mushroom stayed Address: Fortean Times Bookshop, PO Box 60, Helston TR13 0TP. Fortean Times Verdict strictly within historical and We accept all major credit and debit cards including Switch & Amex. Cheques or postal orders should be made payable to the FT Bookshop. Delivery is 7–10 days, subject to ExEMPlARy INvESTIgATION OF A enthnographic boundaries CONTRARIAN PuBlISHER 9 – defined on his own terms. availability. Postage & packing is free within the uK.

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Alfred Watkins’ what can actually be known about Herefordshire the putative leader of the Britons Partick polts (which is virtually nothing), while In his own words and pictures providing a thorough debunking It’s no longer believed that an infestation Intro: Ron & Jennifer Shoesmith of the ‘real Arthur’ industry. Logaston Press 2012 In the first of four parts, is a sign of witchery – bohemia’s to blame Pb, 180pp, illus, ind, £12.95, ISBN 9781906663674 he examines the traditional FORTEAN TIMES BOOKCluB PRICE £12.95 view of the ‘Arthurian period’, Alfred Watkins is shortly after the collapse of propensity for poltergeists to best known for his Romanised Britain, examining populate Partick in Glasgow, as discovery of leys: The the pre-Norman historical some of the more contemporary Old Straight Track sources, which barely mention cases illustrate – perhaps it’s the has remained in print since 1925. Arthur, and the views of 20th slightly bohemian air of that neck He began touring Herefordshire century archæologists and their of the woods. in the 1880s with a plate camera, historical model of ‘the Britons Holder highlights how many recording a way of life that was retreating westward before of the cases fit into the era in already fading. He co-founded waves of invading Saxons’. The which they occurred, providing a a Herefordshire bee-keepers second shows how more recent Poltergeist Over valuable insight into how Scottish association that promoted bee- studies have overturned much Scotland culture at least has responded to keeping from a horse-drawn of this traditional view, and Geoff Holder the polt phenomenon. ‘bee van’. At the end of WWI he particularly how untrustworthy Things have certainly come campaigned against proposals historical sources such as Gildas The History Press 2013 Pb, 224pp,bib, ind, £9.99, ISBN 9780752482835 some way from the days when to introduce a decimal currency; and Nennius are, while pointing FORTEAN TIMES BOOKCluB PRICE £9.99 it was believed an infestation Must We Trade In Tenths? argued out that it’s exactly this model was the result of witchcraft; the that a system of 12ths or eighths that remains in use by the ‘real Geoff Holder has authored many dawning of the Enlightenment was more useful, as it allowed Arthurians’. Part three is a savage excellent books on the slightly saw those who used the witch easier division into smaller units. debunking of some of the wilder offbeat, fortean side of Scotland. scares to promote religious Watkins’ first love was the excesses of his opponents, while This one is of equally high quality. zealotry gradually lose their tight Herefordshire countryside; he the fourth, almost half the book, A comprehensive breakdown grip. spent hours in conversation presents Halsall’s view of what of Scottish poltergeist cases The fact that there are very few with farm labourers, craftsmen happened between AD 400 and since the 1600s to the present, it cases featured in the chapter on and poachers, later transcribing 600, and in particular that the takes the reader on a fascinating the 18th century is quite striking, their stories. He particularly Saxons were already here before journey. though we see the numbers admired three poets who shared the Romans withdrew anyway. Several famous cases are soar again by the 20th- and 21st his connection to Ledbury –John This, by his own admission, is covered in the 134 selected centuries. Masefield, William Langland somewhat controversial, but for the book, including that of However, where psychology and Elizabeth Barrett Browning seems to make sense and is Christian Shaw of Bargarran, the and science are key to explaining – and often photographed places certainly just as fascinating as the young girl who was an alleged poltergeists in every other part of that featured in their work. more directly Arthurian material. victim of possession and psychic Scotland, in the Highlands, folk When Masefield became Poet Obviously aimed at the general attack, eventually leading to superstition holds sway, and polts Laureate in 1930 he was awarded reader, the book has no notes the final mass witch-burning in appear to be just another part the freedom of Hereford; his or direct references, though Paisley in 1697. of life. acceptance speech inspired a ‘Further Reading’ section Other cases featured are the Other publications tend to Watkins to write The Masefield discusses Halsall’s sources in Rerrick Poltergeist, Ballechin make their chosen cases seem Country. The Watkins manuscript more detail, and there’s an House, Aleister Crowley’s somewhat distant owing to a lack forms the core of this volume. extensive bibliography. If it has infamous Boleskine House of social and historical context. It is extraordinarily good, and a fault, it’s that in the first three of Loch Ness and the strange Holder makes his meaningful by perfectly complimented by the parts Halsall addresses the reader enigma that is the Mackenzie explaining the cultural milieu. many fine photographs. as if he or she is actually not very Poltergeist, still haunting For the beginner looking to Steve Marshall bright; a tone that is thankfully Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh find out more, this is a great absent from the last part, which to this day. introduction. The extensive Fortean Times Verdict is addressed to both the general Holder is not fussy, and bibliography and cited sources THE OlD STRAIgHT TRACK IN public and the specialists. Beyond includes smaller cases, even if certainly offer a good idea of BlACK AND WHITE 8 that, this is an excellent overview the only information available where to go next, as many of the Worlds of Arthur of the subject, though as the main fills a few lines; for example, classics are mentioned. conclusion is that if an Arthur the odd case where a Highland It’s also an entertaining read, Facts & Fictions of the Dark Ages existed at all it’s impossible to granny had her tea things thrown which helps in getting to grips Guy Halsall know anything about him, one about for a brief few moments. with the unpredictable nature of Oxford UP 2013 suspects the ‘Campaign for Real There are also cases where the poltergeists, whatever they may Hb, 377pp, illus, bib, ind, £20.00/$34.95. ISBN 9780199658176 Arthur’ will go their own sweet decidedly human origin of ‘polt’ be. FORTEAN TIMES BOOKCluB PRICE £16.00 way regardless. activity is caught. The reasons Mandy Collins Fed up with books Steve Moore are quite intriguing; a family claiming to reveal feud often at the heart of it. Fortean Times Verdict the ‘truth’ about the Fortean Times Verdict But several are not so easily DOES WHAT IS SAyS ON THE TIN – ‘real’ King Arthur, Guy AN ExCEllENT ANTIDOTE TO explained. There is also a bizarre AND vERy SuCCESSFully 9 Halsall has set out FANTASISINg 8

60 FT302 www.forteantimes.com reviews BookS

We leaf through a selection of ALSo RECEIVED recent fortean books...

Yurei Attack! years later, into English by Aphra Behn, The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide a pioneering female Restoration dramatist, who was attracted to it “by the novelty of the Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt Pb, 192/208pp, illus, index, $15.95/£9.99, ISBN 9784805312148 subject in vulgar language” and because it suggested that woman (albeit a privileged Yokai Attack! one) could understand the principles of The Japanese Monster Survival Guide astrophysics. This is a reprint of Behn’s translation, with a foreword by Paul Murdin. Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt Pb, 192/208pp, illus, index, $15.95/£9.99, ISBN 9784805312193 Death by Chili Sauce Ninja Attack! Richard Germain True Tales of Assassins, Samurai and Old Street Publishing 2012 outlaws Pb, 261pp, notes, £8.99, ISBN 9781906964955 Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt Tuttle 2012 This book discusses 101 preposterous Pb, 192/208pp, illus, index, $15.95/£9.99, ISBN 9784805312186 moments from movie history and rates them on whether they are feasible. Could Hannibal A delightful set of popular legends, each Lecter wear someone else’s face? Was 1AD ‘guide-book’ entry illustrated by noted manga a good year for wine? Could Forrest Gump artists and with much traditional illustration jog non-stop for three years? Do redheads besides. Yokai and Ninja are new editions have terrible tempers? Could a man burst with 16 extra pages and now in colour from eating too much? Can an aphrodisiac throughout; Yurei is a new addition. From make you see through peoples’ clothes? Did ‘wet women’ to haunted umbrellas, Yoda and Withnail drink lighter fluid? Can you fall out Alt have packed the books with ripping yarns of a plane and survive? Other tropes include and absurd snippets, and the illustrations slipping on banana skins, Bond’s jetpack, are, frankly, bizarre. Highly recommended. speaking in tongues, lobotomies and wiggling ears. Lots to amuse a fortean here, including Impossible Realities the charred corpse in a forest fire, surviving Maureen Caudill burial, the perils of puffer fish, an elephants’ Hampton Toads Publishing 2012 graveyard, and teleportation. Great for young Pb, 237pp, ind, bib, $18.95, ISBN 9781571742821 minds.

Caudill – a veteran of artificial intelligence The other Side of Truth and neural network research – evaluates the Paul Kimball eight ‘black swans’ of the ‘paranormal’: psy- Redstar Books 2012 chokinesis, remote viewing, energy healing, Pb, 234pp, index, bib, illus, $15.959, ISBN 9780991697502 telepathy, animal telepathy, precognition, survival after death and reincarnation. She Here is a personal account of a bright young believes that unequivocal proof of any one of mind’s journey out of scepticism toward a these will topple the orthodox view of reality belief that the ‘paranormal’ “is actually a (by which she means scientific material- form of artistic expression created by an ism). Caudill’s opinions are considered and advanced non-human intelligence”. Kimball informed and certainly deserve to be read. – a lawyer, historian and filmmaker – has noticed that experiences of the ‘paranormal’ A Discovery of New Worlds frequently involve elements of punning, Bernard de Fontenelle symbolism, coincidences and association Hesperus Press 2012 redolent of intellectual creativity and playful- Pb, 123pp, £9.00, ISBN 978184393665 ness. Some of us may be wary of personify- ing this process as Kimball has, but there is De Fontenelle’s 1686 classic – in which an no doubt the process can be interactive; the astronomer undertakes to teach a young more you try to pin it down or explain it, the noblewoman about other (possibly life- more elusive it becomes, disguising its iden- bearing) worlds in five nightly lessons under tity behind ever more tantalising meaningful- the stars – was a best-seller of the late 17th ness. In the end, there is little left to grasp century. This mode of fiction as a vehicle except personal relevance and subjective for fact was a popular vehicle for literature- experience. There is nothing tangible here minded scientists and historians seeking to that would convince even a fortean agnostic. address a wider public. It was translated, two Kimball, though, has a darned good try. reviews FILM & DVD

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Star Trek: colourful asides; “Enough with the the Clones via the taxi chase in The pure hand-me-down and it left me metaphors!” he is told to his face Fifth Element, going some way to not only cold but something akin Into Darkness at one point) that in action terms show why Abrams is perfect to pick to angry. Dir JJ Abrams, US 2013 you can’t fault the film. It rattles up the mantle of the fran- For all the money and the tech- On UK release from 9 May along with state of the art CGI chise, as he soon will), a mise-en- nology and the talent involved, Into JJ Abrams has become the ulti- woven seamlessly into frenetically scène in breakneck motion which, Darkness is the ultimate in fan fic- mate TV series and film-maker kinetic action scenes with refer- could it talk, would be crying out, tion on screen. And like fan fiction, from the goggled-eyed point of ences to the ‘old stuff’. And If you arms raised, Maximus-fashion: “Are while it might offer an amusing or view of stereotypical fanboy geek- know Star Trek of old, it will not you not entertained? Are you not clever twist on its original source, dom. Alias, Lost, Fringe (and any take you long to cotton on to what entertained?”The answer to which there is not an atom of genuine number of espionage series on TV), Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch – when you get your wind back – is: originality in its whole being. What Super 8, (effectively his Duel and in fine form) is all about.There’s “Yes, I am.” Abrams’s reboot does is stand indeed co-produced with Steven a knowingness about the whole I was undoubtedly entertained, on the shoulders of an aged and Spielberg) and now the Star Trek exercise in places (it’s the block- but I remained curiously unmoved flawed giant – but a giant, nonethe- reboots.The only mystery is why he buster equivalent of post-modern and the ultimate experience, for less – and by that very act of pre- hasn’t yet had a full cameo role in self-referentiality) which is all part me, was an empty one. And here’s sumption, demeans its own stature. The Big Bang Theory during which of the fun (and, ultimately, part of why: this particular reboot owes Of course, old farts like me exist Sheldon can take him to task con- the problem). Set pieces astonish: much to one of the greatest – per- in a JJ Abrams-like parallel uni- cerning Zachary Quinto’s depiction the opening prelude which sets up haps the greatest – moments in all verse to that of today’s young mul- of a young Spock getting it on with a moral conundrum which will be the original Star Trek’s slow, sure, tiplex masses.There will be many, Uhura. paralleled and played out at the implacably, even unintentionally too, in my own age group who will In Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star film’s climax; the attack on Star accrued, mythos.The solution to vehemently disagree with my Fleet Command suffers a crippling Fleet command and the fire-fight which, originally, was played out viewpoint. “The man’s a genius!” attack at the hands of the mysteri- with the Klingons; and – dare I say not just over a couple of films but the cry may sound. Abrams is ous John Harrison and Kirk, having it and, indeed, dare they do it? – a between series and films. Here, undeniably an astonishingly multi- in the film’s opening prelude suicide bombing of a capital city by something which ought to be so talented and intelligent operator. been demoted to First Mate after an aerial craft. Chris Pine as Kirk gut-wrenching and moving that And he undoubtedly does have a violating several Star Fleet direc- is more, well, adult in this one than it stays with you for some time is surpassing genius for all of this tives to save the day, is reinstated the last and very good he is, too. resolved within a couple of scenes. sort of thing; but, as yet, he hasn’t as Captain of the Enterprise and Zachary Quinto as Spock makes Text book, as current blockbuster in his own right, proved himself to ordered to track the heinous Harri- heroic efforts to fill those big ears. screenplay dictates demand: pacy, be such a genius. son down.The only problem is that Simon Pegg as Scotty is given free paired down, containing quickly Star Trek: Into the Darkness, when the location to which Harrison has comic rein by the plot (and seems recognisable and readily digest- all’s said and done, is a multiplex fled is in volatile territory, to enter convinced he’s playing a mischie- ible paradigms of life experience dream film. And there ain’t noth- which will be considered an act of vous leprechaun), while Alice (“This is the moving bit”; and “This ing wrong with that. After all: the war by nearby Klingons, should any Eve and Zoe Saldana provide the is the moral dilemma bit.”) that needs of the many outweigh the Star Fleet craft venture there. (brainy as well as beautiful) female don’t linger long enough for today’s needs of the few. Or the one. It is a tribute to Abrams’s film- presences in a still seemingly male- audiences to start shuffling their Nick Cirkovic making chops that considering the dominated rebooted future. bums on the seats. It’s all brilliantly number of ongoing conversations By the end of it all, with the executed. But that moment, yes, Fortean Times Verdict between Spock and Kirk (with death-defying chase through the that moment: that moment simply bIg, brILLIant bLockbuster; but abraMs Is no genIus 7 Karl Urban’s Bones providing his city skyscrapers (pure Attack of hasn’t been earned, because it is

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Iron Man 3 Dir Shane Black, US 2013 On UK release from 25 April The Reverend’s Review First of all: it’s better than Iron Man 2, which made the mistake of FT’s resident man of the cloth reVerenD peter Laws dons ‘doing a Tim Burton’ – becoming his dog collar and faces the flicks that Church forgot! more enamoured on the franchise’s (www.theflicksthatchurchforgot.com) second outing with its principal villain (at the time a career- resurgent Mickey Rourke) to the SCANNErS in such a deadpan, wooden detriment of its titular superhero: Dir David Cronenberg, Canada 1981 way that you wonder if he’s Second Sight, £19.99 (Blu-ray) Robert Downey Jnr’s Tony Stark, doing something really clever... aka Iron Man. No such missteps SCANNErS II / III maybe even profound. One here, although a protracted set-up, Dir Christian Duguay, Canada/US 1991 hour in and you realise he just relying on Downey Jnr’s effortless Arrow Films, £15.99 each (Blu-ray) can’t act (a judgement backed throwaway quipping and irksome up by most of the people charm and involving a flash- Cameron Vale struggles with the who comment in the extras). back to 1999 to put the plot into voices in his head and when And for a Cronenberg film it’s place, does have you wondering. he’s angry he can cause old surprisingly flimsy, thematically But we’re soon back in the post- ladies to have nose bleeds, just speaking. Films like The Brood, Avengers Assemble-alien-invasion- by glaring at them. Stressed Videodrome and Shivers have thwarting present and Tony Stark by his condition and unable to such powerful socio-psycho in the lead role (catch him in is getting his arse kicked. He finds handle the pressure, he lives as subtexts that they’re as beloved the far superior pyscho-thriller himself not only trying to cope a homeless derelict. Until he’s by art-house film geeks as they PIN) but it’s not enough to with panic attacks brought on by picked up by a shady security are by gore-hungry teenage save a confused and ultimately post-traumatic stress disorder, company called ComSec, who boys. Yet Scanners is one boring sequel. Scanners III: The but also in hiding after terrorist show him that he is one of of the rare occasions when Takeover sees a female Scanner Mandarin takes on Tony’s chal- the many ‘Scanners’: unique Cronenberg plays a little too try an experimental drug which lenge to come on down to play. And humans with powerful telekinetic much to the latter crowd. Yes, turns her into a murderous then there is Guy Pearce’s Aldrich and telepathic powers. it’s an effective science fiction villain. It might be a little more Killian who has a score to settle David Cronenberg’s 1981 thriller with some iconic scenes fun, but, it still sucks. with Tony stretching back to ’99, thriller rattles along with car (and a great electronic score The original looks great on Blu- when his proposal for a DNA-trans- chases, gun fights and, in the by Howard Shore) but the lack Ray, with some absorbing extras, forming human alchemy called film’s most tense and effective of a meaningful subtext leaves while the sequels have that early ‘Extremis’ was not even given the scene, a magnificent exploding it feeling less substantial and 90s ‘TV Movie’ haze to them. chance to be rejected by the bil- head. It’s a moment that works affecting than his other work. Still, Kudos to Second Sight for lionaire playboy philanthropist not just because of the superb But while Scanners might the release of Scanners (and genius because Stark was too busy effects, but also because of be average by Cronenberg’s The Brood is slated for later in party-hopping with Rebecca Hall’s Michael Ironside’s dominating standards, it’s a bonafide the year). Here’s hoping Shivers, brilliant bio-scientist to have time performance. He plays power- masterpiece compared with its Rabid and Videodrome get the to listen to Killian’s pitch. hungry baddy-Scanner Darryl two sequels, also released on HD treatment too. Body horror is From the moment the man of Revok, and manages to light up Blu-ray. Scanners II: The New at its visceral best when you see metal and all his toys are dumped pretty much every scene he’s Order pitches good guy Scanner the queasy detail. into the Pacific, the film is fast in. Which only goes to highlight David Kellum against a dodgy and funny, and the frenetic action one of the film’s major problems: politician, scheming to use the Fortean Times Verdict sequences, courtesy of some awe- lead actor Stephen Lack is, well, Scanners for his own ends. a cronenberg cLassIc anD Its awFuL seQueLs 7/ 3 some CGI, fly all over the place. lacking. He delivers his lines David Hewlett does his best Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin has taken Bin Laden fan boy worship to a whole new level and has nothing less than a dead US president and global destabilisation in his sights. Meanwhile, Pepper Potts is in seri- ous peril and there’s seemingly nary another superhero on the con- tinent to help Tony out; things are looking grim for the Tin Man. Kingsley’s entrance, once he steps from behind the grainy ter- rorist threat videos and reveals his madman Mandarin, is a show- stopper. But the script, courtesy of director Shane Black and Scottish screenwriter Drew Pearce (due to write Sherlock Holmes 3), while incident-packed and full of hilarity,

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involves a redemptive story arc for to be serious. Who knows?). And Tony Stark which allows Downey Adelaide Clemens (the blonde) is Jnr’s talents full reign across the watchable. ShOrTS film’s two-hour-plus running time. Cinematographer Daniel Pearl Some of the for the British has a horror pedigree, having audience, involving such incongrui- filmed the original Texas Chainsaw the heLpers ties as Downtown Abbey, are the best Massacre, and the fact that this Fremantle Media, £15.99 (DVD) Yet another film turning up several years too late of the lot. And while the finale on an is shot on Super 16 film gives it a to take advantage of the short-lived torture-porn oil platform might, courtesy of Stark slightly more interesting look than phenomenon: a group of (deep breath to accommo- Industries, feel literally like deus ex your average glossy Hollywood date cliché) American youngsters travelling by car machina with a fistful of girl power movie. And there’s at least one break down, and instead of finding help get horribly thrown in, Iron Man 3 sees the fran- special effect that the prosthetics murdered. The film has almost nothing to recom- chise back to its original, polished, department did a very good job on. mend it, apart from reasonably inventive Saw-style killings. The heavy metal best. Overall, this is an entertaining and writing is shoddy, and the entire cast unlikeable and untalented. Nick Cirkovic gory, if not entirely original, horror Add lots of hand-held footage and you can add REC, Hostel and film that, at just short of 90 min- Vacancy to the list of films this wishes it could be. If you’d like Fortean Times Verdict utes, doesn’t overstay its welcome. to save yourself the time of wading through it and go straight to MarVeLLous MayheM FroM Julie McNamee the scene in which someone is torn apart by trucks, I’ll happily the Man oF MetaL 8 provide the reference. TW 4/10 No One Lives Fortean Times Verdict you won’t be scareD to aLps Dir Ryûhei Kitamura, US 2012 Death, but gooD, gory Fun 7 Artificial Eye, £15.99 (DVD) On UK release from 31 May This quirky film from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos The blonde running for her life in Knightriders may not be to all tastes. It focuses on an odd group just her vest and pants gives the Dir George Romero, US 1981 of people who offer a service that you might not think genre of this film away in the first Arrow, £19.99 (Blu-Ray) there’s much call for: they impersonate the dead, to few minutes. It’s a horror flick, of George Romero’s non-zombie 1981 help the living cope with their grief (but only for a month course. And it’s by Japanese film- movie Knightriders has a clever or so). Aggeliki Papoulia (who featured in the director’s previous film, Dogtooth) is a nurse who has involved herself with the maker Ryûhei Kitamura, who some concept at its core, but it is buried ‘A lps’ group – depicted almost as a kind of cult – for a very specific of you may know as the director of in an over-indulgent, over-long, reason in order to deal with a personal loss. It’s a strange film, 2000’s Versus and 2008’s adaptation rambling film that ultimately fails focusing on death, bereavement, grief and how people variously of Clive Barker’s short story, the to engage – which may explain cope, but also a surreal attempt to pass comment on modern attractively named The Midnight why it flopped on original release Greece and even a meditation on the business of ‘acting’ (in life Meat Train in 2008. and is now something of a minor and on screen). The characters are ghosts in people’s lives, but This movie is difficult to explain cult movie. Ed Harris (in his first they’re played by the living, who should perhaps be busy getting without giving the game away. All I major role) is the King Arthur- on with their own lives. It doesn’t all work, by any means, but under can say is that there’s a at least one like leader of a disparate group the sometimes wilfully surreal mannered posturing there are some psychopath, the aforementioned of pseudo-Arthurian performers intriguing ideas and a disturbing strain of very dry wit. BJR 5/10 blonde, and a group of no-good who joust at Renaissance Fairs – thieves and villains. Someone is on motorbikes. In a rare leading ray harryhausen: specIaL eFFects tItan murdered in the first instance role, make-up maestro Tom Savini Arrow Films, £15.99 (DVD) / £17.99 (Blu-ray and this sets off a chain of events is Morgan, the thorn in Harris’s The style of this feature documentary may be rather involving murder, mayhem and a side who believes he should be pedestrian (talking heads and chronological clips), twisted love story. The action cen- King (the group’s leader) instead but the subject is anything but. Ray Harryhausen tres on a house in the woods in the and is tempted by a commercial must be the only technical contributor to film Louisiana swamps and takes place opportunity to convert their (directors aside) whose name and work are so well during the course of one night. low-key engagements into major known. His movies – featuring stop-motion hand- Cliches abound, blood spills in crowd-pleasing events. The story animated creatures of legend and myth – from It Came from enormous amounts, there’s a wide follows the effect of this ideologi- Beneath the Sea to Clash of the Titans – are known simply as range of ways to die, including cal split on the group, making for ‘Harryhausen films’, and few could name their actual direc- a completely gratuitous shower a nice ensemble feel, but leading tors. In the days before CGI, Harryhausen was single-handedly scene in a motel room (can’t think to a diffusion of the film’s impact. responsible for each hand-made skeleton fight, flying harpy or where they got that one from) There are simply too many over- Ymir attack that thrilled movie audiences from the 1950s to and torture scenes aren’t lack- long sequences of the jousting the 1980s. Among those paying tribute to Harryhausen as their ing. However, there are things to motorbikes (although petrol- movie-making inspiration are Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, recommend.The first half hour heads might get more from this). and Peter Jackson. Seeded among the clips there are some has some great fast-paced action. It’s an idea that would have been rare gems, including test footage for never realised projects, as And the twist in the storyline at better suited to a comedy sketch well as concept art and storyboards. Extras offer further materi- this point is genuinely a shocker. than a feature film. al, including the original models for many Harryhausen creatures The lead, Welshman Luke Evans, Brian J Robb (the term he always preferred to ‘monsters’) being handled is obviously a very good actor who gingerly by archivists. Harryhausen – now aged 92 – comes over makes the most of the lines he’s Fortean Times Verdict as a modest man who is nonetheless only too aware of his achievements and the awe in which he is held. BJR 8/10 given (some were darkly funny, but MotorcycLe joustIng: not I did wonder if they were supposed a great gIMMIck, Is It? 6

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Hill abduction over a guard rail and descended an embankment into a river. This Simulacra corner Greg May argues [FT296:73] that bipedal reptoid was fi rst sighted Simulacra Corner the Betty and Barney Hill report in 1955 when a driver returning of aliens could not have been home from work spotted three inspired by an episode of The Outer of these frog-like creatures. One Limits because their experience of them was allegedly holding occurred in 1961 while the TV a ‘spark-generating bar-shaped series did not premiere until 1963. device’ above itself. However, However, Barney Hill’s fi rst session UFO sightings do not fi gure in the of hypnosis, and the fi rst occur- Loveland, Ohio, incidents. I would rence of a mention of an alien with be interested to know biologist eyes that wrapped around the side Roy Mackal’s thoughts as to the of the face, did not occur until 22 Loveland Frog actually being a February 1964, 12 days after the giant salamander. Outer Limits episode “The Bellero Greg May Shield”, which featured an alien Orlando, Florida with similar eyes, as noted by scep- tic Martin Kottmeyer www.csicop. Flixborough org/sb/show/eyes_that_spoke/. Further, as Kottmeyer notes, Your obituary of Reg Presley in that episode the alien says: “I [FT300:26] stated that his interest cannot read your mind. I cannot in paranormal phenomena began even understand your language. on 1 June 1974, when he had a I analyse your eyes. In all the uni- premonition of the disaster at the verses, in all the unities beyond all Flixborough chemical plant in Lin- universes, all who have eyes have colnshire. He said he saw a news eyes that speak.” In the hypnosis bulletin about the accident on the session, Barney Hill stated that: lunchtime news that day, but later “They won’t talk to me. Only the discovered it didn’t happen until eyes are talking to me.” just before 5pm. Jim Lippard I remember reading the same Lisa Fryer writes: “I have a zombie Maggie Thatcher in my rug Phoenix, Arizona story in Arthur C Clarke’s World of (thanks for that, Ikea). We’ve had this rug for years and only noticed Strange Powers (1984, p52) [which it after she’d died.” Frogmen was also a TV series – Editor]: Mrs Lesley Brennan was watching a We are always glad to receive pictures of spontaneous forms and Frog-like, amphibious-looking Western on TV at lunchtime when fi gures, or any curious images. Send them to the PO box above (with beings with a humanoid stance it was interrupted by a news bulle- a stamped addressed envelope or international reply coupon) or to and gait have fi gured in numerous tin about the explosion at Flixbor- [email protected] – and please tell us your postal address. UFO close-encounter incidents ough (which killed 28 people). She according to David Ritchie, author remembers being a little annoyed of UFO: The Definitive Guide to at the interruption, but also Making up Philip imaginary person who committed Unidentified Flying Objects and distressed by the story, especially suicide in 1654 following an affair Related Phenomena. Ritchie cites as she lived near Flixborough. She Alan Murdie’s excellent column with a Gypsy girl.The Catherine an incident that occurred in either watched the news that evening [FT300:18-19] fi nished with a Cookson backstory aside, it is a 1938 or 1939 in Juminda, Estonia, and heard it said the accident loaded speculation about research fascinating subject. where two witnesses “reportedly occurred in the evening. She com- groups potentially generating I fi rst read about it in Rosemary saw a strange ‘man’ resembling a mented to a friend that the news psychokinetic effects themselves. Ellen Guiley’s excellent Encyclo- frog, about 3ft [90cm] tall having was wrong; the accident happened This brought to mind the case of paedia of Mystical & Paranormal a round head without a neck; a at lunchtime. It wasn’t until read- The Owen Group from the Toronto Experience (1993), with further lengthy straight slit for a mouth; ing a newspaper the next day that Group for Psychical Research, references to Conjuring Up Philip and smaller slits for eyes.The she realised the accident was at who in 1972 created the fi ctitious (1976) by Iris M Owen with Mar- skin was greenish-brown and 4.53pm and that she might have Philip Aylesford, but despite him garet Sparrow. Does anyone know the creature had a curious gait”. had a premonition. being a “made up” person, the of similar experiments – or is When pursued, the creature fl ed I wonder what is going on here; group allegedly experienced raps this type of research discouraged and disappeared. did both Brennan and Presley and knocks, with the table moving lest it provide too much fuel for This incident calls to mind have a premonition of the same itself during sittings in which con- sceptics and naysayers, so that it the 3 March 1972 sighting of the disaster – or did Presley ‘borrow’ tact was attempted [see FT61:41, falls into the “they’re making it “Loveland Frog” by two police of- the story from Brennan? 64:61]. Other group members re- all up” camp? fi cers who encountered a similar Scott Alden ported a presence felt in the room. David Newell being lying in a road that jumped Bradford Quite an accomplishment for an Headingley, West Yorkshire

FT302 69 www.forteantimes.com letters

called twits. Jerry Clark was one In 2004, Jim wrote to me: “I do of them. Clark dislikes the book, think there is a reality behind and he should, given his frequent UFOs and the paranormal, but appearances therein. Jim named we do not yet have the scientific names and recorded history. He tools to pin it down and prove it. enjoyed reporting on the likes Eventually this will be done, but of Budd Hopkins, who compared probably not any time soon. Life sceptics of the “Brooklyn Bridge” goes on for most people, whether abduction case to al-Qaeda there is an ‘other realm’ or not, terrorists in the pages of Clark’s so there is no pressure to find a International UFO Quarterly. Ear- solution to these strange things lier, Clark and Moseley were both that happen occasionally – and taken in by a notorious character, have happened occasionally but Moseley exposed Todd Zechel throughout the ages, apparently. as a fraud long before Clark was Just what they actually represent, announcing “the most important I do not know, but I don’t think figure in ufology”. Saucer Smear they are space men or space ships back issues remain the most hon- or anything like that.We are shar- est history of the subject of UFOs ing this Earth with another realm in the United States, and Clark of reality that only manifests should realise that humour and itself in peculiar ways, and very profundity can go out and have a occasionally. The human mind fabulous evening together. is also involved in this interplay, Jim, like a lot of elderly people, somehow.” This doesn’t sound like didn’t get out as much as he used a dull mind to me. Future histori- to, so he talked to friends on the ans will judge whether Jim’s writ- telephone, in a social life made ing was shockingly closer to the up largely of Saucer Smear “non- truth than Clark’s oft-credulous subscribers” and UFO confer- UFO encyclopædias. ences. Clark finds this pathetic. Jim’s amiable 50-year journey Of course, most people enjoy the as a diarist, historian, and rabble- company of peers, and Jim was rousing editor produced an unu- always fun-loving and approach- sually funny and lucid account able. Heavy fortean discussions of a subculture of characters and were indeed conducted between their stories. After all these years, I was riding home from work one day when I spotted this tree, not drinking participants late at there are sadly no shreds of physi- far from Birmingham International Airport. Not sure who lives there night on the phone.What marvel- cal evidence for the Roswell sau- (or who decided to put a number and knocker on the ‘tree door’. lous rants and rows! The last cer crash, abductions-for-hybrids Are there other trees like this? time we talked I was sending him shenanigans, Dulce underground Paul Dutton, Birmingham, material on the Emma Woods/ bases, MJ-12 and 95 per cent David Jacobs abduction fiasco. of the rest of the sky-is-falling Jim didn’t want to bother with nonsense. Fortean researchers Dirty tricks would still have added to the Cold that, he wanted my opinions on are left with a happily peculiar War paranoia being intentionally DMT and abductions. Jim knew universe out there and some Regarding sex with aliens [“50 generated at the time. about Fatima, psychedelics, his- fascinating human psychology. Shades of Grey”, FT296:30-37]: Mat Britton tory, grave-robbing, and popular Clark talks a paranormal game has anyone made a link between By email culture, among other things. His these days, but Jim Moseley got alien abductions, or perceived attention span may have been there first. I hope Jim Moseley alien abductions, and the ex- Jim Moseley short, and the depths he would and Gray Barker are drinking and periments carried out by the MK swim in complex cases shallow; smoking in Hyperspace, having a Ultra programme [a covert CIA Jerry Clark’s dismissive and but his curiosity for the mysteri- posthumous laugh at Jerry Clark research operation from the early bitchy obituary for Jim Moseley ous was deep and his passion for twisting the dagger-in-the-back 1950s to 1973]? It is known that [FT297:28] does a disservice humour infinite. Jim’s reputation, one last time. hallucinogens and sexual observa- to a fascinating ufologist. Jim including the drunken “Straith Kevin Henderson tion were of interest. It would be deserves better. letter” hoax on George Adamski, Tucson, Arizona easy to switch civilian subjects’ In Saucer News (later Saucer was no more or less honourable medication and test how far Smear) and his excellent memoir than any other would-be author- A political phantom someone’s beliefs can be pushed. (Shockingly Close to the Truth: ity in what Jim lovingly called A few alien costumes, a hypnotist Confessions of a Grave-Robbing “the Field”. He also made you I was interested to read Alan with Darren Brown’s capabili- Ufologist), Jim chronicled 50 laugh. Murdie’s Ghostwatch feature ties and some LSD could make years of flying saucer brilliance Perhaps Clark indulges a per- [FT299:14-15] discussing the subjects extremely suggestible. and buffoonery. The ufologists sonal grudge when he calls Mo- fashionable theory that ghosts – Although the recounting of such themselves were the cast of seley a writer of “little enduring or reports of supposedly ghostly far-fetched tales would have met characters, and frequently these value” with “no discernible intel- phenomena – “moved out of with scepticism and derision, it self-styled experts resented being lectual curiosity”. I beg to differ. historic spooky locations and into

70 FT302 www.forteantimes.com letters

suburbia, in reaction to challeng- Reilly that miners “were walking least three decades prior to 1926. man on night duty.” The constable ing economic circumstances.” Like in companies of 10 or 12”, so fear- A woman returning from visiting asked him to explain his presence Mr Murdie, I’m wary of such crude ful were they of this silent figure a family friend was alarmed by a in the graveyard. To the officer’s generalisations, and have encoun- who “strutted about the roads” still and silent “white-clad figure” surprise, the scribbler simply tered at least one case where such as though “enveloped in a white as she hurried home through the smiled and said that he was “wait- strife has seemingly prompted sheet”.That this might simply Ballengeich Cemetery. A lad was ing for the Millhall Ghost”. phantoms to return to their former have been a drover from one of terrified by a similarly uncom- Speculating on Alfred Reilly’s historic haunts. many local farms located between municative apparition in nearby commentary, his protégé RJ For the past two decades I have the pit and the Old Town, garbed Raploch. A woman from Castlehill Ritchie wondered (A Chiel Haes researched, scripted and per- in his distinctive white coverall Road fainted following the fright- Mind, 1991) if such “ghosts” are formed the Stirling GhostWalk, a – or, indeed, a local joker putting ful appearance of a blank-faced a “creation of our subconscious guided walk around the Old Town his bedclothes to mischievous use figure at her window, prompting mind which intrude into our area of the former Royal Burgh. – was considered by Alf and his a 100-strong mob, armed with consciousness as an apparition”. The show is an entertainment – a peers, but quickly dismissed: these lanterns and cudgels, to make a If so, then the disappearance of mix of , comedy and men may well have been unsophis- furious search of the Old Town. this peculiarly political phantom drama, rather than a serious psy- ticated and superstitious, but they Nothing was found. Perhaps just as may be put down to the environ- chical or parapsychological inves- were unlikely to be so easily or well, as one wonders what the mob mental exorcism provided by the tigation – but production of a new so frequently deceived. Accounts expected to do with their cudgels, urban improvement programmes script every summer for 20 years were featured in several local had they actually chanced upon of the following quarter century, means that while I’m no ghost- newspapers throughout February, the furtive phantom. as the hovels of the Old Town were hunter, I have a voracious appetite March and April. On each occasion sightings of demolished or renovated.Were the for ghost stories. Because of this, Interestingly, these reports the now-transported “Millhall stories – or the spirit itself – the I was asked by the History Press, occurred in the weeks and months Ghost” were reported in those result of the stresses of “challeng- early in 2010, to write a volume where the tensions leading to areas of the town worst affected ing economic circumstances”? in their local history Haunted... the “Nine Days Wonder” of the by the deprivations the strikes had Accounts of the “Millhall series, examining the background General Strike in May were most forced upon the struggling work- Ghost” rekindled interest in local and origins of a number of the apparent. During that dispute ers and their families – the filthy ghost stories amongst the Burgh more famous tales.The crumbling miners were branded as “revolu- tumbledown hovels of Spittal population in a way that fashion- gothic facade of Mar’s Wark of- tionaries”, intent – in the words of Street, St Mary’s Wynd and else- able flirtation with Spiritualism in fered up the ‘Curse of Alloa Tower’, one infamous Daily Mail editorial where – dives where all manner of the years following World War I did the Tolbooth Theatre – formerly (3 May 1926) – on “destroying the all-too-real dangers lurked. In 1926 not. Over time, these tales were the jailhouse and courtroom – government and subverting the the average population per-acre re-told and re-packaged for visitors provided me with accounts of a rights and liberties of the people”. in the Burgh was 14 persons. In – tourism now being Stirling’s only wealth of wraiths, and Stirling In the politically Liberal but Broad Street, the most populous significant industry – and the more Castle the requisite mix of Stuart temperamentally Tory stronghold working-class conurbation in the grand and gothic tales of histori- skulduggery, murder, mayhem and of Stirling, the troubled workers town, the figure rose to a stagger- cal haunting came once more to madness.The history and architec- found little sympathy. The General ing 290, and Craig Mair, in Stirling: overshadow those inexorably tied ture of the Old Town, put simply, is Strike segued into a longer, bitter the Royal Burgh (1990) quotes one to industries and dwellings now a fantastically atmospheric back- dispute over wages and conditions local miner who wondered at the long-vanished.That ghostly panic drop for spooky storytelling: it with local pit bosses.The Stirling time why the town couldn’t “knock of 1926 is largely forgotten.While would be more surprising if these Sentinel bewailed “Mad Britain!” down some of these old houses… I regret this as a folklorist and a ancient buildings did not generate and called the stoppage “a disas- and let the poorer class have a student of history, I have to curb apparitional accounts. ter upon a disaster”, hypocritically mouthful of fresh air and perhaps my cultural ire by remembering Most of these stories I know railing against the selfishness of a little sunshine?” that the interest it inspired in local very well. In researching Haunted the strikers at incurring a tally In late summer the strike was lore is what has kept me in a job Stirling, though, I encountered of £1,565 on the town for July’s finally broken, to the benefit of the for two decades. one tale – from the very heart of Poor Relief while printing woeful bosses. According to contempo- David Kinnaird the Burgh – which I had not heard accounts of their malnourished rary accounts, the ghost appeared By email before. In his 1948 series “A News- offspring and the County Medical again – albeit once, and briefly – paperman Looks Back: Stories of Officer’s opinion that one in four looking down disparag- 25Years”, published in the Stirling of their rented lodgings (largely ingly from Ballangeich Sentinel, veteran journalist Alfred owned, incidentally, by the pit Hill upon the defeated, G Reilly recounted the experienc- owners) was “unfit for human dispirited Raploch es of quarrymen and miners from habitation”. miners as they returned the nearby Millhall pits in the The expectation that with the to work. Alf Reilly was early months of 1926. A strange mines idle, accounts of the now persuaded by the editor figure in white was observed on notorious wraith-like phantom of the Labour newspa- the roads coming to and from the amongst the miners would cease per, the Daily Herald, to pit, most commonly in the hours was mistaken. Instead the tales spend an evening in the between 9pm and midnight, when increased in number, but relocated cemetery: “It was a nice workers were returning to their to the heart of the Old Town – night,” he reported. “I homes in the common lodging miles from the original reports. spent four or five hours houses that crowded the heart of Even odder, I have been able to there but not a sound the Old Town. find no account of hauntings or did I hear, except having A lamp-cabin attendant told apparitions within this area for at a chat with the police- jorodo

FT302 71 www.forteantimes.com it happened to me…

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Tucked up by back slightly. Fearfulness quickly of the bed, I could clearly see a despair began to subside and (with ghost subsided and I fell back asleep. man standing literally inches from sheet still firmly over my head) I My mother died in November my sleeping husband. The odd finally got back to sleep. The next In the summer of 2004 I was of 2003 and since I have never thing about it was that he wasn’t morning, as is the way of these living on my own in an Edwardian experienced anything unusual in leaning over the bed as one might things, I awoke to a warm sunny semi-detached house in this house prior to her passing, it expect. Instead he was facing the room and an oblivious husband. Gloucester. One evening I decided would be easy to presume it was wall against which the headboard When I recall this incident I wonder to quarantine one of my goldfish her intervention – but who knows? was resting, with his head bowed. if I had somehow accessed an in a spare tank, as he seemed Sara Buckley I couldn’t see his face, but got the imprint of this man’s despair and if to be suffering from an affliction Dursley, Gloucestershire impression he was at least in late any other guests in that room had I didn’t want to spread to the middle age, stocky and wearing sensed this fleeting reminder of others. Whilst undertaking his The Midland some sort of old fashioned great long ago sadness. relocation, I badly strained my coat. I somehow perceived him to Vicky Holt lower back, but the full discomfort Hotel, Manchester be someone of note, distinguished Whitefield, Manchester didn’t become apparent until I had in some way. completed the job and sat down My husband turned 40 in 2007 Weirder still was the absolutely Restless spirit to relax. After 15 minutes or so I and as a special treat I booked crushing sense of despair and was in extreme pain and having us a night in the Midland, a fine sadness I began to feel; I felt In July 2006, my daughter and telephoned my sister for advice, turn-of-the-century hotel in central utterly destroyed, as if my world I stayed overnight in a motel in I slowly crept upstairs and very Manchester. I am usually quite had come to an end. I was literally Ashford, Kent. During the night, my gingerly manoeuvred myself into sensitive to ‘atmospheres’, but shaking, on the verge of tears and daughter heard a strange groaning bed. It took some time to find felt nothing but pleasure that just wanted so desperately to go noise and was so frightened she a tolerable position to sleep in afternoon when we checked into home. Although not a religious kept her head under the duvet. I as I felt absolutely crippled with our room, which was small but person, I am not ashamed to also heard groaning and it seemed pain. Eventually I managed to fall nicely furnished. Later we spent admit that I pulled the sheet over to be pulling me out of my sleep. asleep. an enjoyable evening celebrating my head and prayed. Gradually I resisted but eventually sat up At some point in the wee small with his family, returning to the the intense feelings of dread and in bed when I heard a whooshing hours I was awoken by ‘someone’ Midland before midnight to crash sound pass by me and I then saw a grasping my ankles and pulling out. My husband was asleep within shining outline of a figure at the foot my legs across the bed (like minutes but I just couldn’t settle. “I felt destroyed, of the bed. In my half-awake state I parallel hands on a clock face), For me this is not unusual as for assumed it was my daughter going until my legs and torso described some reason I never seem to as if my world had to the bathroom. However, I looked a completely straight line across sleep well in hotel rooms. over to where she was sleeping and the mattress. Then, my quilt was Fatigue must have eventually come to an end. she was in the bed. Unfortunately, pulled up my body (I had obviously caught up with me as I suddenly I was literally I was so sleepy that I simply turned pushed it away whilst asleep) awoke in the early hours with the over and went back to sleep. I woke and unseen hands “tucked” the strongest sense that a third party shaking, on the in the morning with cramp in both quilt in along the left-hand side was in the room. Turning my head legs, but I had forgotten about the of my body (the side of the bed to look across to the other side verge of tears” incident. As we were in the car nearest the door). I could actually see the impressions made in the quilt and feel the pressure of it being tucked along my side. I can remember looking to my left to see who might be doing this, but there was no one there. I didn’t feel any fear at the time, but was certainly made a lot more comfortable than I had been at bedtime and evidently drifted back to sleep until daybreak. Some months later, I fell asleep in bed lying on my left- hand side and was awoken by someone holding my right hand and applying downward pressure along the length of my body. I was quite scared since I was unable to move. Within a few moments I felt the mattress move in the way it would if someone sat on the edge of the bed, in the “V” shape formed between my upper and lower legs with knees bent. I felt the mattress “give” under the pressure and my body tip

72 FT302 www.forteantimes.com Have you had strange experiences that you cannot explain? We are always interested in reading of odd events and occurrences. CONTACT US BY POST: FORTEAN TIMES, BOX 2409, LONDON, NW5 4NP OR E-MAIL TO [email protected] Or post your message on the www.forteantimes.com message board.

park loading our suitcases, my NULATO, ALASKA him again. daughter told me what she had Many years later, after I had heard and the memories came returned home to my village, I fl ooding back to me. asked my mother about my dog. Some time later, I contacted She told me that he had died about the motel to recount the incident three years after I left home. and ask if there was any history of As told to John Smelcer, scholar hauntings there. The receptionist of Native American studies, by rang me back a few days later. Jimmy Peters, aged 84, Nulato, I was stunned to hear that a Alaska 1998. Jimmy died at the age guest had committed suicide in of 88 in 2002. that very room four months prior to our stay. She also said that Star of Bethlehem a dog belonging to a member of staff now refused to go to the Back in 2004 I was working in Lunn second fl oor where that room was Poly Travel Agents in Littlehampton, situated. I did wonder if she was . It was a spring day winding me up, so I checked with and business was slow, so I was a local newspaper. A news report quite glad to see a woman open confirmed the suicide and that an the door and approach my desk inquest had been held in October towards the front of the shop. 2006. She sat down and requested Gill Whittock some info on fl ights, but I got the Cheltenham, Gloucestershire distinct impression she was more A Dog children. The few villages I had interested in me as she started Last appearance ever visited, upriver or downriver of to ask me questions. She had I was born and raised in Nulato, Nulato, had only a few children in an open, friendly face with bright, In October 2007, I lost my best Alaska. My family lived in a small them. To be so many at the school, inquisitive eyes and I would say she friend to terminal cancer after house close to the Yukon River. It’s I thought, there must not be a was in her late 50s to 60s. a long battle. The week before not there anymore. I remember single Indian boy or girl left in any She told me I had suffered some she died, I received a call to go during break-up in early May, how village in the world. I was sad for major emotional damage and it to the hospital as quickly as I the river would fl ood and we had all the parents who had lost their involved my family. This shook me, could, as she was in a very deep to leave the village. Lots of villages children. I cried all the time at fi rst. as my parents’ marriage was going sleep, from which she would not would fl ood like that. They still In my third year, I saw my dog. through a rocky patch and it had waken. Shortly after I arrived, she do sometimes. Nowadays, the He was outside my dormitory upset me badly. She then said defied what had been said, and government makes some of the window one night. It looked like he it was not my fault and I needed woke up, though she was quite villages move to higher ground, but had chased a squirrel up a tree healing and that something called confused. back then Natives lived where they and was barking at it like he always the Star of Bethlehem would help. Later that evening, I went home wanted to live. did. I opened the window and She then left the shop. to bed. I had just got into the bed, When I was a little boy, around called to him, telling him to stop Half an hour later she was back. and was by no means asleep, six years old I think, I had my barking. I was worried the noise She lent over my desk and gave when I looked up, and there, own dog. I don’t remember his would wake up all the other boys in me a small carrier bag containing standing behind the head of my name. He was the runt of a litter our dorm. My roommate asked me a bottle of Rescue Remedy. She bed, was my best friend. She was from good sled dog stock, and what I was doing. I told him I was said this would help me calm my happy, glowing, beautiful, and my father was going to kill him. I telling my dog to stop barking. He mind, and then quickly left the full of energy, as she had been begged to take care of the dog, so said I was crazy, that he didn’t hear shop. One of the major ingredients before the treatment had altered my father let me have him – but anything. My dog trotted over to of this natural remedy is the Star her appearance dramatically. She he made me catch and dry my the window. He stood there looking of Bethlehem, an extract from the was leaning over me to touch me, own salmon to feed him. I guess up at me, wagging his tail. I think Flower of Bethlehem, thought to and far from panicking that this he was teaching me responsibility. he was smiling, though it’s hard to have mental healing powers. I left meant she had passed away, I That dog went everywhere with me. tell with dogs, you know. I talked Lunn Poly latter that year – and found the experience comforting Then, when I was eight or nine to him like I always did, asking him never saw the mysterious woman and reassuring, as I felt this years old [in 1922/23], I was what he was doing at the school. again. meant she would indeed, as I forced to go to school far away. He just wagged his tail. Then he Mark Barnes had hoped, be able to visit me Two older boys from my village turned and ran away. I never saw Worthing, West Sussex in some form. The apparition also went. It took a long time to was gone as quickly as it had get to the place. Haskell. That’s NOW ON SALE! appeared. I told her about it what they called the school. It ItHappenedTo Me! the next day, but she was too was in Kansas, the fl attest place REAL-LIFE TALES OF THE PARANORMAL IT HAPPENED TO ME! VOLUME 5 confused to understand what I you’ll ever see. I remember looking was saying, which was a pity, as out the windows of buses and VOLUME 5 it’s exactly the sort of thing she cars and trains, and seeing how The latest collection of fi rst-hand would have loved to hear about. the whole world was bigger and accounts of high strangeness from Though I was obviously very sad different from how I ever imagined. when she passed away, she has I was very afraid. We were all the pages of Fortean Times includes tales of dog-headed men, haunted visited me from time to time afraid. Ordinarypeople’s hotels, disappearing buidlings and extraordinary since, though not in a form I could There were lots of other Native true storiesfrom so clearly see. children at the school, hundreds much, much more. Now available thepagesof Name on fi le I guess. I remember wondering from WH Smith and Amazon.co.uk By email where they all came from, those

FT302 73 www.forteantimes.com relating to Williamson and the tunnels is so great that different guides can provide different emphases around the main script (for example, social versus Fortean construction aspects), so a revisit can even provide additional insights. What’s important to note is that knowledge about the tunnels is continually evolving as new research and excavations are undertaken. The area covered by the tunnels is traVeLLer roughly that bounded by Paddington in the North, Grinfield Street in the South, Overton Street in the East, and Smithdown Lane (but possibly 86. the Williamson tunnels, Liverpool Old Crown Street) in the West; approximately 440 yards by 330 yards (400x300m). The maximum depth below ground level for any of roB Gandy dons his hardhat and follows in the subterranean footsteps of the tunnels is about 60ft (18m). The Joseph Williamson, the Mole of Edge Hill... JWS estimates that less than 10 per cent of the whole system is currently known, and less than five per cent ortean travellers are usually is Smithdown Lane, where, set back is accessible. Other excavations are an intrepid lot, venturing behind some new houses opposite currently being undertaken in Mason across the globe to places like the police station, you will find the Street and Paddington by the Friends F Santorini and Cambodia in Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre. of the Williamson Tunnels, a separate search of the weird and the Liverpool is one of the top tourist organisation to the JWS. The two work wonderful. venues for people from the UK and alongside one another to protect the Not me. Wielding my travel pass, abroad, who come for music, theatre, Williamson legacy. I crossed the River Mersey from the history and sport. Yet few of them Wirral peninsula to Liverpool to visit realise that close to the city centre is a GeoGraphy and history a hidden gem tucked away behind subterranean world with a fascinating Edge Hill is part of a north-south Liverpool University. A 10-minute walk history. Opened in 2002, the Heritage sandstone ridge about 1.5 miles up Brownlow Hill from the famous Centre is run by the Joseph Williamson (2.4km) from the River Mersey, and is Adelphi Hotel takes you past the Society (JWS) and is the entrance to surrounded by boulder clay. From the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral the elaborate underground labyrinth 18th century it was looked after by the (known locally as “Paddy’s Wigwam” of tunnels, chambers and passageways West Derby Wastelands Commission because of its Catholic congregation created by the wealthy businessman (WDWC); as this name suggests, it of primarily Irish descent and its and philanthropist Joseph Williamson was poor ground with significant resemblance to a Native American in the early 19th century. For a modest above: Joseph marshland, parts of which flooded in teepee) and the Victoria Building of entrance fee you get a 40-minute Williamson. winter to a depth of over 3ft (90cm). Liverpool University, which inspired guided tour, with (essential) hardhat. Because it was common land, people the term “Redbrick university” It takes you on a circular route through beLoW: The could help themselves to the sandstone; (because it was built with red bricks). a section of the network, with exhibits Double Tunnel after and so as Liverpool developed, the At the very top of Brownlow Hill there and displays depicting the period and renovation, seen demand for the sandstone for building is a major road junction, but the road the life and times of the man himself. through the windows purposes increased. It is now argued opposite is comparatively minor. This The range of information and stories of the Heritage Centre this resulted in wildcat sandstone slot quarries providing dimension stone for some of the grand buildings of the expanding mercantile city. Williamson saw an opportunity to develop land on the hill by building a system of arches that covered the slots and then provided the foundation for urban housing. Therefore, the tunnels are not actually tunnels, in the sense of being dug directly into the ground, but examples of the earliest and most profitable forms of quarry restorations. Because some of the slots were so deep, Williamson was forced to build multiple (support) arches above one another. Williamson acquired his estate in 1806 and almost immediately started developments, building houses which covered many streets, primarily for rent, until 1840. There is no record of his ever employing an architect or engineer, and so it is understood that he designed and managed the building of all the houses himself. Their design

74 FT302 www.forteantimes.com 1880s, the extension of the Edge Hill railway tunnel into a four-track cutting meant further waste was put in the tunnels, followed either side of WWI with more demolition rubble from slum clearance. In the 1950s, blitz rubble from WWII and further slum clearance was added. The tunnels had evidently become a waste management version of Dr Who’s TARDIS. Interest in the tunnels returned in the 1990s with the founding of the JWS, and there are now good links with the City Council Planning Department and various university and professional archæological organisations to ensure proper surveys are undertaken when new tracts are discovered, for example during housing development. was somewhat bizarre, but sadly none the MoLe oF edGe hiLL survive. The underground complex Comparatively little is known about included cellars for some of the houses Williamson, but recent research and a range of chambers. Williamson’s indicates that he was born in Yorkshire eccentricity earned him the nickname in 1769. He arrived in Liverpool at the “The Mole of Edge Hill”. age of 11 or 12 and went to work for Following the Napoleonic wars there Mr Tate, a tobacco merchant. He was were huge numbers of de-mobbed successful and progressed through the soldiers returning home to swell the company, as well as being a merchant ranks of the poor and unemployed in his own right. He married Elizabeth of Liverpool. Williamson employed Tate, the boss’s daughter, in 1802. hundreds of these men to build his The story goes that straight after the tunnels and houses. When work dipped, ceremony Williamson sent his new rather than lay off workers, he required wife home while he went riding with them to undertake tasks which served the Liverpool Hunt. When someone no useful purpose so he could pay them. commented that he looked particularly These included pumping water (to well dressed, he replied: “A man run away), turning a grindstone (with should look smart on his wedding day!” nothing to grind) and moving stones. Responding to a query about his wife’s When there were insufficient locally- whereabouts he stated: “She’s at home, made bricks available, he got two teams to be sure, where all good wives ought of bricklayers to each dig a hole; he then to be – getting ready her husband’s got them to fill in the other team’s hole. dinner”. Clearly, he was no Women’s Maybe he inspired Keynes. Libber. In the early 1830s it was decided to There is some mystery about events drive a tunnel from Edge Hill station, just before the turn of the century, the then terminus for the Liverpool- when Wiliamson is thought to have Manchester Railway, through to what been tipped off by the notorious became Lime Street Station. The railway Banastre Tarleton, MP for Liverpool, navvies were digging 40ft (12m) below that the United States was about to ground when a large hole appeared in introduce an embargo or trade tariff the tunnel floor. Seeing dark figures on certain goods, probably tobacco. moving, they thought that they had Whatever the detail, Williamson broken through to the Underworld ToP: Painting appears to have “made a killing”, so and disturbed the Devil, and so they They thought of Wiliamson’s that he was able to purchase the Tate fled. In fact, they had broken into one Tunnels and tobacco business in 1803 from his of Williamson’s active tunnels. The they’d broken houses by brother-in-law. When he retired, at the upshot was that George Stephenson (of Charles Hand. age of 49, his wealth was £450,000 – the “Rocket” fame), who was responsible above: The equivalent of nearly £30 million today. for the project, was so impressed with through to the Pyramid Tunnel. The main source for Williamson the workmanship in the tunnels that he is James Stonehouse’s 1863 book employed some of Williamson’s men on Underworld Recollections of Old Liverpool, but the the remainder of the railway tunnel. veracity of some details is open to Following Williamson’s death in 1840 question, given limited corroborative much of his property was taken over capacities of the tunnels, it took time evidence. What cannot be denied is by the Army. The 1860s saw important before they filled, and in 1867 the that he was a beneficent and peculiar general sewer developments in Liverpool Medical Officer of Health philanthropist. Liverpool, but prior to this the residents brought the health hazards, and the of the houses in Edge Hill, which was “abominable smells”, to the attention of GoinG underGround by then a densely populated district, the city’s Health Committee for action. There are a number of tunnels and seemed content to have the drains of This resulted in Liverpool City Council features relating to the Heritage their privies and water-closets carried and the WDWC filling up the tunnels Centre’s public tour. Most of their directly into the tunnels situated with ash, demolition rubble and other names are modern, coined by the JWS: beneath their homes, together with inert materials, to make them safe, The Corner Tunnel: This was one of other household detritus. Given the cover the filth and prevent access. In the two tunnels visible above ground in the

FT302 75 www.forteantimes.com corner of the stable yard. Excavation established that other Williamson tunnels lay beneath the surface. The Pit: This is 30ft (9m) high but was previously filled to within 8ft (2.4m) of the roof with ash and demolition rubble tipped there to bury organic material which had been dumped from the cellar of the house above via a chute on the east wall. Biddulph’s Cellar: This served one of Williamson’s houses, but by the end of the 19th century the house and cellar were part of Biddulph’s confectionary works. This was a rich source of period jam jars and sweet jar lids. The Pyramid Tunnel: This was given its name due to the striking similarity between its shape and the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza. Double Tunnel: This was one of the few remains that was visible above asked: “What is that man doing”? The ground. It was so named because it guide responded that the figure was a consists of an arch within an arch. More mannequin dressed up as a worker of the recent excavations revealed the remains time. The boy said that he did not mean of a third arch, which had collapsed in the mannequin and pointed up to the on itself many years before. ceiling saying he was on about “that man Kebab Tunnel: This was penetrated by hanging by his neck”. Everyone looked two boreholes during the construction of up but could see nothing, although the student accommodation above in 1999. boy said that he could still see him. Concrete poured into these holes to form The Williamson tunnels have been foundation piles leaked over the ash and described as the largest underground rubble infill forming a layer 12in (30cm) folly in the world, but it will be gleaned thick. Following excavation of the infill that they were not a folly but a practical and removal of much concrete, one of means to level the land for building the two piles was left looking like kebab development. This does not diminish meat rotating on a spit! their interest: How far do they extend? Link Tunnel: This was constructed in commonest used was brick, hand-made ToP: The Corner What is waiting to be discovered? What 2001 to connect the Kebab and Double locally using boulder clay. Only one Tunnel. above: The were all the facts and the motives? There Tunnels and form a circular route for section has sandstone above, below and Kebab Tunnel. LeFT: A are so many unknowns and matters public tour. to the sides. tootpaste lid found in that are open to interpretation, and In addition, work is currently taking the tunnels. more is being discovered as time goes place on the Triple Decker (North), Mysteries by. Therefore there is much to interest which is only triple for part of its length. The Heritage Centre hosts a range of the fortean visitor, and as the JWS is It was rediscovered in 2003 during events involving music, theatre, poetry primarily dependent on visitor income exploratory work to find the Great and book readings. Horror author and donations, you know that your Tunnel, which lies beneath Magnet Ramsey Campbell was there for a money will be going directly to support Kitchen’s warehouse on Mason Street, “Terror in the Tunnels” evening in April further exploration. fT and is believed to be one of Williamson’s 2013. He was to have been joined by largest constructions with a span of James Herbert, who sadly passed away acknoWLedGeMents 50ft (15m). The name “Great Tunnel” just before (see p26). The event became All pictures used in this article were was first used in the 1850s, and a tribute to the late writer. At kindly provided (along with their time, plans drawn up by the Army Christmas there are special advice and coffee) by Dave Bridson and in the early 20th century decorations; and, yes, some Barbara Price of the Joseph Williamson suggest that it was partially people have organised RefeRences Society. Information not specifically if not wholly collapsed and ghost tours. www.williamsontunnels. referenced was from JWS literature or filled in. A feature known It would be reasonable co.uk/ provided by them. Forteans who cannot as The Banqueting Hall is to assume that such a www.edgehill.ac.uk/ get to the tunnels can make a donation not accessible to the public. unique labyrinth would news/2012/08/ if they so wish through Paypal at hwww. A local video in the 1980s attract strange stories over the williamson-tunnels-are- williamsontunnels.co.uk/ caused confusion by implying that years, but there are very few. Most they-really-quarries Williamson held a banquet underground Haunted initially approached the JWS James Stonehouse, WiLLiaMson tunneLs heritaGe in this room, when records are clear with a view to doing a programme in the Recollections of Old centre, The Old Stable Yard, that it took place in his house, but the tunnels, but did not proceed when it was Liverpool, Liverpool: Smithdown Lane, Liverpool, L7 3EE name stuck. Finally, the Well Tunnel is realised that the 200-person capacity of J. F. Hughes, 1863 Telephone: 0151 709 6868 visible, but it is not strictly a tunnel as the Heritage Centre was insufficient for (www.gutenberg.org/ files/21324/21324- it consists of three vaulted chambers, its audience. Derek Acorah visited the ROB GAnDY is a visiting h/21324-h. professor at the Liverpool with the name arising from the arched tunnels as part of an Irish TV show and htm#startoftext) niche in the sandstone block wall being apparently sensed a trapped woman, but Business School, John “A Gigantic Nuisance”, reminiscent of a well. could not link with her. Moores University. He has The Porcupine, 31 Aug, written previously for FT There are primarily three main types However, on one occasion a guide 1867; “The Edge-Hill of tunnel construction: brick, sandstone was taking a group of about 10 people Caverns”, The Porcupine, on a range of fortean topics, including blocks, and a composite of the two. The through the tunnels when a young boy 23 Nov 23, 1867. Merseyside doppelgängers and ghostlore.

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JAN BONDESON presents more stories from the "worst newspaper in England" – the Illustrated Police News.

that this strange old lady had expired, at a very before going abroad as a sailor; his last letter 22. MISS VINT AND HER advanced age.The very same day, she found a to his sister had been sent from Persia. After REINCARNATED CATS tiny kitten on her doorstep, and brought it inside. it had been rumoured that Job had been lost Examining the animal, she was astonished to see at sea, MissVint found a half-drowned Persian that it had a wart on its nose, and that its eyes cat in her water-cistern. She saved the cat and Early October 1892 was a disappointing time were different shades of grey. When MissVint took care of it, but ‘Brother Job’ showed her from an Illustrated Police News point of view: struck a match, it gave a squeal of terror ... little gratitude, being most disreputable, with there had not been a murder for several weeks, Having added her reincarnated grandmother a fondness for philandering.The only person nor any other sanguinary outrages, and the rich to the household, MissVint kept looking for he was fond of was the cat’s meat man, and he and famous had been behaving themselves with other family members in feline form. Her sister ignored the comfortable bed MissVint provided decorum.The only thing for the IPN to do was Minnie had been the beauty of the family, with for him, preferring to sleep in the dustbin. to bolster its 8 October edition by publishing large blue eyes, and a fondness for pink dresses. Disbelievers in reincarnation, the journalists what today would have been termed a ‘human After she had died, MissVint found a pretty thought MissVint as mad as a hatter, albeit interest’ story about the eccentric London blue-eyed white kitten for sale at a street stall, harmless and kind. Sinisterly, they wrote that spinster MissVint and her extraordinary cats. with a frilly pink ribbon around its neck. ‘Sister if she had possessed a fortune, her grasping The elderly MissVint, who lived in a little Minnie’ was still alive in 1892, and MissVint relatives would surely have had her committed cottage at Eden Gardens, Walworth, and was introduced her to the journalists: a handsome, to an asylum to get their hands on her money. known for her belief in the transmigration of large white cat, very fond of her mistress. But fortunately for her, MissVint had an income souls, freely demonstrated her eight cats to the Not long after, MissVint’s eldest brother of just over £100 per annum, and she could journalists.They were all sturdy, contented- Micah, a very obese character, died after being remain in her little Walworth cottage, living looking animals, well looked after by MissVint hit on the head by a brick dropped from a contentedly with her feline family. and her domestics. building site.The day after, MissVint saw some The story originated in the Daily Telegraph MissVint had always been very fond of her street ragamuffins throwing stones at a very fat before spreading to other papers, the IPN Devonshire grandmother. This ancient lady was cat! She belaboured them with her umbrella included. When I did some research to fi nd out very odd-looking, with a large wart on her nose, and rescued the cat. ‘Brother Micah’ was also MissVint’s fi rst name, it turned out that no such and eyes of different shades of grey. She was formally introduced to the journalists: a stout, lady resided in Walworth at the time of the 1881 very nervous, and since the striking of a match whiskerless cat who disapproved of locomotion and 1891 censuses; nor was there any record sent her into hysterics, she adhered to the old- and liked to drink large saucers of cream. suggesting that a Job or MicahVint ever existed. fashioned fl int-and-steel way of making light. The black sheep of theVint family had been But surely, the honest London journalists could One day, MissVint was distraught to hear her brother Job, who had lived a dissolute life not have invented the story – or could they? reader info Why Fortean? how to subscribe ANNUAL SUB of 12 issues (inc p&p) UK £39.98; EC £47.50; USA $79.99 ortean Times is a monthly of all apparent phenomena, coined ($143.98 for 24 issues); Rest of World £55. Please see house ads in the latest issue for details of special offers. magazine of news, reviews the term ‘teleportation’, and was F and research on strange perhaps the first to speculate that North America (US & Canada) phenomena and experiences, mysterious lights seen in the sky Subscribers should contact: IMS. 3330 Pacific Avenue, Suite 404, Virginia Beach, VA 23454, USA. Tel: 888-428 6676. or 800-428 3003; Fax: 757 428 curiosities, prodigies and portents. might be craft from outer space. 6253; Or order online at www.imsnews.com. It was founded by Bob Rickard However, he cut at the very roots of UK, Europe & rest of world in 1973 to continue the work of credulity: “I conceive of nothing, in Major credit cards accepted. Cheques or money orders should be in sterling, Charles Fort (1874–1932). religion, science or philosophy, that preferably drawn on a London bank and made payable to Dennis Publishing. Born of Dutch stock in Albany, is more than the proper thing to Mail to: Fortean Times Dovetail Services, 800 Guillat Avenue, Kent Science New York, Fort spent many years wear, for a while.” Park, Sittingbourne, ME9 8GU, UK. NB: This address should be used for orders and subscriptions only. researching scientific literature in Fort was by no means the first Telephone payments and queries: 0844 844 0049. the New York Public Library and person to collect anomalies and Fax payments and queries: 0844 815 0866. the British Museum Library. He oddities – such collections have E-mail payments and queries: [email protected] marshalled his evidence and set abounded from Greece to China how to submit forth his philosophy in The Book of since ancient times. Fortean Times the Damned (1919), New Lands keeps alive this ancient task of Dennis Publishing reserves all rights to reuse material submitted by FT (1923), Lo! (1931), and Wild Talents dispassionate weird-watching, readers and contributors in any medium or format. (1932). exploring the wild frontiers between Illustrations He was sceptical of scientific the known and the unknown. Contact the art director by email ([email protected]) before sending explanations, observing how From the viewpoint of samples of work. We cannot guarantee to respond to unsolicited work, scientists argued according to their mainstream science, its function is though every effort will be made to do so. own beliefs rather than the rules elegantly stated in a line from Enid Article submissions of evidence and that inconvenient Welsford’s book on the mediæval Please send all submissions to David Sutton, Editor, Fortean Times, data were ignored, suppressed, fool: “The Fool does not lead a PO BOX 71602, London E17 0QD, UK or email drsuttton@forteantimes. com. As we receive a large volume of submissions, a decision may not be discredited or explained away. revolt against the Law; he lures us immediate. A contributors’ guide is available at www.forteantimes.com. He criticised modern science for into a region of the spirit where... its reductionism, its attempts to the writ does not run.” Letters Letters of comment or about experiences are welcome. Send to PO Box define, divide and separate. Fort’s Besides being a journal of 2409, London NW5 4NP, UK or email [email protected]. We dictum “One measures a circle record, FT is also a forum for reserve the right to edit submissions. beginning anywhere” expresses the discussion of observations Books, periodicals, DVDs and other material for review instead his philosophy of Continuity and ideas, however absurd or Send to: Fortean Times, PO BOX 71602, London E17 0QD, UK. in which everything is in an unpopular, and maintains a Caveat intermediate and transient state position of benevolent scepticism FT aims to present the widest range of interpretations to stimulate between extremes. towards both the orthodox and discussion and welcomes helpful criticism. The opinions of contributors He had ideas of the Universe-as- unorthodox. are not necessarily those of the editors. FT can take no responsibility for organism and the transient nature FT toes no party line. submissions, but will take all reasonable care of material in its possession. Requests for return of material should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope or an International Reply Coupon.

We occasionally use material that has been placed in the public domain. It is not always Special Correspondents possible to identify the copyright holder. If you claim credit for something we’ve published, we’ll be pleased to make acknowledgement. AUSTRALIA Graham Cordon (SA), Tony Healy (ACT), John Palazzi (NSW), Len Watson (Qld). CANADA Brian Chapman (BC), Graham Conway (BC). CYBERSPACE Richard Alexander, John F Callahan, Hugh Henry, Neil L Inglis, Michael Newton, Steve Scanlon. ENGLAND Gail-Nina Anderson, Louise Bath, Claire Blamey, Peter Christie, Mat Coward, Paul Farthing, George Featherston, Paul Gallagher, Alan Gardiner, Keith George, Anne Hardwick, Richard Clippers wanted! Lowke, Alexis Lykiard, Diana Lyons, Dave Malin, Nick Maloret, Valerie Martin, Tom Ruffles, Meryl Santis, Paul Screeton, Gary Stocker, Roman Suchyj, Frank Thomas, Paul Thomas, Nick Regular clipsters have provided the Warren, Bobby Zodiac. FINLAND Heather Fowler. FRANCE Michel Meurger. GERMANY lifeblood of Fortean Times since it Ulrich Magin, Cliff Wren. HOLLAND Robin Pascoe. IRELAND Andy Conlon, Pat Corcoran, began in 1973. One of the delights Andrew Munro. ISRAEL Zvi Ron. NEW ZEALAND Peter Hassall. ROMANIA Iosif Boczor. for the editors is receiving packets SCOTLAND Roger Musson, Leslie John Thomson. SWEDEN Sven Rosén. THAILAND Chris of clips from Borneo or Brazil, Saudi Arabia Williams. USA (ME), Jim Conlan (CT), Myron Hoyt (ME), Dolores Phelps (TX), or Siberia. We invite you to join in the fun Jim Riecken (NY), Joseph Trainor (MA), Jeffrey Vallance (CA), Gary Yates (UT). WALES Janet and send in anything weird, from trade & Colin Bord. journals, local newspapers, extracts from obscure tomes, or library newspaper archives. Fort Sorters (who classify clippings placed in the Archives for Fortean Research) To minimise the time spent on preparing clippings for a Phil Baker, Rachel Carthy, Steve Moore, Mark Pilkington, Bob Rickard, Paul Sieveking, Ian Simmons. Fort Sort, we ask that you cut them out and not fold them too small. Mark each clip (on the front, where possible) with Clipping Credits for FT302 the source, date and your name, so that we can credit you Richard Alexander, Gerard Apps, Helen Bate, Louise Bath, James Beckett, Andy Conlon, Pat in the listing (right) when we use the material. For UK local Corcoran, Graham Cordon, John H Evans, Robert Everett, Paul Farthing, Alan Gardiner, Keith and overseas clips, please give the town of publication. For George, Benjamin Gleisser, Anne Hardwick, Merrily Harpur, Tony Healy, Hugh Henry, Nigel Herwin, foreign language clips, we appreciate brief translations. To avoid confusion over day and month, please write the date Kevin Hubbard, Colin Ings, Ernest Jackson, Martyn P Jackson, Paul Jackson, Tony James, Rosalind in this form: 1 June 2013. If you send photocopies, copy on Johnson, Andy Lapham, Diana Lyons, Dave Malin, Nick Maloret, Valerie Martin, Tom Mason, Greg one side of the paper only. May, Jeff McInery, Steve Moore, Paul Music, John Palazzi, Sven Rosén, Tom Ruffles, Matt Salusbury, Paul Screeton, Amelia Shay, Tony Smith, Gary Stocker, Frank Thomas, Paul Thomas, Joe Trainor, Mail to: Fortean Times, PO Box 2409, London NW5 4NP, UK E-mail: [email protected] Dave Trevor, Keith Warner, Len Watson, Sam White, Owen Whiteoak, Zebbie Zubbeh. or post on the FT website at www.forteantimes.co.uk, where there is a contributor’s guide.

FT302 79 www.forteantimes.com COMING NEXT MONTH PIETTE HUGO TALES FROM THE VAULT wartime witchcraft EACH MONTH WE SEND FORTEAN TIMES FOUNDER BOB RICKARD DOWN INTO THE DARKEST, -RIDDEN DEPTHS OF THE VAULTS OF FORTEAN TOWERS IN SEARCH OF STORIES FROM FT’S PAST. in search of the witch of scrapfaggot green JUNE 1973 and the dog refused a sample of it. Cutting into the Here’s a little art mystery. This month, we recorded, a steak, she found a bullet. She took it to the police painting by Degas, of washerwomen, worth £250,000 who identified it as human flesh. They raided the at the time, vanished during a Swissair flight from store only to find the whole batch had been sold. London to Zurich. Official investigations show it was The Moscow paper that reported this wished those loaded on board but never arrived. In 2010, a small customers bon appetit. Neither store nor investigating pastel sketch by Degas – called Blanchisseuses officers were named, yet the paper insisted the story souffrant des dent (‘Laundry women with toothache’) was authentic. We can’t decide which stinks more: – was spotted during a sale at Sotheby’s New York. that Russian stores keep no record of their meat It too had been stolen in 1973, but from a museum sourcing or that a story so iffy can be blatantly sold in Le Havre. Two artworks of the same subject matter as truth. FT73:8 by the same artist stolen in the same year... what are the chances of that happening? FT1:17 JUNE 2003 In Zimbabwe, Mugabe’s infamous seizure of farms JUNE 1983 from white farmers encountered an obstinate “Sheep are not as daft as people think,” said occupant that his enforcers could not intimidate. sex ghosts of sicily a Ministry of Agriculture spokesman. He was Ten years after his death, Fritz Meyer’s children commenting upon rumours that sheep had been have refused to remove the casket of his ashes ‘il masturbatore’ and other spotted using “commando-style” tactics to get across from a locked room in the Moyo Ranch until they are post-mortem perverts the ground-level cattle-grids intended to prevent them compensated for their grabbed home. It was due to wandering. A couple of months earlier, a writer in the be turned into a school, but prospective teachers Guardian noted that only sheep in Wales had taken have been pleading with the local education office to “rolling across the grids”; outside Britain, the tactic to be transferred anywhere else. They cite the + has only been reported from the Malmoehus region mysterious sounds of a man whistling, striding about, of Sweden. This month, someone filmed a sheep in and running a bath (even though all the plumbing was the uncanny valley, the Brecon Hills “picking his way along and across vandalised during the seizure). There are even reports the bars as though he were walking a tightrope”. of the ghost of Meyer noisily driving his Land Rover dead artists speak, Sheldrake watchers have suggested monitoring sheep around the farm – surely a phantom ‘two fingers’ to mysterious dr phene in Yorkshire for signs that the knowledge is spreading. the Harare government and their petrol rationing. The “If Sheldrake’s theory of formative causation is right,” last we heard, a local chief threatened to call in the and much more… notes the correspondent, “it is only a matter of time witchdoctors to exorcise Meyer, but we have no news before the Falklands sheep assert themselves.” We on how that was resolved. FT174:19 are still waiting for confirmation. FT45:19 Let’s close this instalment with a good luck story. A lifetime of disasters for accident-prone Frane Selak, JUNE 1993 a music teacher in Croatia, began in 1962, when his fortean A South African tribesman (not sure what tribe) called train plunged into the icy Neretva River; 17 people Simphiwe Khoza (the name shows up commonly died but Selak survived shock, hypothermia, and a in Facebook and Google apparently for both sexes) broken arm. A year later he was sucked out of a DC-8 was cleared by a Johannesburg court of possessing plane when a door flew open; 19 people died, but TIMES 80lb (36kg) of marijuana after he told the judge it Selak landed in a haystack. More accidents followed was for ritual burning. Khosa said he used it during over the years with very lucky escapes from crashing, thunderstorms to ward off lightning. FT72:11 plunging and exploding vehicles. The next story reminds us that there could be “I suppose my four failed marriages were disasters worse things in our food than horsemeat. A housewife too,” he mused. However, Selak prefers to believe in Moscow bought expensive frozen steak from a that he is actually very lucky to be still alive. As if to state store for the family’s Russian Independence prove it, this year, aged 74, he bought his first lottery 303 Day dinner, celebrated on the 12th. Her suspicions ticket in 40 years and promptly won a jackpot of grew when, on thawing, it turned a strange colour £600,000. FT176:12 ON SALE 20 jUNE 2013 ADVERTISEMENT

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