the devil's breath hypno-heists on the streets of paris a musical history of the ants on an iphone do insects have an electrosense? kennedy assassination hopeless hold-ups the world's dumbest criminals alien secret agent • rat-killing monkey • horned granny • chicken dinosaurs THE WORLD OF STRANGE PHENOMENA ft333 noVemBer 2015 £4.25 the story of england's strangest family did kenneth anger curse led zeppelin's jimmy page? C@ntrol MSS Fortean Times 333 strange days ‘Alien hybrid’ mystery man, horned granny, white wallaby on the loose, physical mediums, hopeless hold-ups, Arkansas black panthers, Dismaland, Ig Nobels 2015, Devil’s Breath, CONTENTS insect electrosense, Neolithic discoveries – and much more. 05 THE CONSPIRASPHERE 19 ALIEN ZOO 14 SCIENCE 20 GHOSTWATCH the world of strange phenomena 16 ARCHAEOLOGY 23 MYTHCONCEPTIONS 17 CLASSICAL CORNER 24 NECROLOG features COVER STORY 26 THE LIZARD MAN OF SCAPE ORE SWAMP In the spooky swamps of South Carolina lurks one of America’s most mysterious and menacing monsters: a seven-foot-tall reptilian terror with a taste for trashing motor vehicles. BENJAMIN RADFORD sets out in search of the elusive Lee County Lizard Man… 36 THE STRANGEST FAMILY IN ENGLAND ETIENNE GILFILLAN 6 BEMUSEMENT PARK In an extract from his new book, Great British Eccentrics, A visit to Banksy’s Dismaland SD TUCKER tells the story of the real-life Addams Family who wrote poems, hunted ghosts and tried to paint cows to fi t in with the crockery. 42 TRAGIC SONGS FROM THE GRASSY KNOLL: A MUSICAL HISTORY OF THE JFK ASSASSINATION The assassination of President John F Kennedy in November 1963 sent shockwaves around the world, but its impact on popular music and recorded sound remains largely neglected. DAVID THRUSSELL assesses a forgotten legacy of discarded vinyl artefacts. reports 48 BUILDING A FORTEAN LIBRARY No 4. A mound of Venus 72 TALES FROM THE ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS No 42. The rat-killing monkey of Manchester RON / GETTY IMAGES 76 FORTEAN TRAVELLER BA PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP / GETTY IMAGES 36 THE STRANGEST FAMILY IN ENGLAND 24 WALKING TALL No 103. Oddities of the Jurassic Coast The story of the Sitwells Farewell to the world’s shortest man forum 51 Dancing with the Devil by Chris Saunders 52 The cryptid petting zoo by Rob Gandy regulars 02 EDITORIAL 71 IT HAPPENED TO ME ETIENNE GILFILLAN 42 TRAGIC SONGS FROM THE GRASSY KNOLL 26 THE LIZARD MAN ATTACKS! 55 REVIEWS 79 PHENOMENOMIX A musical history of the JFK assassination Something nasty in the swamps... 67 LETTERS 80 STRANGE DEATHS COVER: ALEX TOMLINSON / ETIENNE GILFILLAN / GETTY IMAGES FT333 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 In search of ASS SUbScriptioN eNqUirieS ANd bAck iSSUeS www.subsinfo.co.uk [email protected] lizARd mAn STRikES AGAin close-up of the world’s most elusive artist – and FORTEAN TIMES is produced for Dennis Publishing by Wild Talents Ltd. Postal address: Fortean Times, We’d been planning to run Benjamin Radford’s he probably didn't. But Etienne’s photograph of PO BOX 71602, London E17 0QD. investigation into the classic case of the Lizard a car park attendant (or was that Banksy hiding You can manage your existing subscription through Man of Scape Ore Swamp (pp26-34) for some in plain sight cunningly disguised as a car park http://www.subsinfo.co.uk/ – this should be your first port time now, but the need to tackle various other attendant?) became a tabloid sensation when of call if you have any queries about your subscription. stories led its being put on hold for a few the Daily Mail website published it alongside Change your address, renew your subscription or report problems months. It turned out to be a fortuitous delay, an older photograph from 2008 of someone UK subscriptions: 0844 844 0049 as in the meantime new reports – including a who, er, might be Banksy. One Dismaland USA & Canada subscriptions: (+1) 800-428-3003 (toll free) rather astonishing photograph snapped on a employee was quoted as saying: “This is exactly Fax (+1) 757-428-6253 email [email protected] Other overseas subscriptions: +44 (0)1795 592 909 mobile phone – of the monster of Lee County, the sort of thing Banksy would do”. Perhaps Fax: +44 (0)1795 414 555 South Carolina, have it is, but within hours the emerged. Sharon Hill, media frenzy appeared licEnSinG & SYndicATiOn Fortean times IS AvAILABLE FOR owner of the sceptical to be over, with the Mail INTERNATIONAL LICENSINg AND SYNDICATION – CONTACT: website Doubtful News, “revealing” that the man Syndication Senior Manager ANj DOSAj-HALAI TEL: +44- (0) 20 7907 6132 takes a look at the latest Etienne had photographed [email protected] ‘evidence’ for the Lizard was “a parking attendant Licensing Manager CARLOTTA SERANTONI TEL: +44- (0) 20 7907 6550 Man (p31), but remains for the local council”. So [email protected] unimpressed by both that’s that then – or is Licensing & Syndication Assistant NICOLE ADAMS TEL: +44- (0) 20 7907 6134 the photograph and a it? Does the Mail really [email protected] blurry video that has expect us to believe that YOU cAn REAch FT On ThE inTERnET also emerged. Regular an unnamed parking www.forteantimes.com readers will know that attendant is not Banksy Benjamin Radford is also just because it tells us © Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited a monster hunter of the so? Like UFO-watchers sceptical kind, and his the world over, Bansky- point-by-point demolition seekers will surely suspect SeNior prodUctioN pUbliSHed bY of the original Lizard Man a cover-up and demand full deNNiS pUbliSHiNg, execUtiVe dANiel StArk sighting (made by 17-year- disclosure… 30 cleveland Street 020 7907 6053 old Christopher Davis in Meanwhile, in london w1t 4Jd, Uk [email protected] June 1988) is a thorough the Times daily quiz on 23 tel: 020 7907 6000 AdVertiSiNg director SteVe NicolAoU one: thorough enough to July 2015 was the following groUp pUbliSHer 020 7907 6633 make it hard to believe that what Davis saw question: “Founded in 1973, which magazine's iAN weStwood steve_nicolaou@ that night – if indeed he saw anything – was tagline is ‘The world of strange phenomena’?” 020 7907 6000 dennis.co.uk really a 7ft-tall reptilian creature of unknown circUlAtioN mANAger SAleS execUtiVe JAmeS mANgAN brAdleY beAVer origin. ERRATA james.mangan@ But doubt remains, and there were numerous seymour.co.uk 020 7907 6701 FT332:23 The photo of the blue devil spider bradley_beaver@ other Lizard Man witnesses in 1988 (and should have been credited to Carl Portman (not export circUlAtioN dennis.co.uk mANAger later) whose testimony remains.The late Karl Portman). gerAldiNe grobler John Keel pointed out that: “There’s hardly geraldine.grobler@ seymour.co.uk a respectable swamp in the deep south that FT332:40 A number of FT readers and Twitter does not boast at least one ASS.” By ASS, Keel followers spotted a booboo we made in Sophia PRinTEd BY POLESTAR BICESTER meant ‘Abominable Swamp Slob’, his own Kingshill’s “Reclaiming the Mermaid” feature. diSTRiBUTiOn name for the big, smelly critters reported from The pull-quote on p40 turned out to be a bit of distributed in Uk, ireland and worldwide the marshes and bayous of the region. He also an unintentional cliffhanger, reading: “Most by Seymour Distribution Ltd. noted that these elusive entities – like the one 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT famous of all visual interpretations is the Tel: 020 7429 4000 / Fax: 020 7429 4001 that Chris Davis believed he’d encountered and statue that has become a…” Queries on overseas availability should be emailed to unlike the generally shy and retiring Bigfoot/ The rest of the sentence should have read [email protected] Speciality store distribution by Worldwide Magazine Sasquatch – had a tendency to give chase, “national symbol of Copenhagen”. Distribution Ltd, Tel: 0121 788 3112 Fax: 0121 788 1272 noting 16 examples in which they were said STAndARd SUBScRiPTiOn RATES to have approached or pursued cars. So, if the 12 issues: UK £39.98; EU £47.50 Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp is not unique Fortean Times (USPS 023-226) is published every four weeks by Dennis Publishing Ltd, 30 Cleveland Street, London, W1P 4JD, United Kingdom. in the fortean annals, does Ben’s explanation of The US annual subscription price is $89.99. the Lee County case hold good for these other Airfreight and mailing in the USA is by Agent named Air Business, daVid r SUTToN C/O Worldnet Shipping USA Inc., 149-35 177th Street, Jamaica, cases too? Or is further investigation of the ASS New York, 11434. phenomenon needed? Readers will decide for Periodical postage paid at Jamaica, NY 11431, USA. themselves, but if you can dig up a copy you’ll bob rickard US Postmaster: Send address changes to: Fortean Times, find further contemporary details on this case 3330 Pacific Avenue, Suite 500, Virginia Beach, VA, 23451-2983, USA. PaUL SiEVEkiNG REST OF THE WORLD £55; US $89.99 ($161.98 for 24 issues) and others in FT51:34-37. See also John Keel’s dEnniS PUBliShinG limiTEd Strange Creatures from Space and Time (1975). GROUP FinAncE diREcTOR IAN LEggETT FinAncE diREcTOR BRETT REYNOLDS ExEcUTivE diREcTOR KERIN O’CONNOR FT in ThE mEdiA Why fortean? chiEF ExEcUTivE jAMES TYE cOmPAnY FOUndER FELIX DENNIS When our intrepid art director Etienne Everything you always wanted to Gilfillan (pictured above) set off to photograph Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations.