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 Fortean Times 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; cryptozoology 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 cats forum 51 The real Arthur? by Steve Moore 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 Dennis Publishing 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, poltergeist 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 folklore 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 miracles – 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 Fox of Whitstable was Queries on overseas availability should be emailed to [email protected] John Michell 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”.