Fortean

Stories about alligators in the sewers have been of particular interest, however, to Forteans (followers of Charles Fort). Forteans contend that many happenings derided by the official science of the Western world (falls of frogs from clear skies, the appearance of lake monsters, mystery beasts and so on) are genuine occurrences.

Not long afterwards, Fortean writer Paul Harris contacted me concerning this putative sea serpent, kindly supplying me with a couple of newspaper cuttings […] that contained photos of its remains, plus various additional details that he had gathered during his own investigation of this case.

Morandir [Armson] is also a traveller, a food blogger, a scholar of the occult, an amateur cook, a martial artist, an enthusiastic Fortean, and a transplant recipient.

Ufology is a somewhat Fortean subject.

Charles Fort died in 1932, fifteen years before the flying-saucer craze began. It is a pity he did not live to witness this mass mania, because in many ways, it was a triumph of pure Forteanism. Mysterious objects are seen in the sky. They elude all "official" and "scientific" explanation. Wild Fortean hypotheses are invented to explain them, and discussed seriously by the man in the street as well as by seemingly intelligent authors and editors.

Coppel, Alfred: TOUCH THE SKY […] Short story. / Obviously based on Fortean concepts, this one concerns a man who really did touch the sky.

Characters such as "Jack Brown" [supposedly a UFO investigator] have been annoying and frightening people for centuries. In earlier ages they were associated with the occult or with religious experience … the "dark men" of countless traditions. Today they are a part of the UFO mythos. They arrive after a UFO or fortean event, sometimes afoot, sometimes driving automobiles that appear new even if the vehicle is clearly many years old. […] They ask strange questions and make outlandish observations, or they simply follow from place to place.

Other Fort-influenced writers argue that Fortean phenomena are themselves the means by which a kind of paranormal conspiracy of cosmic proportions is perpetrated against human beings.

Characters such as "Jack Brown" [supposedly a UFO investigator] have been annoying and frightening people for centuries. In earlier ages they were associated with the occult or with religious experience … the "dark men" of countless traditions. Today they are a part of the UFO mythos. They arrive after a UFO or fortean event, sometimes afoot, sometimes driving automobiles that appear new even if the vehicle is clearly many years old. […] They ask strange questions and make outlandish observations, or they simply follow from place to place.