Fortean Times

The new Fortean Times is out, including my Fortean Traveller article on Druid's Temple in Yorkshire, a place that has hosted bikers, students, (possible) devil worship, and pet hermits!

New issue now on sale!
John Cowper Powys; ghosts of the Colorado gold rush; the Ditchingham Chicken Roundabout; 3I/Atlas aliens; puzzling pongs; Bigfoot's big butt; morgue mix-ups; raccoon rampage; talking plants; phantom boobs; folklore of fibbing; toad-licking myths; Druid's Temple and more!

Thrilled to share my piece on the quirky Ditchingham Chicken Roundabout in @forteantimes.bsky.social And I’m on the front cover! 🫨

FT has been part of my life since I was a kid, sneaking my mum's copies under the covers.

Grab a copy to learn more! 🐔

#forteantimes #ChickenRoundabout

Get 2026 off to a properly weird start with our January issue! The occult origins of television; Martin's Devils; Viennese esoteric art; Fortean Pynchon; the Washington Stain; partying ghosts; Japanese bear wars; rampaging robots; werewolf arrested; baby vs snake; Antarctic mystery signals and more

We're finally winding down for the festivities and wish all our lovely readers a wonderful Christmas! We'll leave you with a cautionary seasonal headline from the archive:
SHROPSHIRE FAMILY HAVE CHRISTMAS DINNER RUINED BY FLUORESCENT GREEN TURKEY FROM TESCO, Shropshire Star, 3 Jan 2017.

I have been reading this magazine for decades, it is part of who I am.
To all you writers out there it is a goldmine of weirdness. Honestly, throw a Fortean scene in a book, even a romance or YA, just for fun #writer #authors #writingcommunity

You most definitely should! Give yourself an early Christmas present!

Illustrious Eunuchs is definitely a band name. As is Phantom Twanger. Or Masonic Super Mario.

Well, that takes us back!

Our Christmas issue is now on sale! South Shields Poltergeist at 20; SAS vs Gnomes; Enys Tregarthen's Cornish tales; Europe's Yuletide spectres; Warminster Thing; Fortean TV 1988 Christmas Special; illustrious eunuchs; phantom twanger; Masonic Super Mario + much more
shop.forteantimes.com/subscribe

If you're looking for a Hallowe'en gift for the witch, warlock or furry familiar in your life, we can wholeheartedly recommend our latest Fortean Times special collection...
Available in shops or order online from:
shop.forteantimes.com/product/witc...

We aim to please...

The way the schedules fall means we're a bit ahead of the rest of the planet... but we're used to it

New issue on sale ! Colonel Fawcett's mystery beasts; lucid dreaming; Greek dream oracles; police vs panthers; Colin Wilson; Indian drone panic; haunted furniture; Etsy witches; flat-pack aliens; extreme fart horror; Nosher remembered and much more!
shop.forteantimes.com/current-issue

The Woodwoses and Wildmen of Suffolk An online talk by Matt Salusbury onSuffolk's strange woodwose figures.

Saturday 18 Oct, 6.30pm: The Woodwoses and Wildmen of Suffolk. FT regular Matt Salusbury investigates Suffolk's wildmen in an online event. Please email chronicles@dunwichmuseum.org.uk and get your free ticket at on our Eventbrite page!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-woodwo...

Halloween is a good time for promoting @forteantimes.bsky.social in the newsagents 🙂

On sale now!
Witches and Witchcraft: Stories of Sorcery, Spells and Superstition
A new special edition from the archives of Fortean Times, with an introduction and commentary by historian of witchcraft Malcolm Gaskill.
In shops now, or order direct from:
shop.forteantimes.com/product/witc...

New issue on sale!
Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk; Ghost Witches of Essex; Black Sabbath vs the Devil; Sam the Sandown Clown; Bernard Manning From Beyond the Grave; Midsomer Murders; Scotland’s ‘Lost Tribe’; Ripperston Farm Spaceman; tiny crocodile panic + much more! subscribe.forteantimes.com

Our intrepid news editor encountered Brian Blessed in his natural habitat at last weekend's Strange Days Festival. We hear that Bigfoot was also spotted at the event and even caught on camera...

"The Sea Serpent Killer's sceptical scrapbook" - my illustrated article on probably one of the first cryptozoological clippings libraries, kept by Sir Richard Owen, a Natural History Museum co-founder who coined the term "dinosaur". In this month's @forteantimes.bsky.social (FT 462. October 2025).

New issue on sale now!
Uri Geller: shaman or showman?; angelic UFO encounters; aristocrats on acid; sea serpent scrapbook; Father Lionel Fanthorpe; top crop circles; Cthulhu's rabbits; cockroach shoots man; robot rebellion; rogue dentists; vibrator myths and more! shop.forteantimes.com/current-issue

Thanks – he's in the new issue, but will now be due a follow-up.

Good one – will be using in Extra! Extra! Thanks Scott!

Pleased to see Pluckley on the cover of @forteantimes.bsky.social - a lifetime ago, we used to visit the Black Horse on a Saturday night and then go ghost hunting in the churchyard or the Screaming Woods. Happy memories!

That's exactly what we're hoping!

We do our best!

Thanks for the kind words – greatly appreciated.

Good decision!

It’s very hard to describe how comforting I find reading The @forteantimes.bsky.social

It still carries a tongue in cheek sense of the 1990s paranormal revival without the 2020’s full commitment to conspiracy theory.

If only the world was as crazy as the FT presented, it would make more sense.

Review in Fortean Times of Dirt Upon My Skin by Steve Toase Regular FT writer Steve Toase is a trained archaeologist. Dirt Upon My Skin is a small but brilliant collection of short stories where archaeology meets horror, in some cases, or the world of faerie, or just the weird. Two are written in the form of a site diary and a more formal site report from digs. Some are about disturbing finds. Some are about disturbing something that really shouldn't be disturbed. Altogether some fascinating, scary and often haunting stories.

Review of Dirt Upon My Skin in British Archaeology. Review by Neil Redfern This book is by an archaeologist turned writer. In Dirt Upon My Skin, Steve Toase sets out a selection of micro stories featuring peculiar tales of horror and speculative fiction. This will not be to everyone's taste, and I'm not a great fan of horror, but this is a collection of stories all based in the world of archaeology. Each one just long enough to read before bedtime. But be warned this might not lead to a good night's sleep. Although as an archaeologist I was deeply impressed by his use of Terminus Post Quem as the title for one of his stories.

British Fantasy Awards Best Collection Dirt Upon My Skin – Steve Toase – Black Shuck Books Limelight and Other Stories – Lyndsey Croal – Shortwave Publishing Mood Swings – Dave Jeffery – Black Shuck Books Preaching To The Perverted – James Bennett – Lethe Press Elephants in Bloom – Cecile Cristofari – Newcon Press Jurors: Rosemarie Cawkwell, Heather Valentine, Ed Fortune, Mark Findlater, Rick Danforth

The cover of Dirt Upon My Skin by Steve Toase, showing a rosette of trowels in tones taken from a munsell soil colour chart.

Just over a year since my archaeology themed horror collection, Dirt Upon My Skin came out from @blackshuckbooks.bsky.social, and what a ride, with reviews in @forteantimes.bsky.social, @archaeologyuk.bsky.social's British Archaeology, and culminating with a nomination for a British Fantasy Award!