author
Charles Fort
1874–1932
Drawn to mysteries that polite society preferred to ignore, he turned odd newspaper clippings and scientific reports into some of the strangest and most influential books of the early 20th century. His work helped give rise to the world of "Fortean" phenomena, where the unexplained is taken seriously enough to be collected and argued over.
2 Audiobooks
The Book of the Damned
by Charles Fort
New lands
by Charles Fort
About the author
Born in Albany, New York, in 1874, he became an American writer and independent researcher best known for gathering reports of unusual events that science and journalism often dismissed. He spent years reading in libraries and combing through newspapers, medical journals, and scientific publications for accounts of strange falls from the sky, disappearances, mysterious lights, and other anomalies.
His best-known books include The Book of the Damned (1919), followed by New Lands, Lo!, and Wild Talents. Rather than trying to build a tidy system, he wrote with wit, skepticism, and a taste for the absurd, challenging fixed ideas and inviting readers to look again at things that did not fit accepted explanations.
Although he died in 1932, his influence lasted well beyond his lifetime. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" grew from his work, and his writing went on to shape later discussions of paranormal claims, unexplained phenomena, and the uneasy border between curiosity and certainty.