The Book of the Damned by Charles Fort (1919)

The Book of the Damned by Charles Fort (1919) 'The Book of the Damned' has inspired scientists, science fiction writers, movie makers, and devotees for almost a hundred years. The damned data Charles Fort gathered covered so many marvels, mysteries, and monsters--including unidentified aerial objects, frog falls, ship disappearances, red rains, earthquake lights, lake monsters, animal mutilations, psychic explosions, and much, much more. "I discovered the works of Charles Fort in 1959 and jumped into the pursuit of the unknown in the decades that followed. All the while, Fort's humor and skepticism have served me well. "Charles Fort, who died in 1932, would have nothing to do with the subculture of followers that grew up around his work. He even refused to join the original Fortean Society of the 1920s, which included some of the most distinguished intellectuals of the time, including Ben Hecht, Buckminster Fuller, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, with a guiding role taken by founder Tiffany Thayer. Being a Fortean is not a religious affiliation, just an appreciation of the oneness of it all. "All journeys are personal, and the one you are about to take with the charm, wit, and insights of Charlie Fort is, I'm sure you will discover, like riding the tail of a comet, as one reviewer said when this tome first appeared. Buckle up for your excursion into the universe of the inexplicable. "Did beings from outer space visit earth in the past … are the various objects seen in the sky evidences of their visits? What is the explanation of falls of frogs, falls of fishes, falls of seagulls, which have been recorded from time to time? How can we account for all the inexplicable astronomical observations that have been made in the past? How can we answer reports of strange animals, disappearances of men from open sight, curious structures in the snow, talents like teleportation and telekinesis?" These are the "damned," by which the late Charles Ford meant all the wide range of mysteries that are ignored by orthodox science or explained away improperly. He worked for 27 years at the British Museum and the New York Public Library gathering material on phenomena from the borderlands between science and fantasy. His research appeared in four books: The Book of the Damned, New Lands, Lo!, and Wild Talents. In these four volumes Fort organized and commented on a wild host of phenomena: flying saucers seen in the sky before the invention of aircraft, flying wheels, strange noises in the sky; correlations between volcanic activity and atmospheric phenomena; falls of red snow; falls of frogs, fishes, worms, shells, jellies; finding of "thunderbolts"; discrepancies in the schedules of comets, sightings on Mars and the moon; infra-Mercurian planets; inexplicable footprints in snowfields; flat earth phenomena, disruptions of gravity; poltergeist phenomena; stigmata; surviving fossil animals; the Jersey devil; Kaspar Hauser; spontaneous combustion; and similar weird effects. While Charles Ford never actually explained the phenomena, beyond making vague hints of an organic universe and neo-Hegelianism, through the years his following has grown. At first his work was picked up by literary men such as Theodore Dreiser, Booth Tarkington, Clarence Darrow, Havelock Ellis, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Later, "Fortean themes" influenced the development of science fiction, and today his work remains the great predecessor to all extraterrestrial speculations. About the Author CHARLES HOY FORT (1874-1932), life-long naturalist and independent journalist, wrote ten novels, though only one, The Outcast Manufacturers (1906), was published in the U.S. -- critics said it was ahead of its time, but it was deemed commercially unsuccessful. Upon his death in 1932, more than 60,000 notes were donated to The New York Public Library. ebooks: Book of the Damned by Charles Fort.txt Book of the Damned by Charles Fort - First Edition.pdf Book of the Damned by Charles Fort.pdf Charles Fort - The Book of the Damned.pdf audiobook: Book of the Damned.m4a - human voice, 14 hrs 27 min 38 sec tags: textbook, miracles, strange phenomena, weird effects, paranormal events