The Fortean Picture Library

Fortean Picture Library

of Mysteries and Strange Phenomena

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T

he Fortean Picture Library takes its name from Charles Fort (1875-1932), the avid collector of data on strange phenomena, and FPL has followed his lead in amassing thousands of images that document the weirder side of life. The archive was created in 1978 by Janet and Colin Bord, who are also well-known for their numerous published books on mysteries, such as Mysterious Britain, Alien Animals, Bigfoot Casebook, Modern mysteries of the World.

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychic Research The collection contains a large number of photographs showing what appear to be ghosts, taken in circumstances where the photographer saw nothing strange.

Some are over 100 years old, but many are recent, and they include photographs of ghost animals. Faked ghost photographs are also available, and famous and spooky haunted sites are represented, including ‘the most haunted house in England’, Borley Rectory. Poltergeist phenomena have also been captured on film: most poltergeist pictures show the damage caused, such as furniture thrown around a room, garments and furnishings cut and burned, messages written on walls.

The late 19th century Spiritualism craze was documented by early photographers, including famous mediums holding séances where they levitated tables and materialised spirits out of ectoplasm. In addition, the collection covers 20th century psychic research into such skills as telepathy, extra sensory perception, psychokinesis, and metal bending, including photographs of Zener cards and Gansfeld experiments.

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

Monsters and Mystery Animals In past centuries when large parts of the world were still unexplored, travellers’ tales of amazing animals were spread around, and beasts like the dragon and unicorn were thought to be real.

Other mythical creatures, like the roc, harpy, and phoenix, are depicted in the collection; also phantom black dogs, werewolves and mermaids. Today, mystery animals are still reported worldwide, and studied by cryptozoologists, and the archive contains full coverage (in photographs and paintings) of unproven creatures like the Loch Ness Monster, sea serpents, Bigfoot/Sasquatch and Yeti and other man-beasts, Mokele-Mbembe (the prehistoric survival from the African Congo), Mothman, the Mongolian death-worm, and the ‘goat-sucker’ Chupacabras – and not forgetting the mystery big cats seen in many parts of Britain.

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

Witchcraft and Magic Early witchcraft in Britain was well documented in engravings which cover all aspects of witchcraft practices including casting spells, flying to the Sabbat, meeting the Devil, covens, familiars, the Witchfinder General, torture and death. The Wiccan tradition still flourishes at the present time, and the collection includes photographs of modern witches at work. Other magical practices worldwide, such as voodoo and shamanism, alchemy, astrology and fortune-telling, are also included. Ritual magic has been practised for centuries and is well documented in engravings: coverage includes John Dee and Aleister Crowley, together with magicians at work, magical symbols, the Devil and demons.

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

UFOs, Aliens and Other Worlds The age of flying saucers or UFOs began in the 1940s and the collection includes full coverage of the early years through the 1950s and 1960s, as well as some more recent images. There are very many photographs showing UFOs, as well as photographs of natural phenomena which could explain some sightings (e.g. cloud formations) and proven hoaxes.

The personalities of ufology are well represented – researchers, witnesses, abductees, contactees. There are drawings of aliens, and a few photographs (though not many photographs of aliens exist!). Famous events like the alleged Roswell UFO crash of 1947 are fully documented. Early magazine and book covers portray the wilder side of ufology. Early astronomy and astronomical anomalies are also represented in the collection.

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

Unsolved Mysteries Many weird and wonderful mysteries come within the coverage of Fortean Picture Library and among those not so far mentioned in this guide are: crop circles – fairies and other non-human beings – vampires – angels – toads in stone – falls of unexpected objects such as frogs and fish from the sky – ball lightning and other mystery lights – religious phenomena such as stigmata, visions, preserved bodies of saints, weeping and bleeding images, possession and exorcism – outof-body experiences – levitation – thoughtography – psychic healing and psychic surgery.

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

Landscape Mysteries, Folklore and Legend Ancient man created enigmatic structures which today resonate with an aura of mystery – standing stones, burial chambers, hillforts, etc. Other landscape mysteries include hill figures (Uffington white horse, Cerne Abbas giant, etc), mazes, holy wells. Myths, legends and folklore people the British and Irish landscapes with giants, dragons, and heroes such as King Arthur, all included in our coverage. Other themes are Druids ancient and modern - dowsing – ley-lines – traditional customs (May Day, etc) – green man carvings – historic churches. Mystery sites outside Britain and Ireland are also represented, such as Egyptian pyramids, Easter Island statues, Mexican and South American sites, Brittany, India and various locations further east – and not forgetting the lost land of Atlantis.

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

The Fortean Picture Library List of Categories Abductions

Brittany

Death

Freaks

Abominable Snowman

Brochs

Demons

Freemasonry

Alchemy

Buddhism

The Devil and Devil-sites

Bullauns

Dolmens

Burial chambers

Dowsing

Ganzfeld

Dragons Cairns

Druids

Carnac Carvings and pictograms Castles Cattle mutilation Cats (British mystery, winged, and cat-lore) Alignments Aliens Altars Amulets and charms Ancient astronauts Angels

Caves Celtic sites and crosses Cerne Abbas giant

Ghosts

Chambered tombs

Giants

Chapels Charms and amulets

Apports

Earthlights Earthworks Easter Island statues

Archaeological enigmas

Ectoplasm

Arthurian legend

Excavations

Astrology

Exhibitionist carvings

Atlantis

Exorcism ‘Extinct’ animals Faces, mystery Fairies and dwarves Falls from the sky

Automatic writing, music

Fertility

and art

Fire-walking

Ball lightning Bermuda Triangle Bigfoot Bimini road Birds, giant Black dogs Bleeding images Blood mysteries Borley Rectory Brahan Seer

Chupacabras Churches Clairvoyance

Folklore Footprints Fortune-telling

Glastonbury God and gods Graffiti Graves and gravestones Green men Hadrian’s Wall Haunted places Heads Healing Heaven and Hell Herbalism Heroes Hill figures Hillforts Hoaxes Holed stones Holy wells

Crop circles

Horned men

Crosses

Horoscopes

Cryptozoology

Horseshoes

Crypts

Human magnetism

Cup and ring marks Cursing stones

Incorruption

Customs

Inscriptions

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

Jersey Devil

Mythology

Saints

Tintagel Castle

Saxon crosses and

Toad/frog in stone

Nazca Lines

churches

Tombstones

King Arthur

Newgrange

Sea monsters

Trackways

Kirlian photography

Nostradamus

Self-mutilation

Traditions

Shamanism

Trees: bleeding/

Ogham stones

Sheila-na-gigs

decorated/healing

Labyrinths

Out-of-body experiences

Shrines

Tumuli

Lake monsters

Out-of-place animals

Silbury Hill

Tunguska

Simulacra

Turin Shroud

Joseph of Arimathea

Knights Templar

Legends Palmistry Pictish symbol stones Pilgrimages PK experiments Poltergeists Prophets and prophecy Psychic archaeology Psychic art Psychic research Psychic surgery

Levitation

Psychometry

Ley-lines

Pyramids

Loch Ness Monster Lost lands

Skulls Sleep phenomena Sorrat Pk experiments Souterrains Spirals

Magic

Spirit photography

Magnetic hills

Spiritualism

Maiden Castle

Spontaneous human

Man-beasts

combustion

Materialisations

Standing stones

Mazes

Stigmata

Mediums

Stone circles

Merlin

Stonehenge

Mermaids

Rat-kings

Sunrise and sunset

Metal-bending

Relics, religious

Swastikas

Meteorological phenomena

Religious phenomena

Symbols

Miracles

Ringing rocks

Mokele-mbembe Monsters Mothman

Rituals

Telepathy

Robin Hood

Thoughtography

Uffington white horse UFOs Unicorns Vampires Virgin Mary Visions, religious Voodoo Vortex Water Weeping images Werewolves

Rollright Stones

Witchcraft (past and

Roman sites

present)

Roswell UFO crash

Witch-doctors

Round towers

Woodwoses

Rune stones Thylacine

Zener cards

The Fortean Picture Library available at TopFoto.co.uk

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