Charles Fort The Fortean Society & Unidentified Flying Objects - A Survey of the UFO Mystery From Aug 1895 to Aug 1947 by Loren E Gross (1976).pdf

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1931
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THE FORTIAN SOCIETY
;.,.
.;rand O.nttal Annex:· NEW
YORK CITY
, _ . ·· o, Cheshire.
England
No.
2390
Year
~5
FS
Member
Ray F
sm1
th
/-~
i/,7
~
CHARLES FORT
1
THE FORTEAN SOCIETY, &
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
A~
[
•.ns
re:uming
home
(rom the
Ro;al
Sa(itfJ
to
1Ptjlminf'cr,
on
r:;,.r{J.l)•
D\:t.
16. 174"·
h.
'a.
4o'.
p.
m.
being about the
l\1:cc:e oi t!-:e Parade
in
St.
1amts's
P.zrk,
I faw a
Ligbt
arilc
from
l;e!:md tb: Trees :t!ld
Houfcs
i!l
the S
by
\V.
Point,·
which I
took
z!
fi·:i
fvr a
h~ge
Sh-Rocicet;
but
when
it
had
nfeo
zo
the:
Height
cJf
~:-
0
u: z~
D;:g•.:cs; it
tcok
a
Motion
nearly para:lel
to
the
Hori·
v.;n,
b·.n w:.ved m this
m;urner,
A survey of the unidentified
flying object mystery from
August, 1895, to August, 1947.
and
went
on
ro !he N.
by
£.
Point ever· the
Houfes.
Jt
feemed
r" he
ftl.
v~ry
near,
chat 1
tf:ought
it
paffed
over
f})_ftttn't S'J11arr,
t;w
l!hnd m
the
Park,
cr()C.
the
<.:an3l
1
:and
l
loll
~;;;•:t
of k over
t::c
IIA;multl.
hs Mouo:1
YJal
fo
very
!low,
tbt
I
bad
it
~bove
balfa Ylinute
in
View; and
tberel'o·e had
Time
en'lUJ,
to
con:em?ll~e
its
Appearance
fuily~
which was wnat
is
feen in
:he
annexed
figurt,
by
Loren E. Gross
privately published
~
©
Loren E. Gross
1976
Fremont, California
first edition
A
kemed
to be a light
Fhme,
tumiog
b3-:kwuds
fro:-:~
the R<ofdl:·
ance
the Air
mad~
to
it.
B B
a
hrigh
fire
h:-e
l:-u~rw1g
ChHc·•Jl,
im:lofed
as
it
were
in an
open
Cafe,
cf
which
rr.c
Fume
c
C
c
wu
quite
opaque,
l1ke
Blnds
of Iron.
At D
iffuc:d
forth a
T rarn
or
Tail
of
l:gln
FJ~me,
more
bright at D, and growin_;
grlO<Jllly
fJinttr
at E,
f':l
as
to
be
tr3nfptrent
more
t!J~n
lull ,.,
Lcn:;th.
The Head
fccmed abour
half
3
Dc;;rec
in DLm·:!cr,
the
T~1l n~:rr
J
D\&rccs in
Lcng~h,
and
about
one
l!.iii,ll:h
of a
D~i.jtt<:
m
T~ld,ncl~.
c.
,\1.
Other works by the author
The UFO Wave of 1896
The Mystery of the Ghost Rockets
The cover of the October, 1946,
issue of Amazing Stories
reprinted by permission.
Copyright, 1946, by the
ZIFF-DAVIS Company. Artist:
Robert Gibson Jones
Chapter One
Also Sprach Zarthustra
''Apostle of the Exception, Keeper of the Ghosts, Observer of
Secret Rays, Avenger of Forgotten Theories, Lost Causes, and
Strayed comets • • • ," (1.) so wrote the famous author Ben Hecht
many years ago to introduce a remarkable contemporary writer he
knew and admired. The gentleman who so fascinated Mr. Hecht was
an eccentric New York literary figure by the name of Charles
Fort.
Fort, who died some forty years ago, is still looked upon by
some as another Ripley, while others interpret him as the arch-
enemy of dogma, and then there are a few who prefer to remember
him as a kind of philosopher who proposed wild theories using an
entertaining writing style. However Fort has gained immortality
more as a prophet, because of his investigations into what many
erroneously consider a modern riddle, the mystery of unidentified
flying objects.
The unidentified flying object (UFO) mystery first achieved
enduring national prominence in 1947, but a look at the years
previous to that time, as far back as the 1890s, with an emphasis
on the career of Charles Fort, provides an interesting prelude
to the "modern" UFO enigma.
Our story begins with an event that occurred in Ireland, in
1895, far removed geographically from where Fort was living at
the time in New York. In Culdaff, Ireland, on August 24, 1895,
at 4 o
1
clock in the afternoon, a small boy by the name of Robert
Alcorn went out the front door of his house to chase some noisy
chickens out of the yard. Once outside the youngster's attention
was immediately drawn to a brilliant fireball in the sky approach-
ing him out of the northwest. The fireball looked to be about
six feet square in size, the boy comparing its bulk to a piece
of family furniture of similar dimensions.
As the object passed low overhead there was a sharp report
like a gunshot and a spark of fire zoomed down at the boy. Robert
just had time to throw up his hands and protect his face, as the
spark exploded near his head. Robert's father had heard the loud
sounds and rushed outdoors to find his son bleeding from wounds
on the face and hands.
Doc~ors
that treated the injuries found
deep cuts on the boy's blackened left cheek and three fingers on
one hand so badly shattered they had to be amputated. The police
investigated the incident with the idea that someone had fired
a gun at the boy or had thrown some sort of explosive, but the
youth stuck to his fireball story.
It was later learned that persons living at the town at
Redcastle, eight miles south of Cudaff, had also seen a bright
fireball in the heavens the same afternoon as the Cudaff incident. (2.)
Six days later two people saw what appeared to be a star moving
through the sky over England. The point of light was watched for
about four and a half minutes as it sailed horizontally from west
to east. A letter about the sighting was printed in the London
Times. (3.) Whether or not the witnesses lived in London is not
2
clear, but further letters to the Times during the following days
told of similar sightings from as far away as Oxford.
At Margate, England, about 10:15 in the evening of August 30th,
a strange "meteor" was sighted in the sky. The
11
meteor" gave the
impression that it was cruising slowly at a low altitude to the
northwest. The thing looked triangular in shape and was moving
with the base foremost. Furthermore, the witness believed he saw
the "meteor" give off a few "reddish sparks." (4.)
Just about 8 o'clock on August 31st a Mr. J. A. Murray was
taking a stroll near St. John's College at Oxford, England, when
a "brilliant luminous body" appeared above the treetops flying on
an eastward heading. Initially, Mr. Murray believed the object
to be an extraordinary bolide, but it moved so slowly it stayed
in sight for some time and instead of falling to the earth or
exploding, the object flew off at a steady altitude, getting per-
ceptively dimmer as it receded. Mr. Murray wrote the Times,(S.)
and when his letter appeared in the September 4th edit1on, others
penned letters to the Times' editor corroborating the story.
On September 2nd another report came in from Bath, England, a
city about 50 miles southwest of Oxford. A Mr. "A.F." wrote to
the London Times stating that he and a friend saw something of a
curious appearance that day around 10:15 p.m. The object was a
bright body moving leisurely and looked to be half the size: " • • .
of the full moon, and that it had a tail, brilliant, full, but
rather short." Mr. "A.F." declared: " • • • we both saw [the]
large, luminous, comet-like body sweep down from the sky·in a
slightly curved line and disappeared behind the wooded horizon in
the southwest." His letter ended by asking: "Will a Greenwich
[Observatory] sage expound this weird phenomenon for the benefit
of those who find ignorance no bliss and wisdom no folly?" (6.)
The London Times titled all of the 1895 flying light stories
in the following manner: "Remarkable Meteoric Appearance." But
in America such unusual aerial activity was destined to provoke a
different reaction.
For two hundred years mankind had made efforts to conquer the
air, trying to invent a true flying machine. All attempts mis-
carried and were lampooned, burlesqued on the stage, and pursued
with the mocking of the public. It wasn't until the late 1800s
that the general principles of true flight were believed to be
more or less scientifically sound, as improvements in the art of
free ballooning showed considerable promise.
As the end of the century approached, a series of scientific
inventions amazed the public. It was one thing to try and imitate
the motion of animals, like the birds, but when Germany's.profes-
sor Roentgen discovered X-Rays in 1896, people were astonished.
Here was something with great powers hitherto unimagined.
American contributions were no less astonishing. Alexander
Graham Bell producing the telephone and the genius of Thomas
Edison creating a number of marvels, the electric light, the phono-
graph, and the kinetoscope just name a few.
Considering the pace of invention and the revolutionary nature
of the new novelties, many people became downright impatient with
the lack of progress when inventor after inventor failed to build
a true airship. And the fault was not for the lack of anyone

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