Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · 15h

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 [email protected] and get your free ticket at on our Eventbrite page!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-woodwo...

The Woodwoses and Wildmen of Suffolk

An online talk by Matt Salusbury onSuffolk's strange woodwose figures.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

7 14

Reposted by Fortean Times

Steg68 @steg68.bsky.social · 5d

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

1 12

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · 19h

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...

1 7 31

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · 8d

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

11 46

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Sep 9

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...

10 13 170

Reposted by Fortean Times

Matt Salusbury 🇳🇱 @mattsalusbury.bsky.social · Sep 7

"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).

1 4 18

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Sep 5

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

2 8 30

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Sep 5

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

1

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Sep 2

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

1 2

Reposted by Fortean Times

Tommy Atkinson @atters1000.bsky.social · Aug 3

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!

2 6 27

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Aug 7

That's exactly what we're hoping!

1

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Aug 7

We do our best!

3

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Aug 7

Thanks for the kind words – greatly appreciated.

4

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Aug 7

Good decision!

1 2

Reposted by Fortean Times

FredRIK WORTHam 🎃 @rikworth.bsky.social · Aug 7

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.

5 4 24

Reposted by Fortean Times

Steve Toase @stevetoase.bsky.social · Jul 30

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!

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.

2 3 18

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Aug 7

Yes, of course! Sorry, have been away!

1 1

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Aug 7

New issue on sale! Pluckley uncovered; world's weirdest riots; seagull revenge; Edwardian automaton; stone ghost girl; Wallasey catman; curlews vs posties; Satanic gangs; hot dog homicide; Joe Nickell remembered; terrorist numerology; Macron's penis-stealing plot + more! shop.forteantimes.com

5 28

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Jul 23

What is the truth about the Calvine UFO photo? To mark the 35th anniversary of the incident, FT regular David Clarke will be giving a public talk at Blair Atholl Village Hall on Saturday 2 August from 4-6 PM. Get your free tickets at: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-calvin...

2 18

Reposted by Fortean Times

Will Maclean @willmac23.bsky.social · Jul 10

Lovely @bobfischer.bsky.social on his Broken Veil feature in this month's @forteantimes.bsky.social

Bob Fischer @bobfischer.bsky.social · Jul 10

The new @forteantimes.bsky.social has me chatting with the charming @gralefrit.bsky.social & @willmac23.bsky.social about their ace 'Broken Veil' podcast. Essex witch trails, the "backrooms" meme, the Mandela Effect, floating two-dimensional bowler hat shapes in fields... it's all covered. Out now!

1 11

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Jul 10

We're happy that you're happy! Makes us feel like we're doing something right!

1 3

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Jul 10

New issue now on sale!
Spontaneous Human Combustion, Colombia's alien artefact , Liverpool leprechaun hunt, Ithell Colquhoun, Broken Veil, Reform's Most Haunted chairman, half-bodied ghosts, epic pet treks, geo-engineering protests, Holyhead Sea Devils, lunar brewery, bronze boob battle & more!

2 18 55

Reposted by Fortean Times

Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · Jun 21

@forteantimes.bsky.social #simulacrum

Jim Burke @barcajim3.bsky.social · Jun 21

Thanks again to Facebook memories for reminding of the day the designer at Ford, who loved Roland Rat, got his own way

5 12

Fortean Times @forteantimes.bsky.social · Jun 12

New issue on sale! Japanese toilet ghosts; Arthur Conan Doyle’s other fairy photos; St Albans' ghostly monks; Antikythera Mechanism; ape sandwich stories; dire wolves; Aztec death whistles; very late library books; hedgehog myths; watery Welsh ghosts; Silicon Valley eschatology and much more!

13 46

Reposted by Fortean Times

Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · Jun 3

For many years, I've wanted to track down Jeremy Beadle's library, legendary in certain quarters. I did so for @thefence.bsky.social for their brilliant 23rd issue (the significance of the number will not be lost on Ken Campbell fans) www.the-fence.com/the-beadlean... @forteantimes.bsky.social

The Beadlean Library

Strange to recall, but for 20 years from the early 1980s, a short, grinning, bearded mischief-maker dominated the ITV prime-time schedules. Jeremy Beadle developed, produced and co-presented Game for…

www.the-fence.com

2 8 20