Guy Lochhead, 02/09/10
American writer of books concerning anomalous phenomena. Fort’s unreferenced accounts of the unexplained still sell well. His name has become synonymous with mysterious occurrences (‘Fortean’ everything). He distrusted authority, and refused to see doctors. He might have died of leukaemia. Fort’s books are imbued with a humour that is overlooked by devout conspiracy theorists. His work is unhelpful negative criticism that serves no purpose. It stimulates a distracting sort of imagination. I agree with him that the boundaries between science and the unexplained change over time, but the most exciting thing to do about this is to aid scientific development. Reality is so much more fascinating, unbelievable and moving than crank hypotheses. Teslaaaaa!