Fortean Times Autumn 1990

This Autumn 1990 issue of Fortean Times makes for an interesting comparison with the premiere issue of Fanthorpe's Quarterly Digest of the Paranormal from 2001, which I posted here a few weeks ago.  It seems clear that this was the version of Fortean Times that Fanthorpe's was trying to emulate.  Not only do they both use an A5 format, (Fortean Times varied between A4 and A5 in the eighties and nineties), but also the crowded internal layouts of the two magazines is pretty much identical.  It is notable that 2001 marked the point at which Fortean Times had started to be published by John Brown publishing, settling on the A4 format and a much glossier, professional-looking presentation and interior layout.  Which, of course, made it a more attractive proposition for potential buyers when seen on the shelves of newsagents.  It seems pretty obvious that creators of Fanthorpe's were hoping to catch those long-term readers of Fortean Times who felt put off by the new, more professional, format.

As far as the content is concerned, this issue of Fortean Times is pretty typical for the era - lots of coverage of crop circles, which were pretty big back then and would continue to have a high profile into the 2000s, a lengthy piece about evidence for the reality of the transmutation of base metals, accounts of hauntings and lots of book reviews.  The cover illustrates an in-depth look at an exotic ceremony from Madagascar - the 'waking of the dead'.   This involves the temporary exhumation of the dead from their tombs by their families, every 5-7 years for a series of ancestor worshipping rites and rituals.  These sorts of anthropological studies were often the most interesting aspect of Fortean Times in this period, shedding light on the sort of obscure (to western sensibilities) religious belief systems that you just wouldn't find covered anywhere else, outside of dry and dusty academic journals. While the later version of Fortean Times is undoubtedly more accessible to the casual reader - it looks a lot less like the sort of thing read only by cranks - there's a lot to be said for the earlier incarnation that, arguably, presented the Forteana in a 'purer' and less diluted-for-popular-consumption form.