Overview

UNRAVELLING SEA & SPACE MYSTERIES OF THE PAST Charles Fort published his first and most influential book, The Book of the Damned, a century ago in 1919, collecting together many historical reports of strange phenomena in the sky, in space and in the sea. Since the birth of the UFO controversy in 1947, Fort's writings have been cited in countless books and web pages. Yet this is the first time in a hundred years that researchers have systematically verified the sources and content of every one of these oft-recycled stories, correcting many errors, placing each case in its historical context, and submitting it to a careful scientific investigation in an attempt to find a conventional answer. Following on from the first volume, Redemption of the Damned, Vol. 1: Aerial Phenomena, this second volume examines Sea and Space Phenomena. What were these phenomena? Is it possible to find non-exotic explanations? With the advantage of modern knowledge, methods and resources, in most cases the answer proves to be yes. Some of the solutions found may shock the general reader and surprise even specialists. Yet in the end a few well-documented events remain unexplained. This is a 244 page, large format (8.27 × 11.69 inch) book with more than 50 illustrations, many in color!

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9781949501186

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Reviews

Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht use an arsenal of 21st-century tools, both online and in archives, to deconstruct and reconstruct the astronomical, meteorological, and oceanographic anomalies that Fort has puzzled us with since 1919. Yes, Fort cherry-picked his facts to tell a good story, as the authors point out. Nonetheless, they manage to extract the marrow from many of these old bones, and in doing so, take Fort to a new level of relevance. Reassessing Fort's data is not a job for the faint-hearted. Shough and Van Utrecht are up to the technical and historical challenges, leaving no meteorite unturned in their quest to find reasonable explanations. - from the Foreword by George M. Eberhart, former senior editor of American Libraries Like the first volume [Redemption of the Damned Vol. 1: Aerial Phenomena], it uses modern digitised archives and research techniques-none of which were available to Fort in his time-to question every detail of the relevant cases. The results are remarkable for the rigour applied to the process, providing a new critique of the anomalies Fort highlighted...Shough and van Utrecht deserve to be applauded for their diligent labour among dusty archives, the fruits of which serve to underline both the value of research into anomalous phenomena and of re-examining the data...probably the closest forteans can come to being 'scientific' about their work. - Bob Rickard, Fortean Times ...this new book is an outstanding investigative contribution on past anomalistic events that occurred before flying saucers of historic reach, not only in ufology but in areas like astronomy, meteorology, geophysics, atmospheric physics, etc. This book completes their major centennial reappraisal of Charles Fort's influential 1919 volume 'The Book of the Damned'. Under the leadership of Scottish researcher Martin Shough, the final product is an indispensable book in the library of whoever considers himself a student of flying saucers, UFOs, or UAPs. - Vincente-Juan Ballester Olmos, UFO Fotocat Blog [The authors] have 'preserved the phenomenon' by not assuming that the original reports [from Charles Fort's Book of the Damned] were seriously flawed, or that the observers were incompetent, unless they have been able to provide clear evidence that was the case, which has seldom been the case. They have allowed the original observers and recorders the courtesy of taking their reports seriously. And when they have not been able to provide a plausible scientific explanation for a strange event, they have had the confidence to say so clearly. This is an essential book for the serious researcher, and demonstrates clearly that there is no contradiction whatsoever in being both a Fortean and a sceptic. - John Rimmer, Magonia

Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht use an arsenal of 21st-century tools, both online and in archives, to deconstruct and reconstruct the astronomical, meteorological, and oceanographic anomalies that Fort has puzzled us with since 1919. Yes, Fort cherry-picked his facts to tell a good story, as the authors point out. Nonetheless, they manage to extract the marrow from many of these old bones, and in doing so, take Fort to a new level of relevance. Reassessing Fort's data is not a job for the faint-hearted. Shough and Van Utrecht are up to the technical and historical challenges, leaving no meteorite unturned in their quest to find reasonable explanations. - from the Foreword by George M. Eberhart, former senior editor of American Libraries

"""Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht use an arsenal of 21st-century tools, both online and in archives, to deconstruct and reconstruct the astronomical, meteorological, and oceanographic anomalies that Fort has puzzled us with since 1919. Yes, Fort cherry-picked his facts to tell a good story, as the authors point out. Nonetheless, they manage to extract the marrow from many of these old bones, and in doing so, take Fort to a new level of relevance. Reassessing Fort's data is not a job for the faint-hearted. Shough and Van Utrecht are up to the technical and historical challenges, leaving no meteorite unturned in their quest to find reasonable explanations."" - from the Foreword by George M. Eberhart, former senior editor of American Libraries ""Like the first volume [Redemption of the Damned Vol. 1: Aerial Phenomena], it uses modern digitised archives and research techniques-none of which were available to Fort in his time-to question every detail of the relevant cases. The results are remarkable for the rigour applied to the process, providing a new critique of the anomalies Fort highlighted...Shough and van Utrecht deserve to be applauded for their diligent labour among dusty archives, the fruits of which serve to underline both the value of research into anomalous phenomena and of re-examining the data...probably the closest forteans can come to being 'scientific' about their work."" - Bob Rickard, Fortean Times ""...this new book is an outstanding investigative contribution on past anomalistic events that occurred before flying saucers of historic reach, not only in ufology but in areas like astronomy, meteorology, geophysics, atmospheric physics, etc. This book completes their major centennial reappraisal of Charles Fort's influential 1919 volume 'The Book of the Damned'. Under the leadership of Scottish researcher Martin Shough, the final product is an indispensable book in the library of whoever considers himself a student of flying saucers, UFOs, or UAPs."" - Vincente-Juan Ballester Olmos, UFO Fotocat Blog ""[The authors] have 'preserved the phenomenon' by not assuming that the original reports [from Charles Fort's Book of the Damned] were seriously flawed, or that the observers were incompetent, unless they have been able to provide clear evidence that was the case, which has seldom been the case. They have allowed the original observers and recorders the courtesy of taking their reports seriously. And when they have not been able to provide a plausible scientific explanation for a strange event, they have had the confidence to say so clearly. This is an essential book for the serious researcher, and demonstrates clearly that there is no contradiction whatsoever in being both a Fortean and a sceptic."" - John Rimmer, Magonia"

Author Information

"MARTIN SHOUGH is author or co-author of various books, papers, and reports, and has been involved in a number of notable investigations. He is a Research Associate for the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) and is the author of several NARCAP Technical Reports. He has contributed to the book UFOs: 1947-1987 (Fortean Tomes, 1987) and the monograph ""Report on Aerial Phenomena Observed Near the Channel Islands, UK, on April 23, 2007"" (UPIAR, Torino, 2008), co-authored Return to Magonia (Anomalist Books, 2015) and authored Truant Boy: Art, Authenticity & Paul McCartney (Monymusk Media, 2017). He has also published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Magonia, and Darklore. He has been a photolithographer, semi-professional musician, artist and gallery owner. He lives in the north of Scotland. WIM VAN UTRECHT dates his interest in unusual sky phenomena back to 1974. In 1994 he initiated CAELESTIA, a research initiative that seeks to find explanations rather than promote mysteries. In 2007, together with Frederick Delaere, he set upthe Belgisch UFO-meldpunt to monitor UFO reports in Belgium. He is co-author of two books: ""Unidentified Aerial Object Photographed near Zwischbergen, Switzerland, on July 26, 1975"" (CAELESTIA, 1995, with Frits van der Veldt) and ""Belgium in UFO Photographs - Volume 1"" (UPIAR, 2018, with Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos)."

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