In Fortean Fives the great and the good of Forteana pick out Five interesting events from the history of Forteana. If you want to submit your own Fortean Five email it to Oll Lewis at fortean5s@gmail.com. Today’s Fortean Five is complied by J.T. Lindroos. J.T. runs the Point Blank Press publishing house and is also a rather superb designer as you can see here: http://jtlindroos.posterous.com/ . Take it away J.T.
1. The Well to Hell
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/d/drilltohellfacts.htm
The story went around in the early '90s how Russians had drilled a 14.5-mile borehole next to the border of Finland and cracked the Earth's shell direct into Hell. This tale has it all: from subterranean mysteries and hollow earth theories to theology, ultraterrestrials, Edgar Rice Burroughs with overtones from my favourite short story ever, Arthur Conan Doyle's When the World Screamed.
2. Philip K. Dick and the Pink Beam
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3230/Robert-Crumb-The-Religious-Experience-of-Philip-K-Dick
The wealth of brilliant writing that sprouted from this event alone would be enough to qualify it to the top 5. What makes it more significant is PKD's ability to speculate on the event itself, to consider all open options about its significance and its randomness, to make a valid case for opposing answers to the mystery, and to turn it loose on the world. Not to mention that it also resulted in a Robert Crumb comic book.
3. Dean Radin bends a spoon
http://www.deanradin.com/spoon.htm
A trivial incident that conceptually hits a nerve. Accidental, believable, unexplainable and unrepeatable.
4. The Great Thunderstorm of Widecombe-in-the-Moor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Thunderstorm,_Widecombe
Ever since I read the Tintin adventure Seven Crystal Balls, I've had a fascination with ball lightning. This 1638 event was so dramatic and the reaction to it so speculative that it is perfect as a representation of the narrow bridge between mystery and nature, and how they intermingle. That we still don't understand the phenomenon, that we haven't even got decent documentation of it, enforces the fact that the universe is much more mysterious than we often give it credit for.
5. Patterson-Gimlin film
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/files/mk_davis_pgf.gif
I don't want to hear another word about it, be it speculation or 'facts' or anecdotes. But it remains a fascinating piece of history; a question without an answer, yet one you can actually see for yourself. Singular and suffused with a sense of wonder.
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