while living in montana in 2016, i watched a man walking along the street disappear into thin air.
What is a
"Fortean Vagabond?"
The name Fortean Vagabond is a union of two things that, on the surface, seem unrelated, but tend to intertwine all the time in my (the writer's) life.
Charles H. Fort
Fortean is a colloquialism meaning, "relating to or denoting paranormal phenomena." You may have heard the noun form, "Forteana."
The word "Fortean" was coined by American reporter/actor Tiffany Thayer. Thayer founded The Fortean Society in 1931, an organization dedicated to commemorating the extensive compilations of unexplained phenomena throughout history around the world collected by American researcher and writer, Charles H. Fort (1874-1932). The term is sometimes used to describe readers, fans, believers, and/or enthusiasts of Fort's work.
A vagabond is, according to Google and Oxford, "a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job."
The word was much more popular in the 1800s than it is today, especially between 1850 and 1900. For this reason, I associate the term with the Wild West, hence the drawing at right by Samuel Clemens, from his book, Roughin' It, which is, in essence, his personal account of the Wild West chiefly between 1850 and 1900.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.
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"Vagabond" refers to me: the bum, the traveler, the writer. I have lived in 4 (and-a-half) U.S. States and have visited 45 out of 50 of them and still don't know which one is my home.
For all intents and purposes, I am a Fortean Vagabond. I'm a paranormal enthusiast, I've read almost everything Fort has written, and I am always on the road, oftentimes finding myself homeless and unsure of what to do next.
What is the
"human experience?"
It's a loaded question, and its answer varies from person to person. As I see it, generally speaking, the human experience is that which is shared, both intra- and interpersonally, between the beings of our species—that which makes us uniquely human, and not, say, feline.
The purpose of this blog is to shed light on phenomena, history, and personal experiences that comprise what it means to be a human being, especially those which go by the wayside because of societal stigmas, or those which do not jive with contemporary beliefs and norms.
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Check out the slideshows below to learn more about each of the three main categories I'll explore in this blog.