Charles Hoy Fort was a most unusual man; some might even say
peculiar. Either way; he made quite an impression, leaving over 60,000 written
articles to the New York Public Library upon his death in 1932. He may not have
been correct in most of the things he wrote about, but he was prolific!
Born in August 1874 in Albany, New York he is considered to
be an American writer and researcher of anomalous phenomena. Although he was
controversial; to say the least; his books are still in print and there
adherents to his philosophies; even if they have largely been discredited by
science. He is somewhat of an American oddity; indeed, I am writing about here,
over 80 years after his death in May of 1932.
Some might say that Mr. Fort was the father of the modern
American conspiracy theorists; those who believe that the government lies to
the people about everything. Hmmm, there might be something to that. But Mr.
Fort’s distrust seems to have originated with his stern father, who was a
grocer by trade. In his autobiography he recalls several “harsh” physical
punishments at the hands of his father.
As weird as some of his theories may have been, the man
was literally driven, by his teen years he was already a collector of sea
shells, birds, rocks, insects and anything else he could amass. And he became
totally immersed in whatever he was interested in at the time. So, it is no
surprise that when he turned of age he set off to see more of the world which
he was so curious about.
In 1892 he left on a tour of the world, in order he
claimed, to "put some capital in the bank of experience". He crossed
the United States, went through Scotland and England before setting off to
Africa. It was there that fate made its appearance and he took ill, forcing him
to return home.
But even that turned to his advantage when he reconnected
with Anna Filing, a woman whom he had known previously and was now engaged as
his nurse. They were married in 1896 and the couple set off for England shortly
after that. It is of particular note that she was 4 years his senior and not
very well read. Her chief interests seem to have been silent films and
parakeets! While in London they lived a rocky life financially as he struggled
with writing short stories to fund his research into just about anything which
interested him.
His chief bit of renown came from his investigation in
“spontaneous eruptions” of people bursting into flames. Although they were
burned to a crisp, their clothes were always unharmed; which ruled out
lightning. In the 1890’s and on through the early 20th century this
was a common occurrence; which has never really been explained beyond the fact
that science wasn’t able to answer the question at the time. So, you have to
wonder…
His Uncle died in 1916, leaving him enough money to quit
working; if you can call what he did working; and devote his time to writing
full time. The efforts produced 10 books, one of which actually got published.
It was a story about life in the tenements. It was not very well received. He
then turned to science.
He was mainly concerned with two questions; the first was
about Martians. He believed that we were puppets of the Martians and that they
were actually controlling us from space. His other big thing was the existence
of a lost civilization that lived at the South Pole. He believed that there was
an opening there which allowed them to exit the interior of the earth. He
believed that they were plotting to take over. It’s interesting to note that
there are some UFO buffs who believe that flying saucers come from that
location; thus combining Fort’s two theories into one.
From this theory he was encouraged by writer Theodore
Dreiser, to write “The Book of the Damned” in 1919, which would cement his name
into literary history. If not for that work I would probably not be writing of
him now. The book is a compendium of all his unproven research. Unproven is
used here in two ways. The first is obvious; he never proved any of his
theories to be true. The second meaning is better; science had never actually
proven him to be wrong.
Aside from a return visit to London, where he lived from
1924 to 1926, he spent most of the rest of his life in the Bronx. He was a
lively and witty character, and sought out by literary contemporaries such as
Dreiser. This group of friends rotated meeting at one another’s apartments for
coffee and robust discussions about everything under the Sun. When their
spouses tired of the meetings night after night, they would adjourn to local
neighborhood taverns.
During this period he found himself to have an actual
following of people who admired him for any number of reasons. Some believed
his theories; while others merely found him to be engaging company. Although he
suffered from poor health he had a routine of sorts. Each day he would take the
subway to the New York Public Library. He would buy a bunch of newspapers and
clip articles from them, writing notes about them all. He needled anything
which claimed to be scientific, and then gave his own explanation. These
articles comprise much of the 60,000 items he left to the library upon his
death.
Say what you will about the guy, he had the courage of
his convictions; eschewing doctors and the medicines which might have
alleviated some of his suffering. He collapsed on May 3, 1932 and was taken to
the hospital. His publisher came to visit him and let him know that his latest
book was to be published shortly. He died a few hours later from what was
probably a form of leukemia. He was a most peculiar man.
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