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OF FAREWELL TO SOME AND WELCOME TO OTHERS

Most of the people visiting this site probably do so because they wish to learn more about our beautiful country, especially about the little jewel hidden in its southernmost parts - the town peacefully resting in the eye of a thousand-year old harmonious interplay between the calm sea on its bay side and slopping hills wreathed with thick pine bluff hugging it from the hinterland.

And, in truth, nothing would be easier for me now than to just keep on caressing Cavtat with a bunch of rich attributes and dedicate to it the whole text. Naturally, somewhere between the next to the last line and the very end of the text, I’d realize that I… have completely missed the topic.

Nevertheless, Internet being its own universe with its own rules and laws, one simply cannot tell if a visitor, an admirer of Our Beautiful Homeland, is also a bit (perhaps a lot!) into enigmas and the unknown. In that case, I like to assume, that someone has clicked on the link with my name on it and commenced cruising throughout my humble articles.

Since I’m already assuming, might as well assume some more!

With a bit of (implied) self-critique, I am further going to assume that a certain number of visitors to my 'Twilight Zone' have concluded something along the lines like “not everybody’s home up there, Nino, are they?”, that all my writing here amounts to nothing but a pile of nonsense. Without regard for the actual (in my head), those visitors have probably just scuffed a hefty dose of sarcasm uttering “get a life, dude” or such, waved their hands in a dismissal sort of way and, with a single click, returned to the pages about the beautiful Mediterranean.

Farewell and enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

But you who decided to stick around and are willing to delve a bit deeper into my text, this time you will find that I accentuated the diverse literature that explores this vast field of the unknown, the science of - let’s call it - "The Great Beyond”.

OF THE DANGER OF GETTING LOST

Any person who has even a tiny bit of interest in this kind of inquiry is in great danger of getting lost.

Namely, there are these big piles of trash that surround us and it’s become increasingly difficult to find a single good source-book. When it comes to the occult, esoteric teachings, astrology, parapsychology, and the interpretations of the mysteries and the “final answers” to the riddles they contain, there is today just such a heap of lies and gross pure nonsense floating around.

Compared to any of the today’s writing (in any discipline whatsoever), the science of “The Great Beyond” seems to be the biggest breeding ground for all kinds of speculations, wrong interpretations, forgeries, even outright lies.

In my best estimate some 70% of literature about “The Great Beyond” is just one great collection of refuse and you-name-it-you-got-it products of the imagination of all kinds of sick folk, manipulators, liars, and whatnots yearning for a quick buck.

Nevertheless, it just baffles the mind how any human being with a normal or above IQ could get really tricked by it. Moreover, by the virtue of simply not dismissing it, such poor souls nourish it and keep it alive and well within the realm (that should be) reserved for the true and sensible.

To me this remains a mystery of its own. And not just to me! There is a whole score of psychologists and sociologist doing research worldwide trying to enlighten us about this one.

It’s quite interesting to note that most charlatans involved in the authorship and dissemination of the aforementioned shady knowledge don’t even bother to come up with, say, original titles, but always bet on the sales of the same ones. It came to the point I can just take a quick look at the a book, sometimes even just glance at one of its subtitles, and immediately be quite clear where to route it to: the bookshelf or the trash can (skip it).

Be that as it may, I've got to tell you, this saddens me a bit. It confirms that human nature has not changed much through all these - how many? - millennia since our kind first saw the light of day. I mean, the folks who bring forth

and disseminate such texts with no intrinsic value not only bring disrepute to this otherwise reputable and very interesting scientific field, but also hamper the efforts of the scientists and enthusiasts alike who, if they wish for their research to be of some standing, are demanded to first sift through and reevaluate the piles of possibly worthless written material.

Accordingly, among the lay people especially, there is much confusion between what’s credible and what’s not. The fact that the low quality pulp-literature is by far the one more published and available, renders it easy to arrive at how and why the public eye views this whole field of inquiry.

OF EVIDENCE OF YEARNING FOR THE MYSTERIOUS

Contrary to the aforementioned generalizations that seemingly prevail, there are findings that show that many private gatherings (be it various meetings, cocktail parties or gala dinners), end up in discussion of the unknown, the occult, etc.

Some such evenings are 'spiced up' by telling of frightful stories, retelling of an experiment, or by having a seánse. Seems harmless enough, nice and dandy and fun.

Evidently (and according to some surveys), people do not mind participating in such entertainment, providing they are in company of the people they trust, be it friends or family.

It seems this urge  - to go after the inexplicable, the mysterious, to experience an adventure, to simply seek and find - is in us all. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that, once their bellies get filled, some people prolong their pleasure not only by sharing a glass of fine dessert wine but also by telling interesting stories.

Then, there are those that don’t simply wait for such occasion to come by. Instead, they satisfy this omni-present human yearning by dedicating a portion of their free time to the research and inquiry (my humble self here included). Some even dedicate their whole lives to the pursuit of the unknown and the truth hidden behind it.

OF DEDICATED RESEARCHERS AND THEIR PASSIONS

It is precisely these most dedicated discoverers, honest writers, experts, adventurists, researchers and journalists and their efforts and findings that I wish to focus on in this article. God knows, it took me long enough till I was able to dig up and pull out their excellent works from under the pile of the unworthy junk they in way belong with but somehow ended up being buried under.

Such folks are not after the monetary rewards, though no one denies that they welcome the beans going their way since the research does cost and needs to somehow be funded. What they really are after is the truth (or truths) about our planet hidden behind mysterious occurrences. And they pursue it (them) wherever they think they may be able to uncover it (them).

In their passionate quest they relentlessly travel to the farthest corners of the globe; they burry themselves in research; they interview anyone they think is in any way connected to some anomalous phenomena; they review and catalog a great number of books and archived materials such as journals, microfilms, and daily news going back even up to two hundred years.

And, of course, we don’t mind buying what they publish. We know that they earned and deserve every penny they get. Besides, those funds will finance, at least in part, their next interesting expedition or research, subsequently benefiting many people, perhaps even all humanity.

If you come across the works of these dedicated folks, and you decide to buy or borrow them, and then to really ponder about what they’ve read… believe me, my column will quickly become just a dear memory. Perhaps, if I’m lucky to merit this, you'll consider it a trampoline that bounced you off in a proper direction - toward the works of experts, the literature imbued with a healthy, scientific approach to inquiry and resonating with echo of the true (even if those authors do occasionally allow themselves to venture further - to draw their own theories or to form definitive opinions - than the sheer facts underpinning those theories and opinions actually call for).

OF THE TWO GROUPS OF SERIOUS AUTHORS: ENCYCLOPEDIC-FACTUAL AND THEORIZING

I like to cluster these authors into two groups: (1) those that present their material in sort of an encyclopedic style, that is, they present only the sheer facts and little or nothing beyond (no annotations or theories of their own), and (2) those that, in addition to the listed and valid facts, also include their pertinent opinions and/or theories.

The works of the Encyclopedic-Factual group leave little or no room for manipulation or shady interpretations and are by rule excellent.

Be advised, though, that various charlatans do infiltrate here as well. Thus, there always remains a shadow of concern that the data presented as “facts” might not be factual at all. Luckily, such deceptions are difficult to pull off and thus quite rare.

In fact, I’ve never come across any such materials. Nevertheless - to use the old adage - nothing is impossible in this world of ours and so I find it rather prudent to first carefully select, then approach the reading of the new material with caution.

The works by the Theorizing group warrant even more caution as it is in these texts that you’ll encounter greatest number of the corrupted data.

A word to the wise… The books that manipulate information for who-knows-what purpose, usually launch an all out sense-offensive. They arm themselves with theories which seemingly make sense (because they utilize some facts or accepted views surrounding known events), thus creating a sense of their validity in the reader. They appear then as not only possible but plausible. Add to this manipulating concoction the persuasiveness of such authors in passing such info as true and nothing but, and there you have it - a cocktail of nonsense, but ringing true and going down easy…

Do not burden yourself with worry - with the attentive eye, though not without the (un)due diligence, you will be able to discern the untrue from partially true and from completely true.

Nevertheless, do be advised than a careful scrutiny and evaluation of the validity of any such texts is certainly always in order and most recommended!

OF CHARLATANS AND DISSEMINATORS OF INVALID ‘FACTS’

Believe it or not, there are those who base their whole - let’s call it - “work” on an mysterious event.

Of course you can’t possibly know exactly what I’m talking about - only those authors could! as only they were privy to the actual occurrences of such events. Only they could reveal to us the particulars (and significance) of some such “occurrence”.

Some of those folks have ‘conversed with God’, one had ‘communicated with an exotically named non-human civilization that originated on Mars and has been watching us Earthlings for millenniums’. Apparently, it just so happened, they felt a sudden urge to divulge to our author some very important knowledge regarding the future of mankind.

Some such folks even claimed to have communicated with the beings from the future or with the representatives of some known or unknown civilizations already extinct for - no one can really ascertain how many - millenniums.

It shouldn’t, then, surprise us how easily it is for us to pick up a copy of the ‘firsthand source’ about the civilization that went off to create new habitats on a distant planet and are now communicating with Earthlings through the channels that only human imagination could invent. Nor should we be taken aback by learning that there are ‘ambassadors’ of such civilizations here on Earth and are in hiding deep under the surface. They use crystals as transmitters to send signals to our special author’s microwave, sometimes - a vacuum cleaner.

The world is full of the “inspired” mediums. They take it upon themselves to brings us the messages from Jesus or from other dimensions or from some spiritual words.

So many hundreds of bearers of the messages important for the human race, so many hundreds of those messages, so much imagination running wild…

What do you know?!!!

Sarcasm aside, many gullible people fell under enough influence of such ‘leaders’ to eventually join a cult or a sect, and ended up living pitiful and dependent lives. Because of such misplaced beliefs there were some poor souls who even paid the ultimate price. Fortunately, such extreme cases are very rare.

Even so, I am compelled to mention one example I feel illustrates this extreme gullibility pretty well.

Quite transparent in his lunacy, yet very skilled in manipulation techniques, the ‘guru’ of a certain group of crazed followers convinced them that they could meet up with their alien brothers who, just so the coincidence would have it, ‘were abiding on’ the very real and at the time approaching ‘Hale-Bop comet’. There was a catch. They (the followers) had to first be dead. Not seeing through the sick plan of a man who probably wanted to commit a suicide but was too cowardly to do it without a company, these poor brain-washed people, sadly, did just that - committed a collective suicide..

I noticed I again returned to the “dark-side” that I vouched to avoid. Apparently, it’s rather difficult for me not to. Nevertheless, I don’t mind that I at least touched up on the other side of the coin of this type of research.

OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIC-FACTUAL AND THE THEORIZING AUTHORS, A WORD OR TWO MORE

Let’s now take a walk along the sunny side of the street. Let us say a few words about the hard-working authors whose books fascinate us with the breadth and depth of the first-rate quality research that they utilize and - why not - with the theories that, regardless of whether we agree or disagree with them, never betray the truth of the facts they are rooted in. More so often than not, those facts themselves also will be presented in an outstanding, unique manner.

Since the anomalies and phenomena can be (and usually are), very divergent and spread over quite a vast field of inquiry, most of the encyclopedic-style authors eventually become experts in one area they research to a greater depth and write about the most. Do note, however, that it is not uncommon that an expert in a particular field would also have quite a breadth of knowledge that draws from many other related fields. Consequently, as evident in their works, many a time these authors will branch out and explore the inter-relatedness of various phenomena.

OF CHARLES HOY FORT

The founder of this 'different' science  and biggest researcher of the strange phenomena and anomalous occurrences was one rather interesting character who lived and worked in the second half of the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century. His name was Charles Hoy Fort.

Thoughtfully, and with a solid dose of subtle humor, Fort handled the great number of facts he collected over a lifetime of keen research (Fort spent some 27 years in dedicated research in the NY Public Libraries). His works present a fact upon a fact in Charles’s typical style - philosophical and humorous - missing no chance to poke fun at the widely accepted scientific knowledge and its dogmas. The importance of Fort’s research can hardly be overestimated.

Among his published works, four books, each strongly imbued with factual, earned great merit of lasting importance: “Book of the Damned”, “New Lands”, “Lo!”, and “Wild Talents”. These works came to the attention of not only Forteans but also of anyone who had even an ounce of doubt in the exactness and the completeness of the knowledge about the world given to us by the corpus of scientists from all different disciplines and taught to us through our schoolbooks. This held true from Fort’s time on.

In 1973, a monthly magazine ‘of news, reviews, and research on strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities, prodigies and portents’ - “Fortean Times” - was founded in honor of Charles’ legacy. Next to the much older “Fate”, it is probably the best ever published magazine with the strange and the anomalous for subject matter.

This - 'best' title - I do not confer on Fortean Times lightly.

Namely, in cooperation with John Brown Publishing, Fortean Times completed a whole sleuth of, today quite sought after and painstakingly difficult to obtain, projects including the new edition of Fort’s four aforementioned books (preserving the original text which for decades was abused by numerous editors who – you tell me why? – decided it was OK to cut or - would you believe it? - even change the original text!), the phenomenal “Strange Days # 1” and “Strange Days # 2”, “Weird Year 1996” , followed by some 15 strange and different, yet excellent and superbly produced compilations of (all) the volumes of the Fortean Times magazine and, finally - the crème of the crop - seven masterfully done books titled “Fortean Studies” (1 through 7).

“Fortean Studies” series, though consisting of only seven volumes, is quite spectacular. Each volume of 300 or so pages deals with only about ten different topics. The reasoning behind this is quite simple – why spread thin and barely scratch the surface, when the Studies could contain an amazing and masterfully written about in-depth studies about a handful of phenomena instead? Very glad they saw it that way.

The greatest names in forteana (some mentioned in this article, some not) had cosigned these ‘Seven Magnificent Ones” by taking their best shot in trying to shed light on some of the strangest well-known, and even some lesser-known, phenomena on Earth.

“Fortean Studies” are a delightful read with pages and pages about the strange. For instance, we can learn of a certain Spring-Heeled Jack, the mysterious (and deadly) Mongolian worms, enigmatic balloons over England at the turn of the 20th century, the (in) famous black dogs, the mysterious Australian animals, the disappeared lighthouse keepers from Eilean Mor, the green children of Woolpit, and much, much more.

Couldn’t say we need more than this trustworthy and reliable literature to scratch our heads perplexed and in awe before all the unbelievable, mysterious, and enigmatic that, want it or not, shares this beautiful blue planet with us.

A must for a true fortean!!!
 

OF WILLIAM CORLISS

The biggest name in this type of research today is probably William R. Corliss. An expert in the domain of astronomy and astrophysics, Corliss has written a whole score of books on communication systems, the universe, and some technical papers which I did not fully comprehend so am wont to discuss.

What’s of more interest here is that this man, who obviously is not just some non-sensible nobody, is the very same man who spent his life in careful studying of various mysteries, phenomena, and anomalies. Moreover, his research, superseding any divisions in the field, ventured to encompass all categories of such occurrences known to us today.

Thus, some of his works deal with the phenomena found in humans, some with those found in animals, and yet some others with geological, metereological, astronomical, and other miscellaneous anomalies.

Corliss’ works are well organized and not only a real dish for a true Fortean but also a catalogue of sorts for anyone who cares to learn more about the unbelievable and the unexplored that surrounds us right here and right now.

His works are vast, no doubt. Yet, they remain far from finished. It is said that over the decades of hard and dedicated collecting, he compiled so much information that twenty and more books can still be written about it. Corliss has already published at least as many! I am a proud owner of several (hope to eventually complete the set).

OF UFO-LOGISTS AND CRYPTO-ZOOLOGISTS

I’d like to further mention several other important authors. Jerome Clark, for instance, is an outstanding encyclopedist of mysteries, who specializes in UFO phenomena. There is then Lauren Coleman, the expert crypto-zoologist, a person who wrote probably one of the best and most down-to-earth books about the famous Bigfoot (“Bigfoot: the True Story of Apes in America”).

The founder and author of the best works in the field of crypto-zoology is the late Frenchman Bernard Heuvelmans. His two most influentIal works are: “On the Track of Unknown Animals” and “In the Wake of the Sea Serpents”. They are translated in English and, together with the works of the second older generation important crypto-zoologist Roy P. Mackal, form a foundation and a great venture point for all those who care to follow the tracks of some enigmatic and mysterious animals and utilize most terrific texts as guideposts.

Today, their legacy continues through the works of a first-rate zoologist and a hard-core crypto-zoologist Karl P.N. Shuker. I kindly recommend his books for their fantastic scientific and adventurous style as well as for the wealth of the new facts they provide which are, naturally, simply not to be found in the works of the older generation writers.

George M. Eberhart also made a significant contribution to the field with his unavoidable, fairly volumnous hardcover “Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology”.

This article too would run quite lengthy if I were to list all the good authors in this area of study, as they are numerous, and describe all of their well merited works, so I am not gonna do that. Instead, I’ll mention just one whom I hold in high regard. That’s Mathew A. Bille.

Matthew had written a study titled: “Rumor of Existence”. Though short and, seemingly, his only published work so far, Bille's’s text is rather very good. I am certain anyone interested enough to obtain a copy would quickly attest to this.

OF JIM BRANDON

Jim Brandon authored works in various fields of interest. I’d like to stress that I am only concerned with his works in Forteana. My comments only have to do with the two Fortean works of his and whatsoever not with any of his writings in any other fields of interest.

In fact, I am a proud owner of “Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States”, one of the two (very rare, limited edition) fortean works of his. Written in the 1970s, it is a marvelous catalogue of all phenomena found in each of the United States (with the exception of Alaska).

The second rare fortean work of this estranged journalist and writer, who is notoriously difficult to track down (and not the least due to the fact that he writes under a pseudonym and not under his real name), is titled “The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit” and is an invaluable source of many interesting facts explained through Brandon’s unique and thought-provoking theories.

OF OTHER FORTEAN “HEAVY WEIGHTS”

It might be just to add the married couple Janet and Colin Bord, late Ivan Sanderson, John Michell, and John A. Keel [with his “Strange Mutants: From Mothman to Demon Dogs and Phantom Cats] to the above company of the well known heavy-weights.

Here also belong Theo Paijmans [with his amazing “Free Energy Pioneer: John Worrell Keely], and John Collins [with his rare gem - and his only published book - “Perpetual Motion: An Ancient Mystery Solved?”.
The Paijmans’ book, as its title suggests, deals with the life and work of one John Keely - easily one of the most controversial people in the scientific community of the 19th/20th centuries. Keely claimed to have designed the machines that can run on free and unlimited energy. There are photographs of such machines but, unfortunately, nothing more. Paijmans’ book, a well presented in-depth research, gives us numerous insights into the mysterious life of a genius.. or a nutty charlatan - the reader is left to his/her own better judgment.

Nothing less can be said of Collins’ work. In fact, it remains one of the best (and perhaps the only one approaching this topic in a scientific method) reviews of the life and work of another mysterious personality.

A man, an elder scientist of the 18th century, had put forth a claim that he invented a perpetuum mobile system. Not only that he vouched his machine worked, he actually gathered a select audience (of contemporary nobles) and demonstrated it did.

We today inherit only some indecipherable blueprints, among them the blueprint for “The Perpetual Motion Wheel”. Though Collins had exhausted the known sources in his fascinating benchmark work (one and only of such scope with focus on precisely this topic), he falls short of providing the reader with the definitive clues as to the exact workings of the Wheel. That secret was probably entombed with the engineer himself.

I will not divulge who the engineer of the Wheel was, or any other details for that matter, simply because anyone interested can easily access a number of web-pages filled with this info. For those of you wanting to pursue this mystery further, please refer to Collins’ (somewhat difficult-to-find) book filled with invaluable clues. 

OF NIKOLA TESLA

Among the authors of mystery-machines one name stands out - that of Nikola Tesla. Tesla’s genius was unsurpassed and he easily deserves to be studied apart from anyone. There is much well researched material published to allow this. However, a serious student should still be careful as there is also much shortsighted pulp that might hinder his/her research efforts. All in all, it is worth noting that Tesla was not only a remarkable scientists but a fascinating person altogether.

OF COOPER-OAKLEY’S ‘COUNT ST. GERMAIN’

One of the interesting historic personalities was a man known as Count St. Germain. In his very good “The Comte de St. Germain: The Secret of Kings”, I. Cooper-Oakley provides much about this - almost other-worldly - person who rubbed elbows with crème-de-la-crème of the contemporary European courts from Russia to France, who spoke more than twenty languages and claimed to be immortal.

Cooper-Oakley’s book remains probably the most documented such work.

OF FUN READS WITH DUBIOUS FACTUAL VALUE

I’d like to now dedicate a few lines to the authors whose works, for the reasons known only to the deep, innermost regions of my brain unreachable by any conscious efforts, somehow form a cluster, although, at times, the topics of their research may seem completely at odds with one another.

Not a person (or a personality), but a mysterious creature nevertheless, is written about in tandem by James F. McCloy and Ray Mille Jr. in their works “The Jersey Devil” and “The Phantom of the Pines”. Anyone who has ever wondered about this terrifying mysterious creature that abides just a stone’s throw (if Clark Kent is throwing) from the New York’s banks of Hudson would certainly learn all that’s known by reading these two well documented fairly short volumes. In any event, they are written with a light touch of humor and make for a fun reading.

Jan Lamprecht, with his shocking, but very scientifically developed, “Hollow Planets”, explores what’s probably the most incredible topic found in my collection. Namely, “Hollow Planets” is filled with some far-out facts as well as with scientific discussions springing from an old myth according to which Earth is a hollowed sphere.

Lamprecht here ventures further than just exploring the possibility of the myth being a fact, and postulates a question of what, if anything, could be contained in such hollowed space if, in fact, such space did exist. Quite an interesting book. Perhaps even more so because it starts with Lemprecht’s recognition of oddity of the whole such thesis and his kind request that the book be given its chance and fully read before an opinion as to its value is formed.

Rather catchy way to increase the likelihood that those who pick it up will actually get to its back-cover, give it a chance. “Hollow Planets” earned mostly favorable reviews on Amazon.com. I also give it my cordial commendations.

Among more interesting fun-to-read authors I also include Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Rand Flem-Ath, Colin Wilson and, last but not least, German writer Otto Much.

Hancock and Bauval, much like Flem-Ath and Wilson, often work together. Their works abound with the research about edifices shrouded in mystery, built by unknown builders for an unknown purpose, but they also touch up on varies other mysteries such as the origin of underwater cities, or location of once populated and now vanished continents.

Flem-Ath’s and Collins’ theories grew out of those that claim civilizations could have been destroyed by the unfavorable movements of the tectonic plates. The founder and champion of such theories was a largely misunderstood genius, late Charles Hapgood.

Whether the mentioned authors reveal to us the truth or not… who knows? Regardless, their works are interesting and warrant reading and, in some ways, further research.

Obviously, I have here treaded a bit on the grounds of the second, Theorizing, group of authors.

 

OF AUTHORS WHOSE WORKS, THOUGH OF DIFFERENT MERIT, DESERVE TO BE READ

A few additional names I will here mention had written works that merit a somewhat lower ranking than the works of the aforementioned authors. To this category I assign the enthusiasts like Erich von Daniken and Robert Charroux, perhaps also B. D. Bendedict (a writer of Croatian ancestry) with his theory of the parallel dimensions and of Purgatory through reincarnation, Charles Berlitz (the author of an highly entertaining “Bermuda’s Triangle”), and Arthur C. Clarke (who approaches the mysteries quite formally and dryly, but who is also reliable in terms of quality of his work and quite excellent for beginners).

Besides Ahmed Bosnić, the author of the cult books on mysteries (that remain one of the most important possessions in my collection), Arthur C. Clarke was a great inspiration during my initiation steps into this field of inquiry.

With the exception of his somewhat distanced works, I’d say other authors seem kind of lost… not in translation but in the flames of their passion. It is unfortunate, but books by such authors simply cannot be thought of differently simply because, when compared with the sensible books that base their hypothesis on strong and undeniable evidence, they don’t measure up. The sensationalistic approach they lend to in their books tends to actually bring drown their quality. Eventually, their theories come to be at first sight dismissed as unfounded, as having poor or no validity and, as the English would say, ‘they just don’t make sense’.

Though we still do in these works encounter the factual data, those facts serve a little purpose beyond lending credibility or accentuation to the writers’ original theories. And those are not necessarily bullet-proof. Nor do the authors put forth any such claims. Rather, the real value of such works does not derive from the validity of the extrapolated theories and the closeness to the truth they attempt to uncover or explain, but from the simple fact that for some reason we find them fascinating and/or inspiring.

To this effect lead three important factors: : (1) author’s contagious passion for the various phenomena and mysteries, (2) their (not absolute, nevertheless high) reliability in discerning fact from fiction, and (3) the basic, nonetheless crucial, element - they write the texts interesting enough to capture and hold our attention.

Well representative of such authors is Ahmed Bosnić, the writer whose works are a collection of many interesting anomalies, phenomena and occurrences. For many readers, myself included, Bosnić, or another writer of a similar caliber, was an important source of learning about such phenomena. Books like his are very useful in that they give us the notion of what to look for in our further research.

I find it just to add here that Mr. Bosnić, a very warm and welcoming soul and a gentleman (as I had the opportunity to attest from our e-mail correspondence), had just published a marvelously written work “Scripts and Charms” (in Bosnian original, “Zapisi i Hamajlije”).

The greatly detailed and consuming research for this book Mr. Bosnić draws from a wide spectrum of textually and pictorally portrayed mythologies, traditions, and superstitions found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also from some phenomena outside the realms of science.

Clearly, this wasn’t an easy thing to do for such a serious researcher. I don’t believe any other reputable scientists or researcher will dare to follow in his footsteps any time soon.

I also believe that Mr. Bosnić’ has reached his apogee in this work. It is rather brilliantly researched and written and, doubtless, significantly contributes to his country’s literary achievements.

I warmly recommend it to anyone interested in this special field of inquiry.

 IN CONCLUSION

In my fortean research, the readings in the science of “The Great Beyond”, I had come across many interesting works by numerous good authors. I did not attempt to list them all in this article [I might try to do that at some later occasion].

I am content I have here honored some of them. [How could I not? After all, they did capture my imagination and curiosity and jump-started me any time I stalled on the long road toward the all-encompassing truth].

I appreciate how fortunate I was to not ever have wondered off outside of realm of the high-quality literature, to not have fallen under the spell of the… mildly put - its lesser - quality kind.

*The poor-quality literature remains most widely published type today.

I stay hopeful that we’ll soon witness an end to this trend and that increasingly more fortean works of real merit in this extremely vast and interesting field will see the light of day and the bookshelves of our private collections.

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