Fortean food
Given the centrality of food to so many aspects of human life – from straightforward physical sustenance and mediators of social meanings and taboos through to symbolic and religious offerings or the rituals of the Eucharist – it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to find that it can also be a crucial component in encounters with non-human entities.
Joshua Cutchin’s new book, entitled A Trojan Feast, brings us a detailed and wide-ranging study of this hitherto neglected subject. It follows in the footsteps of previous anomalists such as JacquesVallee or the late Hilary Evans in finding persuasive links between what are often viewed as distinct branches of fortean enquiry – ufology and cryptozoology – and the realm of folklore. Shared motifs run through encounters with alien visitors, Sasquatch and the inhabitants of fairyland – themes of missing time and altered consciousness, notions of taboo, fears of abduction or entrapment – and, as Cutchin demonstrates, these are often articulated through transactions involving food and drink. In the extract we present in this issue, the focus is on one of the most universal and richly symbolic of all foodstuffs – bread, the staff of life, and other associated grainbased products, from rice cakes to pancakes.
All this reminded us of one of our favourite FT stories: the Rowley Regis encounter of 1979, otherwise fondly remembered as the “mincepie Martians” case. To say that this entity encounter was an unusual one would be an understatement, but it’s particularly interesting to note that in this instance the alien entities took rather than gave food (reminding us, of course, of the offerings of food and drink once left for the fairy folk). In brief, on 4 January 1979, West Midlands housewife Mrs Jean Hingley was visited by a trio of silver-clad, three-and-a-half foot tall winged entities that descended from the sky in an orange sphere. They flew into the house, causing the dog to faint, and floated Mrs Hingley into the lounge, where they gathered round the Christmas tree, which they shook repeatedly with cries of “Nice? Nice?” The strange beings claimed, when asked, to come from “the sky”, recognised a picture of Jesus on the wall and also seemed to know something of Tommy Steele and the Queen, whom they discussed in gruff-sounding voices. They bounced up and down on Mrs Hingley’s sofa, until she told them off. The perfect hostess, she offered her visitors some mince pies. Apparantly becoming alarmed when Mrs Hingley lit a cigarette, the bizarre beings departed hurriedly, taking their mince pies with them. For our initial news report, see FT28:18 and for the whole breathtakingly strange story, Albert Budden, “The Mince-Pie Martians: the Rowley Regis Case”, FT50:40-44.
MODERN MAD GASSERS Readers who have been enjoying Theo Paijmans’s unearthing of numerous early cases of phantom anæsthetists and chloroform burglars predating the appearance of the infamous ‘Mad Gasser of Mattoon’ in 1944 will no doubt share our interest in the current resurgence of the phenomenon in France (p9). Quite why these mysterious gas attacks should be concentrated in that country – apart from the rich pickings afforded by the likes of Jenson Button renting swanky villas on the Riviera – is unclear, but as we were going to press another variant on the theme made the news in Paris. Here, two Chinese women and a man were arrested on suspicion of blowing a drug dubbed “the Devil’s Breath” into people’s faces and robbing them. Apparently, the nefarious trio would first ask their victims about the whereabouts of a mysterious “Dr Wang” (!) before “getting them to breathe in a mixture of plants” (supposedly containing the drug scopolamine) that turned them into “zombies” lacking the will to resist as they handed over their valuables to the crooks. D. Telegraph, 1 Sept 2015. More on this story in a future issue (see FT79:48 for earlier Colombian cases earlier cases involving a similar preparation known as burundanga); meanwhile, we leave you in the company of modern mermaids, Scottish Atlanteans, twin telepaths and Stanley Kubrick...
ERRATUM FT331:65: The DVD Out of The Dark was listed as a Metrodome release; it is actually released by eOne.