FT279

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Fortean Times #279 (September 2011)

• Release date: 18 Aug 2011
• Cover price: £4.25
• US Edition is dated October 2011 with a cover price of $11.99 USA (CAN $13.25, AUS $12.95, NZ $17.30)
• Cover: Joe Cashin
• Digital editions: Zinio version

Contents

• 50 The Secret Gospel of Mark - Did a lost letter from a Church father reveal a homosexual side to Jesus's ministry?
• 30 Jack the Slasher - A panic attack in 1905 Philadelphia
• 46 Treasures of Heaven - Relics and reliquaries on show
• 38 Meeting Raven Kaldera - A transgender shaman in the Physic Garden
• 76 Tragic Death of a Parachutist - The unlikely career of Park van Tassle

Features

32 Madonna Mania (Cover Story)
Ted Harrison looks back to 1985, when crowds of people all over Ireland were seeing statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary in motion. What was going on? Optical illusions? Mass hysteria? Or something very strange indeed?

40 Looking Over Jordan
Veteran fortean Richard Seary examines the death of Moses and the influence of simulacra on the foundations of religious faith.

46 Treasures of Heaven
David V Barrett visits the British Museum's 'Treasures of Heaven' exhibition, where he finds not just the purported mortal remains of saints, and nails and thorns from the True Cross, but a dazzling display of mediaeval craftmanship.

50 The Secret Gospel of Mark
Andrew Smith attempts to untangle the web of mysteries around what has come to be known as the Secret Gospel of Mark. Do the hints contained in a long-forgotten letter by an early Church Father suggest Jesus performed homosexual rituals? Or is the letter itself a forgery perpetrated over a lifetime by a brilliant academic?

Reports

30 Blasts from the Past - No 32. Philadelphia's "Jack the Slasher" by Theo Paijmans

38 Fortean Bureau of Investigation - No 112. Meeting Raven Kaldera by George Binning

76 Stories from the Illustrated Police News - No 6. Tragic death of a parachutist by Dr Jan Bondeson

Forum

57 The Navy Lark by Paul Chambers

58 Antiquarian's menagerie by Dr Karl Shuker

Strange Days

Bigfoot trashes truck; spectacular cloud photos; spontaneous images; saved from the wilderness; lost treasures see the light; Colombian exorcism; more foolish felons; a 'tsunami' strikes Cornwall - and much more.

• 15 Science
• 18 Archaeology
• 19 Classical Corner
• 20 Ghostwatch
• 21 Mythconceptions
• 23 Alien Zoo
• 25 Konspiracy Korner
• 26 Necrolog
• 27 Strange Deaths
• 28 The UFO Files

Regulars

Editorial

• 04

Subscriptions

• 56

Reviews

• 61

Letters

• 71

It Happened to Me

• 74

Comix

• 79 Phenomenomix

Tales from the Vault

• 80

Reader Info

• 78

Masthead

• Editor - David Sutton
• Founding Editor - Bob Rickard
• Founding Editor - Paul Sieveking
• Art Director - Etienne Gilfillan
• Sub Editor - Owen Whiteoak
• Web Editor/Picture Researcher - Jen Ogilvie
• Book Reviews Editor - Val Stevenson
• Resident Cartoonist - Hunt Emerson

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