Authors Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, “both specialists in researching anomalous historical aerial phenomena—continue their project of honouring the pioneering work of Charles Fort by re-investigating some of his important cases,” writes Bob Rickard, in the Fortean Times review of their new book, Redemption of the Damned Vol. 2: Sea and Space Phenomena. “Where Fort is shown to have made some errors in reporting or lacked crucial data that was published elsewhere or later…there are many more cases in which Fort is shown to have correctly reported the data on which he offers his distinctive (and often sardonic) conclusions. With these, the authors have been able to consolidate Fort’s discovery with new information from later investigations or publications; we can now have greater trust in these cases. Shough and van Utrecht deserve to be applauded for their diligent labour among dusty archives, the fruits of which serve to underline both the value of research into anomalous phenomena and of re-examining the data … probably the closest forteans can come to being ‘scientific’ about their work.” Bill Chalker, writing in the blog The Oz Files, sums it up saying: “Redemption of the Damned provides seasoned Forteans and new players a wonderful resource that resonates powerfully with contemporary manifestations of the ‘damned.’  Highly recommended.”

Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht have produced the first detailed study of Charles Fort’s groundbreaking book, The Book of the Damned, a century after its first publication. In Redemption Of The Damned: Vol. 1 Aerial Phenomena, the first of two volumes, both in full color, the authors have tackled all 82 of Fort’s anomalous observations in the fields of astronomy, meteorology, and atmospheric optics and subjected them to detailed critical scrutiny against period maps, investigation reports, and additional first-hand testimony. Kim Møller Hansen of Scandinavian UFO Information calls it “an insanely thorough and admirable detective work documented on more than 400 closely packed pages, over 800 notes and, not least, very interesting photos, drawings, maps, tables, etc.” Jerome Clark, writing in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, agrees: “The research that has gone into Redemption is nothing short of staggering…Redemption is a worthy and necessary addition to the small library of scientifically and informationally weighty UFO volumes.”  And John Rimmer nails it in his review in Magnolia : “Damned fine research . . . Each case is a model of how historical Fortean investigation should be done. . . . This is a remarkable achievement of not just Fortean study, but more general historical study…”

It took nearly a century for anyone to begin a detailed examination of the events Charles Fort described in that now classic work, The Book of the Damned. And now just a couple of years after the release of the work that began that reexamination—Redemption of the Damned: Vol. 1 Aerial Phenomena—Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht have completed Volume 2 of that monumental work—Redemption of the Damned, Volume 2: Sea & Space Phenomena—this time focusing on events that took place on the sea and in space. As George Eberhart, the former senior editor of American Libraries, writes in the Foreword: “Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht use an arsenal of 21st-century tools, both online and in archives, to deconstruct and reconstruct the astronomical, meteorological, and oceanographic anomalies that Fort has puzzled us with since 1919. Yes, Fort cherry-picked his facts to tell a good story, as the authors point out. Nonetheless, they manage to extract the marrow from many of these old bones, and in doing so, take Fort to a new level of relevance.” No one who calls himself or herself a true fortean should be without the knowledge revealed in the two volumes of this essential reference work.

Calling all forteans!  We have just published what may be the most important volume of fortean research since Charles Fort started it all exactly a century ago with the publication of his first and most influential work,  The Book of the Damned. That’s because Redemption of the Damned: Vol. 1 Aerial Phenomena by Martin Shough with Wim van Utrecht is a detailed re-examination of all 82 of that book’s anomalous observations in the fields of astronomy, meteorology, and atmospheric optics. The authors conduct a careful scientific investigation of these aerial mysteries of the past using the tools of the modern researcher. In the words of Bob Rickard, who has written the foreword to this huge (410 page), large format (8.27 × 11.69 inch), full-color book with more than 250 illustrations,  “It is the sort of study that true forteans have long hoped for and will welcome unequivocally as adding considerably to what we know of Fort, his work and its implication.”