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| Issue two cover. |
The second issue was bundled free with the first and featured a still from the infamous 1967 Bluff Creek Bigfoot cine film on the cover in a Kirlian glow. Three new topics were introduced starting with The Power of Suggestion, an introduction to hypnosis, penned by Brian Inglish who was one of the regular consultants for the magazine.
Inglish (1916-1993) was better known to the public as a TV presenter and had been the host of All Our Yesterdays between 1962 and 1973. This was a review of the events of the 1930s with studio commentary and newsreel clips that was produced by Granada Television. Inglish, in his role as the editor of The Spectator, had also presented the weekly news review What The Papers Say. It was whilst working at The Spectator that Inglish developed his interest in the paranormal and this led to his first book on the subject, Natural and Supernatural (1978). He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research and claimed to have experienced precognitive dreams so he was perhaps ideally placed to discuss the topic of hypnotism.
Even more bizarre was the fact that the fire had been contained to one small area in the bathroom and had not resulted in a full blown house fire. The bathtub, only a foot away, was only lightly scorched from what must have been tremendous heat. One explanation stated that Irving, a smoker, had dropped a lighted cigarette on his dressing gown and made his way to the bathroom to try and extinguish the fire. However we can plainly see the remains of a walking aid in the picture balanced over the hole. Irving had broken his hip six years previously and had no feeling in his left leg due to this. Surely a man with limited mobility would have not made such a slow journey, especially if on fire? With only a partial leg to go on as evidence the coroner declared that Dr Bentley had died of asphyxiation!
The article contains several more, equally gruesome, reports and ends before Rickard can start looking at the possible causes of SHC.
Inglish (1916-1993) was better known to the public as a TV presenter and had been the host of All Our Yesterdays between 1962 and 1973. This was a review of the events of the 1930s with studio commentary and newsreel clips that was produced by Granada Television. Inglish, in his role as the editor of The Spectator, had also presented the weekly news review What The Papers Say. It was whilst working at The Spectator that Inglish developed his interest in the paranormal and this led to his first book on the subject, Natural and Supernatural (1978). He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research and claimed to have experienced precognitive dreams so he was perhaps ideally placed to discuss the topic of hypnotism.
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| An 18th century hypnotist projecting magnetism from his hands to induce healing in a patient. |
In his article Inglish struggles to define what hypnotism is and how it works stating from the start that there is no clear explanation.
"Hypnosis is generally defined as a trance, that is, an altered state of consciousness... Hypnosis appears to switch off some part of our minds that ordinarily monitors our behaviour, instructing us what to do in any given set of circumstances without thought on our part. We hand this control system over to the hypnotist, much as an airline pilot may hand over the controls of his aircraft to somebody on the ground."
(The Power of Suggestion by Brian Inglish, The Unexplained issue 2, 1980, p.21.)
"Hypnosis is generally defined as a trance, that is, an altered state of consciousness... Hypnosis appears to switch off some part of our minds that ordinarily monitors our behaviour, instructing us what to do in any given set of circumstances without thought on our part. We hand this control system over to the hypnotist, much as an airline pilot may hand over the controls of his aircraft to somebody on the ground."
(The Power of Suggestion by Brian Inglish, The Unexplained issue 2, 1980, p.21.)
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| A hypnotist extracts a tooth after putting his patient into a trance. |
He gives a general overview of the subject. He defines the use of hypnosis in medicine and how hypnotised subjects can touch red-hot metal without feeling pain or even a blister appearing. He also outlines how some individuals reveal hithero hidden talents under hypnosis such as drawing or singing. Inglish also introduces the subject of hypnotic regression where subjects recall events from past lives which he delves in to deeper in issue three.
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| The first page of THAT article on spontaneous human combustion. |
As mentioned previously I was unsure if I was going to spend fifty pence every week on the publication, but the next article dispelled any uncertainties in a flash and became playground contraband for the shocking and graphic images it presented.
Spontaneous human combustion is very much a phenomena that still puzzles (Fortean Times have revisited the subject in a series of articles published this year) and still has the power to shock. Just what is it that reduces a person to charred remains in a short space of time, consuming flesh and bone, but leaves the surrounding area relatively untouched? Bob Rickard, a one time product design student at Birmingham Art College and the founder of Fortean Times, described several fascinating and horrific cases of spontaneous human combustion (SHC) in his feature Ashes to Ashes, but it was the eye popping photos that really hit home. Writer Stephen Brothersone described how the magazine became a shared experience for thrill seekers and formative Forteans.
"Issues were pored over in school, images passed around like some kind of 'hardness test', and woe betide any sensitive kids such as myself who turned their noses up at the ghosts, aliens and burned legs (oh, those burned legs). It may seem difficult to fathom now, but The Unexplained really was a bit of a shared cultural experience for people like me."
(The Unexplained Magazine by Stephen Brotherstone, Scarred For Life Volume Three, Lonely Water Books, 2024)
Spontaneous human combustion is very much a phenomena that still puzzles (Fortean Times have revisited the subject in a series of articles published this year) and still has the power to shock. Just what is it that reduces a person to charred remains in a short space of time, consuming flesh and bone, but leaves the surrounding area relatively untouched? Bob Rickard, a one time product design student at Birmingham Art College and the founder of Fortean Times, described several fascinating and horrific cases of spontaneous human combustion (SHC) in his feature Ashes to Ashes, but it was the eye popping photos that really hit home. Writer Stephen Brothersone described how the magazine became a shared experience for thrill seekers and formative Forteans.
"Issues were pored over in school, images passed around like some kind of 'hardness test', and woe betide any sensitive kids such as myself who turned their noses up at the ghosts, aliens and burned legs (oh, those burned legs). It may seem difficult to fathom now, but The Unexplained really was a bit of a shared cultural experience for people like me."
(The Unexplained Magazine by Stephen Brotherstone, Scarred For Life Volume Three, Lonely Water Books, 2024)
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| All that remains of Dr. Bentley. |
The image of the remnants of the a single lower leg, all consumed from the knee upwards, next to a charred hole in the floor greeted the readers of the box out entitled The Burning of Dr Bentley. This detailed the case of 93-year-old Dr J. Irving Bentley in December 1966.
"Don Gosnell entered the building's basement to read the meter... a 'light blue smoke of unusual odor' hung in the air. Scattering an unfamiliar heap in the corner with his boot, Gosnell found it was ashes. There had been no answer to his greeting on the way in, so he decided to look in on the old man. There was more strange smoke in the bedroom but no sign of Bentley. Gosnell peered into the bathroom and was confronted with a sight he will never forget. A large hole had burned through the floor to the basement... On the edge of the hole he saw '...a brown leg from the knee down, like that of a mannequin. I didn't look further!' Gosnell fled the building."
(Ashes to Ashes by Bob Rickard, The Unexplained issue 2, 1980, p.27)
"Don Gosnell entered the building's basement to read the meter... a 'light blue smoke of unusual odor' hung in the air. Scattering an unfamiliar heap in the corner with his boot, Gosnell found it was ashes. There had been no answer to his greeting on the way in, so he decided to look in on the old man. There was more strange smoke in the bedroom but no sign of Bentley. Gosnell peered into the bathroom and was confronted with a sight he will never forget. A large hole had burned through the floor to the basement... On the edge of the hole he saw '...a brown leg from the knee down, like that of a mannequin. I didn't look further!' Gosnell fled the building."
(Ashes to Ashes by Bob Rickard, The Unexplained issue 2, 1980, p.27)
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| An unnamed victim of spontaneous human combustion. |
Even more bizarre was the fact that the fire had been contained to one small area in the bathroom and had not resulted in a full blown house fire. The bathtub, only a foot away, was only lightly scorched from what must have been tremendous heat. One explanation stated that Irving, a smoker, had dropped a lighted cigarette on his dressing gown and made his way to the bathroom to try and extinguish the fire. However we can plainly see the remains of a walking aid in the picture balanced over the hole. Irving had broken his hip six years previously and had no feeling in his left leg due to this. Surely a man with limited mobility would have not made such a slow journey, especially if on fire? With only a partial leg to go on as evidence the coroner declared that Dr Bentley had died of asphyxiation!
The article contains several more, equally gruesome, reports and ends before Rickard can start looking at the possible causes of SHC.
Living up to its tagline The Unexplained next turned its attention to a mystery of space (and possibly time) with an article on black holes. I'd heard of this theoretical phenomena (hell, I'd even seen the Disney film named after the mystery in the cinema), but was still unsure of what the things were and what they did. Thankfully astronomer Nigel Henbest (born 1951) was on hand to try his best to educate me with a discussion on how stars become black holes. So far, so straight forward but I recall future articles on the subject get much more complicated which left me slightly befuddled on the topic.
Next was the second part of Roy Stemman's examination of ESP which focussed on telepathy, the apparent communication from one mind to another without speech sometimes over great distances. Stemman offers several cases including one experiment where communication was carried out with one of the subjects submerged on the American submarine USS Nautilus and the other person on land. Stemman terms the phenomena 'mental radio' which I'd never heard of before and the text ends on the promise of the next article looking at 'Clairvoyance - mental television - can be used in crime detection'.
Next was the second part of Roy Stemman's examination of ESP which focussed on telepathy, the apparent communication from one mind to another without speech sometimes over great distances. Stemman offers several cases including one experiment where communication was carried out with one of the subjects submerged on the American submarine USS Nautilus and the other person on land. Stemman terms the phenomena 'mental radio' which I'd never heard of before and the text ends on the promise of the next article looking at 'Clairvoyance - mental television - can be used in crime detection'.
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| A still from the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin cine film of Bigfoot. |
The issue wraps with the second instalment of Janet and Colin Bord's survey of mysterious man-beasts concentrated on sightings of bigfoot and posed the question of how can a primitive creature survive unseen in one of the most developed countries on Earth? The article was illustrated with frames from the 1967 Bluff Creek cine film (also known as the Patterson-Gimlin film) shot in Northern California by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin that shows a bigfoot casually strolling across a forest clearing. The makers went to their graves stating the film was genuine and debate still rages to this day of the authenticity. The Wikipedia entry on the subject has an in depth explanation of all aspects of the cine film, accusations of it being hoax and the controversy surrounding it. Read it here Patterson Gimlin film
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| Bigfoot hunter Rene Dahinden beside a statue of bigfoot based on descriptions of the creature. Dahinden is the one smoking a pipe... |
The second in the photo series The World's Mysterious Places featured an aerial view of one of the lines of Nazca. I was familiar with these landmarks as they had featured in Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World and this is just one of around three hundred different figures built more than 2,000 years ago. I often wondered why these geoglyphs had not eroded given their age and this is because the region has very little rain or wind to help wear the markings and materials away.
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| The World's Mysterious Places 2 - The lines of Nazca. |
After I had read both issues my mind was made up and I immediately started to pester my mum to place a regular order with the local newsagents (Ron Moore's it was known as, eventually closed and became a bathroom showroom and is now a large charity shop - so it goes). I counted the days until a new issue was waiting for me behind the counter...
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