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Edinburgh Fortean Society

@edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
1.1K followers 90 following 482 posts

Oldest Fortean Society in Scotland. www.edinburghforteansociety.org.uk www.facebook.com/groups/162025221364

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 7h
Ghosts for October… I’m in the White Horse and Griffin in Whitby, a 17thC coaching inn. The cellar is said to be haunted by Sarah, a servant girl pushed down the barrel hatch by the landlord’s son, who didn’t want her to reveal her pregnancy. Sometimes visitors feel Sarah squeezing their shoulder…
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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 11/10/2026
WOT?!?!?! 🌟💥 Did you see this image of supernova remnant Pa 30?! Bet you'll never look at fireworks the same way again! noirlab.edu/public/image... 📸 International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Cunningham/J. Miller & M. Rodriguez /T.A. Rector /D. de Martin & M. Zamani
A spherical structure made up of long, narrow, radial spikes emanating from its centre. This is the supernova ejecta. Many stars of the Galaxy surround it.
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kim_harding ✅ @kim-harding.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2026
Northern lights over Leith #Aurora #AuroraBorealis
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Andy Lawrence @e-astronomer.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Merry Dancers Portobello Beach. #astronomy
Green Aurora above shoreline. Distant streetlights between the water and the Aurora. Pinkish above. A few stars visible
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 10/10/2026
Aysgarth Falls?
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The Edinburgh Bookshop @edinburghbookshop.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
#Edinburgh peeps, your reminder that we have @ianrankin1.bsky.social 's hometown gig for his eagerly-awaited new novel, The Heights, at the Assembly Rooms next Wednesday, 14th www.tickettailor.com/events/theed... #Edimbourg #books #livres
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Happy 90th birthday, Brian Blessed Sorry, that should read: HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY, BRIAN BLESSED
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 08/10/2026
eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/i...
eu.desmoinesregister.com
Ottumwa City Council faces backlash after 'hail Satan' invocation
The City of Ottumwa has been fielding calls about the "Hail Satan" prayer from Matt Dalbey during a city council meeting. Here's what you should know.
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Alex Harvey @alexharvv.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is not a real person! There are THIRTY TWO books here that 'Andrew V. Smith' has shat out in the last year alone, all of which have AI-generated covers and most borrow or straight up rip off titles from other more popular (and more importantly: human) works like my own
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 08/10/2026
One Piece? The Complete 2000 AD by Alan Moore?
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SelineSigil @selinesigil.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Irish #folklore tells of lazy,clever drunkard named Stingy Jack who tricked Devil multiple times.When Jack died,he was turned away from Heaven and Hell.Devil gives Jack a burning ember to light his way in dark.Jack puts ember inside a hollowed-out turnip and wanders earth forever
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🧟‍♀️ Liza Frank 🎃👻🕸️ @lilithepunk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Want to zhuzh up your writing? Or incite a rebellion? Or even just listen to how traditions and the ritual year can heavy lift your #WIP? Join me in @waterstones.bsky.social #Worthing on 14 October to find out how! #AmWriting #WritingCommunity #FolkloreThursday www.waterstones.com/events/folkl... 📚📝
Folklore Writing Workshop
6pm Wednesday 14 October
Waterstones Worthing
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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 07/10/2026
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 07/10/2026
There's the little Sandy Road circle in New Scone (a mile down the road from Old Scone). Slightly bigger one at Colen Wood, 6 miles to the north.
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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 07/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
A medieval manuscript has confounded scholars for centuries. Have they been reading it wrong all this time?
Researchers argue incorrect binding of Voynich manuscript radically changes ideas about its drawings and indecipherable text
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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/8...
comedy.co.uk
Mark Heap & Stephen Mangan star in R4 comedy-horror The Call Of Cthudo - British Comedy Guide
Mark Heap and Stephen Mangan star in The Call Of Cthudo, a "ridiculous" new Radio 4 comedy reimagining Cluedo through the horror of H.P. Lovecraft,...
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 03/10/2026
Next EdFortSoc: Wed 14th Oct Highlander @jonmelville.bsky.social will talk on the 1986 action fantasy, and his new book, The Art & Making of Highlander. Hear about missing Immortals, deleted scenes, and how a box office bomb became a cult favourite. The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street 7.30pm, £1
Highlander

Jonathan Melville will talk on the 1986 action fantasy, Highlander, and his new book, The Art & Making of Highlander.

A school trip to the Tower of London’s armoury inspired an American screenwriting student to write Highlander, the story of an immortal Scottish warrior who must fight for survival until the time of the Gathering in 1980s New York.
When the script found its way to two producers looking for a sure-fire hit, it attracted the interest of an imploding British film studio, an experimental music video director, a former James Bond, and a myopic actor playing a sword fighting expert who could barely see a few feet in front of him.
Jonathan Melville returns to discuss his decade-long research into the film that has led to two books on the subject.
Hear about missing Immortals, deleted scenes, and how a box office bomb became a cult favourite.

Jonathan will be selling (and signing) a limited number of copies of his new book for £40 – please let Gordon know in advance if you’d like one put aside on the night.

Wednesday 14th of October
The Royal Oak
1 Infirmary Street
Edinburgh
7.30pm, £1
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Sam Weller @samwellerauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is the most remarkable story Ray Bradbury ever shared with me. He told it to me late one night, sitting in his den of antiquities and mementos. Take five minutes to read this. It’s pure magic. #Writing #Living #Creativity #RayBradbury #BookSky
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Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
never the wrong time for this classic
Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?" 
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”
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thebotmakes.bsky.social @thebotmakes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Don’t let them tell you not to play Depeche Mode on a keyboard made out of chips. Live your dreams! (Powered by the awesome Spokeboard from @vulpeslabs.bsky.social, built for Newhaven Tattie Fest yesterday, destroyed by kids!)
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
🔊Alright #London! Some Queens & Kings from BlueSky 🔭Astro are coming to visit y'all next week! #NewScientistLive 😎 Sa 10 Oct: @chanda.blacksky.app & @chrislintott.bsky.social 😎 Su 11 Oct: @dreochapman.bsky.social, @jimalkhalili.bsky.social et moi 🤗 ℹ️: live.newscientist.com/2026-talks-p...
New Scientist Live "One week to go"
10-12Oct 2026, Excel London and online
A man looking slightly nervous in goggles and a microphone is experimenting with a large flame of fire.Join me at New Scientist Live
The Universe: Reality or Simulation?
Catherine is looking unusually glamorous while laughing at the camera.
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 04/10/2026
Flight of the Humble G?
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
396 years ago today, Giuseppe Maria Desa—who’d been born in a stable, the son of a carpenter—had a remarkable day out. He’d been having trances and visions since he was 8, and now, at 27, during a procession through town, “rose up off the ground ... hovering above an astonished crowd”
St Joseph of Cupertino Levitating, ca. 1762 by Felice Boscaratti, in the church of St Lawrence in Vicenza, Italy.
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 03/10/2026
Next EdFortSoc: Wed 14th Oct Highlander @jonmelville.bsky.social will talk on the 1986 action fantasy, and his new book, The Art & Making of Highlander. Hear about missing Immortals, deleted scenes, and how a box office bomb became a cult favourite. The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street 7.30pm, £1
Highlander

Jonathan Melville will talk on the 1986 action fantasy, Highlander, and his new book, The Art & Making of Highlander.

A school trip to the Tower of London’s armoury inspired an American screenwriting student to write Highlander, the story of an immortal Scottish warrior who must fight for survival until the time of the Gathering in 1980s New York.
When the script found its way to two producers looking for a sure-fire hit, it attracted the interest of an imploding British film studio, an experimental music video director, a former James Bond, and a myopic actor playing a sword fighting expert who could barely see a few feet in front of him.
Jonathan Melville returns to discuss his decade-long research into the film that has led to two books on the subject.
Hear about missing Immortals, deleted scenes, and how a box office bomb became a cult favourite.

Jonathan will be selling (and signing) a limited number of copies of his new book for £40 – please let Gordon know in advance if you’d like one put aside on the night.

Wednesday 14th of October
The Royal Oak
1 Infirmary Street
Edinburgh
7.30pm, £1
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London Fortean Society @forteanlondon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It's a whole day of ghosts, magic and old gods @conwayhall.bsky.social and online on 21 November. forteanlondon.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-... @strangeattractor.bsky.social
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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 02/10/2026
Today is the 81st anniversary of the birth of #RadioAstronomy in Australia! 📡 It grew out of radar tech built here in Sydney during WWII. As the war ended, military activity shifted to research, investigating the strange 'noise' and 'interference' coming from the Sun. 📸 J. Messer/NSW G.R.
Coer of a magazine from the late 1940s showing an illustration of a radar station on top of a hill. The title reads: SECRET - Directorate of Radar Services R.A.A.F. Radar Station Portable Type - LW Station
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Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be doing a "soft launch" in Edinburgh on October 14! Get your hands on SLEUTH-HOUND before it's officially out in the city where the story took place! I'll be in conversation with @anatomicalcat.bsky.social! Tickets here: www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/edinb...
toppingbooks.co.uk
Lindsey Fitzharris for Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes at Edinburgh New Town Church
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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I am SO EXCITED to be chatting with Lindsey about her fabulous new book! Come and join us, it’s going to be a brilliant night!
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James Wright @jpwarchaeology.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The ACTUAL Oldest Pub in England. A film that I wrote and presented in collaboration with @HistoricEngland and A Few Good Productions. Click the link for some gratuitous shots of me talking timbers and building up a powerful thirst... youtu.be/RlyvHJtptbc?...
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Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Remember those #LochNessMonster 'flipper photos' from the 1970s? Endorsed by a respectable list of experts but obvious from early on as waaaay less impressive than the public were led to believe... tetzoo.com/blog/2020/8/... #LochNess #cryptozoology
tetzoo.com
The 1972 Loch Ness Monster Flipper Photos — Tetrapod Zoology
If you’re a long-time reader of TetZoo, you’ll know that I’ve often examined and discussed the backstories to famous monster photos. And if you follow me on Twitter (I’m @TetZoo ), you’ll know that...
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 01/10/2026
One should learn from the tale of Lallafa the Poet.
Long after his death his poems were found and wondered over. News of them spread like morning sunlight. For centuries they illuminated and watered the lives of many people whose lives might otherwise have been darker and drier.
Then, shortly after the invention of time travel, some major correcting fluid manufacturers wondered whether his poems might have been better still if he had had access to some high-quality correcting fluid, and whether he might be persuaded to say a few words on that effect.
They travelled the time waves, they found him, they explained the situation - with some difficulty - to him, and did indeed persuade him. In fact they persuaded him to such an effect that he became extremely rich at their hands, and the girl about whom he was otherwise destined to write with such precision never got around to leaving him, and in fact they moved out of the forest to a rather nice pad in town and he frequently commuted to the future to do chat shows, on which he sparkled wittily.
He never got around to writing the poems, of course, which was a problem, but an easily solved one. The manufacturers of correcting fluid simply packed him off for a week somewhere with a copy of a later edition of his book and a stack of dried habra leaves to copy them out on to, making the odd deliberate mistake and correction on the way.

- Douglas Adams, "Life, The Universe and Everything"
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James Wright @jpwarchaeology.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I realise not everyone can get to my book tour dates, so I will be doing an online launch event on Wednesday 7 October at 7pm (UK time) 🙂 For more info & bookings, please visit: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-buildi...
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Andy Arthur💃🏰⚓🦌 Threadinburgh 🧵 @threadinburgh.scot · 28/09/2026
For sale. Highland moonbase. Moonrover not included. Buyer to provide own space suit. search.savills.com/property-det...
search.savills.com
Druim Na Cracaig Portfolio, Drimnin, Oban, Highland, PA80 5XZ | Property for sale | Savills
Property details for Druim Na Cracaig Portfolio. One of many properties for sale in Drimnin, Oban, Highland, PA80 5XZ from Savills, world leading estate agents.
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Prof. Abel Méndez @profabelmendez.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
You’re looking at the radio sky as seen by the Big Ear telescope in August 15, 1977. The bright structure near 18 hours in right ascension is the plane of our Galaxy. Keep going between 19 and 20 hours; the short red line to the left is the Wow! Signal. #AreciboWow #RadioAstronomy
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Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Charles Addams, showing that the Mounties always get their nature god. (Original art for June 1958’s Holiday magazine.)
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 25/09/2026
The Deros emerge... www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Two arrests made after men emerged from New York City sewers
The city has seen a string of incidents in which people have climbed out of manholes late at night.
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The Edinburgh Reporter @edinreporter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Our top choices of places to see on Doors Open Days This weekend is Doors Open Days in Edinburgh coordinated by The Cockburn Association, the conservation charity....
theedinburghreporter.co.uk
Our top choices of places to see on Doors Open Days
This weekend is Doors Open Days in Edinburgh coordinated by The Cockburn Association, the conservation charity. This is your opportunity to see behind doors which are in many instances usually closed to members of the public. There is a full list of all buildings which are open this weekend here. We have some highlights for you to consider when planning your days out this weekend. The University of Edinburgh owns many of the historical buildings in the capital, and some deserve a visit. From their inventory our choice is: The Confucius Institute, Abden House…
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
...and the 50th anniversary of parasitologist Jonathan Turton publishing a paper about swallowing a hookworm and discovering that, for the two years it lived in his innards, he didn’t suffer from hayfever
smithsonianmag.com
Can Hookworms Cure Hayfever?
Maybe. But we need to learn a lot more about them before they hit pharmacy shelves
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I think the most important news from history today is that it’s the 39th anniversary of the (US) release of The Princess Bride—and what better way to mark the day than remind ourselves of Cary Elwes’ story about André the Giant and the enormous, life-altering, earth-shaking fart?
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BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Better photos of the Vikings of Aarhus
Green Viking walk signalRed Viking don’t walk signal
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👻Skulliam🎃Boo-tler🍂Yikes🕷️ @yeets.biz · 19/09/2026
i need to know what happened
sign in a restaurant "due to recent events Bigfoot discussions are no longer permitted on the patio"
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
On this day in 1647, a child was born near Edinburgh with two heads, each one with a single eye in the middle of its face, donkey ears, a tree-trunk-like body, arms sticking out all over, talons, male and female ‘secret parts’, and the legs and feet of oxen. Yes, IT’S ALL TRUE
A 1647 pamphlet: Strange Nevves from SCOTLAND,
OR,
A ſtrange Relation of a terrible and prodigious Monſter, borne to the amazement of all thoſe that were ſpectators, in the Kingdome of Scotland, in a Village neere Edenborough, call’d Hadensworth, Septem. 24. 1647. and the words the faid Monfter ſpake at its birth:
Printed according the Originall Relation ſent overto a great Divine hereafter mentioned.
Illustration shows the creature pretty much as described. It appears to have a forearm protruding from each knee.
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Well, if it’s 23 September... YES, THAT’S RIGHT! It’s the 72nd anniversary of the hunt for the Gorbals Vampire, in which hundreds of children aged from four to 14, armed with dogs, knives, and sharpened sticks went looking for an urban myth
Daily Mirror front page shows grainy image of horde of children in a cemetery, and the headline “Amazing scene as hundreds of children rush cemetery”
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 21/09/2026
But can you wedge a coin in its buttcrack?
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Folk Horror Revival 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @folkhorrorrevival.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
#OwlishMonday New owl species just dropped! www.sci.news/biology/bubo...
sci.news
New Owl Species Discovered in Peru | Sci.News
A horned owl living in a narrow strip of high-Andean grassland in northern Peru is a species new to science, according to a paper published in July 2026 in the journal Audiornis.
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Jaundiced Brains @johnnymains.co.uk · 21/09/2026
Someone from Exeter was buried on Friday and one of their wishes was to have dinosaurs and the Grim Reaper present. Legend. Photo source: Exeter & Devon Crematorium and Memorial Gardens
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌 ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl...
The imposing Callanish Stones stand talk with their shadows spanning out across the glass.  It's a super clear sky, but looks cold. Above the central stone is a strange figure-of-8 shape of dots.  This is the location of the Sun, at noon, on various different days across the year.
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Rebecca Lambert (She/Her) ♾️🐭🍉 @reblambert.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
apple.news/A-sdzC872Tda...
apple.news
Search for 'lost' hamlet of Edinburgh underneath city park — The Scotsman
The site is said to date back to the 1640s and was once a bustling settlement
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Scarred For Life Books @scarredforlife.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
One of my favourite moments from ARTHUR C CLARKE'S MYSTERIOUS WORLD (1980): Mr and Mrs Osborne relate the curious tale of the hail of hazelnuts which battered them one day. "I don't know why you'd suck up Hazelnuts in March". Quite, Mr Osborne.
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Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 18/09/2026
www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Stephanie Cole: Coronation Street and Doc Martin actress dies aged 84
She was best known for playing Dr Beatrice Mason in the 1980s BBC wartime TV drama Tenko.
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