O.J.'s Bronco drive and Tonya Harding notwithstanding, it turns out that 1994 was actually 2% less weird than the year before. This as carefully calculated in the Strangeness Index from the editors of The Fortean Times, the world's foremost exper ts in abnormal phenomena. A cult classic for over 20 years, The Fortean Times is "X-Files" with a sense of humor, a dizzying romp through the most extraordinary events of our day, from UFO's and poltergeists to natural wonders, zany coincidences, and just plain head-scratching incidents--like the 30 people who were hospitalized in Brazil by a disease that causes continuous laughter (they were dehydrated from hours of mirth).

In STRANGE DAYS #1, the editors unveil the 1995 Strangeness Index and the evidence to back it up: real news clips of the most recent odd phenomena, curiosities, prodigies, and portents from around the globe, carefully divided into 34 distinct categories, such as Swarmings, Things that Fall from the Sky, Hoaxes and Panics, and Water Monsters.

Indeed, just about anything is grist for the Fortean mill: crop circles, showers of frogs, houses that drip blood, apparitions of the Virgin Mary, flying hedgehogs, exploding telephones--even spontaneous human combustion. In Love Hurts, you'l l learn of the two Jack Russell terriers who survived a 100-foot plunge over a cliff while in the throes of passion, in contrast to a human couple that didn't; in Animal Mutations, meet a two-headed turtle, a cat with wings, and a frog with eyes in its mouth, all scientifically explained; in Strange Deaths, hear of a chef who was stabbed through the heart with uncooked spaghetti strands when his restaurant was hit by 150 mph winds.

In the bestselling tradition of Jay Leno's Headlines and News of the Weird, STRANGE DAYS #1 is more exhaustive than either, and far more elaborate in its analysis, including investigations of everything from the Urine Battery to Uncombable Hair Syndrome. Packed with special features, including bizarre letters to the editor and amusing headlines from around the world ("Cow Disarms Soldier, Another Kills Witch,"), this is a unique diary of a mad planet.

"Stories unfold with elegant understatement, and the most pompously educated people are happy to be seen sitting down for hours with the Fortean Times."
-- The Times (London)

The Edinburgh Review says:
"To call it the most remarkable magazine in the English-speaking world is to be needlessly restrained."