American author Charles Fort wrote a nonfiction book titled The Book of the Damned (first edition 1919). The book is regarded as the first on the subject of anomalistic and deals with a variety of anomalous phenomena, such as UFOs, strange organic and inorganic material falls from the sky, strange weather patterns, the potential existence of mythical creatures, human disappearances, and many other phenomena. Nearly a century after Charles Fort's Book of the Damned was first published, the strange phenomena described in this book remain largely unexplained by contemporary science. These phenomena include time travel, UFOs, mysterious planets, stigmata, rock-throwing poltergeists, enormous footprints, and bizarre rains of fish and frogs. Fort grabs the imagination while disproving widely accepted scientific theories through meticulous investigation and a funny, sardonic writing style. Because he was an ardent collector, almost all of his information was assembled from reports that were published in credible journals, newspapers, and magazines. Being a bit of a loner, Charles Fort spent much of his free time studying these bizarre incidents and gathering these accounts from periodicals given to him from all over the world.