A politically-inclined, polar-oriented, flying-saucer enthusiast, volunteer of a Fortean.
Francis Milton—sometimes Melton—Bush was born 14 August 1908, putting him in the same generation of Forteans as Thayer. His father was Richard L. Bush, his mother Elizabeth (Saler) Bush. (Some records list his mother as a Magdalene Solar; Magdalene was Elizabeth’s middle name, and Solar seems a corruption of Saler.) In 1910, the family lived in Lenoir, North Carolina, where Richard worked as a baker (and Francis had been born). Francis was the youngest of three children. Luana Bush was 6 and Josephine 4. A decade on, the family had relocated to Marion and grown by two: another son, Gerard, then 7, and another daughter, Mary Hester, 2. Richard was working as a salesman for a wholesale company. The family relocated to Morganton by 1930, and presumably Francis was there, too, but not in the family home. (Gerard—or Geron—was there, along with Mary, and another son, Robert, only 9, as well as Josephine and her two children, but Luana and Francis were out of the house.) Indeed, I cannot find a record of Francis for another two decades.
On 16 October 1940, Francis Bush registered for the draft. He was about 5’8”, 175 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, and a ruddy complexion. Francis lived at 110 Greenbriar Lane, in Morganton, a home he would have for a while. He worked at the Cole Printing Company. Francis was married to Christine Elizabeth Bolick, some nine years his junior. He was at the same address and worked in printing at least through the middle of 1950, probably longer. Reportedly, with Christine, he owned Valdese Printing Company. The two were amateur geologists, collecting rocks.
Francis Milton—sometimes Melton—Bush was born 14 August 1908, putting him in the same generation of Forteans as Thayer. His father was Richard L. Bush, his mother Elizabeth (Saler) Bush. (Some records list his mother as a Magdalene Solar; Magdalene was Elizabeth’s middle name, and Solar seems a corruption of Saler.) In 1910, the family lived in Lenoir, North Carolina, where Richard worked as a baker (and Francis had been born). Francis was the youngest of three children. Luana Bush was 6 and Josephine 4. A decade on, the family had relocated to Marion and grown by two: another son, Gerard, then 7, and another daughter, Mary Hester, 2. Richard was working as a salesman for a wholesale company. The family relocated to Morganton by 1930, and presumably Francis was there, too, but not in the family home. (Gerard—or Geron—was there, along with Mary, and another son, Robert, only 9, as well as Josephine and her two children, but Luana and Francis were out of the house.) Indeed, I cannot find a record of Francis for another two decades.
On 16 October 1940, Francis Bush registered for the draft. He was about 5’8”, 175 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, and a ruddy complexion. Francis lived at 110 Greenbriar Lane, in Morganton, a home he would have for a while. He worked at the Cole Printing Company. Francis was married to Christine Elizabeth Bolick, some nine years his junior. He was at the same address and worked in printing at least through the middle of 1950, probably longer. Reportedly, with Christine, he owned Valdese Printing Company. The two were amateur geologists, collecting rocks.
Bush died in Morganton, five days after his 72nd birthday, 19 August 1980. Christine lived another thirty years.
******
I do not know how Bush came to Fort, Forteanism, or the Fortean Society. He almost seemed to be one of those Forteans active in the late 1940s but dropping out with the new decade, but his name did appear once (I think) in the middle of the 1950s. Still, his most active years were after World War II and before the fifties began—active being relative here, since he doesn’t appear to have been very involved with the Society. I count him appearing in five issues of Doubt between the Spring of 1946 and the summer of 1956. (Although, as was clear with Ed Simpson and Tom Elsender, this absence may just mean that Thayer chose not use what he submitted, and not reflect Bush’s real activities.)
Thayer mentioned the name five times in Doubt during the late 1940s. The first was in issue 14 (Spring 1946) and referred to a flying saucer, _avant la lettre_. The account—it’s unclear if it was written by Bush or taken from a newspaper—refers to a shiny tube, five to six feet long, which shot over Morganton on 1 June 1945. It’s also unclear why the story just made Doubt—had Bush sent it in a long time before, and Thayer just gotten to it? Or was this experience, seeing the anomalous thing, what drove Bush to the Society? He didn’t appear again for two years, until Doubt 20, in March 1948, when it showed up twice. First was another clipping—otherwise undescribed—about flying saucers.
The other mention in the issue came from Thayer’s attempt to organize the Society. He was getting so many clippings he trie dot fair out particular categories of material to people who were interested—the way Norman Markham focused on disappearing planes and ships. This delegation was related to but not the same as the Fortean University, which Thayer was then also trying to organize. As it turns out, Bush signed up to deal with all material on what Thayer called “ballisterics,” that is bullets from (seemingly) nowhere. Thayer directed members to send all future clippings of this sort to Bush, and gave his first and last name as well as address, which is how it was possible for me to track him. Theoretically, the keeper of these clippings was supposed to weave them together into an essay, but as far as I can tell, Bush either never did, or Thayer never published it.
Bush had two mentions in Doubt 23, from December 1948, and another from Doubt 27 (winter 1949). In the first case, he contributed to the story of Wonet—a story for which a lot of Forteans sent in material. In the second case, he sent in more material on flying saucers, but it is impossible to say what the exact material was, since Thayer just added a paragraph of credits to the end of his column. Nonetheless, Bush’s name among those who did send in UFO material shows the persistence of his interest. In the third case, he sent in a long letter, which gives a glimpse of him as a Fortean. Under title “MFS Bush Writes” he said,
“I think I have found the ideal project for the Fortean Society to sponsor in its program to spend vast sums of money.
“An engineer, Hugh A. Brown, has developed a theory that the polar ice caps grow, off center, until they become heavy enough to throw the globe off its present axis. This, of course [sic] would cause great tidal waves etc. [sic] destroying everything.
“The suggestion is made to destroy some of the Antarctic ice to prevent this catastrophe. Herein lies out opportunity to replace war with something that could be equally satisfactory for everyone. I am listing some of the thoughts ??? I have had [sic]
“Satisfies all requirements of war without the destruction of civilians and homes, factories, etc.
“Would be easy to start by horror programs and stories (like Orson Wells [sic]), scientific predictions, and religious prophecies.
“Operations would be in remote regions where no one could see what was going on.
“Could cost more than any war because it could go on for years and years longer than people can stand a war.
“Would take great numbers of ships to patrol the area, also a great number to supply the patrol.
“Operations would use both naval and aircraft.
“Spending could begin at once by building a $100 billion refrigerating plant at the North Pole to counteract the weight of the South Pole.
“All countries coulee participate. (Even the damned reds). [sic]
“Offers United Nations people a greta argument for one government.
“Scientists could have a wonderful time ‘predicting’ and developing new theories.
“Pulpiteers would have a great selling point ‘the end of the world’. This should catch lots of saps and dollars.
“Scientists and engineers could spend years and millions charting course waters would take when the earth capsized.
“Home frontiers could segment all people to build shelters on mountain tops and underground.
“Operation could be as dramatic as war, lost patrols, supplies flown to them, lost flyers, ets. etc. [sic]
“It could be determined that present ships are unsuitable for this work so entire navy could be rebuilt.
“Any quantity of surplus could be lost by accidents among the ice.
“Mortality could be satisfactorily high because of the dangerous location and exposure.
“Atom bombs used to blast the ice could create tidal waves if interest lagged.
“Enough ice could probably be blasted off to flood some low areas.
“I think opposition would be less than for a war because every organization, racket and cult and everybody can get on the gravy train.
“Look at the millions of opportunities Forteans would have to laugh and kick.
“This could be easily expanded into a book by some intelligent author (yourself).”
It is impossible to tell if this idea was meant seriously or not. Either way, it puts on display the paranoia common to the Fortean Society, and the concern of its members that the human race was credulous, easily controlled. In this case, Bush was suggesting that people needed to be taken by their nose and led to a more wholesome way of wasting time, money, and effort. None of the suggestion—not that people could be so easily led, or the particularities of dealing with polar ice—is rooted in evidence: it’s supposition built on top of supposition, which gives it the hysterical quality making it impossible to tell if it was a legitimate idea. And that version of Forteanism is ore one of Thayer’s invention than Fort’s own. Indeed, Bush seems to be offering his idea as a plank in Thayer’s PPP, the Perpetual Peace Program, which was supposed to funnel money to governments and big business in the way wars did, but without the war.
The next decade began with Bush earning Honorary Life Membership—which may have contributed to his declining activity (if such there was). With no more dues to send in, he may not have thought about sending in clippings. The recognition came for his printing services. Thayer made up some stamps with a Fortean symbol drawn by Art Castillo that he wanted members to place on correspondence—like Easter Seals—as a way to generate attention. He also designed a cut-out bookmark, with the same symbol and supposedly provocative quotations, that he offered members free. The idea was to put these into library books when they were returned, another serendipitous way of catching new Forteans. (Presumably Forteans and not-yet-Forteans would be attracted to similar books.) The bookmarks were Bush’s idea, and he donated the printing. Thayer wrote, “For this and many other good services rendered. [sic] Brother Bush has been accorded Honorary Life Membership.”
There was then a silence of six years. (I think.) The last mention of an MFS Bush—and there is no way of knowing whether it was the North Carolinan Francis Bush, or someone else with that common last name—came in Doubt 52, dated May 1956. Along with (Albert) Page, Bush had asked about the behavior of compasses at the pole—apparently he was still on that topic. Thayer sent the question to the membership.
If, as a conclusion, we might follow Bush’s own method and pile guess on top of guess, it would seem that his Forteanism was not at all—or, being charitable—only weakly, connected to Fort and his writings. True enough he had an interest in aerial phenomena and girls with Wild Talents—but the interest showed nothing of Fort. Rather, like the rest of his contributions, his Forteanism was indebted to Thayer. And so, my guess is that Bus had an experience with a UFO or aerial phenomena, which experience led him not tot Fort but the Fortean Society. Hence his first contribution. And once connected to the Society, he found much to admire in Thayer’s dyspeptic view of society.
He volunteered to help—to organize some of its materials, and print other parts of it. What he chose to organize, though, was a Thayerian—to coin an adjective—phenomena more than a Fortean one, the comings and goings of bullets from seeming nowhere. What he chose to print were advertisements for the Society, with its logo. He had an interest in polar regions, which is also tangential to Fort himself, but seems more rooted in non-Fortean hypotheses: the Drayson problem, perhaps, and Hugh Auchincloss Brown—a catastrophist connected to another Fortean, Charles Hapgood, and the Velikovsky affair. His politics, at least as expressed in the one letter, were much more closely related to Thayer than anything Fort offered.
It’s an apposite comparison, though one with potentially vaster connotations than I wish to import. Fort:Thayer::Christ:Paul and Fort:Forteans::Christ:Christians. Which is to say, the ideas of the master were changed as they spread, worked into a coherent and worldly system, continually reinterpreted until there was no such thing as the Fortean perspective, but rather a vast spread of ideas. Bush represented one small portion of the Fortean spectrum.
******
I do not know how Bush came to Fort, Forteanism, or the Fortean Society. He almost seemed to be one of those Forteans active in the late 1940s but dropping out with the new decade, but his name did appear once (I think) in the middle of the 1950s. Still, his most active years were after World War II and before the fifties began—active being relative here, since he doesn’t appear to have been very involved with the Society. I count him appearing in five issues of Doubt between the Spring of 1946 and the summer of 1956. (Although, as was clear with Ed Simpson and Tom Elsender, this absence may just mean that Thayer chose not use what he submitted, and not reflect Bush’s real activities.)
Thayer mentioned the name five times in Doubt during the late 1940s. The first was in issue 14 (Spring 1946) and referred to a flying saucer, _avant la lettre_. The account—it’s unclear if it was written by Bush or taken from a newspaper—refers to a shiny tube, five to six feet long, which shot over Morganton on 1 June 1945. It’s also unclear why the story just made Doubt—had Bush sent it in a long time before, and Thayer just gotten to it? Or was this experience, seeing the anomalous thing, what drove Bush to the Society? He didn’t appear again for two years, until Doubt 20, in March 1948, when it showed up twice. First was another clipping—otherwise undescribed—about flying saucers.
The other mention in the issue came from Thayer’s attempt to organize the Society. He was getting so many clippings he trie dot fair out particular categories of material to people who were interested—the way Norman Markham focused on disappearing planes and ships. This delegation was related to but not the same as the Fortean University, which Thayer was then also trying to organize. As it turns out, Bush signed up to deal with all material on what Thayer called “ballisterics,” that is bullets from (seemingly) nowhere. Thayer directed members to send all future clippings of this sort to Bush, and gave his first and last name as well as address, which is how it was possible for me to track him. Theoretically, the keeper of these clippings was supposed to weave them together into an essay, but as far as I can tell, Bush either never did, or Thayer never published it.
Bush had two mentions in Doubt 23, from December 1948, and another from Doubt 27 (winter 1949). In the first case, he contributed to the story of Wonet—a story for which a lot of Forteans sent in material. In the second case, he sent in more material on flying saucers, but it is impossible to say what the exact material was, since Thayer just added a paragraph of credits to the end of his column. Nonetheless, Bush’s name among those who did send in UFO material shows the persistence of his interest. In the third case, he sent in a long letter, which gives a glimpse of him as a Fortean. Under title “MFS Bush Writes” he said,
“I think I have found the ideal project for the Fortean Society to sponsor in its program to spend vast sums of money.
“An engineer, Hugh A. Brown, has developed a theory that the polar ice caps grow, off center, until they become heavy enough to throw the globe off its present axis. This, of course [sic] would cause great tidal waves etc. [sic] destroying everything.
“The suggestion is made to destroy some of the Antarctic ice to prevent this catastrophe. Herein lies out opportunity to replace war with something that could be equally satisfactory for everyone. I am listing some of the thoughts ??? I have had [sic]
“Satisfies all requirements of war without the destruction of civilians and homes, factories, etc.
“Would be easy to start by horror programs and stories (like Orson Wells [sic]), scientific predictions, and religious prophecies.
“Operations would be in remote regions where no one could see what was going on.
“Could cost more than any war because it could go on for years and years longer than people can stand a war.
“Would take great numbers of ships to patrol the area, also a great number to supply the patrol.
“Operations would use both naval and aircraft.
“Spending could begin at once by building a $100 billion refrigerating plant at the North Pole to counteract the weight of the South Pole.
“All countries coulee participate. (Even the damned reds). [sic]
“Offers United Nations people a greta argument for one government.
“Scientists could have a wonderful time ‘predicting’ and developing new theories.
“Pulpiteers would have a great selling point ‘the end of the world’. This should catch lots of saps and dollars.
“Scientists and engineers could spend years and millions charting course waters would take when the earth capsized.
“Home frontiers could segment all people to build shelters on mountain tops and underground.
“Operation could be as dramatic as war, lost patrols, supplies flown to them, lost flyers, ets. etc. [sic]
“It could be determined that present ships are unsuitable for this work so entire navy could be rebuilt.
“Any quantity of surplus could be lost by accidents among the ice.
“Mortality could be satisfactorily high because of the dangerous location and exposure.
“Atom bombs used to blast the ice could create tidal waves if interest lagged.
“Enough ice could probably be blasted off to flood some low areas.
“I think opposition would be less than for a war because every organization, racket and cult and everybody can get on the gravy train.
“Look at the millions of opportunities Forteans would have to laugh and kick.
“This could be easily expanded into a book by some intelligent author (yourself).”
It is impossible to tell if this idea was meant seriously or not. Either way, it puts on display the paranoia common to the Fortean Society, and the concern of its members that the human race was credulous, easily controlled. In this case, Bush was suggesting that people needed to be taken by their nose and led to a more wholesome way of wasting time, money, and effort. None of the suggestion—not that people could be so easily led, or the particularities of dealing with polar ice—is rooted in evidence: it’s supposition built on top of supposition, which gives it the hysterical quality making it impossible to tell if it was a legitimate idea. And that version of Forteanism is ore one of Thayer’s invention than Fort’s own. Indeed, Bush seems to be offering his idea as a plank in Thayer’s PPP, the Perpetual Peace Program, which was supposed to funnel money to governments and big business in the way wars did, but without the war.
The next decade began with Bush earning Honorary Life Membership—which may have contributed to his declining activity (if such there was). With no more dues to send in, he may not have thought about sending in clippings. The recognition came for his printing services. Thayer made up some stamps with a Fortean symbol drawn by Art Castillo that he wanted members to place on correspondence—like Easter Seals—as a way to generate attention. He also designed a cut-out bookmark, with the same symbol and supposedly provocative quotations, that he offered members free. The idea was to put these into library books when they were returned, another serendipitous way of catching new Forteans. (Presumably Forteans and not-yet-Forteans would be attracted to similar books.) The bookmarks were Bush’s idea, and he donated the printing. Thayer wrote, “For this and many other good services rendered. [sic] Brother Bush has been accorded Honorary Life Membership.”
There was then a silence of six years. (I think.) The last mention of an MFS Bush—and there is no way of knowing whether it was the North Carolinan Francis Bush, or someone else with that common last name—came in Doubt 52, dated May 1956. Along with (Albert) Page, Bush had asked about the behavior of compasses at the pole—apparently he was still on that topic. Thayer sent the question to the membership.
If, as a conclusion, we might follow Bush’s own method and pile guess on top of guess, it would seem that his Forteanism was not at all—or, being charitable—only weakly, connected to Fort and his writings. True enough he had an interest in aerial phenomena and girls with Wild Talents—but the interest showed nothing of Fort. Rather, like the rest of his contributions, his Forteanism was indebted to Thayer. And so, my guess is that Bus had an experience with a UFO or aerial phenomena, which experience led him not tot Fort but the Fortean Society. Hence his first contribution. And once connected to the Society, he found much to admire in Thayer’s dyspeptic view of society.
He volunteered to help—to organize some of its materials, and print other parts of it. What he chose to organize, though, was a Thayerian—to coin an adjective—phenomena more than a Fortean one, the comings and goings of bullets from seeming nowhere. What he chose to print were advertisements for the Society, with its logo. He had an interest in polar regions, which is also tangential to Fort himself, but seems more rooted in non-Fortean hypotheses: the Drayson problem, perhaps, and Hugh Auchincloss Brown—a catastrophist connected to another Fortean, Charles Hapgood, and the Velikovsky affair. His politics, at least as expressed in the one letter, were much more closely related to Thayer than anything Fort offered.
It’s an apposite comparison, though one with potentially vaster connotations than I wish to import. Fort:Thayer::Christ:Paul and Fort:Forteans::Christ:Christians. Which is to say, the ideas of the master were changed as they spread, worked into a coherent and worldly system, continually reinterpreted until there was no such thing as the Fortean perspective, but rather a vast spread of ideas. Bush represented one small portion of the Fortean spectrum.
