Fort was a tireless collector of such phenomena, especially in scientific journals and newspapers. His approach was part serious, part humorous, and very critical of dogma, whether religious or scientific. He was essentially a phenomenalist, accepting the data no matter how strange, and rejecting a rigid approach.

He was not entirely uncritical of "paranormal" explanations, however, rejecting many phenomena, such as ghosts, and conventional spiritualist explanations. A typical example of a story at which Fort would not "bite" was the dog who said "Good morning" and vanished in a puff of green smoke.