BELIEF,EXP LA NAT IO N ANDRHETORICIN THE CR O P CIRCLEPHENOM ENO NOF
SOUTHERNENGLAND.
BY
©
IlIlU C~LIONEL MASON , M.A.(holls).
Athesissubmittedto theSchoolofGraduateStudies in partialIulflllme nt ofthe requirements for the degreeof
Masterof Arts.
DepartmentofFolklore MemorialUniversityof Newfoundland
1991.
St.John's Newfoundland
1+1
NalionalolC3l'laclaUbrary A.cq;sili(losand Bibliograli'csevces
Branch~~Slreel
Bibliol~nalionale duCo_
()recliondesacqjsitionsCl
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ISBM0-315- 780820"'
Canada
Ahs t ra ct
Thistlll'SisIln~llhanillial ysis..fvarious bdidsenge ndered hy thecro p (:ird,'pheIIOIllf'n.U1.,rS'>1ltl1t'rn EIIJ.lland.hconc ent rat r-s "nt'lf~variousex-
1Ilt'lrifl1l,~'~m...trh-,11SlJilll~'t:irClllarshapethaid.)not appe-ar10 be-1';':- Illi f;dll (~intcnns
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curn'ntsci,'nlilic klll)vdellg•.-.TIl"cornbiuatiou ,,(the;UI" IIII1I" II1>natureIJfthe~hAP{'S,tht~irobjectiverenlity ,Annttw Ilftenstun - ning IWillliyIIfth,'forn1ilti" lIl; hasledto an intensive dl'hat e, carried on at alllevels of il1terc5t,into ....ImtcaUSL"S thesesha pes.andwhy.
TIIC'nntun-ofthe phenomenonhasforcgroundeniSSUL'Sin folkbelief.that are..ft""..1.5ell,...1inrd" lL..Jfid.h('"II;.UFOs.ghostb..lief.,faiQ'lore),per- tailli lt~(<Ithemf"i'llJlhbywhichindi\'idllabconst r uct sy st e msof belie f and
"Xllhmi1t ioIl5 fromthe evidenc epresentedtothe m.Thi s ttlt''Sisproposes to nliliSf'this uniq ue0pp(l rt1IniiyluIle Ulo llst rat ethefo lklr)r ;c nat u reofexpla- nali" n,AsslIchitIlril...s ontheconceptsoftra ditions uf belief And disbe lief, l'a ra.li~llli\ t ic,.,\·"Iul io llllilll)'dl'IllS oflho nghl,andthe concep tofra~iona ll y l:lJll~lrllrtl'tlsystems orfolkbdil'ftodemonsrrat eth emethodsby whichthe varioust'Xplilll,'t;on~forcrop circle shavebee ngenerat ed,ma intainedand IliUt'l lliualt:tl
Acknow led gement s
Thisthesis is till'sum"f111i11n'l!\"Il~hts,HIdlIliln,rr"lll"t'rsati"ns.nulIf",'1 III"W likethe midwife II\;In "itIWf"ftlu-p.m-n!s.,\s ""'1 wH,llllis,11". 11\"1' th.uIhave rCCI'il't'd;11\11lilt'illl" jJ,'I·tl lal ,lt'hl sI"II'",h"u lllIw.·,-nu-,ljllMn 'll1~
\\'ishalsut'lthiUlk Dr.t:illiMlllt'lllll'tl ;llIlIIJr. I',"!1:-;lllilhf"rc "IIlIlII'''I, and photocopies. 1"l\' ltau illl'slilllabl ,'d,'htto.nil'r"II"w1r,I\·.·IIN , "t,,1 housematcs,hereon"TheHock",f.,rlargt' h,'lj,illJ.\S"f;I'!I·i,',·.11ll.I"r,I'I I"I"'I\ . Jigg'e dinners, andlIlt'ir amazingilh ililr t"sitl.hr"IlAhmvlalo'51. r;'llol,lillj',' aboutcrop circlesandpara,l iJ.\11Is wit hou t 1""killJ.\\'"r".!. Sp,·,'i;t1 I.h;llIh antcinetu Anitn Ikst , i':il"(,nC,md"lI,~lilri,,·,\l1l1j (" k!)", plill1tl' w",\I.'rk Fergus on,~Iel i s sol.adon heim , .lnmic~1"r<'ir.1,ilTldSnz;Hllw:\"rll hlllf"rI.llO'il proofreadi ngheroisur.
[c alltrut hfullysaythatIneve-r[t'("('iw rlilIJ,,,II',."rdIr.uuany ,,[ 1.111'
ent husiasmastounds nwstill.Ih"lm t his rl" t UIII" IILW""s S" III"'N'ly t,,"'pw, lngthe effortstheyhave !lHlIlc.
fellowfor1989-199 1,andIwisht<,tha nktIl" Sdu",1"f(;r;u lllal, 'St.u,li"s;11111 the officeQ{the Dean of,' rlsI11'rr~ut~I(j~
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tbvir~"I",r"'ISlillillWi:r1Sill'p"r l,ilJldlIr. C" d \IitrtinatTill:C,'ntr"[orCiUliI.,!iilllStudiesin Edinburg h
("!l llpIiSTr 'l~t""sf"ril)!;r;llitl"I\'ilrdsl;\kil l~r' ''lrscw "r kin tit..L'K inthe
",~J"'IlS"SfrIJll1tlll:F"Ikl"rr-I"'pMlI1WlIlat \IL':\
1""'''11 1,1 als"likr-t..thankth\' T1'ad<'rs..
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this tln-sis("rtlu-ir(.lrr.(lIland!lis1,..1"withJ¥I'I.:Xq'l<'stinlls,Ill']theloan.,fhiscomputer.
,\I"T1'thaniUlythill~"ls"th"ll~h ,this\\""llidm-ver evvn have 11""11st artcu wil!l"" ll1 1l'I"v,' ;11111 supportofmy['\llIily,TI!them andto\Irs,lulu \las·)Il .
\IUlIl,inpaeticulnr,this \v<'rkis rlcdicated.Corny,but true.
Content s
At'kllnwled~I'uu' ''I, S Iut rod uc t.lon
List ofCopyrightProt ect ion GlnssarynfTerm sandAhhn ' v ial,ju lis
1 TheCrullCird e Pbuncme nnn 1.1 FheStrucl lJrl'"f('r" peifel!'!!
1.1 .1 Disl rihul j" n»Fcirch-s. 1.1.2 Detailed lill.lclcircl«f"alll n's 1.2 Circular~tr'\'c mcn t
1.2.1 The "awn....
r
afW Wmystery:191\0 I!Jf\:I 1.2.2 The t:a r1yye a rs:HIH:I·I!JfV!1.2.3 The modern era:IlJIl!Ju,l",lily 1.3 The Preh istor y
"r
tlu- eird,'s.iiI
xxi
'"
2 nd ier,EXjllllllJltiflll IUIIICrflpCir rl.·s 2.1 F..lk H" li.,r S,'h,.li,r!ll,ip.
2.1.1 Tril,j i t i" ,, ~.. f,li!lhdid, 'J'J'J l' lll'llI'IJII'n"" " j"gy iwd f"ilt' lrt 'S
2.:1.1 ""liking therill"r'.~l·dge 1.:1Cr"]JCirdl'~,11,,1Fulklh-lief.
2.:U Tllf'r" I,· ..rt'xpl'ln a lirJll. ,
3 CrllilCire'leEXIJlllllittiulI!i :1,J TIl\'\!I'h ur "\"git'alExplaM l i....n
3.1.1 Terence\11';1.(1"11anrl the plasma vortex, :1.1.1 tJFO~allcl th" I1I;1.!ill1avortex . :1.I.a \\'hn believesinthe plasma\·ortex'! . :1.1,·1 1J.·~·...nclllll' vortex
0'
Ii!)
'I
!J:I 9·1 9i 91
,109
113 ,12u .. ,I2'!
.129
.1:13 .I·W
3.1,5 1l'~)"OTH.IlIl1'll'Orology '" , . . " ., ,.. 1·11 :1.2 The CcrcnlcgicnlExplanetion .. " , ,, . ,, ,,, ,,. , ,1.J6
:1.2.1 I';xplaining eercology
iv-
IH
:1.2.2 Cl're ol,'g ic1l1alli\l .\·~i s
a.:!.a
rI1IN fl rl'lil\~therin-h-s.:1.2.·[ Who.)h,'li,·\·,,~int"t'r('" I "gr'~_ :1.2,5 C't'rl'ol"gr<IIII! theEllI
;L l ThelI"dx~:Xpl; \lHl t i "l1 :1.:1.1 E~pla i n in gLln-IL",I ~llu·.' ry :1.:1.2 \r h.,b,'li"\'I'~inh"ll~('rs·.·
:1.:1..1 Hoaxingand.u-cultrilll al~. :1.-1 Othe rExplil l1 dl i"lL~
;U.2 Thenatr.rnl..."r1d
:1.1,:) Anl i-exll],\ililli"lIs
:1.5 Synthesis.
4 Explanation,Rhetoj-ic uud Trndltiuu I.l CircularRhetoric
IIH Iti:1
IliS l:il
I!/:l .1!/S
:!1:1 .2 11
,1.1.1 \Vh.~nis a crIJI' cirri " lI"t uc:rop rircl.: '. ~:IK
·1.1.2 Whenisitscient ist11"1it~c:i ,· n t.i sl'! ~I.~
4.1.4 Circ ularwit . .'l.lifj
,1.2 ExplanationsandTrad iti"n :1.7:1
·1.2.1 Some explanat ionsf.,rsim ilarhd idtradi ti"l1~. l!n
Expla na tiu llalld Odicf :'.1 Ey.fllana l i..n ;lwI I' Ma,lil1;lI1.
'i1.1 TIIl~lIillllf"
,.r
";ar;,,l i KII1 ~.;1.1.2 l'af;lIli~l11 samin"l' cirri. ·research
!i2 1'''II"t.1rIJdi" (,1ndI'M,,"ti~lII!(
.
'i.2. 1 '1'11('natur e
.,r
f" lk pilrilflij.\lIlsATher..-t uwillgDevil
UTIli" Co1IlculiallCrul)Circ)('s
C UsefulAddrc!i!u!!i allli SOllrC'csnr Inrl)fm a ti oll
Crup CirclesOibliugr aph y
Oth l'rRefer en cesandWork sCon sulted
.•. . . •:!82
292
. 29:1
. ..:'~·I
.:.>97
•..:lU5 :117
3<T
351
379
List of Figures
L.l ,\simpleCfOPcircle.
1.2 Detailshowing spira lcroplay ina cir ri.' 1.3 Detail showingthesharp edge'JfIl.circle. 1..1Plctogr nminWilts h ir e.
1.5 Adowser at work inacircle ].I
1.6 Det ai l of crop layin thepictogrn mntTdt'~r aphHill l!i
L.7 Delailof ecruffilylaid crop. IIi
1.8 Sevensate lllteforrnationatBickiugtou. III
1.9 Vert icalregrowthof damaged cropillChilcomhFarm :H 1.10Schemat icillustra tion olnquintuplet f"T1TliLti"ll :1II 1.11Thefirstplctogra m of 199B:Chi1com bFa rm ,1:1 1.12 Picto gram at Alton Ua rncs inWilt shi ro:. 'I!J 1.13 Hoaxed forma tio natBranonduring Opera tio nJlI;\l;k ltir,1 ."il
2.1 Anexampleoftheuseoffea t ures inacon t inu uJ/I !J2
3.1 Cartoon:scientists decipher thecropcircles IfiI;
vii
;1.'1,\busydayilltlwcircles :1.:1 "SmileyFM:~ "circlencar.,\Ilrm [lam e s
.. . .170 18·\
:I.li IJrlll'lillp;or.1.("rn mt i. m at S(·d p;ehill, TyneandWe.1.r 20 1
:1.7 CMt""Il:"I),'s iRlwrFidd~ . ..202
;I.RCllr l'~m:ali,:m'15 (:Ulrllfield sas n re st stop. 228
:I.!l Cartoon: ('"rndi.1.juggleslIH~11<'dgeh(.gs 131
1.1Threetypesofcropcircle (ormat ion :!42
1.2 The"Hand ofGUll"pictogram atAltonBarne s 214 '1.:1 C.uto':>n:allunusual"plasmavortex". .269
·1.·1G".rln,)O~aliensbeamupscarecro ws. .270
·1.5 Cartoon:s,:x,aliensanti rrcp circles. .. . ...27~~
A. IFront ispie cetothe "Mowing De vil" pamphlet. .3·'·1
HomoSllJlifll"~
\rereI (whoto my costaln-ady;1111 On e of those slrillll!;", Jlr<J,ligi ollSCft'allin's,I1lill1) ..\spiritFree tochoosc,forIlly.w"n shilfl',
WhatCi\SCoftleshallllblood'pl.' aM,. l l"wcnr ,
I'dbe a dog, al1I(lnkl~~',orIIIwar, Or anythingbutthat\""in;\11illla\ WhoisS0proud of Ill'iug rat.jllilal The senses an'I.",)gross,illid111"11 r,mtril""
,-\sixth ,to contmdictlh,~,..thcr Iivr-, Andbcfore certnin instinc t,willprr-h-r Reason, whichfil\rtinu-s Ior"lIerl",·.I'rrj Re ason,ani!Jni,~j.ltulI"'illtill"mind, Wh ich , leavinglight
"r
nature,S('llS'~,11I'hind, Pa t hlessanddangerous \\'and,'ringwaysittnk..s Through error'sfenny hogs and thornyhr;, kl'Sj\Vh ilsL the misguide dIollowoeclimbswit hpain Mountains ofwhimseys, heaped in his ownbruin;
Stumbli ngfrom thoughtto thought,fallsh('adl"l1~r1llWlI Intodoubt's boundless sea, wlu-re,lik"t"drown, Books bear him upawhile,i\11<1make himtr-y To swimwith hlmhk rsor philosophy;
In hopesstillto o'ertaketl 1<~,,~ (apiflglight, The vapourdances in histl,';(1.lil1~~ight Till,spent, it leaves himtn('ternillll i~hl"
Thenold age lindexperience, !land inhilmI, Lead hlm to deat handmake hiltlullfl"rstHlld, Afte rasearchSlJpainfulillld~"l"ng, That all hislifehehas hcen intl",wroliK Huddled in dirtthe reasoning enginelies, Wh owa s soproud, so witty,andSf)wise
JohnWilmf,l, Earl of Roches t e r.lfiH-Jti~lJ
Introduction
Ewrysummerf"rthelast(I'IVyea rs, and possiblyforII.long,long time be- fOT",lIlysh'rillllslIIarkilillshavebeennppeann g infarmers'field~in theSou t h
"fEnKland.llsunllyunseen ,generally in the hours of darkn ess,someagency 1" ilVl':S Milasofcereal cropsOattc ncdinspirals,forming shapes thatapproxi- ma lt'circles andsome~ illl('smore complex figures.Paradoxicallythe crop is Haueuedwit h gn'al forceyet is usually undama ged,continuestoripen and s" mclilllL'Seven tureg row.Intheear ly morningsunorinthe burnishedheat of a lateAugustafternoon ,thebeaut}'ofthese shapes canbebreat htek.
ing, fillingthose who journeyLI,)sec themwith awe and fascination;causing
<W l' 1\thosewho onlysc't'the minnewspaperpho togra phstooccuionallystop
alldwonderabout the manner.,fthingthatcanCA U sesuch K't"mingly perfect sha lll"S.such sllggesti\°clymeaningfulforms,and wh.y"!Why onlyin "ha unted
\\'('SSl'X",hometoancientmarvels suchas Stonehengeand Avebury,anarea rcdoh-nt withromanceand ml\gicandnow hometothe mode rnmilitary?
Wit)·now? Why only in crnp fields? AsJohnMichellasks,"whatmean
theselllarks'!"
Thisthe sis is riot aboutcropcircles.nor,pr-rlmpslIn r,' rlllll'll <,I.\·.d,w!'it set cutto answer any ortlu-sc questions .lnstc.ulilI'dI'"Ill10<')(;ulliu, 'till' answersthat othershaveCOIl\Clipwith .Tlwrl'un-pll'llt \·"r ,'x pl;IU;rl i"nsf"r crop circleswith inthese pagcs ,fromtill'11llrt-lyfri\'''] ''u st"Ilu- fl·r"l·;,' "sl .\' scientific,Noneof thesearc mycxplutuuious. Llr"llj!;hu.uurnll...•1tinrl""lilt' more convincing tha n "tlwrs,and thalis,ISit sh" IlI,1Ill',furwhatIaru settingoutto doisttllookillh011'W,,'plt'hill'l'1:"1Il1't.."Xpl;lillth"r-irrb-s
Thewordexpfruwliullwillcrop up Ircqucntlv thr"llf!;h"lIl thisth" sispri- marily because it is builtaroundcertaint~)(planat i"llstha th;I\""\ll"'11pr,,· posed for the origin of the cropcircles. Theexplnntuions an' IIst·,1 t"Ilr" vid,' a structure forthe docu men tand togiveita uu-crcticnlh,lCkh"rl<',It w'ml'[
have been possibletocollectrandomdill'Sabout l:r"peirel,'saudt" pr"St'llt them here .Such11.collection wouldhI'enlertain ing,mighl.t-v,-npr"\'t-111"-(111 to some futurescholar,butwouldofitsdfbe ;ma lytiml1yworthless.III~tl'arl Ibelieve it is possibleto see variouscropcirclebd i,'(s;\1'hcillgm"t iv;,kdby va rious explanat ionsfor themarks,and ilis this principII'1I1;tt A'li,blllly research.
There have beenmany, many eXpl;\fIMinrlsprovided(orllu~Ir"w~an-l whys ol the crop circlephen omen on ,1>.1'lst,,(tllernareidios y ncr utic;ul,1,,( I..' 1t explicitly humourous , My interestisinthe sllpr"indi vi,IIl,dl'xplallali"lI s , thosethatseemtobeheldbynwi,levariety o(in,lividllals.Th"[Jn~t:ist,
xi
l!x prf':!isi.. nr,rthese.!x plani!.ti,," s, theircomplexity,rele vance,and attention ttldeta ilvary.Thisthc.",istakesthem as a unifiedideologicAlliddana deals wit hthevari~tion5115a Ill"ltlllct of individualbeliefs,as beinga respon se to Ul<'t/IUility IIml l/lJantity ofinformat ionavailable,and as a functionof just h,...·iHlIl'Jrtant t h''!'iecxplanl\li'msare t.Jtileindividualswhohold them.
It0111heseentha t thisis not a sociologicalstud y of cropcirclebeliefs, f"rsucha.studywould,brdefiniuon,focus onthesoc ia linstitutionsand networksthal carried thehclit'f~,norisit, say,11social-psychologicalstudy, nualysing belicTs in terms or an individual'ssocial st.at usor psycho logical mnke-up.Suchstudicswouldhe usefuland will,hopef ully, beunde rtaken.
Vt'ry simply thisthesistakes the view that thevariousexplanationshave their routs intrad it ion- that they represen tanapplica tio noftraditional waysamimeansofcomingto an underst a ndin gof the world.Consequently this analysisispitc hedalamacrolevel,observing theexplanationsalithey aree:-:.prcsscd,tra nsmi tted,receivedandut ilised by a wholespect r umor il1tlividllals.Again,then: arc ma nyotherapproac hesthat couldbetaken ill accordan cewit h folklori sticmeth odology- anallaly.isperhaps or small sdf-,lt'finrclgTlltlp~of hrlic \'ers(ordisbelieve rs),or a focus on thenarrative structures ol ,' x-planat ions,eitheras elicitedbya fieldwork er or as occurring in groupdiscussions.Allof thesehave their place. Thisthesis is based around theelicitationofcropcircle beliefs,atypology of these beliefs,and S"l1\t~tho ug hts onho w theyMemaintained andjustified.It isreallyarather
xii
bas ic enterp rise; ilsurp rises methatithastakenO\'I'rthree hU11 <lrt'dpap;t's toexpoundit .
Necessaril yIamconcenrr a t.ingon thoseexpl an alionstil'll11;1\'1'1)1'1'11 p"p - ularlysuccess ful.Thethreemain explana tionscan hesunuunriscd;\s:
Cer eolo gi e al. Thebelief tha tthecirclesarebeingIll'lilwm ll' lyf" rlllt'dh~' a sup rano rr nal,possiblyextra terr est rial, illlcilige nC1',
Meteorological.Thebeliefthi\tthe circles arctheresult»fnuturul, utmo spheri cforces.
Hoax .Thebelief tha t thecircle s arcthe result of human!l'HIXt'rsddilll'r- atelymakingthe formations,
There arc otherexpla nationsthat receive adcgrct~ofpop ula rsu r'purliUIII these are dealtwithinlessdela il. Thethreeabove arcdici ledFromL111'w"rh of circleresear chers aswellasthe statementsoford ina ry people. As.~', Il ll ~nllt, who wasinterested incropcircles before Ieven though taboutbl't:" miliA a folklorist andwho ha sbeenlivi nginthe WestCountry fo r some thirteen years,Ican saythat itisalso a partition that feels comfor tablet"m(~.
Thefield workfor thisthesis wasundcrtnkenduringthe sumuu-r
.,r
I!j!1l1 and thefollo wing winter,withan eight week break10 completerna lll!'llmy eoursework.Unfortu natelythatbreak occurred during.1111yandA'lgl/~t,and althoughIwas inthe11Kduringthe time,iLse ver elylimitedthoamount ',f fieldworktha t couldbe done atthe climax oftheseason.ItWIlS;1breuk thjltxiii
cOIIMu"tI" lavoided Mal,infad. provided the onlyway in which
r
cou ld I:<md uctresea rch onthis sub jec tilt all.The basic premiseof the fieldwQrk wast'linterviewa~wid(,ilrangeo r
people as possible about crop circles.i\lt h' )II~hthis inclutloel tape -recordedintervie wswithcircles researchersthe bulkurllll!material camefroms\Jrreptitiull~lyrecordedta lk with"ordi nary"
p."plc. Somepeople did refusetoliltme usethei rthought s hut most,if StHlIcwhillsurprisedwhen askedif (could write down and repeatwhatthey hilll just .'iilid,werecoopern tivc. S.lLurnllythisthesisonlyincludes those examplesthatrgained permissionto use.
Itshouldbenotedthatcrop circles arc a seasonal phen omenonandInte r- I·stwaxes and waneswith the annual ro und.As( writ e this a new seasonis IIndt'r\Vity_A(t,'rthe staggeringeventsof1990manyare waiting breathlessly rur thenew summer,Bythe timeitis finishedthis thesis willbe basedon viewsthat;IHlalread y a yearold ,findwhoknows what the nell'yearwill bring.
Of coursethe question docs arise,why studycropcircles? Thesim ple answeristha tthey are there,thtly arcas objectivelyreal,1.5the paper this illwriltt-nOil.AsRalph:-loye~say:
The circles areIIlcrc,tangibly,visibly,measurably. They arc thereforall tosee . There can be no doubt abouttheir physical, the ir palpa bleexist e nce.We don'tha ve tobelit ueinthem, we merelyhaveto observe the m- and topuzzle curwitsabout them.[lnt roducfion,29. Italicsin original.)
llnlikeso runny issuesin supernaturalfolkbelief,allthose tiresomeargu- xiv
mente purportingto show tha Lall~" _' l\l'whos,·,·sI1Illlsllal pIWIl"l11('IH\is ;\
fool,drunkard ,congonltallinr,'r all artistrun Ill' d"l\l' <lwa.\'wuh.TIl<'ph,\'s icnltn ngibilityof crop circles brooksno~ilin~ily itll';andr"rq~rnl llil lstheis:lIU' ofexpl a na t io nin u way uniqueillcnn lt' m ll,n a r,\'folk lll'li,'f. Furtlu-nuon-, crop circlesmay be significautlyolderlllnn.\11;1111.butll\('Illll'fI'slinth"lli is not.The perceivednovr-ity"frh.. plll'l1"lll"IIO '1\ l<'1s"Ill 'ill "" lrad il i"l\:I ill the making,a rareopportunityindeedforit fn lkl"r islIWITt',H'C'lst,," wdt..
thepainstaking ,and ofte ntha nkles s, rl'(n nsl rll t' Li"'IS"ftr;uli l io llsI"nl~sill...·
ossified.
SUllie Terminology
Atthis pointitis useful to uxplainsome"ftill'ter msthatwillIll'11"" ,[
throughout th is thesis,Firstlyadichotomyis lIIade between'W' lIl1illt"aurl 'hoax'circles, This islint t'J prejudgt'any explunarionfnrlllt~n"l1 ,:irl"l,·s, merely to pointout that ther e are,1.1I1l111h"r"f knownh""xl'sIh;11,Iisp !i' )' differentcharacte risticsto gcnuino cropcircles Ih l~SI ~art''1t";IX'tirt'l,-s, bydefi nitiontherestart:'genuine'. orI:Ol\rS,',wit"orwlla lt:p'llkdtil"
genuinecropcirclesis amutterfordd)i\ t'~.SeCt'lltllythereis iUIaU"lIll't.1."
differen rla te betweencropci rc1,~sanrlthe agency til""cifl:lt,s,·If''l:1.'' that isim med iately respons iblefortheir creation.This"(:irdt·.~df':t:l"isit termborrowed fromone particular circlesfI'sl'ar l:he r,T,~r'~f1Cl~\It'"d"n,;IJlll isused ina broa de r sensetha n heintend-d. Whetherthis"cird"s",r,-t:!"
is difl'l;h ,dby any type»fint dlig,' nn~isa moot point.Tuchnically, most ,~xpljtllllti'JfI~are t1irec;ll:dlu\\,,'rds tryingto unde rst a nd thiscireles cJft'cl- Llw cropcirdesilr'~e ...id"llI:r~r')ran.lf)fit. W~lI'nItalk ahout"explai ning crup circles"itismerelyshcrthnnd for some mor ecumbr ous circ umlocu tion.
Guide to the Chapters
Chapter"l it'provides anoverview,ithc phenomenon, Itfirst givesanee- ,~:;sari l y1I.,lailt~ , 1iUl;llp is"rth ~inte rnal struc ture ofcrop circlefor mat ions aswellitSsometh ing of11-typ,,[og y"f the Ilirrerenlfo rm atio ns. Next[ give
i(~"cialhistoryofthephCII"IlWIl'J1lwhich traces the development ofint er- ,:s t illtheaOI'drc1t$ andthet~xp lu s io nofinfor ma t ion aboutthem,~Iuch 'l[this focusesfillthe activi t iesof a ded icatedhandof circlesresearchers.
TI1l' cha pt e-rconcludes withilllaccount oftheresearche rs 'investigations into tht, pruhiatoryofthephe nomeno n,ann the ir usc of fol klore materia lsinthe dt'h;lt,~aboutthe historicalllilsisfor crop circles.
ChaptertWI)providesthe basictheoretic al backgroundto the thesis. To 110thisIfirstsketchsomethingof the developmentof scholarshipin supemat- urulfolkbeliefstUtlil's,l:lJlIccntrillingpartlculnety onthe relations hipbetween Lh,~scholarsandtheir materials.Fro m thisIconcludethatthe scholarship
h;l.~been markedbyscholars'nttitudcsof disbelief aboutsupernaturalphe-
11l1l11l'na.Thisis usedt"provide thecontext againstwhich contemporaryfolk
beliefsehclarshan' reactr-d In attr-mpt ingtnrcmovr- tlw 1l"li"ll"I'""hj"fli\',' truth" as a defining chnrnctens ric ,,( whethers"l1l\'thirr~(,dbiuro1.ILl'slllli,'r1 of folkbelief. ltis this~talldp,)i1\1that"I\\)\\",;Ill"to,1" \" '1,,1'lilt' ""m"'pl"f
"explanation"ns an org,1n;singprinciple ill " svstcrnof Il<'li,{ sysl"IllSirr~"I\
eral.The chapter concludcs withS,>II\{:n-murks "builttlu-hasil'assumptions behindIllyfieldwork mrth"dology .
Chapterthreecommenceswit hillll"r"II"lail.'rll,,,,kat 11",lyp""f,Ial., [~()ll('c ted ,The mainh"dy"rthe rh"lll.t'ris, howevcr,has,'t! ar.uuul 1.1r"
presentationofva riousb('l i ,' f.~ab.un croprlrfl,·s.TIlt'dill"is "r.L\<lnis,'d lllh , L1ul'Cmain schools of rhought.,"cxplanutions",that pro\·ill,·tlu-ll11l1wdial,' context forthe data. The chapterconcludeshy IIr<'s,'utingSlltll"1",li"fs1.1r..l appear10 fallwithoutthese explanali,ms,lml withsonu-prt'lilllill;lry 1.111"III,hl. s onsynthesis.
Chapter four exarnlncs tilediser>lIr",:t:llg"rr , I (·rt~,1by lilt'1:<>l1I1I'·l ll.i"rrh,,·
tweenthecropcircleexplan a tion s. It':Xilllli!l"~the various wuvs by v.hich theproponents of particularexpll11l.lli'HlS\'alidatl:and pr"p;rgakrln-irtIll' cries, therhetoricalstrategiestheyuse to d..s"an,]tlt" s"theyliSt't"lnval idatctheexpla nat io n s
or
uthers,TIl"1,1\l ,'ri1~p,'(:tI,Lk,'~asli~htly,lilf"wili.vieworDavid Ilufford's conceptof"lrlldi t i"llsof,lislwlid~ I""kill/,;al it as a rheto ric altool. This chapterals"provirles u r:',nrpiLmtivc:analysis"f cropcircleexplanations withsome From "tlwrbelir-flm d iti'Hls , sllch as fairy rings,ThisdualfQCUSIS intended t"prr'\' irl(~~'Jlfwtll jrr~"fa~Yll(:hr"lt if;;LIlri
xvil
diachronic overviewof cropcircleex pla natio ns.
Chapter live att emp tstoprov ideatheoret icalanalysis ofthe precccding tl1\L,1.ILassu mestha t the explanations,whe t her'folk'or not,arecoher ent, rnt jon al syst e ms oflh'Jught. The cr uxoftheargumentisan applic a tionof Th"lTlasKuhn's studyofrevolutiona rychange in scient ific thoughtto the various cropcircles exptanatlons.Itis argued LhaL thishelpstoexplai,some
issllt~sthalwouldothe rwise seem anomalousandprovidesa usefuldescrip t ion
.,( till!relationships betweeninnova tion Mid tradit io n.Somethough t sMealso presentedontho generic nature of explenetioueas express iveform s.
Appendices tothis thesisdeal withrelatedbutta nge ntial issues. The firstpresents thetextof the"Mowin g devil"chapbook,common lysupp osed to liellieearlit'slknownreference toa cro pcircle formation. The second isiIbridoverview ofthe CanadianandNo rthAmericancircle for m ati ons , illdud illgthemysterious"burncircles",whichmayor maynot bepart of the same phenomenon. Tilt:fina l oneisalist of usefulsourcesfor cro p circle informmion.
The thesisisfinishe d with two bibliographies.The first is1\bibliography
"fcro pcirclepublicationsand is intended asa resourcefor furt he rstudy.
The: sr-cond bihliography isitstandardlist ofrefe re nces and works consulted .
xviii
Anot e011citatio us
in theUtA lIarlllb!mk .1This systemisbased"1Itilt'\""IIO'pl"fk''l'pil\~par entherlcalinformationtothe- hareBt miuinauu ;llaIU M'Sa mixtun
"r
.uuhor, titleannpage number I,) id,'n t ify~"llrn'S, l:lIf"rtulLal"I\·il is"S"IlW\\'II;11 archaic systemand<)cr,,~i ,)l\i1llybn-aksrlownill thisII1<'sisdllC'!"II,..~lll;,\l nurnber ofextremelv prolific .,uth••rs on1:r<,p t' ird,'s wh,. a ll l'·II<I,unsurpns- ingly,to star ttheirtitleswith a'1:' .Tlw rt{"fI'[II,W";lllim"slls,',j(,,,.III"Io·s, where technicallythereshould IH'pan'ntllt'tifillrit;Lli"lIs.1,.k,·"pt.h.-fllllllilll!, text as unclutteredas pnssih l{'.IJosephGih,l ldinnd\\'ulter5...Ychtert,'r he,111.,1lI~nrIhl/ok10' II"rl la. ol l/""dtd Pap<!r$3rdedition(NY;i\lLA,1~"8J.
xix
Li st of Copyright P r o t e ction
<:"rl.<....>115in~l1;ll rt.'5:1.1.:1..;,:1.7,:US, a.9,'1.:1,U,I.!iarecopyrightedtothe r'"l';(l. -r.tiv,-art is\li.
Ph"l,,~rall i. !infi~tJr(~1.1, lA,1.11, 1.12,1.1:1,3.1, :J.3, 1.1 are@C. Ter.
,"nn '"'1,';ul"11andnT!'1IS1,r!witllhiskindpc nnis sicu.
All"l1)('T"ri~il1;llmall'rilllis
i9
BflIC(' Lionel~lallon.Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
aUFORA."Brit ishUFOResearch Assuciati"Il,"The 1Il;(j"rIWOn'sl'ouT!1 organisation in the UK.
CERE S. "TheCirclesEffectResearch Unit." ])alahast'run 11.'1TN "IW"
Meeden thatpromotesnmct(!lIr ulogicnlt'xp!lInaLi" n.
ee es.
"The CentreforCropCircleStudies." An<)r~ilnis;(ti"l1en'al" ,lL"act as aneu t ra l dearing-houseforcrupcircleresearch illpr iH:Liu:its membersleantowardsiteereo log lcalt!Xfllnlln~i"ll[orlll':1,lu'll'"rWII"n.
CPR."CirclesPhenom eno n Re sea rch." II datnbnscaur!"r~iLliisaLi' J11rom byColinAndrews that favoursilcI:rl:ulug it:illex pla na l i" n
Cer eo logy.Name usedin this thesisVJ describethestudyuf(TOpcirr l.:s bas ed onthepremisethatther ei.~a nou-humunintdliw~m:,:din:t;liuf\
thecircle seffec t.lienee ccrcological,ccrc"I')gi~l.
xxi
TheCird cMEfrf~ct .Term 1lS'.:,ll()describe the eflcct req uired toproduce a I:rup clrcle.G(:III:rilllyonlyusedbythemeteorologist sillwhich case it isliddtobesyunnyutouswithplasma vor tex . Usedinthisthe sisin a more wmcmlse ns':t" refertoanyagency,whether intelligentlydirected lIr nul,lhillisheldtobe respouaihlcfo rcrupcircl eforma t io n.
Cirdt!sEffc!dTruces . SynoIIVIT1')llSwither op circles . A termoflen used bypr"pn/1<'Tlts.,fLhe-fll<'lL'o rol,,?,icall.':<planation .
Crul>Circles. ,\rt:asl)fcerealem il llattcnr-dinto generallycircular shapes.
Such shapesmay hefo und inothe r mediasuc h as sno... orgrass.Oc- casionallyknown uscircles effecttruces. More complexfor matio ns consislingofin te rco nne ct ed circlesand containingothershapes such as n,clilllgll's,arcs, claws, and keys arcusually referre dto aspict o gr ams.
Dumb-bulls.Circle formntiuns consist ingoftwo circlesjoinedby a pathway.
(Ht(' llthese featu re varioussubsidiarymarkings such as rings,keys, claws,boxes . Dumb-bells formpartofa more general set ofcircle
ETH. TIll' "ExtmtcrrcstrinlHypotheais."The 'bcorythatUFOsare1\ty pe ofali..n spacecraft.
Meteor ology.In thisthesis used to denote circlesresearchbasedonthe premiseth alt:ru pcirclcs are causedby a typeof natura l,atmospheric phenomenon.Hence meteorological.meteorologist.
xxii
rvlUFON."MutuallIFO ~<'tw,)rk . ~The major i\"ort h All1O'rit-anl:1'-On-.
searchorganisation.
NAICCR ."Nort hAmerican lnsti tuu-for CrnpCircle It,·s,·arrh." TlIt' IlHl·
jordata ba seintheLl.S.and(',111,111,1p"rla ini nl-\I,,,t"f" p,·in·I,'s.
Pictograms.Verycomplex cropcirrl,'f"rm ati"n s,IISIl ' IIl ,I'{'"ns istilll-\oflw"
in-linedumb-hellswith various subsidiaryIllilrk i f\~ssuc-h<ISriul-\s, kcys,claws, boxes
ncrnencnthatis thought,by11Ich' ur ulnp;ists,tilt:illlSl' l' r ul'drdl~s
TORRO."The Tornado and StormResea rch Organistuion." Illiti;l1,l'II Il}' TerenceMeaden,a companionorganisation toCE:RES,
DGM."UnidentifiedGro undMarking."AnomalousIlHlrkillg" nlh(~~\r'''llltl.
The te rmis used bysometosubsume('rill'circl cswith in 1LInu re gml' eral phenomenon
UFO. "UnidentifiedFly ing Objeet. " Ohenusedsyll'!fIylll" uslywitht!...
term "Flying Sauce r".
xxiii
Chapter 1
The Crop Circle Phenomenon
Intr oduction
On July 11'1< 1983,lilt'D,zi11lF.zprtU- a.natio nal, dailynewspaperinthe UK- rana fron tpagehCiulline that read :
E.T.PhoneTheExpress!l
n'~lll'aththe headlinethere was an aerialphotographof a mysteri ouscircu-
larmarkina cerealfield.Thecorresponding text,written in a humorous mnnner,ASked"E.T," - anima~i naryextrate rrestrialbeing made famous hy StephenSpcilbcrg'e filmofthe samename2- to contactthenewspa per's ,.IIiCC5.
IQld.in~I~"drll."CirclelI"romthe Sky"21-:n.
: H.T.:Th~"·,1rn-Tt"".drl<ll.nit.StephenSpti lberg. With DeeW:lllace,Henr y Thnrtl;U! .Univer..,J,WH.l.
This eventmakesituseful st art ing pointin,111at temptI.'d,'srril1l'Ill<' myste riousphenomena thathavebu-nuccu mngillstanding ,','fl';ll n,' ps, both inBritain and arou ndtheworld , r.lr d,·lini tl'l.l';Jll"fad,.,,111<1p,'s sibl.\·
a lot longe r. The newspaperartit'll'markedtil\'lurningpointatwhichi\
mystifyin gbu tlit tleknownpuzzleslilrle ,1 to>lll'f"ruCu1\;1Ii"n ;11"hSl'".i" n.
It presages many of thethemes thntarc
t.,
hcconu-ofillrfl';ls in!\imp"r·rane e intheunf<>ldingof themysu-ry.:\tthis point,aphpiralph"I\" lIU'll"l\
kno... n aboutbyonlyafewlndfvidualsbegan
t.,
,'\'"Ivl'int» afWlss·rru·di;l phenome nonof such nn exten ttliilt;11the Suuuuer"fHmo III' ;,S,.I,·.•pilt · inte nsiv efieldwork,onlyabletofind one person'<I'h"had ne-vurlu-ard"I"ml"cropcircles."
The passagein theDailyRJ:1'rY'.~.,dem ollSlr, \kdmanyf, ~al lll"·.'linIII<' prese nt at ion
or
themyst ery that persist tl),lay.[willhridly"lll!ill!·llwlll here:•The descriptionofthe marksinthe field that sln:sSl'sthei rW~'lI l"lrif precision;
•The use of aerialphotographyleiccuvey the natur«"ftlw marks;
•The useof pop ulnrcult urerd(~rentsin the disCllss i"1I"flIu' ph,·.
nom en on;
•Theimbed d ingofan explana tion inthe intcrpret.uion"fLlu~pIli"
nomenon,inthis cast: it is in thena t ureofa pa r'Hly.
All"fthes'! aspectsiud il:" t,: that th/:rclare atleas t two facetsofthecrop
rird~phennnnmnn:therei~the issue of themarks in cereal fieldsandthere
isthei~ s lJl ~ufthedt~hilt,:ah',utthest'marks.
Till!information "bo utcropcircles has evolveddt a tremendousrate
it~1Il'1tI:andmorepeoplehave becomeinvolvedwith it. Thustherehas
1J(~~nildefiniteincreaseinthe amou ntand quality,)finfor ma tion aboutthe [lh"lllllll"ll'/ll.I,.Vha t is unccr t niniswhether the phenome nonitselfis evoking' wlu:Llll:rOlr11O)t the shapes are hecomingmore complexand sophisticated withtim /:. Certiti ulytheinlerplay betweenthepe rce ption andthe objective reality of the eventsis complex: and poses many problemsinany attemptto presentallunbiased picture of the variousphenome n a.For this reason I will llr<'5Cntahistorical over view of the phenomenonon a chronological basis, stilrtinl~inL9811:the generally acceptedda le forthe originof the'modern' crnp circlephenomenon.By llsing thismethod,, can moreaccuratelychart theevolution of interestin,and beliefs about, the subjec t .The secondary issueis tile actualstructureof the crop circles themselves.Th is I will present first illorde rto contcxt ualixc discussionthat follows.
1.1 The Structur e of Crop Circl es
Piguret.l below shows,1simple crop circle.Fromthis photograph several saIil'ntpoints can be noted. First, the cropis not cut ,nor is it crushed:
ratheritisbentoverat the base. Furthermorethecrop islaid"lItII<'~r"l llld in a eornplieatedpettern.FigHr.'I.~ ~i\'t·s,Icloser Vil'II'"ftln-la.\·"I'lilt' cropinamorecomplex."dumb-bell"(,' rll1illi" II.FrontI,hisit,', 111lit·S11'11 thatthere isilpatternwhich spirillsuutIromnreutrc.In l liis nl s.,itisau anti-clockwisespiral.
Second, thereis11sharpedge totllt'nreaoftlauenedtT"p.Thisr.1llIll' clea r lyseen infigure1.:1. AlthoughthereOIWS<llll"p'lrtiall~'IWlIlstern sat the veryedge,thed'~lIIarcati"nisprecise.:\Is"itshoulr!Ill'11"1,,,<1thilttlu-n- isno damagetothe surroundingcrop.
Inthe mostminimalcasea cropcircle ca n lwd('lin('das <Ill ,\r"il ,,(lIilt tenedbut otherwiseundamagedcrop thatarl[HOxir!HLtl'S
, I
g"<)lII"l rin dl y n·g·ular, us ua llycircular,shap ein whichtltenat.tel\(~dcropisI,li dinit(~"IllI'I,'x but ordered ma n ne r.The cropcantheoret icallybeimyl hing thOll is ntpiLlIl"
IJfbeingimpressedbythecircle-Iormlugprocess.MI'ad"Il,wrilingin Tltr' Circles I!,JJeddetails L4t}' pes ofcrop:
Manyty pes ofcroparc rep resented:wlieut,hiLrI,:y,"als,ry", maize, rape,mustard,augnrbect, runnerbr-ans, soyIW'IIIS,Lick beans,spinach, tobaccoandrice. '1"1lIWS(~wemaymIdp,ras~; , reeds,swam p-vegetation,sand, dirlandsnow.(15 )
It should, however, benoted thattheterm"cropcircle" is s"flwthillll,
"r ;1
misnomer.Itis in fact veryrare for cropcircles L'J h.: c'"11plddy"i r<:lllar, generallytheyaremoreelliptica loroval. OIWeslitr\al'~IMS,ff,rt:irl:lJl;lr
Figure 1.1:Asimple crop circle The photograph is
© c.
T.Meaden.Figure 1.2: Detail showing spiral crop lay in a circle This example is fromone of theearlier "pictograms"(named "Gaia") found in the summerof 1990 at Telegraph Hill near PetersfieldinHam pshire,
Figure 1.3: Detail showing the sharp edge of a circle
patte rns.an average1,'ng~'5tto sh"rh",t diallll'h' rrali""fII.!I:' Theabove gi\'('5 a baT<> idN ..fom' p,\!isihlc·lnto.· ••(cr.. p nrd".IIIrt·alily
16 shap es~hathadoccurredIIt'f,'rC"tl\l' suuum-r "fI!lS!)(('j'T"I",.
1-:,."1.·,,,·,.
118- 119).B}' theend,,( 1hfttsumn e-rIt a ll'lI :<O".\" 'lIt\',l~;,1,[.,t••"xl';lII,1~llt'
alsoconsiderab le5C')jWfor dilfcrenrcs in11u' 1;I,r lliltl,'rlls ,,(111l' f"rItlOlli"lIs.
Delgado andAndrewswere aul"t •.>isol;l\('1:1distincttyp" s"I'lil.V5 Iroru
11;simplespiral,toa radialsplay,to an"S" sh,11W,1 p,llkrn hill. ",lillilll'd thiltthe rewereIIIl\ ny ciecle!th1\thilt!lays«(.''''': '' (U,. 1\"'I'{"11''''12:1).FlIr~l".r complica.tio nisprovidedbyforma tions popularl ykno,....·11 ",5"l li '· 1"~ r,,m5~:
forma.tionsin whichone ormoreelrclesarcj"in.~1t"A"~llCrhyc..nl1O·c:t ill~
lines. These pictogrAmscan hI'incrediblyCQmple)las fi,ltllrt,1..1sh" w". [Iur- ing1990 there ...ere Atle ast1:1picto~raTIIs.11 ....·1'11 a!! ., ...h"I, ~h..st
fIr
"tl1l''' types[Delgedcand Andrews, I,altslf:vitfl1lcri1i!i), Quit e51111ply rl...range ofshapes is staggering.There has evenhc...n atria Jl~I" ("'lfl(l.~
3Fullerand Randle" COItI;;;:;:;,til'II~(:i,.d." .tJ.s.., (in'enIi'fa1•..rt"'"IMlv",-,i ki""
photograph of :tn ovQid ( l'C>prifde (-Rin.:s-1·111 ).
~Noyes,'nt rodllrtio n21.Th~lIlootretentlislor\Yl'"ilia'1,,,bli..Io,,,<I;'S;U1"I'I"·,,,lil1.0, ChorOll t'. "Thnis-.Thi.~.,ve17 types Imtni,1"otno:«ft;Hil~,Iilti" "" i. "l:",,,,,i,,~~irrl....
from hoaxes,
'S~eforexam ple,M~nden,-Arckha ml.t' m 'Sc,,, ll:l' n, e' Ci·d....~;llrlt;ml"alld ,\".
dre...,hIedEriJ~,,«52-57.
Figure 1.4:Pict ogram inWilt shire
The photographshows a pictogramfound at Stratton St.Bern ard in 1990.
©
G.T.Meaden.1.1.1 Distribu ti on ofcircles
The large maj or ity "f croprirrh-sh,,\"I'h"I' n f"lllulin S"ull wrnEIlp,lm ul.
leading to claimsof a"\rl'~M'XCn rrid"rM"I'"\ rr-SM' );;'I'riilllp,l,'""I'rird,'silo·s .1l Regardlessoftheprerisodefinition"ftlu-nrcu illr"I·I,'d .itis1rill't,.sal"ll1al thegreatestdensityof uopcirri .."f r Urn 'llt"t'S,11"1't"IU'f..'mll in s"u l lwrtl Mill south-westEngland.This hashilll tWlll Plld,,\Isillip lifill.i" tlsf..rIlwp"pll LH disco urseabou t theHOJlrircles, astlt illparl"fIII<'1'1\ islillt·dwithrll,IIl~' prehistoricartifactswith,1circularth"ml',such as St"l11'IWllW·.;\15".tlIi .~
part icularareaofBrit a inhasprovidedalarge 1I1111 11)1'r»flW O sip,ht inp,s, withone partic ularplaCtl,\\'arrninstt'r,IwingdnhlH'11~Th" UFOI'a llil" l"f Brit a in " inthe19605.1
Circle formationshavebeenfoun dthrougllo uttheworld. ;.,It-iHh:nlis ts severalcountriesfromwhich11l'hasdatil:
They are knownfrom at lcas ttwelv e couutrlesill III"st':"ll tilll'l lts, fromtheU,S.A .andCanedotoSouthAmerica,,11111fromI':llr"p"
to the U.S.S.R .,Japall,AuslraliR,'l'aSfIlillli ,liLlIIlN,·\\·7,'·'I\;lIId.III Europe circles ha vebeen reported IromFrance,It a ly,Switw-r luutl, AustriaandScandanavia.(Cin:l",'l1','jJrl.'lIii)
It is, however,only in theUK that;1signifit:iullpopular;'llIlllwdiil iuu-rr-at exists."Furthermore,there arcparticularareaswithi nthisilWiIrh.u aw pu.r- OSeeNoyesuC"rrldorsandW's"(orIIhUI1I'>f'!U" .,cc""nt"raltNllpbt"a. Hilt Ua geogea phice ltopographytocircle~ite~. F"rmaps.tr~"""i,,1ttil"
w"•
.cxr." ru,.,,;ti'm :;<.'"Noyes,CropCircleenigma187;Ddl\lld 'J and,\mJrew. ,l,lllrltf:. iJ"1\r '-'71i;r"rlllil"S de-emph asizing thissee~Ie"den,Circlue"J!fdIIJ6-lfJ7: 1I,,,,,tl CHmltlF"II"r127.
7See Shcutewccdroranaccount crthe UFOsi~ h ti li ltsM''''ndW;,rrnin.ttlrinIll"I!Jf)IJs.
sRe.:ently t!lerebil.Sbe" n nnupsurge"rm",liaintc r"s tirrC a ", ,,I:, ar,,lllleI:.:;.,\I :;<J, 10
tieularly prone to theoccurrenceofcircle formations,in some cas es specific fields h;l'/l1 hadseveral forrnati'Jllsinthem over11.period of time. The most (ilIl1'''JS.:xamplc .}fthis is the "De vil'sPunchbowl" at Chcesefoot Head ncar Pcurrsficld inHamp shire.Thisfidelhashad at least9 differentformations foundin it since 1981,lISwellas une proven hoax, and some letters reading
"WEAltr~~ () 'I'ALO~E" pn~s s{'dinti) the crop in1986.
1·'id ,ls suchas this, known as "repuaters",have played ala rge part in euo.uragi n~interest inthe phoncmenon, fortheygive researchers11.chance to predictth,~locationsin which formations may occur,This has led'to sever al
"cropwatches" ,wit h varyingdegrees ofmediainte rest,inwhich resea rcher s setlip camp for aperiod of days in orde rto monitor a known repeatersite nul! hopefully record the advent of a crop circle. Amongstresearche rsand ,lssncia h' s thesevigils,whetherscientificallybasedor not, seem tofulfill a similar roleto UFOwatc hes,the samese nseof shared excitement, and dedication permeati nghothevents.
In summa ryitwouldsee m that alt houghcircle formationscan,and do, Ionnthroughouttlwworld,the majority of reported cases arein the UK.
Ofthose cases in the UK, the majorityare foundillSouthernEngla nd .
or
thoseIound inthis area, there are a small percentagewhich occurinspecific, repeate r fieldsand a largerpercentage that tend tooccur in certa in geographical areas.
\,iththeCcrlllnn tra nsla tion ofCircu/arEvillenceonemight cxpectunincrease ofinterest inthntclJiJlllry.
II
1.1.2 Det ail edlist of circle features
....Vriting inCirC/,{arEvidcnce.Dc1g iHlo IHlIl:\rHl n~ l'."~ndd rt,sstIl<'prn hlc' lI \ oftotally defining theforcl'which is responsible for ul'iltingtill'rin-h-sby att empti ngtolist the necessary and sullkicontfl'iJ.lllrl'srequire-d10pr" tllll't, the effects that areseenincrop circles.
...asilent , shcrt-dnrution,strong,corurn-rouuicr-,diHllilW··fw,·
flattening, swirling. who rl- an dvein-fonniug,~watllillg,su-m.
ben ding,horizontal-growthinducing,wJll'~l"owthiUl.:rfl'rinEt,striliEtlll' pathforming,plant-extracting,totnl-dnrkuc ss "Iwrat illg, l:\ap- seeking,supe rimposing,circle .g roupIcrming,\\"(,il LIII'rcondition Irce, extraneousmarksfrt'e,l.)pogril]Jhirilllyt:"ndilinIl J.~ss,w'l1"1I1_
wide opera tiveforce.(158)
This definition,whilst not accepted by ,\11 in itsentimt y,doc~srml\'idc'it
usefulindextothevariousfeaturesfoundincircle fnrlllatiulIS.II.GillIll' broken down int o severalconstituentparts: the immediate elfecl"fLIlt'f" ITt, onthecro p(asseen inthe inili,llcrop format.ion},theIl[lcr·crfel:ls,,1'lilt·
damage,the associatedcircl ephenome na,andtheappeara nce"ftilt'f"ff:' >
asitcons t ruct sa circle.Althoughitis necessaryto giveiltlcsc:ripti"n,,rlIu' va rious aspectsto theforma tio ns litishas alread ybe -nt:<>m pd'> fltlyd" l ll~
many time s before,soIcan doIinlehereapart fromtryt'JSYllthr~sil':t'tit"
vario us im port an t factors."
~Forot herdCllcrip lioo',ee: Dclgmlo and,\ntlfeW~,{.'i""Kl~r~:vi,l<nr."117I~r,;)'1,,,,,1,,.., CircleJEOed11-24 ;Randles nodFuller, ,U!lJ1ol'!ISollJCd 111-M.
12
,\~id ready notedtlll:r<~is,At,~n,1.preciset~<lgebetween theunaffectedcrop and th,~Ilnnened area. TIll:edgeitselfis susceplih lcton phenomenonknown.\S
"~nJl·s(~('kiflg."10Thisoccu rs whenthearcthat the edge is describingmeets an ..r<'; ldevoirlofst;m,lill!\crop, suchas'!CCIHSon tractorlines. In such cast's Llil' uirculur path"ftil"ed.;e mayIl<~tc m porneily distorted befo re itresumes itsillitiilltollrse.
N"tall(~dgesare prccisd y nil.Thereare var-ious typesofim perfec tion
"tILeri.han gap.se.:ki nl!;as mentionedabove,the mostcommon of whichQC- '·11,'5whenLIIl~edge appearstohe spik..d,ascan he seenin Mendon's The Cjn:lr" ~f!,JIcetfig ure 37 illwhich theimprecise natureofthe edgeis made clear(71). The photograp hinfigure L.5 alsoshows aragged edge.
Cl;"tl l'laywithin circ les
Then 'arc innumerablepatternsinwh ic h the crop in aflat te ned area may be la id . 1\tal1.vdetailedphenomena are associatedwiththis.
Th"anpcan be presseddownwithvaryingdegreesof force. lnsome rirclesllw rropap pea rs to hnvemerelybeen "brushed"by the forceand is Ho t t1ilLtl'll<,,1atall.just hcnt atthe top knuckleof theplant.UAt othertimes lIlt' an'a may be totally flattened.Thedifferencecanbe seenby examining
I"Thrtermi.PalI)dgml,,'~ .SceDclgmloand ,\ndrcw.,Cir<:~IQ~E.idence156-t58.
ll~" ,r1111 t'XillllplcorIhi~5ec :\1,,,<1..,,,Clr<:/(,3tOutligu r..27.
Figure 1.5: A dowser at work in a circle Note the serratedlook of the edge of the circle.
\4
Figure 1.6: Detail of crop lay in the pictogram at TelegraphHill
figure 1.6inwhich the crop is laid totally flat and figure 1.7 inwhich the crop looks scruffy. There may be some degree of correlationbetweenthe type of lay and the extent of the pressure exerted upon the crop. For example
"starburst" patterns - patterns ... here thelay is radially directed to ...ards the circumference- aregenerally pressed veryhard into the ground.
The cent reofthelaypattern isoften not coincident wit h the geometrical centreof theformation. Another noted phenomenon is double-centering:
Figure 1.7: Detail of scruffily laid crop
16
C<Ul:!lin ""Ilichtile'ay has tWfJccntrcs.11
Thereare also line Ilt!ta.ilsin tbl! methodof the lay."los t-ge nu ine" crop cirdl:ldisplay"ha mling" and ·Iayr.ring"effec tsIt)somedegree. Band ing oc curswhe n thecropis laidd...·n in bund les,oftenlook ing as thoughit has beencomb edbyso megi.'lnt,7·to:."t hedcomb.This canbe seenin figure1.2.1:1 I....yf~rillgiiithe termgivn/lInthe phenomenon inwhichthe cropmay be 1;IY.-f''Il"vc rib dfilldifferentrlirect.iunswith inthepattern .
ASSfldatcdelrclcphe nu eueuu
Fiunlly,th e cropinsidethecircle isnolalway~totally affect ed.Someti mes
;uc sor standing cereal cropare le ft. Also there areca5CSinwhich a py ra- midicalformatio n or sta nding crop is left unto uched in thecent reof the main circle."Thereve rsecan1\1$1'1occurwiththe centr alpar t com pletelydevoid
"f the crop:kaving nOl hi ng but bareearth.
Other fe a t ures
or
circleformationsThereare ma nymiscella neo usfeat uf{'S thathave become associatedwith crollcircleformations.Forexa m ple somefor ma lionsthatconsist or a centr al circle ...ithS<ltdlitecircles have a vc r)'finering connect ingthesat ellit e s that 12Antlrrws,J.Mrltll", /pgyIll..' (1987):018-51;Meildr n,J..lTd eo", /on UK(1987):
H-·IS.
1.1,\elearcrI'hot llKrlll'h, .howinf!:bot h bendingundlilyt ringdetllits,clln befound in nill\dlc~;uulFull.r,M,",r,S,,/~tdplat e 4.
ll~'ora pillnandpictureor.Inullingnrc.seeMr llden.Cin:rlar Evidenu70. For<I
dl'llt·riIILinn.,fuIUQllcllffl,CClllrnlf llrll1alion."""Mcnden:l1\d EllUl1\15· 16.
Figure 1.8: Seven satellite formation at Bickington
is only discoverableby close investigation.The Bickington case is one such example.In mysur vey I missed the existenceof a ring connecting the seven satellites and itwasnot until an aerialshot becameavailable that the ring was discove red . For example, compare the photographshownin figure1.8 wit h the aerialshot inCropCircle Enigmainwhich a thinouterring can justbesee n;the othertr ackswere madeby visitors(Noyes115).
Anothe r oddity of the formationsis thei rpro pensitytoalignthem selves with trac to rlines. Tra ct o r lines are the ruts made in fields alongwhich tree-
18
t'mlnre drive nJuringcrop-spraying.Tominimize cropda m ag ethe farmers always drivealongthesa me lilies. This has theeffect of leaving sets of regularly-spacedparallellinesalong which nocropsgrow. These lines, where tl l<~ Ycoincidewith the edgeof a Ior-mation,usuallylead to gap-seeki ngphc- uomcna as describedeilrlicr. Alsorunnyform a t ionsofle n orientatethem-
s{~IVI'Swiththese lines in some manner.Forexample many ofthe complex
pir.togr;lInsuscthetractorlinesasthelo ngaxis in the forma t ion.(Seefo r example figures lA,1.11, 1.12.)Alth"ughmanyfo rm atio ns donotusetrue- Lor lilies,11all, runny moredo use the mthan should be predictedbychance
;lltJrw. I~
Possihlythe most unusualfeature ofthe formationslie s intheir relation tu dowsing.Dowsing is a well-kn ownbutunexplained phenom enon that is usually associatedwit h"waterwitching":the art of discovering unde rgro und water sources.Its adherents ,however, claim many uses forthetechn ique, anddl)\vst~rssaytha t theyarenbletodetectparticularpatternsof"energy"
that can he found only in genuinecro p cirdes.IGThatis to say that itis I"l~~ihlt'fora dowser toma p out the topographicformofa circle by ploUing Lilt' reaction 'lfhisor her dows inginstrumentas the practitionerwalks about thecircle. These surveys tend to produce certa inpatternsthatoccur time nndtimcegninwithingenu ine circles but notwithinhoaxes.Thishas ledto I~Se~:-'l~,,"~n'!comments"IIthisp~rnotl\\'nonin "Beckha mpt on'Scroll-typeCieeles' ".
lGf'urthr(elation b\'lweendowsingand crop circles seeRichard Andrews;Wingfield,
·~;vcrlncreasilll!;Cirde. "26-29.For a briefersynopsis see RandlesandFuller,MyJtery fj,,(v<'<l·16.
19
dowsin g being usedASa \'eracity t("5ton problematicrirdc':S.Tht'tc-r1l11i'r1c' is inU5ebyallofthe dedicatedl"N('ar cht'rJincluclil1jtTt·rt·ncc.·llc'aclt'll.IIIC' leading advoca te of themete.. n.•I(>f;iroll t'xpl.ul.lt i"nalllif"rll1l'rIIml'.,.So,r ..[
PhysicsatDalho usie'Uni\·c~il.1"inX,waSc oria , wh" noft·rrc.,.1 tl> it.rallll'r coyly,as an~instrumcnt alsecurity- check"("C;rdt... {r.. mlll<~Sky~Ii ).
Itoohave seenthisphe nomenonill work intllc'vC'ryt1rlltt:jrclt,f"rlllat i.lll Ivisited- thesevensatellite f,'rmal i.)nal Bickin,qtOlll.1\1till'tiun-1I1..r,~
wasdoubt as toitsveracity ,foritco uld lit'seenInunitIll';JTUy pilblil'h"llsl' andthere is an agricultural collegeII'SS thnuLwn mill'S1\\\',1,\',Iknewfl"thi ll~
ofthe dowsingtes tand happenedInI11l'diId' )\\'~,' rwh"h;1I1n.'\,c'( 1I,..-ul..
acirclebeforebutwho had heardthatit".i1.~l"Ol>~ ; hl ,~til,\dItr,',ulillg inII
circle. Asneither of uskne wwhat tolook for hc'dielvari"ll ~1."!Iit,<Ilulw,t cert ainreadingswhichIput ina.repor ttoTere nceMt:a.I.'lIa.s an inlc'f<"!Iilillj(
point.Iwasquitesurp risedto discoverthat,1'J\Y5ingw;uan1«:...·IILc't llI'J>t andthat,furthe rmore.the resultsseemedtcbe all prc'tlir:l,'(1furar;"nllilU~
circle.(Figure1.5on page14 she...sthedowser."1t work .taltill~rNdill~s fromthe circumfere nce ,)f theelrcle.]
Although the reare varyinginter pret ations1")(th., nll'allinK',ftlc,~,I"wsi llll;
testallof thevariouscirclesresearche rsdolil.kl:!thehost;111vali.1,ullluseful.
So far,circles thatfniltodowseproperlyhave ;111bee nuruuaskcdirSh"il1.'~S andthereis yetto be an acknowledgedhoaxthath,LSp.lSS,~t1th,'t1'l"I/siIiK
'lu
kosl,17Io"lrl hennor c: the rearc claims lhalevenseveral years aflerthe field omt:tini ngacircle has beenhan"eSll..'dit isstill possibleto elicit the dowsed pauorualthepreciseloc a tionQ(the paltern.l•
Placeandthncofuccuereuee
'\5alrc~Il(l ystnted,thevaslIrIl\j"rityofcircle cases haveoccurred intheWell' S"SaU'II.Altbcugh there ilt11('~encra llyaccept ed figu refo rthepercentage ,,{Llwsl~ tha~ilrt~hoaxes, it dues seem that alargenumberfou nd out side of tilt:WI.~S!il:XMea arcnotgenuinecircles.Thisfact isinterp retedmany ways.
There dOI'salsoseemtohe anassociat ionof circlefo r mat io nswithhills . Ila udll·s11.11I.1Fuller quote figurestothe effectthat89%orcropcirclesappea r within 2kmof sleep hillslo pes andthatthecor relati onbetweenthedistanc e ltl hillslopeMelcirclefreq ue nc yis+U.77wh ichreprese nt sII.high degreeof rf'rtai nly.191\llhOllghmAnyresea.rchers do not acceptthesefindin gs allagree thatcircleslend tohappenAro und tumuli- ancienthill-forts- and other sito:'S ofarchaeologica l inte rcst,:lO Thereis also widespreadagreemen tonthe .1;Th..-i;.~;;:;r-h<"uinll.And-~t~ntila~onl~ntioulone.Fornowitis~nough10" y Ih"l l h~r~are..ll,,,1t1_ I),JK'1Iofcjrclco'./t malil..lfU:thoRhowntohavcobnnere.. ted by hunH.n.~ndlh~ T~.l,OfCOUrlC'itcn"ldhetheC/lHl"'tthere.T~both'professional'
"".1'~rn" Leur'h....url .H.~l:lIrcll... iti.Itilla"'nluabl~di.tinctio n to make,Iftbe fe ilre l'I"or..,..jon ,,1h" ..l.t~r.11'~nth~i rmethod ofconst ructioni••uch:oslo leil\'C'thnedo\t!lilblC' 1"~Uernl.
ISI1,," dlcsmill Fuller,,\f,JI, r/lSDl"~tl,16;Winllfi~ld .~EvcrInc T~nli nl Circl es~27-28 . I~~·uller.Rev,"rDlIvid.' ilher14.[nD.mortTecenteomlnunkM ionFlIl1~r qll ot~afigur~
"fO.82for the cerrelntlouhol Sl.'tlnn thednlain'\n d r ~wHewitt', the5il ,SeC'a150, Fuller.
"Th..HillSiupe1':lfed."
·" liee furcIampi..Delgadonnd'\ lI d r~ wli,Circula,E~idefl~19,Wingfi~ l d,"E ...~rIn-
frr,llIingCirdcl~31.
21
factthat circles do tend to cluste rin certain lorutious (tllt'H'an- tlm' c'umin sitesin the southof England], till'disagrt'l' l1ll'utisinlilt'rC'l1~"nf"rthis.
Finallyitseem s thatmostfcrmntionsoccur utl\i~h l. ,\~aillLlwrt·MC' manyre asons propo sedfor this Fact huttl ll'rl';~u"dis'l~rc"'Ill"lltwith Llil' generalproposition .
Otherno tedphenomena
Therehavebeenma ny otherphenomena notedill'l~.~,,('illti"11witha"f!tirdl'~
but theirstatus is problematical. Probably the I11"SL["'W il LS"f thc'sl' is 1,lw claim thatthemolecularstructure
o r
lhl~alfl'd"dcrop is dlillll-\,'dbytill' event.The evidencefor thiscomesmostly fromDd gil d"and..\l1Iln'wswhu showmicro scopeslidesthatappea rtofJ..pictfhallgl'~intill'inu-mnl~lrlldurc' oftheaffe ctedwheatfromacircleinWillshin~(/.fJlt:.d II'nidf'll/ 'f:'1:?).SOlfa r theredoesnotseem tohave been any successful repetitionlOrtill!tl~stnuris thereany agreem entasto themeanin gofthert~slL'l?1There is also disagreement ah outtheregrowth"fthl'f:r" l1"uu'ithas been affected,That.it is stillaliveandhea lt hy,if S"Jllf'wh' llh"ri~"llt;ll.is beyond do ubt butthe re is clcbil.t...a~t"whulhnplwns11"1.1.. l)d'~IL,I"1L1l,1 Andrew s argue tha tthe crop continuestogrnwsidl~WilY.~illil.s new p"siti"ll (Circular Evidence31) .~Ie'lllcnpoints outlhat aft('ritu:rtilillSl,IW',iLis nolon gerpossible for acerealcroplub,~ ndand tha tlh'~r<~f, .rr ~any~r,.wtli
2lSUfor eaample JchnlIaddinl;~"ll'sleU.'toTIu- (.'e",u""Ji.1,1(Iflnll:aa.
22
wouldhavetnoccurhorizontally.Convers elyifthe cereal crop was damaged beforer,~achillp;thisstage "fgrowthitwouldbe possible (orit to bend ata node and groww~rtically.22Thisprocess can be seen in figure1.9 whichis a photograp hor the pictogram iltChilcombfarm taken some4weeks after the initialdiltllage;itcallhe seen that some of the whealis beginning to grow uprighl again,confuaingthe shapeofthe area.
There havealsobeenaccounts of unusualevents associat edwith cropcir-
ell'S.Ddga dnand Andrewsreportseveraloccurrencesof electricalequipment
ritilillp; inside circles (Cirn J.m r EUldence172- 113).Thereare also accounts of anima lsrefusing to enter circlesor acting strangelywithinthem orduring the forma tionofIIcirc1e.'3The final puzzle is what appears to be addit ionsto alreadyexisting circles.Such cas es appearto berare and circleresearchers nte often reluctant to discuss them.The additionof anext ra ringto the Bis hop's C,1nning fermation in 1990 caused an argumentat theFirs tInter- -2iJ,";:C;;;,~. ~'rmnll:5"k.v" :\It',,d..nala tea:
HUL of eeurseif the~tem,of" crop havefully matured(ielignified)they ciln n<)t possiblyr~.pnnd[georrc pica lfy],beca usewhen theatem has set Lhere c" " noL heany further geotropic'esponaeanyway. Thenodesunnol move. lmleed it i.onlywhile themainshooLia imma.tureIhaL a ny possibil·
ityfor nodal beudingexisla.Thia limitsuste nc laterthan stage390nth e Zmlo{ k~·Cha"K-Kotll"kdecimal~cllieof cereill·growth. Forsout hernEng- landin'prilll:"urnmer 1989!lrowth·~tag~39 rorreepcndednpproxima telyto wi"l~r. aowncereal crops struc k down byvortic~,in mid-Mayorearflee.(45)
1J~'<>rexample,Delgad o and A"dre ws,CirclliarEvid~nee65,81; Meaden ,TheCirclel f':/Jrd 29,:l!l,83;Randle. antiFuller,Myde.ySolv~d88~8 9,148-149.l61 , 163, 216.Note th.,tb"lhMco1ttel1, nndItatl<H~.andFuller alec dealwithanimal reactionsto vorticesand lJFO~ nc"untcl1l .
23
Figure 1.9: Vertical regrowth of damaged crop at Chilcomb Farm Compare this with the photograph in figure 1.11 on page 45 which shows the same formation recently after its creation.
24
national Conferenceon the CirclesEf f(~elin Juueofthat year.Inthis case ilp;iantcirclesur rounde d by threerings gainedafourthone concentricwith lh,~circle centre." Othersuch phenom enainclude thesharingof satellites hy [ormnt.iona created ntdifferentdates."
Summary
TheJlrL'ce(li ll~sectionhas attempted to give a comprehensiveoverviewof
tile vnrjousphenomenathatcomprise the cropcirclephenomenon.Ot her ddililsto do with theformation of circlesare essentially theory-dependent andarcdealtwith later.Eyewitnessaccountsof phenomenaassociatedwith llw formationof circlesarc also dealt withfitfIlater pointas they tend mainlyto be used as evidencebythemeteorologicalschoolof explana ti on.
The iutent "fthe ahove textis todelimit the nature of the phenomenon ,It shouldlll~notedth.l talotofthe informationisnot widely known and that Lhisfacthas importantconsequences forvarioussystems of beliefsabout
Fillallyit shouldhe notedthaL the description is inevitably dry andpro- suic andf;\i19 to capturethe wonderand beautyof the formations. More
5(\than the thousandsof words or detailed descriptionsof the phenom e na, -i~ lj,-;r.;;;-~l<1afteraeti.,lpilotogrnphs of the fonnntiolltan be found in Delgadoand ,\n dr r w,t.aleltf,videlltc ·10--11;~oye.,Elligma!l3.DiscussionoCtiledebnteatthe con- r..renee bd ween~lc"denandAndeewse,," be foundin hied Evidence40~4 1 jand Fuller, e,lil<>riaI3: 8.
":-ieeforexamplecolour phOIOllfr\ph, in Noyes,Enigma92, 25
itisthe aerialphotographsthat havebrought hometomillionsthesht' t'r strangenessofthecrop circles.
26
1.2 Ci r cular Movement
Wh(~11 1I1l~J)nil"l\·'lprc.~.'iranthecro pcircle story in July1983theyintro- ,f,w"l!th"1'l"IIl~rlllpuulictoa mysterytha t had graduallybeen buildingup SkiUlI.,\lth'lIlg:hlh'~r(~hilllbeenagrowinginte rest amongst resea rchersin Llw phonuruenun L1":f{'waslilll,:publicdiscussion.Articleshad been featur ed illI,,,.;;dpress puhlic'l t i"llsbutwererarely givenprom inence.TheExpress's heitdlin"dian g"dallLhat,The next daytheyra n a follow-upstory,head- lill.:,1~I·:.T.Whyhavcrl'tyou ccnr ac tedUS?"26and othernationalpapersgave l:"v('ra~ctullll: story:eventually lending oneteam from theDaily Mirror to createitsecondform ationin the samefieldinan attemptto discreditthe
""r.f'~'~'~ifitshallIII re por tthe formationasreal.27
1.2.1 The dawn of a new myst ery:1980-1983
TIH~I: i rdt~sruportod in 1983 caused somethi ng ofa srir., butthey werenot
Llwfirsttobe nationally repo rt ed. In 1981, athree circlefor ma tionat CIWC"J,donLhoU"mcarneto theattention of PalDelgado,awell-k nown write r Oilpara norma liSS Ul' S . Heimmedi atelyreportedthem to the pressandso theformation gained nationalpubl icity but therewasno significa ntlasting intcrcst,Delgmlo was l,ot atthe time awaretha t Terence Meaden , editor
:';Qtc!. in:\k adcn,"Circ1uFrom the Skyft22.
11~'orar"lIn1Iccount or thl'l'vcnl••urroulldingth".eevents"'eRandles andF~ ller ,A .1Iv,'r ry:i",~,',lIt.6:1-64.
27
ofTheJournalojMet eo folo9Y, UKhadinves ti gatedilcirdl'r,' rl1\;\\i" nflu- previousyear afterIan :\lrzygk,d, ab-adinginn'sligal,'rwitliIhe Hrn.ishll!-'I) Resea rch Organisation(BLWO R A),hndrt ra wu his at tcutiontoit.1l,'lhIIW Il were oftheopinio ntha tthe markscould he causedh,r n t,vp"
"r
whi rll\"illd.2~Mea den'estance was fairlyobvious,hehad longIn-enillh'r<'~l,'dinauorun- lousweather reportsandthe circle fortuarious musthave~\,,·tll,·tlto ('mh"d.\' allthe thi ngs whichwen'of in te rest t.\ him,Mrzyglod'~p,'siti"n\\'itSIpss obvious. ,\tthetime he\\'115the editor"fl'robe,ajoumul.1,';,lill~wirh UFOphenomena,which mostly representeditCt'r l aiTtfaction"fIlIJFO lt A that rejectedthe extrate rrestrialhypothesis(1-:'1'11)
"r
til('UFO mystery.'1'"putit crudely,they believedtha tUFO~were nutala-nSp ,l("l,s h i p ~("lly ill).\
saucer s" } ofanysort,Thisfact ion consistedofa small hut d('dil,.,kd ,:" ro' who were fightinga rea rguardncnon againstt.lu-1'~' 1'l 1maj" rity .Th i ~gr,," p, alsoconsistingof Jenny Randlesnnd PaulFullerwit"W"f(~luu-rt"lll'f'IlIl"
heavilyinvolvedinthecropcircleIleb ate,snwwithhorrurlll,'wayillwhh-h thelocalpresshad beenre porti ng the crup drde marks;\lulft'ar"lllhattl\l~
associationofcmp circleswithnying snnccrsafltl"lilll..W"""nu-n"w",,101 furt herdi~creditscientific research'IfUFO~ ,
one corner wasMeaden who saw cropcircles as aJl.,s~ illt.,Iir," ~wor-k.nnlWi i S quie tly gat herin gasmuch infommrion,ISI'"ssihl... Ittart.,t !H'r W" T"!till,d l"s, 2a~I~ Olden, "~IysterySpit"l.illC"rnfield.";Stt;01."theI' ",b.iHti cl."I In 1,,,,:\1rzy~I' ,, 1.
Fullerami \1rJyglodwhtl~;err.desperatelytryi ng to divorceUFOsfromthe f:rnp circles, Finallythe re ...ere the likesofPa ~Delg;sdt:l who saw themas l\flllld hing rie h andstranK~andbelieved~hattheworldshouldbeshown.
1.2.2 The earlyyears: 19 83-1988
I{alllll cliandFllll" rdale the summerof198:lilSthe.ta rtofthecro p circle
"myth"(My.de rySullied2!1). The usc ofthetermis unfort una te inthatthey intendit L"reft~rt' lacomplex"f erroneous beliefsabout the phenomeno n.
'I'lu-irconcernWillithl1tthe phenomenonwasbeing con fusedby theincrease
"finlo·r"sli nit.Theyst ilLe:
No longer couldwebesurewe weredea ling wit h aphenomenon that wasoccurring without theinterven t ion ofsocialfactors..
D\,'ernigh ~theentirecircle'Sphe nomenonhadbeencomplicated bytileinvolvementofthemedia insuch abig It:ay.(28)
Themed iainl c rl"1l l was inlt'nse butab o brier.Itappearsto have started ini\region alnewspap e r,TheWill"hirrTim e",...hichreportedthe exist e nce
"fa quintupletformationalChcescfoo t. This formation,consistin gofa large centralcircleandf"urIlm.,III"Tsetcllues[illust ra tedin~gureI.IU),appe ared tuhe asha pe~h atcouldlwinlerpret edasthelandingmarks ofaflyi ng 1I;\1I( t' rwilhfourlegs.The nextdaythelril13f1i nTime"advisedil sreaders to~\\'atchDIll! The~I.ul innsAreBack" .The affair culminat edin severa l television newsrt'pllrts IUldtheDlIilyEzpres., '""E.T ," cove rage. Eventually lht' ha ppt'n;ngs werereported inanAmericanta bloid ,WeeklyWorldNell'S,
29
•
Figu re 1.111:SChCmil~icillll~lrilli"11"faIllJinLllp l,·t f'orl'lilli'''1 Itcan be seenlhiltthisshull!'~t~i\populnrt:tlnt"t'plj,,""f!'FOs,IS("ifnl l,tr object swit hfour('(lllall ysp,u;('d lau ding h'l-\s.
whichnotedthat a Uf Ohudl" n(J,.r1illWiltshire !llldIt'rriti,·.1[,willLl1"llU'fS (27).
The next two su m mers wererelat.ivcly quiet interms ..fcr.. p\:irc:I.·inu-n-s t.
Alt hough forma.tionswere still being discovered onilr"i rl )'r" ~lllarIl;lsist\w~' tardyreceivedna.l iu na.lcoverAge.:-ioy c sl1'ColII)15lllal;
[TheCircles]hard ly lookedlikeilmajo rIl r" h lc'lIIfflt~r.il·lIn·.TI...y seemed tobeinc reasing a liult' (m ill)"";\ t
t.,
}'t'il r,hill.mly\.,lIw modestextent which mighthecxp<.'C1C,.'1!rrt>mtIle fiU:Lllt ;!.l '11" 11- peoplewerelook ingforrhcm. (Inl r'.II' lllctilln 21)Howe ver,1985 was notablef'l fthe intr nduction ..f'liusty'T~yl..rtil,I...IrIV~
tery.Taylor,a kee npilot11I'lllpellc,1t..f1I,lict~i1
r ..
rumliMIwllilstf1yill~""'-rit and return e d the nextdayt.,
takesome;wri ll!ph.)tfJ~ral'hs.1~Sh',rtlytlwr.-·afterhe cameIntocontac t with the,then, small<:<m~
"r
I:in:l"sl'lI th H~ii<sls;1IIt!J7S~Delgado and ,\" d rews,Ci""t" .f.-Old. """11,32:I.'i, :11I
