826 lines
48 KiB
Plaintext
826 lines
48 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
This article ran in "Mufon UFO Journal", December 1990. Back copies of
|
||
the issue may be requested by writing to: Mufon, 103 Oldtowne Road,
|
||
Seguin, TX 78155. Minor corrections have been made in this online
|
||
version. The bibliography has been updat-ed to March 1991. Online
|
||
version created and released by Michael Chorost.
|
||
|
||
THE SUMMER 1990 CROP CIRCLES
|
||
|
||
by Michael Chorost and Colin Andrews
|
||
Aerial photographs by Colin Andrews
|
||
Diagrams by Richard G. Andrews
|
||
|
||
|
||
(All paragraphs marked [CA] are by Colin Andrews; the rest are by
|
||
Michael Chorost.)
|
||
|
||
Summer 1990 brought an explosion in the complexity, size, and number
|
||
of the crop circles in England. About six hundred were discovered,
|
||
double the number of 1989. One intriguing early shape was discovered at
|
||
Longwood Estate on June 6, and dubbed a "quarter-arc" formation
|
||
(picture and diagram 1). Another early shape was the first "dumbbell"
|
||
formation, discovered on May 23rd near the foot of Telegraph Hill
|
||
(diagram 2). In its external shape and internal crop lay, it was the
|
||
most complex formation ever seen up to that time.
|
||
|
||
Many more dumbbells like this followed (see pictures 2-5, and
|
||
diagrams 3-5.) Later in the summer, the "double dumbbells", complex
|
||
formations several hundred feet long, began to appear. They sported
|
||
odd-looking forklike extensions, and entourages of smaller circles
|
||
nearby. Three of them were discovered in all.
|
||
|
||
The new formations were a shock to everybody. Much more than the
|
||
circles, rings, and quintuplets of earlier years, they seemed to mean
|
||
something, though no one knew what. They seemed both part of the earth
|
||
and detached from it, as if they would slide away along the tramlines
|
||
once their anchor-lines were cut. They looked at once cryptic, fragile,
|
||
and luminous.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Discussion of one "dumbbell" formation
|
||
--------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
On July 3, six days after it was made, I examined the formation in
|
||
picture 4 (and Diagram 4) in detail. It was 48 meters long, so large
|
||
that people walking around in it looked like marbles rolling around a
|
||
plate. It was made of two circles of wheat flattened along the ground,
|
||
one with a ring. They were connected by a bar, inside which the
|
||
flattened wheat plants pointed toward the unringed circle. There was a
|
||
sort of "tail", more technically called a spur, where the plants
|
||
pointed in the opposite direction from the bar. Four rectangles flanked
|
||
the bar. In the inner two rectangles, the flattened wheat plants
|
||
pointed toward the unringed circle; in the outer two, they pointed the
|
||
other way.
|
||
|
||
The most complex part of this formation was where the bar intersected
|
||
the ringed circle. The bar crossed the ring and the band of standing
|
||
plants, but stopped at the perimeter of the inner circle. In this area,
|
||
the plants in the ring lay on top of the bar, meaning that they had
|
||
been flattened after the bar was formed (see picture 10). Hence the
|
||
formation was made in at least two stages. Also, whatever formed the
|
||
ring did not affect the plants already laid down in the bar. While the
|
||
ring was being formed after the bar, the bar's plants stayed put; they
|
||
were not realigned to become part of the ring.
|
||
|
||
The same kind of thing was evident at the other end of the bar, where
|
||
it met the unringed circle. The plants in the circle overlapped the
|
||
plants in the bar by a few inches, showing that the unringed circle was
|
||
also made after the bar. This is a small clue about how these things
|
||
are made. They aren't stamped out all at once, cookie-cutter style;
|
||
instead, something forms the parts in a definite sequence.
|
||
|
||
Most of the plants seemed to be alive and green (young wheat is
|
||
green.) However, a friend with me saw that about a third of the plants
|
||
whose stems were next to the tramlines had turned yellowish. We could
|
||
only speculate that those plants, having gotten less fertilizer, were
|
||
less hardy than the rest.
|
||
|
||
Strangely, some of the plants inside the formation were not affected
|
||
by whatever force flattened their fellows. On either side of the
|
||
tramline running through the formation, many plants remained upright
|
||
(picture 10). This also occurred in the ring, where isolated individual
|
||
plants remained stand- ing here and there, completely unaffected, like
|
||
lonely survivors of a massacre. (See also "Circular Evidence", p. 133.)
|
||
Colin speculates that the formative force may work like a paint roller,
|
||
flattening plants in strips and swathes, and thus may miss a plant here
|
||
and there between passes.
|
||
|
||
I was fascinated by the giant rectangles (see picture 11.) Rectangles
|
||
of a sort have been seen in earlier years, as spurs extending out of
|
||
circles (see "Circular Evidence", pages 54 and 42.) These, however,
|
||
were true rectangles. From the ground, they looked like giant bathtubs.
|
||
|
||
In each rectangle, three sides looked as if they had been cut with a
|
||
razor. However, the "forward" end of each rectangle --the end to which
|
||
the plants pointed--was not straight but jagged, or "notched" (picture
|
||
12). Whatever made the rectangles faced a challenge here: how to
|
||
flatten the plants right at the end without also knocking down the
|
||
standing plants making up that end. It solved the problem by pushing
|
||
the flattened plants down in bunches between the plants at the end. The
|
||
standing plants apppeared unharmed; they stood perfectly upright,
|
||
and their leaves were not stripped off.
|
||
|
||
This "notching" effect was also evident at the end of the "tail." It is
|
||
a characteristic feature of virtually all rec- tangular elements.
|
||
|
||
1990's surveillance operation: Blackbird
|
||
----------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
[CA] Operation Blackbird was the largest surveillance operation ever
|
||
conducted to discover and film the cause of the circles. Between 23rd
|
||
July and 10th August, 1990, twelve special cameras were focused on a
|
||
corridor of land about one mile long and 700 meters wide at Westbury.
|
||
The cameras ranged from thermal imaging to low-light, with sensitive
|
||
listening devices for good measure.
|
||
|
||
[CA] Blackbird netted two significant results. One was the Army's
|
||
filming of a "ball of light" above Silbury Hill, near Avebury. The film
|
||
shows an orange ball of light in the sky south of Silbury Hill. Its
|
||
scale and height are difficult to gauge. It was initially stationary,
|
||
then moved slowly to the east, then descended behind a hill, where it
|
||
shone through the trees before it was lost to sight.
|
||
|
||
Orange balls have been seen before. Richard Beaumont writes of an
|
||
orange ball reported on June 29, 1989:
|
||
|
||
|
||
In the early hours of the morning, a most reliable source
|
||
spotted an orange ball of light, about thirty feet in
|
||
diameter, descending into a field well known for circle
|
||
formations. The eye witness said that it appeared to bounce
|
||
slightly as it touched the ground. He also said that it
|
||
appeared to have a flat bottom, but assumed that it must
|
||
have looked flat because of its descent into the cereal
|
||
crop. The ball appeared brighter at the periphery, although
|
||
at no point was it a brilliant light. There was no noise
|
||
whatsoever. It then took on a hovering position for about
|
||
seven to eight seconds, and simply disappeared, as if one
|
||
had just turned off a light bulb...[Colin Andrews and the
|
||
witness] could reference where the ball of light must have
|
||
been exactly. The next day the local farmer and others rang
|
||
Colin. A new formation had formed exactly where the ball of
|
||
light was seen! (Beaumont, "Kindred Spirit", vol. 1, no. 8,
|
||
p 27.)
|
||
|
||
[CA] The other result of Blackbird was the BBC's filming
|
||
of a set of circles forming at Westbury during the night of
|
||
3rd-4th August. The film is of poor quality, even after
|
||
enhancement, but it shows a darkened shape relating to the
|
||
largest circle's size and location. In the morning, the
|
||
formation was seen to be a large circle with a looping tail
|
||
pushing out of it and terminating in a smaller circle about
|
||
10 meters away. Two other, smaller circles were also formed
|
||
some distance away.
|
||
|
||
[CA] The BBC had promised to show both the Army's and its
|
||
own films on a special programme, but they now inform me
|
||
that somebody has decided that they are not compatible with
|
||
the "Daytime UK" programme. The BBC have stated, in fact,
|
||
that they do not plan to show the films at all. It is not
|
||
clear why. [Chorost: Colin has since told me that the BBC
|
||
plans to air the tapes on "People Today", BBC 1, March 21,
|
||
1991.]
|
||
|
||
[CA] Blackbird also suffered from a cruel hoax. During the
|
||
early hours of 25th July, several of the 50-strong observers
|
||
witnessed unusual lights on one of the monitors. Key
|
||
researchers, as well as members of UK and Japanese TV crews,
|
||
were summoned. As the sun came up, the watchers and press
|
||
could see that a large and intricate formation had been
|
||
made. Breakfasttime TV was on the air, and pressured me to
|
||
make a statement. I agreed to do so, and stated on live
|
||
national television what the observers had seen and that
|
||
circles had appeared on the same spot. Within two hours over
|
||
30 TV networks were on the site and the news was bounced
|
||
around the world that a UFO had been seen forming the
|
||
mystery circles. Later, we walked into the field to view the
|
||
circles firsthand. We found that they were all hoaxed, and
|
||
that the lights on the monitors were from the hoaxers. Also,
|
||
crosses and Ouija boards had been left in the circles by the
|
||
hoaxers. Lively debate is still heard in the streets and
|
||
pubs of the UK about this whole episode; however, genuine
|
||
formations continued to form throughout the rest of the
|
||
summer.
|
||
|
||
Other observations and discoveries
|
||
----------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The number of circles reported has risen steadily in the last few
|
||
years. Much of it is due to the rise in monitoring, but the number of
|
||
circles per given area also appears to be increasing. According to
|
||
Terence Meaden's "The Circles Effect and its Mysteries" (p. 14) and his
|
||
article in the Oxford conference proceedings (p. 22), 75 formations
|
||
were discovered in 1987, 110 in 1988, and 305 in 1989. In 1990,
|
||
according to Colin Andrews, there were about 600 formations. [Footnote:
|
||
These numbers should be treated with caution, since I am not familar
|
||
with how researchers count circles. Is a quintuplet formation counted
|
||
as one "circle" or five? Are "grapeshot" circles (very small circles
|
||
less than a meter in diameter) counted separately? Do the various
|
||
researchers count circles in the same way? These questions need to be
|
||
investigated.] The rate of increase presents obvious problems for the
|
||
researchers, whose resources were already strained by the number of
|
||
formations which appeared in 1990.
|
||
|
||
[CA] HSC Laboratories in England have analysed plants taken from a
|
||
Celtic-cross formation type found at Blackland, Wiltshire, on 1st June
|
||
this year, using a distillation process which crystallizes the plants.
|
||
Electron microscope observation showed that the pattern of the crystals
|
||
was dramatically different from those of the control samples. A great
|
||
deal more work must be done before these early results can be confirmed
|
||
as significant. Suffice it to say that three trials have shown similar
|
||
results (see "Crop Circles--The Latest Evidence".)
|
||
|
||
Electrical equipment continues to malfunction occasionally inside the
|
||
circles. Busty Taylor reports that video cameras sometimes fail to
|
||
record inside them; the tape advances, but the magnetic head records
|
||
either erratically or not at all. Terence Meaden reports that a camera
|
||
consistently refused to function while pointed down to photograph the
|
||
center of a circle, but worked in every other orientation tried (Oxford
|
||
conference notes, p. 41).
|
||
|
||
[CA] Electromagnetic effects have been experienced on a number of
|
||
occasions, not least on Thursday, 10th August 1989, at 3:30 p.m. when a
|
||
BBC television crew was filming myself and Pat Delgado in a 100-foot
|
||
diameter circle near Avebury, Wiltshire. The troubles began when the
|
||
camera refused to function correctly each time it entered the circle
|
||
and several smaller circles nearby. Even when elevated on a crane over
|
||
the edge of the circles, it wouldn't work. It was agreed to start the
|
||
next shot by holding the camera outside the circle, while we went
|
||
inside with the sound engineer. As the camera rolled and sound began
|
||
taping, suddenly a loud, shrill, warbling noise blasted into the sound
|
||
engineer's headset. This was a noise we had heard before at circle
|
||
sites. Pat stood near the center of the circle and felt the effects of
|
||
an energy field around him. The cone-shaped energy field was so clearly
|
||
felt by him that the edges could be easily defined. Each time Pat
|
||
walked out of the cone the buzzing noise cleared up from the engineer's
|
||
headset. The noise was recorded and sent to the BBC's sound experts in
|
||
London; they, as well as experts at the Birmingham studio, were baffled
|
||
by it. The camera was found to be completely defunct and had to be
|
||
rebuilt.
|
||
|
||
[CA] The event was shown on the BBC's "Daytime Live" programme.
|
||
Presumably by coincidence, as the transmission went on air, the
|
||
electric supply into the whole studio complex was momentarily lost and
|
||
seconds later all telephones were put out of operation.
|
||
|
||
There are anecdotal reports of positive and negative health effects
|
||
on people who enter these formations. Busty Taylor reports that he
|
||
sometimes feels the fillings in his teeth hurt in a circle, and he says
|
||
other people suffer headaches and back pains. He and one other person
|
||
once encountered a blob of strange white jelly in one circle, and came
|
||
down with severe colds three to six hours later. A third person who was
|
||
also there, however, remained healthy. There are also reports of dogs
|
||
becoming ill when in or near circles (see "Circular Evidence", p. 65).
|
||
|
||
When I entered the formation in picture 4, I had a friend with me who
|
||
had had a severe headache for two days. Upon entering the formation,
|
||
she felt it go away. It returned soon after she left the formation. (I,
|
||
myself, felt nothing in any of the formations I visited. Nor did I hear
|
||
anything in the hearing aids I wear.) There are fields of an electrical
|
||
or ionic nature inside the formations, and they could affect sensitive
|
||
humans in the ways mentioned. Tooth fillings, for example, are metal
|
||
wet by saliva, and might become electrically charged by induction.
|
||
|
||
Terence Meaden writes of four eyewitness reports of circles forming
|
||
in daylight before the eyes of surprised onlookers. In one event, a
|
||
witness saw corn in a small area violently buffeted, then rapidly laid
|
||
flat in a circle 50-60 feet in diameter (Oxford conference notes, p.
|
||
123). Meaden interprets these as the effects of stationary whirlwinds,
|
||
but it is equally possible to postulate a force which either operates
|
||
from a great height or acts invisibly.
|
||
|
||
As a graduate student in literature, I watch for mention of circles
|
||
in the 15th and 16th-century texts I read. Robert Burton, in his book
|
||
"Anatomy of Melancholy" (1621), writes: "These are they [fairies] that
|
||
dance on heaths and greens, as Lavater thinks with Trithemius, &, as
|
||
Olaus Magnus adds, leave that green circle, which we commonly find in
|
||
plain fields, which others hold to proceed from a meteor falling, or
|
||
some accidental rankness of the ground; so Nature sports herself" (p.
|
||
168). It could well be, however, that Burton's only talking about fairy
|
||
rings, fungal infections which blight plants in circular patterns. It's
|
||
hard to draw firm conclusions from this report.
|
||
|
||
Update on the hoax theory
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
|
||
The evidence against hoaxing is compelling. The absence of physical
|
||
trampling, the precision of the crop lays, the rapidity of manufacture,
|
||
the great numbers and immense sizes of the formations, the plants'
|
||
biological changes, the electromagnetic phenomena of flashing lights
|
||
and crackling/humming sounds, the "cones of force" sometimes felt by
|
||
observers within the formations, the malfunctions in equipment, the
|
||
health effects, the eyewitness reports of circles forming "by
|
||
themselves," the apparent human inability to reproduce a "genuine"
|
||
circle--all these observations argue against the hoax theory.
|
||
|
||
The Oxford conference
|
||
---------------------
|
||
|
||
The first conference on the circles was held at Oxford Polytechnic on
|
||
June 23, 1990. Organized by TORRO (Tornado and Storm Research
|
||
Organization) and CERES (Circles Effect Research Group), its speakers
|
||
focused on the theory that vortices of spinning plasma in the lower
|
||
atmosphere are responsible for the formations. There were over 150
|
||
people attending, among which were professional scientists, circle
|
||
investigators, journalists, and members of the public.
|
||
|
||
The primary figure at the conference was Terence Meaden, an Oxford-
|
||
educated physicist specializing in the study of atmospheric plasma
|
||
vortices. He argued that highly electrified, rapidly spinning vortices
|
||
of air have enough energy to flatten large areas of crops. Grains of
|
||
dust and pollen trapped inside the vortex rub together and generate a
|
||
substantial electric charge, which increases the total energy borne by
|
||
the vortex. Crucial to his theory is the presence of hills large enough
|
||
to create wind lees--turbulence--in their wake. Under the right
|
||
meterological conditions, air moving past hills whips into spinning
|
||
vortices, which travel for some distance before touching the ground.
|
||
Their energy dissipates upon contact, leaving behind a perfect circular
|
||
formation, broken up into satellites or rings according to the internal
|
||
structure of the vortex.
|
||
|
||
Both Colin and I, and many others, find the theory of natural origin
|
||
improbable in view of the complexity of the formations. However, the
|
||
circles might be made by intelligently controlled vortices of the kind
|
||
Meaden describes. For this reason, I think Meaden's physics shouldn't
|
||
be dismissed out of hand.
|
||
|
||
Meaden also showed slides of a new and rare occurrence - a raised
|
||
"cone" of braided plants discovered at the centers of some circles. The
|
||
cones appear to be several feet high, and rule out, Meaden argued,
|
||
theories involving physical (as opposed to meterological or electrical)
|
||
compression from above. Cones were discovered in 10 of the
|
||
approximately 300 circles found in 1989.
|
||
|
||
Another speaker was Dr. John Snow of Purdue University, who gave an
|
||
informative lecture on the physics of atmospheric vortices. He showed
|
||
that under certain circumstances, spinning vortices can spontaneously
|
||
break up into two or three vortices. This, Snow suggested, was the
|
||
mechanism behind the "triplet" formations of a large circle and two
|
||
satellites in a straight line, and, by extension, a potential answer to
|
||
the problem of the gigantic quintuplet formations (a large circle and
|
||
four satellites.)
|
||
|
||
A physicist from Japan, Dr. Yoshi-hiko Ohtsuki, discussed plasma
|
||
vortices in nature, which are already well documented as "ball
|
||
lightning." His research focuses on the attempt to create spinning
|
||
plasma vortices in the laboratory. He showed films of short-lived (2.5
|
||
seconds) but energetic spinning plasma balls he had succeeded in
|
||
generating.
|
||
|
||
Other speakers were Tokio Kokuchi and Hiroshi Kikuchi (Japan), David
|
||
Reynolds (England), and Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles (England.) Fuller
|
||
and Randles argued that plasma vortices can account for virtually all
|
||
still-unexplained UFO sightings, and proposed that UFO studies should
|
||
be considered a branch of meteorology.
|
||
|
||
But many thought the most important speaker was Busty Taylor. He
|
||
showed slides and videotapes of recent formations he had filmed from
|
||
the air. They were so new that most of the people in the audience had
|
||
not seen them. Their impact was sensational. For many, they made the
|
||
carefully phrased arguments for a natural cause disintegrate.
|
||
|
||
Events outside England
|
||
----------------------
|
||
|
||
North America has "caught" the circles. MUFON's April 1990 issue
|
||
reports a 7-foot, 8-inch diameter circle discovered in Gulf Breeze,
|
||
Florida in November 1989. A 46 1/2 foot diameter circle was found in
|
||
Milan, Illinois, on October 16, 1990 (Chicago Tribune, Oct. 28, 1990,
|
||
p. 1). I have a letter from a farmer which sketches a May 31, 1989
|
||
discovery of a 20-by-18 foot diameter circle of uprooted tall grass
|
||
found near Anderson, Indiana.
|
||
|
||
The October 1990 issue of the Dakota Farmer reports a formation
|
||
discovered in Leola, South Dakota, in early August 1990, consisting of
|
||
a "reversed question mark" surrounded by three rectangles arranged on
|
||
the points of an equilateral triangle. The "question mark" is about
|
||
thirty feet wide and eighty feet long, and consists of plants bent over
|
||
exactly two inches above the ground. The width of the affected areas is
|
||
a consistent five feet.
|
||
|
||
There was highly concentrated activity in 1990 around Winnipeg,
|
||
Canada. Chris Rutkowski of Winnipeg has submitted a preliminary report
|
||
to MUFON noting at least seven formations. One circle was 59 feet in
|
||
diameter, and appeared on August 18, 1990, near a town called St.
|
||
Francois Xavier. Another, 62 feet in diameter, was discovered in
|
||
Niverville on August 29, 1990. Most of the reports are of simple
|
||
circles, though a triple-ringed circle is said to have been found.
|
||
|
||
The TV series "Unsolved Mysteries" keeps a listing of callers'
|
||
reports. One caller, from Naples, Florida, reported a 10-foot circle in
|
||
a field of tall weeds. Other reports come from Oregon, Minnesota, Ohio,
|
||
Tennessee, California, Pennsylvania, and New York State. Most are
|
||
recent, but some go back as far as 25 years.
|
||
|
||
There is considerable variation in the types of formations reported
|
||
in North America. Many are of flattened plants like the English
|
||
circles, while others are of burned plants. In others, the plants are
|
||
uprooted entirely, leaving a bare circle of dirt. No one knows whether
|
||
these formation types are related.
|
||
|
||
Finally, in the UFO literature, going back at least twenty years,
|
||
there have been reports of circles in Australia, America, Canada, New
|
||
Zealand, Japan, and the Soviet Union. MUFON's October 1990 issue
|
||
reports a 35-by-45 meter circle found on June 21, 1990, near the town
|
||
of Yeisk (near Krasnodar) in the Soviet Union.
|
||
|
||
One of the most interesting questions at the present time is whether
|
||
the circles phenomenon in other countries will follow the English
|
||
pattern. So far, the majority of nonenglish formations are simple
|
||
circles, with a handful of more exotic shapes. Will the same English
|
||
shapes as seen in 1990 appear in Winnipeg in a few years, or will the
|
||
phenomenon take a different direction? The South Dakota "reversed
|
||
question mark in a triangle" suggests that the latter may be the case.
|
||
|
||
A Coded Message?
|
||
----------------
|
||
|
||
Do we have a coded message on our hands? Nobody knows, but much can
|
||
be done to try to find out. In this section I will propose some
|
||
guidelines for such an effort.
|
||
|
||
The first thing to consider is whether the circles are a message. As
|
||
I see it, there are three possibilities.
|
||
|
||
1. The circles might not be a message. They could be the side-effect
|
||
of some intelligently directed process, the way tire-tracks and
|
||
footprints are. In that case there would be no meaning to decode,
|
||
only a process to discover.
|
||
|
||
2. The circles could be an anti-code, a null code. They could be
|
||
intended to convey a message merely by their presence, like
|
||
"2001"'s monolith. Their variety and complexity might be meant
|
||
only to convince humans of their non-natural origin. If so, there
|
||
would be no content to decode, only a awe inspiring calling-card
|
||
to contemplate.
|
||
|
||
3. The circles could be a positive code that we can crack. This is
|
||
the most interesting idea, and the only one that can be developed
|
||
at any length. For the rest of this discussion, let us abandon the
|
||
foregoing possibilities, and assume that the circles are a code.
|
||
How can we crack it?
|
||
|
||
We can apply various kinds of coding strategies to the formations to
|
||
see if any work. For convenience, I'll divide the possible codes into
|
||
three broad types: "linguistic" codes ("words"), "figural" codes
|
||
("pictures") and "logical" codes ("sequences"). If we look for
|
||
linguistic codes, we try to find ideograms or alphanumeric characters.
|
||
If we look for figural codes, we try to find schematic diagrams,
|
||
pictures of objects, maps, or works of art. And if we look for logical
|
||
codes, we look for mathematical or logical sequences. Let's look at the
|
||
particular challenges of each kind of code.
|
||
|
||
Linguistic codes
|
||
----------------
|
||
|
||
A linguistic code is, of course, either a natural alphabetic language
|
||
like English, a direct isomorphism of it (like a cryptogram), or an
|
||
ideographic language (like Chinese.) To crack such a code, we would
|
||
need a "Rosetta stone" establish- ing equivalences between human and
|
||
alien languages. So far, of course, we have none. We would have to be
|
||
given one, or we would have to find that the formations are adopted
|
||
from an obscure or forgotten human language (like Mayan, which they do
|
||
superficially resemble.)
|
||
|
||
Lacking a Rosetta stone, we might be able build a grammar of the code
|
||
on the order of "x always follows y, z is always part of q", though
|
||
this would not be a "decoding." But even a purely relational grammar
|
||
would be a significant advance. We may have its raw elements at hand.
|
||
The circles are composed of a limited number of elements which are
|
||
combined and recombined to make a wide variety of formations. So far,
|
||
the simple elements--the building blocks--seem to be circle, the ring,
|
||
the rectangle, the straight spur, the curved spur, the partial arc, and
|
||
the "fork" of two or three prongs. (The "fork" may be decomposable into
|
||
overlapping rectangles.) The elements might be semantically modified by
|
||
variations in size and floor lay. The position of the formations
|
||
relative to the tramlines, and to the countryside as a whole, could be
|
||
additional modifiers. It is certainly possible to look for a grammar.
|
||
|
||
Personally, I am skeptical about the linguistic approach. The circles
|
||
are growing increasingly complex, but compared to human language, they
|
||
still seem simple. There are many variations, but they are relatively
|
||
restricted (take the three double-dumbbells). Furthermore, if they are
|
||
linguistic, the language is an inefficient one. The shapes are highly
|
||
symmetrical, hence highly redundant. If most of the formations were cut
|
||
in half lengthwise, they would still convey the same amount of implicit
|
||
information; some could be cut in quarters. If one looks at human
|
||
language, one will see that nearly all words and ideograms are
|
||
asymmetrical. This also holds for letters; most fonts are serifed,
|
||
making even "i" and "l" asymmetric. Symmetry wastes space. Asymmetry
|
||
maximizes information content and transmission in a limited space.
|
||
|
||
Still, this does not eliminate the linguistic code theory, for
|
||
inefficiency can be overcome by length. DNA has only four base units,
|
||
but it is very long. The circlemakers, like Tolkien's Ents, might not
|
||
care about brevity or efficiency.
|
||
|
||
All this being said, we are still left with a basic question: Why
|
||
would the circlemakers use such a code at all? It would have been easy
|
||
to start with something simple like a sequence of primes, and build up.
|
||
The circles may be inscrutable for subtle cultural and political
|
||
reasons, rather than out of any deficit of sense. Or perhaps we have a
|
||
deficit of sense: the circlemakers could be sitting around (so to
|
||
speak), scratching their heads (so to speak), and wondering, "What is
|
||
it with these humans? All the other planets got it right away." But I
|
||
prefer to believe that our only deficit is in the attention we have
|
||
given to decoding strategies.
|
||
|
||
Figural codes
|
||
-------------
|
||
Turning to the second broad approach, the formations could be
|
||
"pictures." They might be schematic diagrams, say of molecules,
|
||
electronic circuits, or constellations. To explore this possibility,
|
||
people ought to distribute the pictures as widely as possible, hoping
|
||
that somebody somewhere will recognize the code.
|
||
|
||
Or the formations might be literal images. They could be pictures of
|
||
spacecraft, or alien physiologies, or body markings, or natural
|
||
phenomena. As "pictures", however, they seem rather limited. There is
|
||
no apparent effort at perspective or shading. Perhaps they are meant as
|
||
two-dimensional images, like projections or shadows. Or perhaps there
|
||
is a form of perspective at work, but one quite foreign to our
|
||
conventions. (Consider how the Egyptians and the Cubists drew the human
|
||
form.)
|
||
|
||
Of course, the formations might be diagrams of wholly unfamiliar
|
||
objects, in which case we would have no chance of recognizing them. A
|
||
more unsettling possibility is that they are diagrams of quite familiar
|
||
objects, but drawn by unfamiliar conventions.
|
||
|
||
Another possibility is that they are symbols of cultural
|
||
significance, akin to our crosses and flags. There do appear to be
|
||
motifs, such as the quintuplets and dumbbells, which appear repeatedly
|
||
with variations.
|
||
|
||
Finally, they might be works of art. Certainly some of them are
|
||
beautiful enough to be. We could try interpreting them as such. The
|
||
double dumbbells look like meditations on mechanical fluidity; the eye
|
||
spills from circle to circle, simultaneously drawn along and slowed
|
||
down by the forklike extensions. The overall impression is of arrested
|
||
motion. One can visualize the forks spinning round, the dumbbells
|
||
gyrating like molecules around centers of gravity.
|
||
|
||
If the circles are art, the point is not to produce the "correct"
|
||
response; it is to respond, period. Thus a dialogue opens. It could be
|
||
that the response to our amazement and wonder is the creation of even
|
||
bigger and more beautiful formations.
|
||
|
||
Logical codes
|
||
-------------
|
||
|
||
The third approach is to look for patterns in the forma- tions. There
|
||
do seem to be some. For instance, each double- dumbbell has a three-
|
||
pronged "fork" sticking off the largest circle, with a short spur on
|
||
the other end of the circle. Each formation has a two-pronged fork on
|
||
one of the other circles. And many of the single dumbbells have either
|
||
two or four rectangles flanking the bar. And so on. The question is:
|
||
Can we find a logical pattern? If we can, the crucial test would be to
|
||
predict subsequent formations. It would be even better to make a new
|
||
formation following the rules, and see if there is a response.
|
||
|
||
Program of Action
|
||
-----------------
|
||
|
||
"Cereology"--the study of the circles--is proceeding (or, sometimes,
|
||
not proceeding) along four fronts: publicity, data collection, data
|
||
distribution, and data analysis.
|
||
|
||
Publicity is crucial, for only when people become deeply aware of the
|
||
situation will they be moved to do something about it. Much has already
|
||
been accomplished, on TV and in a number of articles in the mass media
|
||
(see bibliography). But more needs to be done in America, since the
|
||
people who have the resources to do something--scientists,
|
||
policymakers, academics--have not been given enough information to
|
||
convince them to act. Nor is information being targeted to the right
|
||
places. Thus books need to be distributed to American bookstores and
|
||
placed in the science (not New Age, not occult) sections, and indepth
|
||
articles need to be published in journals like Scientific American and
|
||
National Geographic. So far, many upper-rank magazines are unwilling to
|
||
get involved, but hopefully this will change as the dimensions of the
|
||
phenomenon become more widely known.
|
||
|
||
Data collection is being done by a relatively small band of people in
|
||
England, most of them amateurs. They mount nighttime surveillance
|
||
operations like Blackbird, drive around looking for new formations, do
|
||
aerial photography, make surface measurements, mount weather stations,
|
||
analyze plants, and dowse. (The largest data base of information is
|
||
held by Colin Andrews.) But as said before, the number of circles far
|
||
outstrips their collective ability to keep up. As for North America,
|
||
things still depend on the farmer or reporter who is willing to take
|
||
pictures and make measurements, though Winnipeg seems to be gearing up
|
||
fast.
|
||
|
||
The state of data distribution is difficult to assess from America.
|
||
Certainly America gets little of the English data, though lines of
|
||
communication are beginning to open. The CCCS in England is working to
|
||
establish a clearinghouse of information. Within North America, people
|
||
are beginning to find each other and correspond. But there is still an
|
||
urgent need to create a North American and international network of
|
||
data distribution.
|
||
|
||
Data analysis (mathematical, linguistic, chemical) is just beginning.
|
||
Serious work can only take place when the three other fronts are
|
||
functioning smoothly.
|
||
|
||
There may come a fifth front: response/action. If the formations
|
||
constitute a message and we decode it, we may want to answer, as I
|
||
suggested above, by tromping plants down to make patterns ourselves.
|
||
(Interestingly enough, several days after the Blackbird hoax, genuine
|
||
circles appeared in an adjacent field parallel to the hoaxed
|
||
formation.) Or if they constitute blueprints or instructions, then we
|
||
may want to start making or doing something. And this, too, would need
|
||
organization.
|
||
|
||
If the readers of the MUFON journal want to get involved, the best
|
||
way is to pick a clearly defined goal for one's locality. For example,
|
||
ask local farmers if they have seen circles on their land, or get the
|
||
area bookstores to order some of the books, or persuade the paper or TV
|
||
station to run a story, or start giving information to people with
|
||
resources, or do data collection, or try to decode the circles oneself-
|
||
-there's no lack of things to be done.
|
||
|
||
There is much to be done, but there is also the need for strategic
|
||
patience. It's hard for people to accept that these luminous forms are
|
||
truly part of our world. The concept takes time to sink in. And new
|
||
concepts often get harsh treatment at first. Galileo's Ptolemist
|
||
contemporaries, presented with a telescope to look at Jupiter's moons,
|
||
dismissed what they saw as illusions, or refused to look. Since this
|
||
kind of rigidity still exists today, it will take persuasion,
|
||
publicity, and patience to convince people to look at them with a more
|
||
open mind. And if the circles do lead to a conceptual revolution, the
|
||
task will be to manage it wisely.
|
||
|
||
Send circle reports to MUFON
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
|
||
If any readers of this journal know of new formations, please report
|
||
them! Document them with photos and measurements if you can, and send
|
||
the data to MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, Texas 78155-4099.
|
||
|
||
Acknowledgements
|
||
----------------
|
||
|
||
The authors would like to thank Walt Andrus, Paul Bone, Grant Cameron,
|
||
Malcolm and Maureen Gilham, Jerrold R. Johnson, Ludwig and Kathleen
|
||
Lowenstein, John Salter, Dennis Stacy, and Don Tuersley for all their
|
||
help and encouragement.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bibliography and Ordering Information
|
||
-------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Americans have to pay high prices for publications available only from
|
||
England, since the dollar is weak. There are two options: make out a
|
||
check in pounds at a bank, adding two pounds to cover the extra cost of
|
||
overseas postage if not already included, or send a check in dollars at
|
||
the current exchange rate, factoring in an extra pound to pay for
|
||
currency conversion, and two more to cover postage. These are only
|
||
guidelines, based on what's worked for me.
|
||
|
||
Citations are alphabetical by first author.
|
||
|
||
Books
|
||
-----
|
||
|
||
Circular Evidence. Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews. London: Bloomsbury
|
||
Press, 1989. 190 pp. US price $29.95. One can order from at least three
|
||
places: (1) Phanes Press, P.O. Box 6114, Grand Rapids, MI 49516, tel.
|
||
(616) 281-1224. (2) Arctu-rus Book Services, P.O. Box 831383, Stone
|
||
Mountain, Georgia, 30083-0023, tel. (404) 297-4624. (3) Trafalgar
|
||
Square, Ver- mont, NY, tel. (802) 457-1911.
|
||
|
||
The Crop Circles: The Latest Evidence. Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews.
|
||
London: Bloomsbury Press, 1990. 80 pp. UK L5.99. Ordering information
|
||
as above.
|
||
|
||
The Controversy of the Circles. Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles. UK
|
||
L4.20. Order from BUFORA, 103 Hove Avenue, Walthamstow, London.
|
||
|
||
Crop Circles: A Mystery Solved. Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles. UK
|
||
L13.95. Robert Hale Ltd., 45-47 Clerkenwell House, London, EC1R 0HT.
|
||
|
||
The Circles Effect and Its Mysteries. George Terence Meaden. Bradford-
|
||
on-Avon: Artetech Publishing Company, April 1990 (2nd ed.) 116 pp. UK
|
||
L11.95. Order from Artetech, 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, BA15 1LD;
|
||
tel. 02216 2482.
|
||
|
||
Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Circles
|
||
Effect. Ed. George Terence Meaden and Derek Elsom. Copyright TORRO-
|
||
CERES (Tornado and Storm Research Organization-Circles Effect Research
|
||
Group). 134pp. Conference held at Oxford Polytechnic on June 23, 1990.
|
||
Meaden plans to publish the proceedings in book form, as Circles in the
|
||
Sky.
|
||
|
||
The Crop Circle Enigma. Edited by Ralph Noyes. Bath: Gateway Books,
|
||
1990. 192 pp. $29.95. One can order from at least four places: (1) The
|
||
Great Tradition, 11270 Clayton Creek Road, P.O. Box 108, Lower Lake, CA
|
||
95457, tel. (707) 995-3906. (2) New Leaf Book Distributing Co, 5425
|
||
Tulane Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30336-2323, tel. (404) 691-6996. (3)
|
||
Inland Book Co, P.O. Box 261, East Haven, CT 06512, tel. (203) 467-
|
||
4257. (4) Bookpeople, 2929 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710, tel. (415)
|
||
549-3030.
|
||
|
||
Periodicals
|
||
-----------
|
||
|
||
Circles Phenomenon Research (CPR) Newsletter. Editor: Pat Delgado. 1-
|
||
year subscription (4 issues) $24.00. CPR Satellite Office, 117 Ashland
|
||
Lane, Aurora, OH 44202. Make checks payable to D.S. Rulison.
|
||
|
||
The Crop Watcher. Editor: Paul Fuller. 1-year subscription (6 issues)
|
||
UK L13.00 (overseas airmail price.) 3 Selborne Court, Tavistock Close,
|
||
Romsey, Hampshire SO51 7TY, England.
|
||
|
||
The Circular. Editor: Bob Kingsley. Circulated free. 58 Kings Road,
|
||
West End, Woking, Surrey GU24 9LW, England. The editor requests
|
||
donation of stamps; American subscribers ought to send checks for a few
|
||
dollars.
|
||
|
||
Journal of Meteorology. Editor: Terence Meaden. 1-year overseas
|
||
subscription (10 issues) UK L55 surface, L65 airmail. 54 Frome Road,
|
||
Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LD, England.
|
||
|
||
The Cereologist. Published by CCCS (Centre for Crop Circle Studies).
|
||
Editor: John Michell. 1-year subscription (3 issues) UK L7.50, US $18.
|
||
11 Powis Gardens, London W11 1JG, England.
|
||
|
||
Selected Bibliography
|
||
---------------------
|
||
|
||
"Prepare to Meet Thy Drought." Anonymous. Today, July 20, 1990.
|
||
(Suggests the multiple pictograms resemble the Sumerian language or
|
||
weather-map symbols.)
|
||
|
||
"More Circular Evidence." Richard Beaumont. Kindred Spirit, vol. 1, no.
|
||
8, pp. 25-28. (Interview with Colin Andrews. Discusses electrical,
|
||
psychic, and historical events associated with the circles. This is the
|
||
best single article I've seen.)
|
||
|
||
"Crop Circles: The Mystery Deepens." Richard Beaumont. Kindred Spirit,
|
||
vol. 1, no. 12, pp. 32-37. (Summary of the key developments of the
|
||
Summer 1990 season, with aerial photos. Another good article by
|
||
Beaumont.)
|
||
|
||
"UFO Report to Farmers." George Brandsberg. Farm Profit, July-August
|
||
1975. (Discusses scorched patches and long swathes of sliced-off corn.)
|
||
|
||
"Around and Around in Circles." Sally B. Donnelly. Time Magazine. Sept.
|
||
18, 1989, p.50. Letters of response in Oct. 9th issue, p. 14. (Overview
|
||
of the phenomenon; three color pictures.)
|
||
|
||
"Mysterious Circles in British Fields Spook the Populace." Craig
|
||
Forman. Wall Street Journal, Aug 28, 1989, p. A1. (Basic overview.)
|
||
|
||
"Circles in the fields inspire talk of UFO's." Maria Goodav- age, USA
|
||
Today, November 15, 1990, p. 6A.
|
||
|
||
"Daylight Close Encounter." Stan Gordon. MUFON UFO Journal, July 1989,
|
||
pp. 18-21. (Discusses Pennsylvania UFO sighting and related circular
|
||
landing trace.)
|
||
|
||
"Retrospective Investigation of a Possible Trace at Mt. Gar- net".
|
||
Holly Goriss and Russell Boundy. UFO Research Austra- lia Newsletter,
|
||
March-April 1981 (Vol 2. No. 2) pp. 4-6. (Investigates a 1977 ground
|
||
marking which looks like a crude quintuplet.)
|
||
|
||
"They never yet could find my measure." Wendy Grossman, New Scientist,
|
||
December 1, 1990, pp. 61-2. (Review of The Crop Circle Enigma.)
|
||
|
||
"A Sighting in Saskatchewan." Hynek, J. Allen and Vallee, Jacques, in
|
||
The Edge of Reality (Appendix A). The Henry Regnery Co., 1975.
|
||
(Discusses Canadian UFO sighting and related circular flattened areas.)
|
||
|
||
"Experts Can't Square Explanations of Circles." Gregory Jensen.
|
||
Washington Times, July 27, 1990. Page A1. (Reports the Blackbird hoax
|
||
incident. Photo of one of the pictograms.)
|
||
|
||
"Circles in the corn." Terence Meaden. New Scientist, June 23, 1990,
|
||
47-9. (Argues for the plasma vortex theory.)
|
||
|
||
"The Beckhampton 'Scroll-Type' Circles, The Beckhampton 'Triangle', and
|
||
Strange Attractors." Terence Meaden, Journal of Meteorology
|
||
(Trowbridge, U.K.), October 1990, pp. 317-320.
|
||
|
||
"And Now...Cornfield Circles in Australia!" Paul Norman. Flying Saucer
|
||
Review, vol. 35, no. 1 (March Quarter, 1990), pp. 7-8. (Briefly
|
||
discusses nine 1980's crop circles in Beulah, Victoria, between 3 and
|
||
16 feet in diameter.)
|
||
|
||
"And More Cornfield Circles in Canada." Paul Norman. Flying Saucer
|
||
Review, vol. 35, no. 1 (March Quarter, 1990), pp. 8-9. (Briefly
|
||
discusses 1989 circles between 6 and 24 meters in diameter in Manitoba;
|
||
2 photos.)
|
||
|
||
"Mysterious circles." Andrew Phillips, Macleans, Aug. 13, 1990, pp. 46-
|
||
47.
|
||
|
||
"The Hertfordshire 'Mowing Devil' Woodcut: A 17th Century Circle
|
||
Report?" Jenny Randles. UFO Times, no. 5 (January 1990), pp. 30-32.
|
||
(Presents a 1678 woodcut showing a devil "mowing" a pattern which
|
||
Randles suggests may be a crop cir- cle.)
|
||
|
||
"Swirled Landing Trace?" Carol and Rex Salisberry. MUFON UFO Journal,
|
||
no. 264 (April 1990), pp. 3-7. (A Gulf Breeze crop circle.)
|
||
|
||
"Field Of Dreams?" Dava Sobel. Omni, December 1990, pp. 59- 128.
|
||
|
||
"Graffiti of the Gods?" Dennis Stacy. New Age Journal, Jan/Feb. 1991,
|
||
pp. 38-103. (A thorough overview.)
|
||
|
||
"Hoping Some Furry Little Creatures Crop Up." Calvin Trillin.
|
||
Syndicated newspaper column, August 13, 1990. (A humorous look at the
|
||
circles.)
|
||
|
||
Multiple stories, multiple authors, Fortean Times, issues 53 and 55
|
||
(sorry, dates not known.)
|
||
|
||
Studies
|
||
-------
|
||
|
||
"North American Crop Circles and Related Physical Traces in 1990."
|
||
Released February 1991. 18pp. Conducted by NAICCR (North American
|
||
Institute for Crop Circle Research.) For information, write to NAICCR,
|
||
649 Silverstone Avenue, Winni- peg, Manitoba R3T 2V8, Canada.
|
||
|