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Crop Circles2

Just three kilometers south is Silbury Hill, the largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. Dating back 4,000 years, it stands nearly 40 meters high and covers a base of just over two hectares. This huge pile of chalk and earth has been excavated three times, but nothing was ever found to explain its purpose. Overlooking the hill is the West Kennett Long Barrow, a Neolithic burial mound that dates to about 3600 BC. In use for as long as 1,000 years, it's one of 148 long barrows in Wiltshire, the most found anywhere in England.

An hour's drive almost directly south of Avebury is Stonehenge, England's most recognized ancient monument. Begun about 5,000 years ago and built in stages over 1,000 years, the riddle of its construction and original purpose remain a mystery. The general public can only walk at a distance around the fenced-in
henge now, but the group was given special permission to enter one evening at sunset to touch the stones, meditate and gather in a circle to chant "Om." Even the most skeptical person in the group reported a definite "presence" to the place.

At the eighth annual crop circle conference held in Devizes in early August and attended by about 400 people from many different countries, the group learned from long-time students of crop circles (who call themselves cereologists), that it's no coincidence most of the 250 or so formations that appear worldwide (including Canada) each year are found in this ancient, mysterious part of the country.

They contend that the people who built Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge chose their sacred sites deliberately, using a long- lost knowledge of "ley lines" that follow paths of energy along the earth's surface. One theory is that this subtle earth energy may be a factor in the creation of the "real" crop circles.

And, while researchers admit they can't provide definite answers about the source, purpose or meaning of the circles, they are clear about one thing: They are not all man-made hoaxes, as the media and the scientific establishment would have us believe. And, as the conference in Devizes and an earlier one in Glastonbury outlined, there's good evidence to support that contention. See page 13 for a brief overview.

During the week, the group took a helicopter flight to get the best view of the newest formations, seeing at least half a dozen, including one that had appeared in the famous "East Field" the night before. The field, near Alton Barnes, hit front
pages around the world when the first "pictogram" appeared there in 1990. Nearly 168 meters long, it looked like unknown hieroglyphics and put paid to the notion of random natural forces at work.

This current formation was a square surrounded by intertwined circles that looked like rope. The farmer's nephew, Will Carson, was taking £2 "donations" at the entrance to the field, a common practice among farmers trying to recoup their losses from the downed crops. Some farmers won't let croppies in their fields at all and have been known to cut down formations as soon as they appear.

The group caught up with farmer Tim Carson later in the week, while visiting two other circles in his fields. With three farms covering more than 1,000 hectares, Carson said he's had 100 formations in his fields since 1990, five this year alone.

Asked if he thinks they're a hoax, Carson replied: "These big ones are just too perfect. And they appear overnight. I had two hoaxers in one of my fields one year who took 12 hours in daylight over two days to make the shape of a car for
Mitsubishi.

"It makes you wonder. If they're doing it, I've never caught them and besides, they occur all over the world at the same time." Asked if, as has been suggested, the farmers are in cahoots with the hoaxers, Carson smiled.

"You don't go to all the trouble of growing crops to flatten them," he said. "If somebody offered me £10,000 then I would because it's more than the crop's worth, but nobody has."

Part of the thrill of seeking out crop circles is the hope that you'll be the first to walk into one before hundreds of croppies have come in to crush the grain underfoot and disturb the "lay" of the crop, which can be extraordinarily intricate, with stalks swirled clockwise and counter-clockwise and curves tapering down
to leave one stem standing. Some have even been created in a basket weave.

One hallmark of a "genuine" crop circle, besides its pristine, flawless execution with no visible sign of humans thrashing about with poles and ropes and boards in the dark, is the way the stalks appear to have simply bent over to form the shape.
There is no sign of the breakage seen in man-made circles created by boards or rollers crushing stems, and you can actually see the undamaged plants starting to grow back up toward the sun.

Crop circle central is the Crop Circle Cafe on the A4 in Cherhill, where croppies stop in for refreshment and to check out the bulletin board for the latest sightings and pick up tips on new formations from others on the hunt. The Barge Inn in
Pewsey is another favorite haunt.

Then it's off to scour the narrow country lanes for the next mysterious, enigmatic message in the fields.

What are these symbols trying to tell us?

"A crop circle is this wonderful thing of being a metaphysical idea impressed in a physical medium," says Francine Blake, a former Canadian from Montreal who is head of the Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group. "It can bring up fear, but it also brings up questions. What is it? Why is it here? Maybe there's more to reality than I thought.

"Humanity is in the process of expanding its consciousness and whatever consciousness is sending them is at a very high level. Suddenly, we're reconnecting with an ancient way of thinking that's as spiritual as we are materialistic. We need to reconnect with that very desperately, I think."

On the issue of hoaxers, Michael Glickman, a respected crop circle researcher who has made a study of the geometry of the designs, said:

"The crop circle phenomenon is perhaps the most astonishing, miraculous even on the planet at the moment, but there is a second phenomenon which is even more astonishing and that is that people see this beauty and avert their eyes and ignore it.

"The truth is there is the occasional man-made circle and it's always about money and it's a pathetic, crummy side issue, but it's all you see or hear about. The media should be ashamed of itself."

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