I recently went to the cinema and watched the new Mel Gibson film, 'Signs' - a film often as quoted as being about the phenomenon of crop circles. In fact, the subject of crop circles is only just touched on; they come as forerunners of an alien invasion of the Earth.
The truth is far, far stranger. The present interest in crop circles began in the 1970's when strange circles appeared in fields in Wiltshire and Hampshire. Over several years these apparitions appeared in farmers fields overnight. A lot of interest was shown in them; then a couple of jokers came forward and admitted to creating them.
What is not commonly known is the fact crop circles have appeared world wide over centuries. Some circles are so complex that could not be created under normal circumstances overnight - by anything human, anyway. Also, many are complex mathematical patterns - not just circles.
| The picture here on the
right shows an interesting crop circle that appeared in a wheat
field in Crabwood, near Winchester, Hampshire, England on August
15, 2002, taken by international crop circle researcher, Lucy Pringle.
Quite clearly there is a 'face' which is created out of the stalks of grass; it appears to be an alien 'grey'; it is not a friendly countenance either. It has a sinister look - a warning about aliens perhaps? |
|
Next to the 'face' is a circle. Lucy passed this image onto two researchers, Paul Vigay and Eltjo Haselhoff, who discovered that the circle formation contained binary code. They decoded the binary information to get the following message: 'Beware the bearers of false gifts & their broken promises. Much pain but still time. [Damaged words]. There is good out there. We Oppose deception. Conduit closing [Bell sound].
Who created the picture and message? Many investigators into UFO's and crop circles (many of which are beautifully complex) insist that alien visitors are friendly and mean no harm. This crop message is something else. Could it be a true message from the stars, warning us earthlings not to trust these 3-foot tall travellers with pattern baldness, who occasionally turn up with their smiles, anal probes, strange surgical procedures, and abduct people. If it is a message, who sent it? And what if it is a hoax (something that cannot be completely ruled out). Who would have a vested interest in creating a scary visage? Our paranoid landlord in the village, Robert Hannay, insists the Authorities and the Government, could use this sort of thing to plant fear into peoples minds; in effect, an act of disinformation.
I asked Dan Bowman, our local farmer, what he thought of crop circles. "A bloody nuisance" he said. "Ruining thousands of pounds of cereal - and the government won't pay compensation. I'll tell you what, if I catch one of those little short-arsed aliens in my fields trampling it down, he'll get his own anal probe shoved right up his own backside." How refreshing to have a forthright view from a country person.
The one thing about crop circles is that they are very real. It is the cause of them that is in dispute. I wish Lucy Pringle and her fellow researchers good wishes and much success. I will keep you posted through my column over the coming months of any developments - one thing is for sure - the regular press have more or less ignored this strange cereal field artwork. Why?
What is for sure, my morning Weetabix will never quite taste the same again