|
According to an employee at the Chilbolton observatory, an official government facility, the first of the two formations was discovered on the morning of August 14. It consisted of a 150 x 240 foot "framed" rectangular honeycomb of about 400 diamond-shaped "pixels." Indecipherable at ground level, from the air it eerily resembled the famous "face on Mars" photographed by an American spacecraft flying over the Cydonia region of the red planet in 1976. Francine Blake of the Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group measured the formation. She told me in a telephone interview that its energy vibration was so strong that she and her companion had dehydration, headaches and light nausea for two days after spending time in it. When she photographed it from 1,200 feet in a light aircraft, her digital camera nearly overloaded. Later, her hard drive failed while downloading the images into her computer. This incredible formation was followed six days later by another rectangle, this time about 100 x 200 feet. Again "framed" by a border of laid-down wheat, this formation contained one of the most astonishing and controversial "messages" ever engraved on the British countryside. According to investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe, serious researchers who have flown over and been inside the formation agree that the curious mixture of standing and flattened crop forms a binary-encoded script. It closely resembles the binary-encoded interstellar radio transmission sent by NASA on November 16, 1974, from the Arecibo (Puerto Rico) observatory. This famous SETI radio transmission, designed in part by the late astronomer Carl Sagan, depicted several scientific facts about Earth, including a stylized drawing of a human being. It was aimed at the M-13 cluster in the constellation Cygnus, about 23,000 light years away, because scientists considered that group the best candidate for a life-bearing star system. The digitally-encoded SETI transmission also depicted the double helix of human DNA, the scientific symbols for the five basic elements of life on Earth: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorous, and a "map" of our solar system that highlighted Earth as the third planet from our sun and our home. Now, just under 27 years after the original Arecibo radio transmission was sent into space, a possible answer to the SETI message mysteriously appeared overnight in a wheat field next to Britain's largest radio telescope and interstellar observatory. Interestingly, this was not the first crop circle to appear near Chilbolton. From as early as 1994, the year that crop circles began depicting space-related phenomena (that was the year of the "Galaxy" and "Pleiades" formations), these same fields have been marked several times, including on August 13, 2000, when a beautiful lace-like symmetrical design appeared, containing 13 small "fractal" circles around each end, coming off a large central circle. The August 20, 2001, crop design includes many of the same elements as the 1974 Arecibo-SETI interstellar radio message. However, and herein may lie its ultimate significance, certain key parts of the original binary code have been changed, thereby transmitting new, highly intriguing, information. For example, in the DNA sequence, the left of the two original intertwining strands has been doubled, making either a triple helix or a double helix with one split-strand (it all depends on one's interpretation of the drawing). The other (right) strand is unchanged. Likewise, where the 1974 transmission clearly depicts a tall, bipedal human being with a relatively small head and short arms, the 2001 crop formation indicates a short-legged biped with a very large round head and, compared to the legs, relatively long arms. Is this a true representation of the Circlemakers, at last? The 2001 formation's "solar system map" also depicts a nine planetary system like ours but clearly highlights the fifth planet as "home" and also raises the third and fourth planets above the rest. Could this be showing a star system where three planets support life but it is the fifth that is the source of the information being displayed? Also, whereas the Arecibo message gave the Periodic Table numbers for five life-forming elements, the Chilbolton glyph, while repeating the same five original numbers, inserts a sixth number into the list. Significantly, it is the atomic number for silicon, the leading candidate among human scientists for an alternative to Earth's carbon-based life forms. Finally, at the end of the 1974 message, NASA drew a stylized representation of the Arecibo observatory's suspended semi-circular dish, showing the source of the transmission. ' Amazingly, the 2001 Chilbolton rectangle ends with a stylized drawing of last year's [August 13, 2000] Chilbolton crop circle formation! Was that glyph a representation of the source of this August's apparent answer to NASA? How does it relate to the "face" that appeared in the same field just six nights earlier? What is its relationship to the earlier, less spectacular, Chilbolton formations? The potential implications of what has just occurred at Chilbolton this August are staggering. If the formations are genuine-shown beyond a reasonable doubt not to be of human origin-then we are witnessing what is arguably the most important event in modern human history. Someone from Out There has heard us and is replying to our open invitation to conversation. This incident has the makings of a "Real Life X File," so stay tuned as alternative media sources continue to develop what could prove one of the most fascinating news stories of our time. The event has already sparked controversy on Art Bell's late-night radio show. Dreamland reporter Linda Howe has posted a highly-recommended article about this topic on her web site: http://www.earthfiles.com. She has been following the story closely and will feature it in her report on the 2001 crop circle season at "Cosmic Connections: the 2nd Sedona Earth Mysteries Conference" that my wife Kallista and I are hosting at the Sedona Hilton Resort on November 2-4, 2001. Don't miss it! Even if both August 2001 Chilbolton formations are ultimately proven to be human-created, the 2001 season will surely go down as one of the most surprising in this unusual phenomenon's recent history. To date, no credible evidence of hoaxing has surfaced at Chilbolton. Indeed, Linda Howe recently told me that her sources say John Lundberg, a self-proclaimed hoaxer, has denied any connection to these glyphs. First, however, for those new readers who have never heard of a crop circle, I'll summarize what I've said in previous articles on this intriguing subject. Crop circles are formed when a growing cereal crop (wheat, barley, oats, oilseed rape etc.) is partially laid down-not cut!-in the field. This process forms large, very precise geometric patterns (150 feet diameters are common) that are best viewed from the air. In most cases, the plant stems are merely bent over and not broken; thus, if not walked on, the stems eventually straighten as the plant continues to grow. Circle-making usually occurs late at night so the patterns are discovered early the next morning by farmers, crop circle researchers, pilots or passers-by. In a few cases, similar inexplicable patterns have been discovered in grass, sand, and even snow and ice. As of today, such patterns have been reported in 34 countries, often but not always associated with UFO sightings. Published crop circle reports in England date back to the 17th Century. The current phenomenon, however, is usually said to have begun in the late 1970's in Wiltshire when a series of circles were photographed in wheat and barley fields. About three-quarters of all circles reported since 1978 have been in England's Wiltshire or Hampshire counties. Since the late 1980's, concurrent with the August 1987 "Harmonic Convergence," as noted on the Mayan calendar, crop circle sightings have literally exploded. They jumped from less than a dozen reports per year to over 150 in England alone in 1999. The size and complexity of the designs has also shot up, so that some recent formations contain hundreds of circles, squares or diamond shapes. Altogether, between 1,500 and 2,000 distinct formations have been reported between 1978 and 2001, just in Great Britain. A decade ago, the world's media speculated widely over who or what was causing all this commotion in England's fields. Then, in August 1991, two retired British artists known as "Doug and Dave," claimed to have created all the English crop circles discovered since 1978. Their story was instantly adopted by the mainstream media, despite the near physical impossibility for two middle-aged men to have stomped down all of the 200+ circles that appeared in 1991, let alone those reported in previous years. Since then, two or three self-proclaimed "circle-maker" groups have sprung up in England, claiming to have taken up where Doug (now deceased) and Dave left off. These so-called hoaxers claim to be able to create large, complex and precise patterns in the dark in just a couple of hours by stomping down standing crop using stakes, ropes and wooden planks. If so, this is criminal activity including trespassing and destruction of private property. A few of these self-proclaimed hoaxers have recently signed contracts to create advertising designs such as a new Mitsubishi mini-van in 1999. As Hollywood "discovers" crop circles, we can expect more such publicity stunts in the future. Already in 2001, at least two groups were paid by TV and film producers to make such designs. Done with the farmers' permission, these "human-created crop circles" are legal and look rather credible from the air. Still, they crush the plant stems and appear quite uneven on close inspection. None has been finished in the two or three hours' time and total darkness available to the genuine Circlemakers. Nonetheless, the mainstream media has, in general, accepted their claims to the hundreds of intricate, precise and still-growing patterns discovered each summer. This despite growing scientific evidence that many circles show changes in the crop at microscopic levels that cannot be faked. Worse, the English hoaxers have disrupted crop circle research meetings, harassed researchers and generally turned popular attention away from the genuine phenomenon, even as it unfolds more and more beautifully each year. But even they haven't had the nerve to claim authorship of the August 2001 Chilbolton or Milk Hill formations. If we accept that the genuine phenomenon is somehow Nature-related, it must be said that this year's season began under very difficult circumstances. England's weather has been awful during much of 2001. Officially, last winter was the wettest since record-collecting began 150 years ago. This meant that about 33% of Wiltshire's crop fields could not be planted as tractors risked being bogged in mud last spring. In a decade of annual trips to Britain, Kallista and I had never seen so many fallow fields as this summer, including many where crop circles have appeared in previous years. This naturally affected the numbers of crop circles in the region. They were down by 30% from last summer (88 this year versus 125 in 2000). Additionally, it has been noted that wet soil conditions tend to have a negative effect on circle formation. Research into the Wiltshire water table revealed that from 1987 to 1998, the higher the water table in June, the fewer the overall crop circles that year. For many eager researchers, the 2001 season seemed intolerably late but it really wasn't unusual for it to begin in mid-May. Nevertheless, this was six weeks later than in 1999 and a month later than in 2000. On top of this year's bad weather, human greed helped cause a virulent outbreak of Hoof and Mouth disease all across Britain, starting in February. This highly contagious, herpes-like animal virus devastated the tranquil English countryside, causing the slaughter of 4 million farm animals (mainly cows and sheep), closing country roads and footpaths for months. As many of the farmers whose fields form the "canvas" for crop circle designs also raise animals, they were especially hard hit. Most farmers merely tolerate the circle phenomenon as it's something happening on their land that they can neither understand nor control. This year, given all their other problems, many were particularly upset and angry over anyone, researchers included, walking into their fields to explore the circles there. Consequently, many of May and June's circles couldn't be visited by researchers or the curious public. Even in July, when most of the countryside had officially reopened, some farmers used the epidemic as an excuse to keep unwanted visitors off their land. Hoof and Mouth quarantine signs were posted in many places and trespassing was punishable by fines exceeding $100,000. One important result was that most early formations sprang back when the unbroken plant stems raised themselves toward the sun. This demonstrated that they'd not been stomped down by humans with boards. Despite all this, our 10-person tour group managed to get into an average of one circle per day, including being among the first to enter one of the year's most beautiful and original formations. It appeared at the base of Windmill Hill on July 15 during the Wiltshire Study Group's annual conference. This wheat formation, which resembled a stylized yin-yang ideogram, was rated by Colorado researcher Ron Russell, as giving off one of the strongest electromagnetic readings he'd experienced this year. A couple of the inner circles seemed to draw people to them, giving everyone a rich meditative experience. The lay of the still-green wheat was simple but beautifully executed in a very original design. Exactly one week later at Yatesbury, only a few hundred yards away, a related, more complex design appeared. It featured several circles inside a large ring, joined by a meandering path with some highly-complicated wheat swirls. Seen from the air, both formations shared similar semi-circular walkway patterns that represent the "Path of the people" through this physical world, according to Native American tradition. Each of these formations, among our favorites this year, was about 250 feet in diameter. Another beautiful, complex formation that our tour group explored was in a barley field near Liddington Castle, an earthwork hill fort reputed to have been the site of King Arthur's final defeat by the invading Saxons. It represented the "Orobouros": the timeless Serpent that eats its own tail, continually re-birthing itself. Inside was a 3-D pictogram of a turtle sticking its head out of its shell. These are ancient worldwide symbols of Time and Space, Creation and Dissolution. Native Americans often refer to Earth as "Turtle Island". Formed on June 17, it was a month old when we visited but still retained much of its potency; perhaps because it had not been widely visited. Each person in our group found a favorite spot inside the 150-foot formation. Reactions ranged from sensing a deep connection to Mother Earth to slight dizziness. Blustery rain clouds miraculously parted just in time to allow us an hour's visit before another downpour began. This happened several times during our week-long tour. Later, in a nearby village church, we chanced upon an ancient stone column depicting the Orobouros as a tail-consuming dragon. The column's other side was covered with intertwining circles, demonstrating the close ties between many of today's crop circle symbols and those from Wiltshire's millennial history. Other exceptional formations that Kallista and I explored in 2001 included an incredible Sun-Pyramid in barley at Alton Barnes that formed the night before the Summer Solstice: its central straight line was originally just 6 inches wide. We also explored a 5-pointed star at Beckhampton with crescent moons of standing wheat in the five outermost circles; an unusual 11-pointed star in a hard-to-find rye field so delicately made that almost all of the laid-down crop stems had re-oriented themselves towards the sun after two weeks; and an incredible 16-pointed star-burst or shield formation in ripe wheat planted on a hillside next to where a medieval hamlet once stood. Perhaps the most unusual formation we saw this year is what Native American artist Rod Bearcloud Berry calls a "Star Nation" glyph. In late July, Bearcloud, a Sedona neighbor, discovered this rambling series of disconnected designs in a wheat field while flying in a micro-light aircraft. He filmed it as he flew over. After seeing the footage and recognizing the field, Kallista and I later met him there to explore it on foot. A series of small individual glyphs were scattered diagonally across at least 900 feet, including a little ring put down in a different field across a country road. Bearcloud told us he was convinced the strange glyphs had been sent by those his people call the "Star Nations." One group looked a bit like a stylized Hopi Kokopelli flute player; the others resembled various petroglyphs from the Four Corners region but nothing specific. We all felt great power in the individual designs but no one could agree on their message, except that it obviously expressed concern over how our Western civilization is treating the Earth that provides us with food and a physical home. This basic message-of the great beauty of our planet and modern man's lack of respect for Earth's natural order-has been repeated many times in crop circles since 1978. It seems to be one we still haven't understood or been willing to accept. Few people visited the "Star Nation" formation as it didn't have the beautiful artistic symmetry typical of most crop circles and it wasn't very publicized. Another set of formations that were not widely visited, mainly because they occurred several hundred miles from Wiltshire, appeared in the Biblically-named Gog and Magog hills near Cambridge. Since the famous "Mandlebrot Set" fractal appeared just a few miles from this well-known university town in 1991, crop circles have popped up there on several occasions. Generally not as numerous or beautiful as the Wiltshire and Hampshire formations, they have been far less popular. However, if formations like the two discovered this July continue, the Cambridge region may become a new hot spot of the Circlemakers' art, for they were truly spectacular. On July 11, a huge circular ring 666 feet in diameter appeared in a wheat field-exactly the "number of the Beast" of the Bible's Revelation. It had a beautifully-swirled 45-foot-diameter circle in its center. One week later, a 237-foot labyrinth with 3-foot wide curving pathways appeared inside the 666-ft. ring. Then, about five days after this, a 3-D appearing Ziggurat or step pyramid temple was discovered, also inside the 666-ft. ring, opposite the labyrinth. According to eye-witnesses, the lay and edges of every part of this large formation were incredibly precise. The same was true of the second formation that came July 25, shortly after the step pyramid, only this time in an adjoining field. There, a 150-foot ring enclosed three crescents of standing and laid-down wheat that, when viewed straight-on, formed a spectacular winged disk or angel figure. Seventy-five razor-sharp, just 6-inch-wide stripes cut through the largest crescent like shining rays. The aerial perspective is unbelievably inspiring, giving new meaning to the overused word awesome. Those who drove up to Cambridge said they felt a spiritual presence emanating from the field. Nonetheless, along with Chilbolton, the obvious finale to this year's crop circle season came on Sunday, August 12. It happened on a Wiltshire hillside wheat field that had never before been visited by the phenomenon but lies just a few hundred yards from the Alton Barnes "White Horse." Known as the "Milk Hill Mega Julia Set," it consisted of a record-setting 409 tangent circles, displayed in a six-arm, spiraling fractal pattern called a "Julia Set" (after a French mathematician). Its near-circular size, about 800 feet across, made it the largest, most-impressive formation of the last 20 years. According to Francine Blake, coordinator of the Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group, the center circle "was big enough to build a house on. When you stood in it, you saw nothing but circles all around you." As to the possibility of hoaxing, it's been estimated that a team of people would have had to create a new circle every 30 seconds between sunset and sunrise in order to make the huge, absolutely precise design-despite rain and gales that would have severely hampered the creation of even a very simple shape. Francine reported she had flown over the hill on Friday but nothing was there. Then the weather, which has been bad all year, got worse. Nonetheless, a local young man decided to spend Saturday night on the ridge, a popular hiking spot. Exploring the hilltop before dusk, he discovered a small crop circle "ring" at the edge of that field, but saw nothing else. Unfortunately, he pitched his tent on the other side of the ridge, away from the field to overlook Silbury Hill. After a stormy night during which he didn't leave the tent, he saw nothing on his side of the ridge when morning came. Wet and discouraged, he never checked on the ring he'd seen earlier. It was only later in the day that a micro-light spotted the new formation. The rest is history, including a rare "tongue-in-cheek" report in a CNN television newscast. I wish I had a sexy conclusion to sum up the 2001 crop circle season, unequivocally identifying the authors (human or alien) of the 88 British formations along with the dozens of others in Germany, Holland, Canada and the U.S., revealing their message and answering everyone's continuing questions. But I don't. And, close-minded media aside, neither does anyone else. What started as an average, lackluster season in mid-May once again astounded us all with its richness and originality by the end of August. This amazing enigma is like a roller coaster on which we are merely passengers while someone else drives. Like small children, we search for hidden meaning while still only learning the language. The crop circle phenomenon excites, intrigues, surprises and ultimately still surpasses us. We can speculate until we are blue in the face, but only one thing seems abundantly clear. Until given the appropriate keys by the Circlemakers, which I am convinced will come when they are ready, we should relax, enjoy the journey, and appreciate the formations' spectacular beauty. ~ Dr. Chet Snow is the main American distributor of the imported 2002 Crop Circle Calendar, the only calendar to feature full-size color photographs of the major 2001 formations. Call him: (928) 204-1962 or write him at PO Box 1738 - Sedona AZ 86339 - to order one. Chet & Kallista Snow also lead a 10-person group, 7-night tour to Wiltshire, England, each July to explore the English crop circles personally. Their next Crop Circle tour is scheduled for July 23-30, 2002. It includes special access inside Stonehenge, a flight over the circles and paid admission to the annual Wiltshire Crop Circle Conference. If interested, call Dr. Chet Snow: (928) 204-1962 or e-mail him: chetsnow@sedona.net. Dr. Snow's mailing address is: PO Box 1738 - Sedona AZ 86339.
|
