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| Crop Circles
Archive 1998 |
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 Crop Circles news, views, gallery and archive brought to you by Weird Wiltshire Introduction Latest News News Archive Community Hoaxing Opinion Forum Gallery 2003 Gallery Calendar Postcards Wallpaper Circle Designs Milk Hill Alton Barnes Barge Inn Signs Movie Links  |
First published on May 7, 1998 TO the delight of tourists but dismay of local farmers crop circles have returned to the Wiltshire countryside. The first crop circle of the year has appeared in oil seed rape crops near Silbury Hill. Thousands of visitors from across the world flocked to see last year's array of crop formations in fields around Kennet to examine the patterns, test the plants and look for a meaning behind the mystery. But farmer David Hues, who owns the field where the formation appeared sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning, reacted angrily to the news that his crop had been damaged. 'We are very unhappy about it,' he said. 'It is a case of vandalism to a nice crop of oil seed rape.' Mr Hues said the pattern, a formation of double concentric rings about 250ft in diameter linked by a series of bars, is a fake and has asked people not to damage more crops by trampling into the circle. 'It is by a public footpath and you can see it best from the road,' he said. 'The more people who go into it the more the crop is trodden down and the more damage it will do.' Mr Hues said it may have been funny a few years ago when the first crop circles appeared but now farmers have had enough. The arable farmland in Wiltshire is internationally renowned for the patterns, which was largely unexplained. Crop circle enthusiasts and investigators, known as croppies, have mixed views about the origins of the sometimes complex patterns appearing in the corn. Formations are usually found in corn or barley but Wiltshire's first formation of the year is in oil seed rape, as was the first of 1997 in fields near Barbury Castle. Some believe the patterns are caused by a meteorological phenomenon. Others say they are messages from outer space. Many are convinced that they are a practical, if now tiresome joke. Francine Blake, of the Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group, said the new formation was exciting and very interesting. She visited the circle on Tuesday and believes it cannot be man-made. She said it was sited by a man who had been in the area all night photographing the ancient barrow and Silbury Hill but saw no activity in the field. Mrs Blake said the stems of the plants were not broken, a factor evident in all 'legitimate' formations, and bloom, which comes off to touch, was still on the crop. She said the complexity of the circles and flame-like shapes rule out the human touch. Studies into the numerous crop formations have suggested the patterns correspond with mathematical and or ancient religious symbols. Formations have included a double helix, a Koch Snowflake and other mysterious shapes. 'Something is happening and we just want people to realise,' she said. 'It is not frightening, it's wonderful and we are discovering new aspects of the world and greater world. It is about opening our horizons.' |
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