It was a hot, do-nothing kind of day. A day in which dogs
panted on porches and cats languished on garden walls. A day in
which Jim Schnabel cavorted in a corn field.
Well, not cavorted, exactly. In fact he struggled under a hot
summer sun and strained against the handle of a garden roller in
an effort to make a crop formation worthy of a professional
hoaxer.
The day had been organised by Montague Keen, agronomist for
the CCCS. Jim Schnabel, at a talk to the Essex Crop Circle
Studies Group, had been asked (or was it challenged?) by Monty to
visit his farm in Pentlow, Suffolk, and create a formation which
could then be studied by the experts.
The names of those gathered expectantly to await Schnabel's
arrival were synonymous with the crop circle world: Busty Taylor,
pilot and photographer, one of the "originals"; Lucy
Pringle, "Human Effects" expert and CCCS council
member; Stanley Morcom and his wife, Suzy, both familiar faces
where crop-circlers are gathered together; Jo Holland and Una
Dawood, both well known to all those circle enthusiasts who
descend on Beckhampton from spring to autumn, and last, but not
least, a character known as "Bill Bailey", another
(in)famous figure in the Circlefaking world.
Schnabel arrived late, and who could blame him ? The later the
start, the further the sun from its zenith and the less
uncomfortable his job would be. Or could it have been because (as
someone suggested) a late arrival creates a more dramatic
entrance ?
Schnabel had previously announced that he would probably
attempt a similar formation to last year's Silbury Hill
"charm bracelet" and some people had taken this to mean
that he intended to create a replica. Their disappointment when
he said that this was not his intention was obvious and seemed,
to some, to prove their theory that Schnabel's claims to have
created the "charm bracelet" were false.
Armed with a small rucksack, a few white
tubular posts and a plastic garden roller (which, surprisingly
enough, did not melt in the heat) Schnabel entered the field,
climbed to the brow of the hill and began his work. Peter
Sorenson, armed with video recorder, accompanied Schnabel
throughout the day and recorded dutifully his every move.
The view from the lawned area where most of us sat was poor,
and we contented ourselves with general discussions and chat.
There was, however, a tubular framed viewing/video platform, from
which a much better view could be obtained. From the ground it
was possible to see the crab-like movements used by Schnabel as
he formed the thin circle which was to link the various
"charms", and it was interesting to note how many times
he took the diagram of his planned creation from his pocket to
check on his next course of action. (A point to note - this would
probably need a torch in the hours of darkness !).
Throughout the day it became apparent that the
"audience" was made up of a real cross section of
Circle Watchers. There were some who thought that all crop
circles may be man-made but felt that that in itself constituted
a phenomenon; others who believed that although some were man
made there were still a large number formed by other means; and
some present obviously believed that all crop circles were
created by outside forces and seemed totally unprepared to
believe the claims of any who professed to have been instrumental
in creating any of them at all. This latter group hardly deserved
to be referred to as "investigators" as their tunnel
vision must prevent them from accepting any evidence contrary to
their personal beliefs. Indeed, one of them was overheard to
express the desire that she hoped the real circle makers were
watching and would strike Schnabel down.
In the course of the afternoon we were kept refreshed with
cold drinks and, later, cups of tea. Meanwhile, "Bill
Bailey" bemoaned his lack of fame and showed snapshots of
impressive formations in Northamp-tonshire which he claims to be
the creation of his team. Presumably he was hoping to pick up (or
maybe pass on ?) a few tips.
It was early evening but still swelteringly hot, when Schnabel
made his way from the field, his boyish, normally pale face red
with exertion and the sun.
By this time we had already been informed by those on the
viewing platform that the formation included a garden roller and
a UFO and we eagerly made our way up the tramlines and into this
new formation.
At first sight, it could only be described as
"rough". However, it must be remembered that the crop
was still green and was over six weeks earlier than the crop at
Silbury Hill when the "charm bracelet" was formed last
year.
There was some evidence of layering but little more than would
occur naturally, and a bunch of flattened crop had fallen across
the standing corn - an event which would, in normal
investigation, point to a hoax. There were some right angled
turns, not common in formations, in which the corn had been
forced to follow the angle and had subsequently broken. The
white, dust-like substance found on the stalk of the corn was
obliterated in places, presumably where it had been trodden on,
but further investigation showed it also to be missing from some
of the undisturbed corn.
Before heading off for a, no doubt, welcome shower, Jim
answered a few questions, mainly put to him by Grant Wakefield
(keeper of the much worshipped "East Field" at Alton
Barnes). Things got a little heated until Montague Keen
intervened, pointing out to Wakefield that the afternoon was
"not a confrontation". Wakefield reluctantly backed off
and Montague Keen hustled Schnabel away.
In this investigator's view the day provided a wonderful
opportunity to bask in the sun and enjoy the company. The
experiment, though interesting, was inconclusive, proving only,
to me at least, that yes, Jim Schnabel may have hoaxed the events
to which he lays claim, particularly given more time (he had
spent only three and a half hours in the field on this occasion),
less pressure and one or two willing helpers.
Anthea Holland, Clacton-on-Sea.
I first became interested in crop circles in 1986 when my
father and I were driving back from Petersfield one evening along
the A272 and through the Cheesefoot Head area. Passing the car
park and looking down into the now famous Devils Punch Bowl I was
amazed to see two flattened, ringed depressions in the cornfield
below us. We stopped the car and took several photos before
returning home.
The impression this left in my mind at the tender age of 14
was incredible, so much so that I knew I wanted to get more
involved with the phenomenon in the future, but it wasn't until
four years later, when I had passed my driving test, that I got
the chance to investigate the subject in any depth.
In my eagerness to see the circles when they were fresh and
not damaged by admirers, I started to visit Cheesefoot Head first
thing in the morning from around the beginning of May 1990, just
before going to College in Winchester. It was on these morning
runs that I started to meet all the main researchers who were
doing similar sorties around this area.
These included Richard Andrews, Busty Taylor and George
Wingfield, but it wasn't until the appearance of the first circle
in the Punch Bowl that I met Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews. I
found this circle very impressive and wanted to go down into the
field to get a closer look, but Pat and Colin advised me against
this, warning that the land owner would not welcome my presence.
I took their advice and visited the circle at night and under the
cover of darkness measured the circle with my good friend Nigel
Beckett.
A few days later I decided to show a few of my other friends
the giant Doughnut circle and was driving up the road from the
Percy Hobbs pub when we noticed a massive crowd of people
standing by the side of the road at Chilcomb Farm. Pulling up
behind a BBC film crew's van we ran up to the boundary fence to
see what all the fuss was about. Looking over we could hardly
believe our eyes - there was an amazing pattern in the field, and
unlike any previous ones this one had pathways and boxes ! Our
first impressions were "its got to be man-made", but my
thoughts were changed when Pat Delgado later walked out from
inside the circle and proclaimed it "genuine". I have
great respect for Pat and his judgement of the circles, after all
he's been researching them longer than almost anyone else in the
business.
After all the fuss had died down Nigel and myself started to
measure and observe the formation. We noticed a few odd details.
Between the boxes and central path were a few bent stems of crop
which seemed to show where someone had walked into each box. We
ignored these putting them down to all the people who were
visiting the circle. Another thing we noticed was that each box
measured four feet in width and had a strip of crop running down
one edge in the opposite direction of flow to the rest of the ox.
Just as we were about to leave the formation an old fellow
with a 'cine 8' camera walked in filming. His name was Doug Bower
and he said he was a sound recordist of wildlife and had spotted
the pattern from the road. After chatting about crop circles in
general and asking us what we thought had caused this pattern he
drove off and left us. This was May 23rd, the same day that the
formation had been discovered.
On 24th May Pat Delgado rang to inform me of a new circle at
Morestead, near Cheesefoot Head. Nigel and myself visited the
circle later that day and it was here that Nigel discovered some
underlays of corn coming from the tramlines to the circle centre
and back out from the centre to the edge of the circle underneath
the main flow of corn. We both accepted these as part and parcel
of a genuine circle as we had heard them mentioned briefly by the
"experts".
Over the next few months I discovered several circles in the
Cheesefoot Head area and found similar dimension correlations
involving four foot pathways and rings and similar ring and box
spacings and underlays. I also met Doug Bower and his friend Dave
Chorley on numerous occasions. They had the canny knack of
showing up just after the circles had appeared - give or take a
day or two.
On one occasion I visited Cheesefoot Head at approximately
11.00 pm. to measure up some recent formations and to my surprise
found Doug and Dave near the Punchbowl. When I told them I had
come to measure some circles in the dark due to problems with
land owners they wished me luck and departed after talking to me
for half an hour or so about tales of UFOs that people had
related to them in connection with the circles.
Through my involvement in the crop circle scene, Nigel and
myself became members of a local group called the Cheesefoot Head
Monitoring Group - a silly name as only Nigel and I seemed to go
up there on a regular basis ! I found the views in this group
interesting but realised that they really only wanted to talk
about UFOs and "cover-ups". It was only when Ken Brown
joined the group in late 1990 that I found someone who I could
relate to in terms of their views about the phenomenon. As far as
I was concerned he brought in some northern down-to-earth
thinking and sanity that the group needed to keep its feet on the
ground.
1991 started with a bang at Cheesefoot Head with the second
"laddergram" of the year on Chilcomb Down fields. I
discovered this formation at approximately 6.00 am on 7 June and
was almost certainly the first to enter it due to heavy rain and
mist keeping people from firstly, seeing it very easily and
secondly, getting soaked by entering the field.
After taking a few photographs outside the pattern I walked
into the large ring and was surprised at what I found. There was
a very obvious "stepping" effect around the edges of
the circles and rings and also several broken stems especially
around the edges and centres, but most of all in the ladder
section which, although complicated in flow directions, was quite
rough in places (not "undamaged" as told by the
"experts").
I also noted that the magic four foot dimensions were present
in all pathways and indeed some of the circles seemed to have
multiples of four as their dimensions, but not always. Mud was
also on the surface of some of the crop.
I brought up this dimension consistency on numerous occasions
at crop circle meetings but seemed to be wasting my time as
everyone else had gone metric and had not noticed ! So I decided
that the "circle makers" used Imperial dimensions; that
was the extent of my theory.
Then came Ken Brown.
Ken had also noticed the underlays and consistencies that I
had found, but by the end of 1991 - just days before Doug and
Dave went public - Ken had formulated a much more terminal theory
from the same evidence, so by the time the Doug and Dave story
broke he was 100 per cent sure they were telling the truth, and
after I had seen the research Ken had done into their story, so
was I. The fact that I had seen them up there on so many
occasions just after circles had formed was almost enough to
convince me alone.
The nail in the coffin was the second "flower"
pattern at Cheesefoot Head. I studied Technical Drawing to
"A" Level and knew straight away when I saw this flower
pattern how it had been constructed and what a
"cock-up" had been made of it. With the radius
dimension being measured incorrectly the creators had stepped the
distance around the circumference of the circle and discovered
that the points did not meet where they should have done, thus
creating thin arcs between several petals. This formation also
had the characteristic stepping effect on its rings and
"signatures" and also several underlays for which Ken
has a detailed model.
So it appears that Doug and Dave are telling the truth about
the circles in the Cheesefoot Head area. As far as circles in
other areas I cannot comment as it doesn't look that good for any
other pictograms wherever they may be.
As for plain circles, if they have underlays or stepped
patterns I would be very suspicious of human origin.
Do "genuine" crop circles exist ? We may never find
out.
Matthew J. Lawrence, Winchester
