Our thanks go to Robert Fischer in Paris for sending us the
following translation about the crop circle "fakes"
that appeared to the south of France during 1993. I have tried to
tidy up the English and hope I've not altered the meaning too
much.
Two unusual circles each 21 metres in diameter were discovered
in the middle of a wheat field in Itteville (Essonne), where
Gendarmes from Etampes came to take samples on Tuesday, according
to a reliable source. The circles appeared about 10 days ago,
according to the owner of the field. The farmer, who doesn't
believe in UFOs, alerted the Gendarmes, thinking that the circles
were made by some kind of vehicle being driven in his field. The
Gendarmes' report sheets compiled on Tuesday reveal that the
circles are "seemingly symmetrical geometrical shapes"
with two spurs of 15 metres length and 1.5 metres width leaving
the edge of the circles. The Gendarmes are trying to determine
whether the circles have been made by a UFO or by students on
their holidays.
Source: Le Bien Publis - Les Depeches, 21st July
1993
Some mysterious markings - two 21 metre circles - were
discovered in the middle of a wheat field in Essonne. They
appeared about ten days ago. The owner of the field, who doesn't
believe in UFOs, thought that something had been driven around
his field. Aerial photographs will be sent to the Centre National
d'Etudes Spatiales at Toulouse [National Space Studies Centre].
Source: Le Parisien Libere, page 5, Seine Sant
Denis edition, 21st July 1993.
A new episode of "La Soupe aux Choux" ? [** 1].
After two circles were found in wheatfields at Seine Et Marne,
its the turn of Essonne to be contaminated. UFO experts and
gendarmes are examining two circles discovered in a field at
Itteville.
What a strange phenomenon in a field at Itteville. A farmer
discovered it about ten days ago, in the middle of his field -
two circles, about 15 metres in diameter, joined by two
"arms". They were two perfect circles, very aesthetic.
The wheat was laid in a clockwise direction but the straws were
not broken. Who is making these strange signs ? A third kind man
? A hoaxer ? Is it a madman at work ? Or perhaps somebody making
pagan rituals ? The farmer, who doesn't believe in
extraterrestrials, was quick to report his discovery to the
gendarmes. He thought that somebody drove around in his field -
in a very strange way, of course.
The gendarmes immediately examined the site, helped by an
expert from the Banque Internationale De Donnees UFOlogiques (a
society which collects this kind of mysterious phenomena). [**2].
The description of the marks by the farmer is similar to those
discovered in June and July in Maincy and Savigny Le Temple, in
the nearby departement of Seine et Marne. The two preliminary
reports talk about how a "human made the unknown
traces" and added that these two hoaxes had been made by the
same hoaxers.
"This is not a spontaneous madness but a deliberate
strategy", explains the report. There is trespass and crop
destruction. Article 224 of the Penal Code recommends between 15
dats and 3 months detention and a 500 to 15,000 Franc fine.
Farmers who are victims are invited to lodge a complaint at the
Melun police station.
At Itteville there has been no access to the trace since
Tuesday. The gendarmerie helicopter took aerial photographs which
may be used by the courts. These pictures provoke many questions.
They are similar to the circles which appeared in France in the
wheat fields at Marcilly, in Seine Et Marne, for the first time
in 1989 and are inspired from the crop circles found in Quebec
[???, PF] and England since 1978. There have been thousands of
unexplained circles and geometrical shapes since this date. This
is an epidemic which has only touched France a few times before.
At Itteville, the researchers failed to find any trace of human
footsteps. UFO groups were yesterday going to the site to search
for burning or radioactivity. Everyone would like the corn circle
mystery to remain unexplained. Man, UFO or wizard, the hunt for
clues is open. The report of the Gendarmerie will be sent to
SEPRA (** 3) in Toulouse, a part of CNES (** 4), which may help
to unmask the "Itteville ET" ! If it exists ...
Anne Dautremepuis
The crop circles lead specialists and scientists to propose
many hypotheses for years. They made a study which was published
in 1990 in "Science Et Vie". It is possible that these
circles are made by meteorological phenomena. A physicists
described how small vortices hitting the ground would lay the
crops down in this way. The circles may also be explained by
subterranean archaeological sites, the activity of animals, by
military activity, or by pagan rituals paying hommage to Mother
Earth. In brief, the mystery continues. A corner of the viel has
been lifted by two joking grandfathers who confessed, in 1990, to
making circles with a string and stick for a joke.
Alain Oribes, association "Les Chevaliers de
Lumiere":[** 5]
"We have to study this report very seriously in case its
a hoax. We will ask for a soil analysis to see if there is any
trace of magnetism or burning".
Thierry Rocher, of SOS OVNI for Ile De France:
[** 6]
"We knew that one day these traces would appear in
France. We have to search for signs of human footprints. It is
easy to leave no footprints if you follow the tramlines. We made
a similar circle as an experiment at Loir er Cher, with the
permission of the landowner, using a garden roller, some string
and a stick. In one hour we made a circle 80 metres wide, like
some of the circles in England. If it is a hoax it will discredit
research into these phenomena."
Franck Marie, a researcher with the "Banque
Internationale De Donnees UFOlogiques": [** 2]
"We are mystified. We have to discover which machine and
which people have copied the English circles. It is probably
someone close to UFOlogy".
Capitaine Lecornet, Gendarmerie Nationale:
"See from the sky its well done. They needed about four
hours. I think its the act of delirious people, or of a cult, or
maybe a sacred symbol drawn in a field to hommage the Nourishing
Earth".
** 1 "La Soupe aux Choux" is a very famous French
film written by Rene Fallet and staring Louis de Funes, Jean
Carmet and Jacques Villeret. It tells the story of two old people
who are visited by an alien who likes cabbage soup
. ** 2 The International UFOlogical Data Bank.
** 3 The Atmospheric Re-entry Phenomena Studies Centre. The
official French UFO research group headed by Mr Jean Jacques
Velasco (formerly GEPAN).
** 4 The National Center for Space Studies.
** 5 The Knights of Light. This is a group which follows the
pro-ETH theories of well known UFO author Jimmy Guieu.
** 6 SOS OVNI is a national UFO group. Its chief is Thierry
Rocher who visited the UK in 1990 with the VECA group [PF met
them].
From Le Parisien, 22nd July 1993
That's the funny question we must ask when seeing this
photograph of a wheat field at Itteville, in Essonne. Similar
traces were discovered at Seine et Marne.
With the harvest approaching strange circular traces have
appeared in the wheat fields at Seine et Marne and Essonne. UFO
traces ? The UFO experts believe them to be clever hoaxes. The
gendarmes found a piece of string which may have been used by
these strange artists.
Pagan rituals in hommage to the Nourishing Earth, mini
vortices, military activities... Since the discovery of the first
crop circles in 1978 [???] in England [???] researchers and
UFOlogists are not short on theories. We have failed to uncover
the truth about these circles, except for confessed hoaxes. Since
the beginning of summer these mysterious traces appeared again in
Essonne and Seine et Marne. Three geometrical shapes, all
different but based on circles, were miraculously
"stamped" in three fields. The first was on 9th June,
in Maincy, near Melun. Seen from the Sky it seemed like a
dumb-bell with two antennas. Inside the circles the wheat had
been laid down in a regular circular swathe. There were no
footprints. This is the mystery. There were no burning traces
either. Concluding that this is a UFO in distress and landing
would be very attractive.
Researchers from the Banque Internationale de Donnees
Ufologiques, a group collecting information about these strange
phenomena, concluded that the mystery was due to somebody closely
involved in UFOlogy. Their report was sent to SEPRA, a part of
CNES.
It happened again on 4th July in a field near Savigny Le
Temple. A local resident saw seven different sized circles in a
straight line. And at Itteville, in Essonne, on 12th July, a
farmer discovered two circles about 20 metres wide close to
eachother with two antennas. These were undoubtedly fakes. The
gendarmes yesterday found a piece of string. There is a
well-known method for leaving no footprints to make people think
a flying saucer has landed. Theirry Rocher, in charge of SOS
OVNI, knows the method, which was experimented at Loir Et Cher in
1990, under the landowner's control. "With seven people, we
needed one hour to make an 80 metre diameter circle, using a
garden roller, a rope and a stick. So who can have made these
circles ? The hunt for an explanation goes on". Hugo Nhart,
the Director of the magazine "Strange Mysteries", and
esoteric specialist, yesterday gave his explanation after going
on site. "Its not unusual for sects to herald their
formation by making these strange signs. Their initiates would
understand". Strange, because some days later, at Itteville,
and Etampes, an Indian woman named Amma attracted hundreds of
people to a gymnasium to hear here preach. Her philosophy is
"The past is the present of the future". Like the snake
eating his own tail, so we may have found the full circle.
Anne Dautremepuis - Jean Yves Averso.
La Parisien, Friday 23rd July 1993, page 10.
This "circles in the fields" mystery has had a
tremendous precedent in the 1980s. For 13 years scientists all
over the world wondered about the meaning of the mysterious
patterns in English country fields. Coded messages from
hypothetical Extraterrestrials ? UFO Landing traces ? Or unknown
meteorological phenomena ? The most serious theories were
developed, making one professor a fortune, whilst other books
became world best sellers.
Then, one morning in September 1991, appeared the smiling
faces of two sixty year olds presented on the front page of a
London newspaper. They described how they had made these perfect
circles. The two joking pensioners Douglas Bower and David
Chorley got this idea one evening, in front of a Guiness [!!!],
trying to decide how to pass their boredom. Doug remembered this
Australian drinking tradition of making shapes in the fields [
!!!!]. The strange hobby of the two retired people went on to
fake as the scientists watched.
Jacqeline Karky, 25, student, Rennes (Ille Et Vilaine)
"Not at all. Nothing has been proven. People who believe
in ETs are naive. Strange phenomena and some TV programmes are
leading people to believe that creatures from other planets are
visiting us occasionally. I won't believe in them until I see
one!"
Fabien Dupont, 27, journalist, Sedan (Ardennes)
"Yes, I believe it all ! We exist on Earth, so why don't
intelligent life live somewhere else, on another planet ? And
there are these strange things seen in the sky and Gendarmerie
reports."
Salah Chegrouche, 39, researcher, Paris 9th district.
"Of course I do ! I'm sure that other life exists out of
this world. The problem is to know what kind. Little Green Men
are often said to have a cat's face, or to resemble prehistoric
animals. I would like to meet them to understand their way of
life."
Lalouedj Boukakeur, 40, technician, Willemomble (Seine
Saint Denis)
"Yes, there are many books about this subject, reports
and TV programmes showing that we are not the only living
creatures in the universe. The problem is to have an ET here to
prove it. And can you tell me you're not one !"
Elvire Bureau, 20, secretary, Maisons Alfort (Val De
Marne)
"Not at all ! When I meet one I'll believe it ! I am
sceptical about everything. The photographs about these so-called
UFOs ? They are aircraft or shooting stars. The traces found in
the soil ? Wind damage, hoaxes or a revenge !"
Le Parisien, Friday 23rd July 1993, page 10.
Strange circles showing a scorpion or a chemical molecule were
discovered by a farmer at Fontenay Le Vicomte.
So, the strange circles discovered in a field at Itteville (Le
Parisien, yesterday) also like to occur at Essonne. The wheat
"cancer" began in Seine et Marne on June 9th and on
July 13th by discovering circles in wheat fields, sometimes
showing as a giant dumb-bell and sometimes as seven circles in a
line.
Caballistic signs, without author or explanation. Nevertheless
UFOlogists wouldn't agree with a flying saucer landing in
distress or Martians on holiday. But this strange phenomenon
which has been studied by researchers, physicists and UFOlogists
for fifteen years is getting bigger in France. Since that time
the traces were originally the property of England and Quebec.
The most recent trace, the one discovered yesterday, was
reported by a farmer at Fontenay Le Vicomte. This appeared before
the circle at Itteville and is positioned by the Paris-La Ferte
Alais railway. Seen from the sky this giant formation looks like
a scorpion, or perhaps a standing man, who spinal column is made
of five circles 5 metres wide that are the exact representation
of the chemical symbol for DNA. The trace may also represent a
gas mask. In the circles the wheat was swirled clockwise and
anti-clockwise, in turn. There were no footprints or pieces of
string which would demonstrate that a hoaxer made the circles
with a rope and stick. Weeds are already growing in the circles,
showing the trace is already old.
The Itteville and Fontenay Le Vicomte traces are
geographically situated around a strategic place : the Societe
Nationale des Poudres et Explosifs (SNPE) [** 1], a structure
built by the Ministry of Defence, which is a leading centre for
research into bacteriological warfare. Not far from here we can
find a nuclear dustbin with 20,000 tons of radioactive dust.
Has this site been chosen to attract the attention of
ecologists to a site which they think dangerous a plausible
explanation ? A nuclear specialist, members of Les Verts [** 2],
Christian Boyer, yesterday denied this theory: "The mystics,
who worship the moon, were part of our movement in the early
1980s, have gone away. If that was the case," continued
Master Breteau, a lawyer of the Party, "we would have left
paranoia in progress for some days and then claimed to have made
them !"
Hugo Nhart, the chief editor of "Etrangetes et
Mysteries" was told yesterday about the sect who would like
to implant the area to give a new explanation. "I see the
revenge sign as the scorpion, linked to the life symbol. Remember
that the scorpion is the only animal that can resist
radioactivity". At Itteville it could be the same.
There are many theories but the author of the mystery doesn't
reveal himself.
Anne Dautremepuis.
Le Parisien, 24 and 25 July 1993, centre folds, page XV.
** 1 = Powders and Explosives National Society
** 2 = Les Verts, one of the two ecological parties in France.
Circles in the wheat fields were again discovered at Fontenay
Le Vicomte (Essonne) yesterday by a farmer. They were only a few
kilometers away from the marks found at Itteville (Le Parisien,
yesterday). This new formation which the gendarmes very seriously
examined is a fortnight old, and showing, as you would like, a
scorpion, a gas mask, or a standing man whose spinal column is
made of five circles that represent the DNA molecule, the life
symbol. Caballistic signs which no author was discovered. Anne
Dautremepuis.
Le Parisien, Hauts De Seine edition, 24-25 July 1993,
page 9.
Despite the fact that we have only limited information this is
a fascinating case study with rich clues to the social processes
involved in circle-making. It seems that crop circles were almost
unknown in France until 1989, a factor that any rational solution
to the phenomenon must address. Next we have a handful of
relatively complex formations appearing in a small geographical
area close to ecologically interesting sites - sites that have a
high political significance to the ecologically aware French.
Once again the lack of simpler patterns is a dead giveaway to the
hoaxed nature of these formations. We also have the Gendarmerie
finding evidence of hoaxing and (unlike Britain) there are
threats to prosecute hoaxers. Finally the SOS OVNI group,
who are well known for their UFOlogical scepticism and
objectivity, blame crop circles on someone on the fringes of
UFOlogy. Do you get a feeling of deja vu ?
There are clear parallels between the French crop circle
experience and what took place in Britain a few years earlier.
Ian Mrzyglod and Jenny Randles were the first British UFOlogists
to blame the appearance of crop circles on hoaxers from the
fringes of British UFOlogy (Ken Rogers). They too were ridiculed
for doing so. As in France the public were far more interested in
an exotic explanation. Once again the motifs of radiation samples
and contaminated crops is raised as something which is reasonably
expected at spaceship landing sites. Once again the anomaly myth
is triggered into action !
It is important to note that Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado
were both very quick to notice when crop circles appeared close
to interesting man-made features. In Circular Evidence
(page 56) they refer to the unfortunate incident in 1986 when a
convoy of military vehicles presumably carrying nuclear weapons
from the West Dean nuclear weapons storage site accidentally run
off the road near Pepperbox Hill. Andrews later immortalised his
own deeply-held ecological fears in his famous "Ten seconds
to midnight" claim on BBC TV's Daytime Live. It seems
that the same processes are at work in France, albeit a few years
later than they did here in England.
As Doug and Daves' hoaxes are copied across the globe we can
now begin to see the full extent of the damage done to the
subject by those researchers who wilfully suppressed unwelcome
evidence during the 1980s. All over the world the same social
processes are at work as people set out to fool "true
believers" in the mysterious circles. Promoting the circles
has become the pastime of politicians whilst the media are only
too happy to promote anyone who reinforces the myth that what is
happening has no explanation. Meanwhile the farmers suffer and
suffer. Will there be an end to all this madness ? Somehow I
doubt it ! Our thanks go to Robert Fischer for submitting this
important case material.
