Is there life after crop circles ? Well, yes, apparently. A
niche has been found for the lunatic fringe under the cosy duvet
of the New Age. Sure, this tendency has been around for some
years, but it's come to the fore now as there's nowhere left to
run. An exponent of this particular quirk is Michael Glickman, he
of the New Swirled Order column in The Cerealogist and in
the closing months of 1993 he was invited to give a talk to
Cheltenham's Circular Forum group. I sat for over an hour
listening to a slick piece of propaganda that managed to imply a
mysterious and exotic explanation for 'the crop circle
phenomenon' without once actually saying it. Apropos of seemingly
nothing at all we were shown the remarkable chimpanzee, Washo,
and how she was able to learn and recognise a series of
pictographic symbols (bearing the remotest similarity to some of
the crop circle patterns). Was this meant to imply that these
symbols are some deep seated psychological motif ? Or did it
imply that Washo and her mates were responsible for the crop
circle hoaxes of recent years ? We were never told. Eventually,
we got to the point. Yes, you've guessed it - the Gaia number,
the message from the dying earth. I have no argument against
those who rant against western civilisation's rape of the
environment, who in their right mind would, but what the hell's
it got to do with crop circles ? Nothing I suspect. I suggested
to Glickman, after the talk, that nothing he had said ruled out
the possibility that all these crop patterns were man-made. That
may be so, he agreed, but then went on to suggest that he could
put a figure on the number of circles that were probable hoaxes.
How, tell me ? We sparred for about five or six minutes and I
think I got labelled as a hoax theorist, or worse a Meadenite
(heaven forbid!) before the subject was hastily changed. Glickman
was lucky here; given a sceptical audience he'd have been eaten
alive. As it was he had a captive audience who wanted exactly
what they got. And, boy, are they welcome to it.
Danny Sullivan.
This article was first published in Gloucestershire Earth
Mysteries, 17, available from PO Box 258, Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire, GL53 0HR. Sample issue £ 2.25. £ 5.75 for 3
issues. Cheques and Postal Orders payable to "GEM".
International UFO Reporter, November/December 1993
issue (Vol 18, No 6). Yet another superb issue from the J. Allen
Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). This issue begins
with Thomas Carey's search for the "Roswell
archaeologists" who allegedly stumbled across the alien
spaceship that allegedly crashed in the New Mexican desert in
July 1947. Carey's work is an excellent example of how proper
archive research should be conducted. Carey methodically tracked
down all the archaeologists who worked in the region between 1937
and 1957. He then approached as many individuals who were
involved in archaeological digs during this period who are still
alive, who might have belonged to the fateful team that features
in the Roswell legend and who might be able to confirm the
reality behind the myth. Not surprisingly there is little but
negative evidence to report, although the latest issue of IUR
carries important news of a discovery. Robert Durant expertly
summarises 15 independent public opinion surveys conducted in the
USA between 1947 and 1991 on the issue of UFOs and "flying
saucers" (which are not necessarily the same thing) and
tried to interpret the results with the help of Philip Klass,
Fred Whiting and other leading UFO researchers. Jenny Randles
describes several recent British video and still photographic
cases highlighting the near total disinterest on the part of the
British Skeptics movement in investigating two video sequences of
a ring-shaped mini UFO filmed at night in a shopping centre in
Warrington. Irwin Wielder presents a devastating expose of the
famous Williamette Pass UFO photograph by recreating the photo -
the classic scientific technique ! Note that almost all the good
work in this superb issue has been done by committed UFOlogists.
So where are the Skeptics and what are they doing to help solve
life's little mysteries???
Write to 2457 West Peterson Avenue,
Chicago, Illinois 60659, USA.
