Paul Fuller
Welcome to yet another piece of blatant government
dis-information from darkest Whitehall. I apologise for the
lateness of this issue but I have had a somewhat hectic summer,
what with preparing for my Fortean Times lecture, going on
holiday and then catching chicken pox ! Hopefully issue 23 will
appear on time towards the end of September. Because of these
delays this issue omits one or two items that I had hoped to
include but everything should be back to normal for issue 23.
First though I would like to thank Birmingham CCCS for
inviting me to lecture to them in June and for asking such
sensible questions is the proper manner. Also, thanks to everyone
who attended my FT lecture - even to those who tried to escape
before question time ! Those who attended these lectures will be
pleased to learn that your Editor is currently attending an MI5
sponsored course in how to use slide projectors.
Jayne Macnish has informed The Crop Watcher that a
group of Cambridge University mathematics undergraduates have
been exposed as the perpetrators of the famous Mandelbrot hoax in
August 1991. The source of this information has apparently
indicated that George Wingfield was given the name "Cade
Roux" - an associate of the Mandelbrot hoaxers - back in
1991, but chose for some reason to keep this information from the
public (eg there is no mention of this crucially important
evidence in Wingfield's article in Alien Update, published
in 1993). Once again we call upon Wingfield to justify this
apparent suppression of unwelcome evidence from his readers at The
Cerealogist.
So far this summer there have been numerous crop circle hoaxes
in Britain. One of the earliest press items was in the Western
Daily Press on May 9th. Farmer Philip Fielder of West Overton
Farm expressed his growing dissatisfaction with events on his
farm (based right in the middle of the Beckhampton Avebury area)
:
"Mr Fidler says it is an irritating distraction and he has started charging people who want to tramp across his fields to see the circles.
He said: 'We have the uncanny privilege of having the first circles of the summer, but its really gone beyond a joke. We have got hundreds of people barging in here without even the courtesy of asking'. The trampled rape was a costly loss of crop. He thinks hoaxers are definitely to blame."
Terence Meaden is then quoted agreeing that these circles are
hoaxes:- "Only a simple circle stands the chance of being a
real one".
On May 14th Philip Fielder was even more outspoken in an
article titled "Farm invasion of the crop circle
'wierdos'". Here are some selected quotations :
"Farmer Philip Fidler last night told how his land was being invaded by hundreds of 'weirdos' in search of cosmic enlightenment. Several hundred people have arrived at his 720-acre West Overton Farm, near Avebury, since the appearance of several crop circles. An amazed Mr Fidler, aged 39, who moved to the farm last year, said: 'I've never seen so many weirdos in my life. I'm not being derogatory, but they are weird. The aliens who made these circles probably had a few pints down the road beforehand. And yet there are people arriving at the farm thoroughly excited by the whole thing'."
The early 1994 circles appeared at all the usual places.
Opposite Silbury Hill a huge faintly-visible circle over 50
metres in diameter appeared in late May. There was a smaller
circle close by. Down the road towards Marlborough (OSGR 104677)
there was a huge pictogram in the field adjacent to the East
Kennett long-barrow. At OSGR 120680, Philip Fidler's field
contained a quintuplet formation, a crescent shaped circle and
several singles. At Morgan's Hill (030665) there have been
several formations, whilst at Dean Bottom, Rockley (153739) there
was a 6 spiralled circle resembling the famous ratchet-circle at
Barbury Castle. Another formation appeared on the Avebury side of
Waden Hill whilst surprise, surprise a triangular-shaped
formation has appeared at Barbury Castle. There was also a large
pictogram at Cherhill, near the White Horse.
Driving around the Beckhampton area on May 28th it was
noticeable that with the exception of the East Kennett pictogram
this year's hoaxes are attracting very little interest. The
Waggon & Horses public house was devoid of any crop circle
researchers and I caught one or two odd looks as I spread out my Crop
Watchers for anyone interested ! Later on two men in white
coats arrived and took me away, hence the delay in producing this
issue. Sorry.
