Astonishingly a superb new eye witness account has surfaced
after I was searching through my 25 box files of circle-related
material for something else ! It comes via a letter to Terence
Meaden dated 19th July 1991, which Meaden sent on to me for
investigation, but which was simply submerged beneath piles and
piles of crop circle letters and reports!
The account is by Jane Lucas of North London. She was
motivated to write the following letter to the Today
programme on BBC Radio 4 following an interview between Terence
Meaden and the BBC's David Whitehouse. Here is this first letter
:
"Dear Mr Meaden,
Several years ago, when I was on a touring holiday, I witnessed the formation of a crop circle. My then husband was driving and I was taking in the countryside [when] my attention was caught by a shimmering in a field of green corn growing beside the road. At my insistence, we pulled in to the side of the road to see what it was. It transpired to be a small whirlwind, which to my astonishment and delight, presently lifted above the corn and came across the field towards us.
It picked up small debris from the road and "stood" for some time in front of us. I didn't attempt to enter it since I was rather awed by the spectacle and wanted to see what it would do ! In fact it just wandered off down the road and then went into another field.
My ex-husband, being a professional photographer, took a rather good picture of "it" on the road, accepting the fact that you can't see a wind but only its effects. The picture shows specs of debris apparently floating in the air.
Considering it at the time, I was thrilled to witness this phenomenon which, while it was unusual, seemed explainable to me at the time. It was, as you mentioned on the radio, a warm still 'perfect' summers day: blue sky, sunshine. It was the middle of the afternoon. I cannot however recall now after so long exactly where we were but I believe it was Wiltshire. There were a fair number of rocky hills around and recalling the image in my mind there was certainly a hilly backdrop to the field where I first spotted it.
At the time, probably ten years ago now, it wasn't topical. Over the past few years it seems to have become so. I listen in frustration to discussions suggesting supernatural causes for these phenomena hoping one day someone will come up with what I believe to be the 'right' answer ! I've tried to report it once before to Radio 4's 'Nature Notebook' after it was discussed recently but the man I spoke to wasn't very interested. Then I caught the end of your piece this morning as I was leaving for work and thought that it may interest you ?
Yours Faithfully, Jane Lucas"
In a letter to Paul Fuller dated 17th March 1994 Jane Lucas
goes on to describe how the effect of the whirlwind "was not
very great, possibly 6 feet high and wide. It made no sound other
than the occasional rustle from the debris" (just like the
Melvyn Bell account). "It moved at a brisk walking pace, say
3 miles per hour, at the time I observed it". It transpired
that the photograph Jane possesses was taken after the whirlwind
made the circle. The whirlwind had moved onto the adjacent field,
which was already cut. This implies that the photograph was taken
in August or September. However, the reference to the crop being
green in her original letter implies an earlier month, say June
or July. According to Jane Lucas the year was probably either
1976 or 1977, and was certainly no later than 1979.
Perhaps the most ironic aspect of this eye witness account is
that it took place in the vicinity of what Jane Lucas refers to
as "the famous White Horse". Unfortunately it has not
proved possible to determine which of the four White Horses of
Wiltshire this event refers to, but it seems quite possible that
this event occurred at the Bratton White Horse near Westbury -
scene of the infamous Operation Blackbird hoax of 1990 and the
site where Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claim that they actually
"invented" the crop circle phenomenon in 1978 !!
In a letter dated 14th April 1994 Jane Lucas states that:
"We saw it [the whirlwind] from a road, glimpsed between buildings. It was on a grassy hill, fairly steep. We looked for a way up but there seemed none from the road. I saw no car park and recall disappointment at not being able to stop and look at it more closely".
This certainly sounds like the Bratton White Horse location.
Jane Lucas kindly forwarded a copy of the circle-making
whirlwind photograph in April. It shows a large plume of debris
from very close up, as well as the hedgerow and cut corn in the
background. The photograph is actually copyrighted to Barry
Rolfe, Jane's former husband, but is available to anyone who
wishes to see it. If readers wish to contact Jane Lucas please
write to the Editorial address on
page 28.
This whole story is a typical example of how the Great Crop
Circle Fraud was perpetrated. Had the BBC actively investigated
this case or given it air time it might have helped diffuse the
false claims being made by other researchers about a supernatural
phenomenon. It might have conceivably attracted confirmatory eye
witnesses to this event, or to others like it. Instead the BBC
stand accused of fanning the flames of a silly season story that
resulted in mass crop circle hoaxing around the globe. Instead
the BBC are guilty of helping to discredit a beautiful natural
anomaly by this willful suppression of unwelcome evidence.
Perhaps Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado are not the only
researchers who owe the world one huge apology.
This amusing report fell into my lap a few weeks ago. In it,
Steven Greer describes his adventures with the spaceships during
the CSETI group's visit to Woodborough Hill in 1992.
Readers will probably recall that we have already featured Steven
Greer in CW12. I have in my possession a fascinating video
of his lecture at the UFO Conference held at the University of
Lincoln, Nebraska in 1992. During his lecture Greer showed a
video of three bright lights which were "vectored in"
by his group's brilliant laser light show on a Florida beach at 2
in the morning. The UFOs clearly move around independently of one
another during a video sequence lasting more than ten minutes.
You can hear members of Greer's group shrieking in excitement as
the UFOs move around, seemingly in response to his powerful laser
light.
Tom Trubridge of Gosport has advised your Editor that the
lights may be the latest US army flares, which apparently last
for much longer periods than standard flares and which hang in
one place for many minutes suspended on parachutes. Is it
possible, I ask myself, that such flares could be attached to
small remotely-controlled devices that enable the flares to move
around in a seemingly "intelligent" fashion ? This
speculation is strengthened by Greer's claim that his group have
been hounded by mysterious men on several occasions. Could it be
that some technologically-minded skeptics have decided to set
Greer up ? Since this event Greer has made something of a name
for himself jetting around the world in order to meet the aliens.
In a recent trip to Mexico Greer's party were allegedly treated
to the spectacle of a giant brilliantly-lit spaceship hovering
above their camp in a scene that must have resembled the climatic
ending of Spielberg epic Close Encounters of a Third Kind.
Further contact with the space people was made in a trip to
Belgium that has been enthusiastically promoted by Sightings
in the USA. Unfortunately your Editor has only seen film of the
Florida sightings but I have learnt that disagreement exists
between the CSETI group members over ownership and
copyright of these videos which - were they to be released -
would presumably prove the existence of these alien visitors
beyond all reasonable doubt. Well golly, shucks !
In this latest report Greer describes how he and a number of
other visionaries (including the famous alleged abductee Maria
Ward) camped out at the Carson's farm at Alton Barnes between
July 20th and 30th 1992.
"I do not believe that any of us could have foreseen the magnitude of the events which were to follow. In the coming nine days we were to witness events which, without doubt, rank as some of the most extraordinary, multiply witnessed close encounters in the history of this phenomenon. Within these few days, our team was to successfully achieve contact with extraterrestrial intelligence on at least three major occasions, and as you will learn, probably on several other occasions. Certainly, I believe it can be stated without exaggeration, that the lives of everyone involved was changed forever by what they saw, what they felt, and what they collectively experienced."
From this moment on readers are plunged into a breath-taking
yarn of cosmic proportions (yawn, yawn). Like the super heroes of Circular
Evidence Greer and his companions experience all the usual
paranormal phenomena that Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado initially
associated with crop circles in Circular Evidence. These
included the radar system responding to Greer's conversation, the
famous Grasshopper Warbler sound, remotely-viewing a formation
that actually appears the following day (gasp !), and an
astonishing visitation by a "structured spacecraft"
(during which, as in the Mexican CE5, everyone's cameras fail to
work).
In what is described as a "near landing of a
spacecraft" Greer describes how "in the wee hours of
July 27th" his group observed "a large, disk shaped
craft with brilliant lights rotating counter clockwise along its
base" only "four hundred yards" from their
location. The "craft" exhibited a "high dome or
cone" on which were placed "three or four
amber-coloured lights". Once again the infamous Grasshopper
Warbler humming noise could be heard whilst the video cameras had
been rendered inoperable by a sudden downpour of rain that had
been initiated by the all-powerful space visitors. This is how
the closest part of the sighting is described on tape :-
"We are observing a close range spacecraft that is conical shaped. Lord, it looks like a Christmas tree lit up - exactly ! Mother of Mary Christ, look ! Now its rotated a bit. It is conical and looks just like a Christmas tree. It is floating down through the trees at this time. Do you hear the humming ? Yes. When it first approached you could see the lower part. It looked disk shaped. It was rotating, and the lights were going back and forth. This thing is big, quite large, that came across here !" Greer claims that during this CE5 his group signalled to the spaceship with a high powered flashlight and received a response. This alleged communication with the aliens was then repeated. Again this event has allegedly been tape recorded for posterity. A second round of signaling between CSETI and a UFO took place at 1.30 am. Readers will recall that in "Alien Update" (page 67) Editor Tim Good allows Maria Ward to describe a slightly less impressive version of this tale.
During this meeting between humans and Extra Terrestrials everyone present felt a "tingling" sensation and a magnetic compass behaved erratically. Independent witnesses (including Busty Taylor) were allegedly located on nearby hills and reported seeing an "amber coloured light" moving in the direction of Greer's group. Curiously BUFORA's Roy Dutton had met the CSETI group beforehand and from his extensive analysis on the incidence of UFO waves had predicted that there would be "significant opportunities for sightings around 10:30 pm, and then again at 12:30 am., and 1:30 am."
Throughout this definitive report Dr Greer describes some
interesting new personalities and places. In addition to the
"Argost" Project someone called "Greg"
Presley is involved. Circles and UFOs appear at places called
"Towsmead Copse" and "Roundplay".
The entire account reads straight out of a science fiction
novel, but for True Believers in the Extraterrestrial Mythology
this was yet one more event which proves the presence of the
aliens. Sheer nonsense, but highly entertaining !
Readers will recall the furore surrounding Colin Andrews'
disastrous presentation at the United Nations Church Centre in
New York City last October (see CW20),
a lecture which Andrews and his supporters fraudulently implied
to be an official United Nations event. Now Sussex Circular
has published a scathing article by Richard "Scott"
McKie, the inventor of the POD MOD electrical car which Colin
Andrews linked (somewhat tentatively!) to crop circles. Our
thanks go to Andy Thomas of Sussex Circular for allowing
us to quote from this important article.
This is what McKie has to say :
"Now I wish to address the several different notations pertaining to the POD MOD technology within Sussex Circular 24. The statement made by Mr. Colin Andrews during his SEAT presentation were only partially true. Now for the truth...."
It seems that whilst Colin Andrews was preparing for his
United Nations S.E.A.T. lecture Richard McKie met with
Richard Hoagland of the (Face on) Mars Mission at his house.
Hoagland mentioned the fact that Colin Andrews was in New York
City and that Andrews was an electrical engineer who would be
making a presentation at the United Nations on his behalf. McKie
and Hoagland faxed Andrews various documents and material
pertaining to the POD MOD technology McKie has been developing.
In Sussex Circular McKie states :
"AT NO TIME DID I TELL HIM, OR EVER INTIMATE, THAT THE PHYSICS WERE DERIVED FROM THE CROP CIRCLES. NOR, AT ANY TIME DID I TELL HIM THAT WE WERE READY TO DRIVE A CAR TO THE UN BY CHRISTMAS TIME.
For the record, I told Mr. Andrews that, indeed, I agreed with Mr Hoagland that the physics embodied within the technology I had rediscovered was in fact hyperspacial, by definition. "
It turns out that this "hyperspacial" physics is
based on work by Nikola Tesla (who else?) and James Clerk
Maxwell. This same "hyperspacial tetrahedral geometry"
has apparently been found by Hoagland in his studies of the
Plains of Cydonia from the Viking photographs of Mars released by NASA.
Hoagland believes that this same "hyperspacial tetrahedral
geometry" is exhibited by the crop circle phenomenon.
Despite this McKie emphasises "I have never studied crop
circles in any form."
Amusingly McKie goes on to describe how he and Hoagland were
stopped by a Patrolman pulling away in an electric VW
"Bug" which was doing 65 mph in a 55 mph zone. The
Patrolman was laughing so much he failed to give them a ticket !
Meanwhile, at the United Nations S.E.A.T. Conference
Colin Andrews was making his false claim that the decoding of
"E.T. Related" crop circle patterns had "confirmed
the principles employed" by the POD MOD device. He repeated
these false claims a few days later at a UFO Conference held in
San Mateo, California.
When McKie and Hoagland realised that their work was being
used by Andrews to promote his views they managed to contact
Andrews when he returned to New York City. Andrews returned their
call and they believed that they had made a "very clear and
concise conversation" about their work. Andrews apparently
promised to put out a statement correcting these
"misrepresentations". Presumably these corrections are
the comments that have appeared in the Fall 1993 issue of the CPR
International Newsletter, where Andrews states that:
"The CPR telephone has not stopped ringing since the U.N. Symposium [note "U.N." not "S.E.A.T.", PF]... Some of the calls we have received have been from front line researchers in the 'free-energy' field, others from commercial interests. It has been suggested that the U.N. talk was used, perhaps even abused, for personal advantage. No other single statement Colin has made has engendered such heightened debate [hasn't it ?? PF] . The outcome has been sharpened pencils and a freshly bruised Colin. Lessons have been learned in the importance of double and treble-checking information before placing it in the public domain. Hopefully no ultimate harm has been done. Let us remember that we are all capable of making mistakes."
In his Editorial Andrews accepts that the the POD MOD car is
powered by conventional batteries which therefore "falls
short of a 'free-energy' electrically driven motor car."
According to Andrews "McKie also says that Hoagland's work
of interpreting some of the crop circles supported the physics he
is working with but did not, in fact, come first."
Sadly these corrections appear to have only annoyed McKie
further. In his Sussex Circular article McKie responds by
querying Andrews' qualifications as an electrical engineer. McKie
finds it "peculiar and interesting" that despite
Andrews' engineering qualifications he needed to make "many
tens of phone calls" to leading researchers at the Lockhead
Company to "rationalise his position". In shades of
Andrews' false claims concerning "Operation Whitecrow"
and his celebrated status at Test Valley Borough Council McKie
wonders who these un-named researchers are. Finally McKie
responds to criticisms of the POD MOD technology made in Sussex
Circular by Barry Reynolds. This whole tale again highlights
the sad facts surrounding Colin Andrews' CPR Organisation.
Andrews seems incapable of relating to the real world, of seeing
himself as others see him, of understanding the true extent of
the religious movement he and Delgado created in the 1980s.
Andy Thomas, Editor of Sussex Circular, has asked us to
emphasise that the comments in Richard McKie's article were his
own and not those of the Sussex Circular Editorial team.
If you want a copy of this article write to Sussex Circular,
42 Croxden Way, Willingdon Trees, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22
0UJ. Subscriptions are # 10 (cheques payable to 'CCCS Sussex').
Regular readers will recall that in CW21 I raised the fascinating
coincidence that the 1953 film The War of the Worlds
referred to a crash site for the invading Martian fleet at
"Corona". According to a number of books and research
papers a "real" UFO allegedly crashed at Corona in
1947. Could it be, I mused, that the makers of the 1953 film were
drawing on what would have been a very recent rumour ?
Well, thanks to Chris Rutkowski in Winnipeg, a number of
messages have appeared on the alt.paranet.ufo Bulletin Board
System. Thad Floryan states that :
"I just browsed my archives, pulled the VHS tape of "The War of the Worlds", and viewed TWOTW (for the umpteenth time since 1953 when I first saw the movie in the theatre). Yes, "Corona" was mentioned in the film, but given the movie's primary context (the Los Angeles [34-00N 118-15W] environs), it appears Corona, California [33-52N, 117-34W] is the city cited and not Corona, New Mexico [34-15N 105-35W]. Thus, "Corona" is not really an interesting coincidence [in the movie]."
Also, someone called "Bob" at Northern Arizona
University, kindly posted this information :
"I agree that Corona was the town in California mentioned in War of the Worlds. I was raised in that town and it was a standard joke from time to time due to the publicity which our town received, in fact the hills in the background of the movie appear to be the Santa Anna Mountains behind Corona."
So, there you have it. Another fascinating hint of the Great
Conspiracy has been cruelly taken from us, just as things were
beginning to get interesting. Your Editor is quietly complaining
to his supervisors at MBF Services...
