Regular readers will already be aware of the numerous claims
and counter claims about hoaxing in deepest Wiltshire over the
past few years. It doesn't take a PhD or two to work out that
Southern Britain is now completely saturated with mischievous yet
benign "circlemakers" keeping the UFO myth alive and
kicking as they run rings around the True Believers. These
circlemakers have infiltrated all the believer groups and - as
with Doug and Daves' deft tactics - they learn how to satisfy the
needs of the True Believers by simply listening to them at
believer conferences and in smokey public houses.
This year your Editor has learnt that there are many new
groups of circlemakers operating from the Beck-hampton area of
Wiltshire. These new circlemakers meet at The Barge public house
in Honey Street (half a mile to the south of Alton Barnes).
Despite the fact that the general public lost interest with the
crop circle subject several years ago an entertaining battle
continues to rage between two directly opposed belief systems - a
religious war between the growing numbers of circle makers and
the True Believers desperate to deny the reality of the Great
Crop Circle Hoax. Where this war will take us, nobody knows. On
the humorous side The Crop Watcher has learnt that one
group of True Believers are driving around the darkened lanes of
Wiltshire in a vehicle marked as the "Hoax Buster" (it
has a distinctive flashing light and is based on the
"Ghostbusters" film). In another celebrated incident a
well known farmer's wife stuffed a potato up the exhaust pipe of
a car belonging to Adrian Dexter. We have also learnt that during
one night of bitter recriminations at The Barge plans were well
developed to push Adrian Dexter's car into the Kennet and Avon
canal as a punishment for his alleged nocturnal activities.
During interviews with several sources your Editor has been
informed of numerous names of people allegedly engaged in making
crop circles. These names include Andy Batey, Rod Dickinson,
Robert Irving, Vince Palmer, Simon Shedlar, Paul Pilson (??) and
Lee Winterson. Some of these names appear as bona fide witnesses
in Andy Collins' controversial new book Alien Energy (to
be reviewed in full in our next issue).
In a lengthy interview with a "deep throat"
source The Crop Watcher has learnt that Andy Batey has
admitted to making the seven legged formation in East Field this
summer. From what I can tell it is common knowledge that:
- Andy Batey claimed that he was intending to make a circle
with keys at Lurkeley Hill which subsequently appeared;
- "Paul Pilson" has admitted to overlaying a circle on
top of a pre-existing "nautilus" at Cherhill in 1994;
- Lee Winterson has boasted that he made several formations in
the Alton Barnes area; and
- Andy Batey has admitted that Vince Palmer has made circles in
Wiltshire.
Readers may also be interested to learn that Paul Vigay, a CCCS
Council member and field officer who runs something called the
Independent Research Centre for Unexplained Phenomena (IRCUP)
from an address in Portsmouth, mixes with these circle makers at
The Barge but makes not the slightest mention of this fact in Enigma,
the magazine Vigay edits and publishes on behalf of his
"world-wide" research organisation (the letter heading
features an artist's impression of the alleged "Grey"
alien of UFO folklore). In a recent letter to your Editor Paul
Vigay admits that he has seen hoaxers placing
"artifacts" inside crop circles in Wiltshire. For some
reason Vigay refuses to name these circle makers or how he seems
to know who these hoaxers are. It is suspected that Vigay has
film of these circlemakers in the process of making circles, a
claim which Vigay has not denied.
In several extensive interviews with a second "deep
throat" source your Editor has learnt that a group of around
one dozen circlemakers are claiming responsibility for having
made every single formation which has appeared in Southern
Britain this summer. This claim is supported by the fact that
many of the 1994 formations were based on a common theme - the
so-called Scorpion - and that some of these designs appear in a
booklet titled A Beginners Guide to Crop Circle Making,
which has been produced by the Wiltshire Circlemakers "with
assistance from Fe3" (see review
on page 19).
Speaking to our second "deep throat" source at
length one is left in not the slightest doubt about his extensive
knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the appearance of this
summer's most entertaining formations - eg the ever decreasing
circles at Ipsden, north of Reading, a similar formation at East
Dean near Goodwood in Sussex, and the Galaxy formation near
Avebury in Wiltshire - to name but three examples. With each
formation there is a story to tell and an amusing anecdote to
recall. With each formation there is abundant mirth at the
foolishness of those who continue to cling to the crop circle
faith and who continue to deny evidence which the result of the
world accepted long, long ago.
It appears that this loose group of circlemakers are
fascinated by the "false science" of the belief-centred
cerealogists. It is this "false science" which provides
the main motivation for the Circlemakers' activities. Whilst most
people respond to the cerealogists' incredible claims with
outright derision it is clear that the Wiltshire Circlemakers
have decided that a more appropriate response is to "set
up" the cerealogists by faking evidence for the alien
intelligence believed to be responsible for the
"genuine" phenomenon. A good example of the
circlemakers' campaign is the furore surrounding the notorious H-Glaze
Report (see page 8), but it seems
clear that other projects have been executed and that other, more
outrageous projects, are planned.
In an interview with a farmer located right in the heart of
the Beckhampton area your Editor has learnt that the activities
of the Wiltshire Circlemakers do not meet with the approval of
local farmers. Some have spent hundreds of pounds installing new
fencing in an attempt to keep the circlemakers and cerealogists
at bay. Many farmers seem surprisingly unaware that the names of
many leading circle makers are known, that some have confessed to
having made specific circles and that allegations of complicity
with local farmers have been made. The farmer I spoke to
described circlemaking as "mindless destruction". He
also felt that it was extremely unlikely that genuine farmers
would damage their own fields.
Unfortunately, because of the terms of his tenancy agreement,
this particular farmer felt that it would be unwise to speak out
publicly against the circlemakers and their activities. However,
he was adamant that once the names of the circlemakers are known
and once these names can be tied to specific formations then
actions for trespass and criminal damage would undoubtedly
follow. The effect of the new Criminal Justice Act, which became
law in November, will be an interesting additional component to
this battle of the belief systems in darkest Wiltshire. Until
this Act came into force circlemakers ran the risk of a civil
action in the courts. Now, however, circlemakers can expect to be
prosecuted under the criminal law, with much tougher sentences.
The real question is this - who deserves to be prosecuted more
keenly - the circlemakers or the cereologists ? The Crop
Watcher will continue to report on the Great Crop Circle Hoax
as it runs and runs ...
