Request for information on eyewitness sightings of crop circle formation
Well, you would think that finding eyewitnesses of crop circle formation (regardless of what the eyewitness reported) would seem to be the answer to 'just exactly how are crop circles formed?', but for a variety of reasons, the roughly 50 or so eyewitness accounts of crop circle formation from around the world have usually been summarily discounted.
It may be, perhaps, that because no collection of these reports has been undertaken systematically, that the weight of these people's observations have not been taken seriously. But more than likely, for those objectively evaluating the eyewitnesses claims of seeing a crop circle form, it may have more to do with the lack of an identifiable, consistently-observed process amongst the witnesses. There seems to be a variety of descriptions as to the circumstances of how the crops (or grasses) become flattened, but several clear patterns emerge when comparing the statements.
Dr. Terence Meaden, in his book, The Circles Effect and Its Mysteries [June 1989, Aretech Publishing Co., ISBN 0 9510590 3 3] has contributed the largest and most detailed collection of eyewitness reports. In Meaden's book, several eyewitnesses clearly report all the characteristics of whirlwinds being involved with circle formation, but several others clearly report light effects being involved, and others report hearing only strange acoustical effects. This, of course, led to Meaden's 'synthesis' approach to try and develop a hypothesis which could explain the wide variety of circumstances involved with crop circle formation that the eyewitnesses were reporting - hence, the 'plasma vortex' idea. Interestingly, the majority of the eyewitness reports that have been collected are daytime observations, in contrast with the often-used (by both supporters and critics) myth that ‘crop circles form only at night’.
[As an aside, Meaden also cites G.D. Freier’s work in 1960 on the electric fields of dust devils, which zoobyshoe has mentioned previously in this thread, but Meaden also cites W.E. Bradley and R.G. Semonin for their 1963 work on electrical measurements of dust whirls, and D. Crozier’s 1964 and 1970 work on electric fields of dust devils, as well as many others for helping to form the basis for the plasma vortex hypothesis. Meaden has more than 50 scientific citations listed of related science papers in this book to support his ideas.]
Additional eyewitness reports can be found in a wide variety of literature and media. For instance, Arthur C. Clarke’s “Mysterious Universe” TV show did a half-hour documentary on crop circles in 1995 (which has recently been re-released on DVD as part of a wider collection of shorts from the TV series). In the crop circle segment, three eyewitnesses are interviewed – one from the 1940’s, is clearly of the whirlwind variety of sightings, a second from the 1960’s is associated with luminous phenomenon, and a third contemporary sighting had both luminous and acoustic characteristics. Several other books and periodicals of a wide and diverse array of credibility exist which list eyewitness accounts of crop circle formation.
I should mention that one notable purported eyewitness claim has been discredited. A video tape surfaced in 1996 which seemed to show a crop circle formation forming underneath several 'balls of light' flying in circles above a field at a place called Oliver's Castle in southern England. The video was analyzed and the filmographer scrutinized, and both turned out to be frauds. The video had been doctored on a computer, and the filmographer confessed to fabricating it. It is still being lauded as genuine by some groups, so steer away from that account. However, there does exist at least a dozen filmed examples of these flying 'balls of light' that have been witnessed at crop circle locations - after the crop circles have already formed - that have stood up to scrutiny. There have been dozens more that have been eyewitnessed but not filmed. What the 'balls of light' relationship is to the circles, or what their composition or nature is, at this point is unknown.
I, myself, have interviewed a couple of witnesses to crop circle formations here in the USA in the past year, and both reports consist of completely different observations. The first report – again, a daytime observation – saw no whirlwind action, but described the three-circle complex formation as being flattened in 12-15 seconds. No unusual lights, no unusual sounds, no lightning, no whirlwinds – just the plants wavering back and forth like ‘waves on a lake’, then being flattened, each circle one at a time. For a more detailed report on this incident visit:
http://www.cropcirclenews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=128
A second report from last summer has come to me just recently, and I have yet to compile a report of the incident, but it was a nighttime observation which involved luminous phenomenon. The reported 'balls of light' seen after the crops had been flattened were photographed in this case.
[Incidently, I am part of a loose 'team' of independent researchers trying to document the crop circles here in the USA using a scientific framework as the basis for discerning which crop circles are hoaxes mechanically-made by people, and which ones are not. Last year, our team field-investigated 14 reported crop circle sites in 12 weeks in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana. Several of those were clear hoax attempts, and we categorized and reported on them as such, whereas others we determined to not have been mechanically-made. We determined this through a variety of field tests. I certainly am interested in feedback on our methodology if anyone would like to comment. For additional details on all of these sites, feel free to read our reports at
www.cropcirclenews.com]
