 
    This article ran in "Mufon UFO Journal", December 1990.  Back copies of 
    the issue may be requested by writing to:  Mufon,  103  Oldtowne  Road, 
    Seguin,   TX  78155.  Minor corrections have been made in  this  online 
    version.   The  bibliography has been updat-ed to March  1991.   Online 
    version created and released by Michael Chorost. 
     
                          THE SUMMER 1990 CROP CIRCLES 
     
                      by Michael Chorost and Colin Andrews 
                      Aerial photographs by Colin Andrews 
                         Diagrams by Richard G. Andrews 
     
     
    (All  paragraphs  marked  [CA] are by Colin Andrews;  the rest  are  by 
    Michael Chorost.) 
     
      Summer 1990 brought an explosion in the complexity, size,  and number 
    of  the  crop circles in England.  About six hundred  were  discovered, 
    double the number of 1989. One intriguing early shape was discovered at 
    Longwood  Estate  on  June 6,  and dubbed  a  "quarter-arc"   formation 
    (picture and diagram 1).  Another early shape was the first  "dumbbell" 
    formation,   discovered  on May 23rd near the foot  of  Telegraph  Hill 
    (diagram  2).  In its external shape and internal crop lay,  it was the 
    most complex formation ever seen up to that time. 
     
      Many  more  dumbbells  like  this followed (see  pictures  2-5,   and 
    diagrams  3-5.)  Later in the summer,  the "double dumbbells",  complex 
    formations  several hundred feet long,  began to appear.  They  sported 
    odd-looking  forklike  extensions,  and entourages of  smaller  circles 
    nearby. Three of them were discovered in all. 
     
      The  new  formations were a shock to everybody.  Much more  than  the 
    circles,  rings, and quintuplets of earlier years,  they seemed to mean 
    something, though no one knew what.  They seemed both part of the earth 
    and detached from it,  as if they would slide away along the  tramlines 
    once their anchor-lines were cut. They looked at once cryptic, fragile, 
    and luminous. 
     
     
    Discussion of one "dumbbell" formation 
    -------------------------------------- 
    
      On July 3,  six days after it was made,  I  examined the formation in 
    picture 4 (and Diagram 4)  in detail.  It was 48 meters long,  so large 
    that  people walking around in it looked like marbles rolling around  a 
    plate.  It was made of two circles of wheat flattened along the ground, 
    one  with  a  ring.  They were connected by a bar,   inside  which  the 
    flattened wheat plants pointed toward the unringed circle.  There was a 
    sort  of  "tail",  more technically called a spur,   where  the  plants 
    pointed in the opposite direction from the bar. Four rectangles flanked 
    the  bar.   In  the inner two rectangles,  the flattened  wheat  plants 
    pointed toward the unringed circle;  in the outer two, they pointed the 
    other way. 
     
      The most complex part of this formation was where the bar intersected 
    the  ringed circle.  The bar crossed the ring and the band of  standing 
    plants, but stopped at the perimeter of the inner circle. In this area, 
    the  plants in the ring lay on top of the bar,  meaning that  they  had 
    been  flattened after the bar was formed (see picture 10).   Hence  the 
    formation  was made in at least two stages.  Also,  whatever formed the 
    ring did not affect the plants already laid down in the bar.  While the 
    ring was being formed after the bar,  the bar's plants stayed put; they 
    were not realigned to become part of the ring. 
     
      The same kind of thing was evident at the other end of the bar, where 
    it  met the unringed circle.  The plants in the circle  overlapped  the 
    plants in the bar by a few inches, showing that the unringed circle was 
    also  made after the bar.  This is a small clue about how these  things 
    are  made.  They aren't stamped out all at once,  cookie-cutter  style; 
    instead, something forms the parts in a definite sequence. 
     
      Most  of  the  plants seemed to be alive and green  (young  wheat  is 
    green.)  However, a friend with me saw that about a third of the plants 
    whose  stems were next to the tramlines had turned yellowish.  We could 
    only speculate that those plants,  having gotten less fertilizer,  were 
    less hardy than the rest. 
     
      Strangely,  some of the plants inside the formation were not affected 
    by  whatever  force  flattened their fellows.  On either  side  of  the 
    tramline  running through the formation,  many plants remained  upright 
    (picture 10). This also occurred in the ring, where isolated individual 
    plants remained stand- ing here and there, completely unaffected,  like 
    lonely survivors of a massacre. (See also "Circular Evidence", p. 133.) 
    Colin speculates that the formative force may work like a paint roller, 
    flattening plants in strips and swathes, and thus may miss a plant here 
    and there between passes. 
     
      I was fascinated by the giant rectangles (see picture 11.) Rectangles 
    of  a sort have been seen in earlier years,  as spurs extending out  of 
    circles (see "Circular Evidence",  pages 54  and 42.)  These,  however, 
    were true rectangles. From the ground, they looked like giant bathtubs. 
     
      In each rectangle,  three sides looked as if they had been cut with a 
    razor.  However, the "forward" end of each rectangle --the end to which 
    the plants pointed--was not straight but jagged, or "notched"  (picture 
    12).   Whatever  made  the rectangles faced a challenge here:   how  to 
    flatten  the  plants right at the end without also  knocking  down  the 
    standing  plants making up that end.  It solved the problem by  pushing 
    the flattened plants down in bunches between the plants at the end. The 
    standing  plants  apppeared unharmed;  they  stood  perfectly  upright,    
    and their leaves were not stripped off. 
     
    This "notching" effect was also evident at the end of the "tail." It is 
    a characteristic feature of virtually all rec- tangular elements. 
     
    1990's surveillance operation: Blackbird 
    ---------------------------------------- 
    
      [CA] Operation Blackbird was the largest surveillance operation  ever 
    conducted to discover and film the cause of the circles.  Between  23rd 
    July  and 10th August,  1990,  twelve special cameras were focused on a 
    corridor  of land about one mile long and 700  meters wide at Westbury. 
    The  cameras ranged from thermal imaging to low-light,  with  sensitive 
    listening devices for good measure. 
     
      [CA]  Blackbird netted two significant results.  One was  the  Army's 
    filming of a "ball of light" above Silbury Hill, near Avebury. The film 
    shows  an  orange ball of light in the sky south of Silbury Hill.   Its 
    scale  and height are difficult to gauge.  It was initially stationary, 
    then moved slowly to the east,  then descended behind a hill,  where it 
    shone through the trees before it was lost to sight. 
     
      Orange  balls  have been seen before.  Richard Beaumont writes of  an 
    orange ball reported on June 29, 1989: 
     
     
           In the early hours of the morning,  a most reliable source    
         spotted  an  orange  ball of light,  about  thirty  feet  in    
         diameter,   descending  into a field well known  for  circle    
         formations.  The eye witness said that it appeared to bounce    
         slightly  as  it touched the ground.  He also said  that  it    
         appeared  to  have a flat bottom,  but assumed that it  must    
         have  looked  flat because of its descent  into  the  cereal    
         crop.  The ball appeared brighter at the periphery, although    
         at  no  point was it a brilliant light.  There was no  noise    
         whatsoever.   It then took on a hovering position for  about    
         seven  to eight seconds,  and simply disappeared,  as if one    
         had  just turned off a light bulb...[Colin Andrews  and  the    
         witness]  could reference where the ball of light must  have    
         been exactly.  The next day the local farmer and others rang    
         Colin. A  new formation had formed exactly where the ball of    
         light was seen!  (Beaumont, "Kindred Spirit", vol. 1, no. 8,    
         p 27.)                                                          
                                                                         
           [CA]  The other result of Blackbird was the BBC's  filming    
         of  a set of circles forming at Westbury during the night of    
         3rd-4th  August.  The film is of poor quality,   even  after    
         enhancement,  but it shows a darkened shape relating to  the    
         largest  circle's  size and location.  In the morning,   the    
         formation was seen to be a large circle with a looping  tail    
         pushing  out of it and terminating in a smaller circle about    
         10 meters away. Two other,  smaller circles were also formed    
         some distance away.                                             
                                                                         
           [CA]  The BBC had promised to show both the Army's and its    
         own  films on a special programme,  but they now  inform  me    
         that  somebody has decided that they are not compatible with    
         the "Daytime UK"  programme.  The BBC have stated,  in fact,    
         that  they do not plan to show the films at all.  It is  not    
         clear why.  [Chorost:  Colin has since told me that the  BBC    
         plans to air the tapes on "People Today",  BBC 1,  March 21,    
         1991.]                                                          
                                                                         
           [CA] Blackbird also suffered from a cruel hoax. During the    
         early hours of 25th July, several of the 50-strong observers    
         witnessed  unusual  lights  on one  of  the  monitors.   Key    
         researchers, as well as members of UK and Japanese TV crews,    
         were summoned.  As the sun came up,  the watchers and  press    
         could  see  that a large and intricate  formation  had  been    
         made.  Breakfasttime TV was on the air,  and pressured me to    
         make  a statement.  I  agreed to do so,  and stated on  live    
         national  television  what the observers had  seen  and that    
         circles had appeared on the same spot. Within two hours over    
         30   TV  networks were on the site and the news was  bounced    
         around  the  world  that a UFO had  been  seen  forming  the    
         mystery circles. Later, we walked into the field to view the    
         circles firsthand.  We found that they were all hoaxed,  and    
         that the lights on the monitors were from the hoaxers. Also,    
         crosses and Ouija boards had been left in the circles by the    
         hoaxers.   Lively debate is still heard in the  streets  and    
         pubs of the UK about this  whole  episode;  however, genuine    
         formations  continued  to form throughout the  rest  of  the    
         summer.                                                         
     
    Other observations and discoveries 
    ---------------------------------- 

      The  number  of circles reported has risen steadily in the  last  few 
    years.  Much of it is due to the rise in monitoring,  but the number of 
    circles  per  given area also appears to be increasing.   According  to 
    Terence Meaden's "The Circles Effect and its Mysteries" (p. 14) and his 
    article in the Oxford conference proceedings (p.  22),  75   formations 
    were  discovered in 1987,  110  in 1988,  and 305  in 1989.   In  1990, 
    according to Colin Andrews, there were about 600 formations. [Footnote: 
    These  numbers should be treated with caution,  since I am not  familar 
    with how researchers count circles.  Is a quintuplet formation  counted 
    as one "circle"  or five?  Are "grapeshot"  circles (very small circles 
    less  than  a meter in diameter)  counted separately?  Do  the  various 
    researchers  count circles in the same way?  These questions need to be 
    investigated.]  The rate of increase presents obvious problems for  the 
    researchers,   whose  resources were already strained by the number  of 
    formations which appeared in 1990. 
     
      [CA]  HSC  Laboratories in England have analysed plants taken from  a 
    Celtic-cross formation type found at Blackland, Wiltshire,  on 1st June 
    this year,  using a distillation process which crystallizes the plants. 
    Electron microscope observation showed that the pattern of the crystals 
    was dramatically different from those of the control samples.  A  great 
    deal more work must be done before these early results can be confirmed 
    as significant.  Suffice it to say that three trials have shown similar 
    results (see "Crop Circles--The Latest Evidence".) 
     
      Electrical equipment continues to malfunction occasionally inside the 
    circles.  Busty Taylor  reports  that  video  cameras sometimes fail to 
    record inside them;  the tape advances,   but the magnetic head records 
    either erratically or not at all.  Terence Meaden reports that a camera 
    consistently  refused  to function while pointed down to photograph the 
    center of a circle, but worked in every other orientation tried (Oxford 
    conference notes, p. 41). 
     
      [CA]  Electromagnetic  effects have been experienced on a  number  of 
    occasions, not least on Thursday, 10th August 1989, at 3:30 p.m. when a 
    BBC  television  crew was filming myself and Pat Delgado in a  100-foot 
    diameter circle near Avebury,  Wiltshire.  The troubles  began when the 
    camera  refused to function correctly each time it  entered  the circle 
    and several smaller circles nearby.  Even when elevated on a crane over 
    the edge of the circles, it wouldn't work.  It was agreed  to start the 
    next  shot by holding the camera  outside  the circle,   while we  went 
    inside with the sound engineer.  As the  camera rolled and sound  began 
    taping,  suddenly a loud, shrill, warbling noise blasted into the sound 
    engineer's  headset.   This was a noise we had heard before  at  circle 
    sites.  Pat stood near the center of the circle and felt the effects of 
    an energy field around him. The cone-shaped energy field was so clearly 
    felt  by  him that the edges could be easily defined.   Each  time  Pat 
    walked out of the cone the buzzing noise cleared up from the engineer's 
    headset.  The noise was recorded and sent to the BBC's sound experts in 
    London; they, as well as experts at the Birmingham studio, were baffled 
    by  it.   The camera was found to be completely defunct and had  to  be 
    rebuilt. 
      
      [CA]  The  event  was shown on the BBC's "Daytime  Live"   programme. 
    Presumably  by  coincidence,   as the transmission went  on  air,   the 
    electric supply into the whole studio complex was momentarily lost  and 
    seconds later all telephones were put out of operation. 
     
      There  are anecdotal reports of positive and negative health  effects 
    on people who  enter  these  formations.  Busty Taylor  reports that he 
    sometimes feels the fillings in his teeth hurt in a circle, and he says 
    other people suffer headaches  and back pains.  He and one other person 
    once encountered a blob of strange white jelly in one circle,  and came 
    down with severe colds three to six hours later. A third person who was 
    also there,  however,  remained healthy. There are also reports of dogs 
    becoming ill when in or near circles (see "Circular Evidence", p. 65). 
     
      When I entered the formation in picture 4, I had a friend with me who 
    had had a severe  headache for two  days.  Upon entering the formation, 
    she felt it go away. It returned soon after she left the formation. (I, 
    myself, felt nothing in any of the formations I visited. Nor did I hear 
    anything in the hearing aids I wear.) There are fields of an electrical 
    or ionic nature inside the formations,  and they could affect sensitive 
    humans in the ways mentioned.  Tooth fillings,   for example, are metal 
    wet by saliva, and might become electrically charged by induction. 
     
      Terence  Meaden writes of four eyewitness reports of circles  forming 
    in  daylight before the eyes of surprised onlookers.  In one event,   a 
    witness saw corn in a small area violently buffeted,  then rapidly laid 
    flat  in a circle 50-60  feet in diameter (Oxford conference notes,  p. 
    123).  Meaden interprets these as the effects of stationary whirlwinds, 
    but it is equally possible  to  postulate a force which either operates 
    from a great height or acts invisibly. 
     
      As a graduate student in literature,  I  watch for mention of circles 
    in the 15th and 16th-century texts I read.  Robert Burton,  in his book 
    "Anatomy of Melancholy" (1621), writes:  "These are they [fairies] that 
    dance on heaths and greens,  as Lavater thinks with Trithemius,  &,  as 
    Olaus Magnus adds,  leave that green circle,  which we commonly find in 
    plain fields,  which others hold to proceed from a meteor falling,   or 
    some accidental rankness of the ground;  so  Nature sports herself" (p. 
    168). It could well be, however, that Burton's only talking about fairy 
    rings, fungal infections which blight plants in circular patterns. It's 
    hard to draw firm conclusions from this report. 
     
    Update on the hoax theory 
    ------------------------- 

      The evidence against hoaxing is compelling.  The absence of  physical 
    trampling, the precision of the crop lays, the rapidity of manufacture, 
    the  great  numbers and immense sizes of the formations,   the  plants' 
    biological  changes,  the electromagnetic phenomena of flashing  lights 
    and crackling/humming sounds,  the "cones of force"   sometimes felt by 
    observers within the  formations,   the malfunctions in equipment,  the 
    health   effects,   the  eyewitness  reports  of  circles  forming  "by 
    themselves,"   the apparent human inability  to reproduce  a  "genuine" 
    circle--all these observations argue against the hoax theory. 
     
    The Oxford conference 
    --------------------- 

      The first conference on the circles was held at Oxford Polytechnic on 
    June  23,   1990.   Organized  by TORRO  (Tornado  and  Storm  Research 
    Organization)  and CERES (Circles Effect Research Group),  its speakers 
    focused  on  the theory that vortices  of spinning plasma in the  lower 
    atmosphere  are  responsible  for  the formations.  There were over 150 
    people  attending,   among which were professional scientists,   circle 
    investigators, journalists, and members of the public. 
     
      The  primary figure at the conference was Terence Meaden,  an Oxford-
    educated  physicist  specializing in the study  of  atmospheric  plasma 
    vortices. He argued that highly electrified, rapidly spinning  vortices 
    of  air have enough energy to flatten large areas  of crops.  Grains of 
    dust and pollen trapped inside the vortex rub together and  generate  a 
    substantial electric charge,  which increases the total energy borne by 
    the vortex. Crucial to his theory is the presence of hills large enough 
    to  create  wind  lees--turbulence--in their  wake.   Under  the  right 
    meterological  conditions,   air moving past hills whips into  spinning 
    vortices,  which travel for some distance before touching  the  ground. 
    Their energy dissipates upon contact, leaving behind a perfect circular 
    formation, broken up into satellites or rings according to the internal 
    structure of the vortex. 
     
      Both Colin and I, and many others,  find the theory of natural origin 
    improbable in view of the complexity of the formations.  However,   the 
    circles might be made  by intelligently controlled vortices of the kind 
    Meaden describes.  For this reason,  I think Meaden's physics shouldn't 
    be dismissed out of hand. 
     
      Meaden  also  showed slides of a new and rare occurrence -  a  raised 
    "cone" of braided plants discovered at the centers of some circles. The 
    cones  appear  to be several feet high,  and rule out,  Meaden  argued, 
    theories involving physical (as opposed to meterological or electrical) 
    compression   from  above.   Cones  were  discovered  in  10   of   the 
    approximately 300 circles found in 1989. 
     
      Another speaker was Dr.  John Snow of Purdue University,  who gave an 
    informative lecture on the physics of atmospheric vortices.  He  showed 
    that under certain circumstances,  spinning vortices can  spontaneously 
    break up into two or three vortices.   This,   Snow suggested,  was the 
    mechanism  behind the "triplet"  formations of a large circle  and  two 
    satellites in a straight line, and, by extension, a potential answer to 
    the  problem of the gigantic quintuplet  formations (a large circle and 
    four satellites.) 
     
      A  physicist from Japan,  Dr.  Yoshi-hiko Ohtsuki,  discussed  plasma 
    vortices  in  nature,   which  are already  well  documented  as  "ball 
    lightning."   His  research focuses on the attempt to  create  spinning 
    plasma vortices in the laboratory.  He showed films of short-lived (2.5 
    seconds)   but  energetic  spinning plasma balls he  had  succeeded  in 
    generating. 
     
      Other speakers were Tokio Kokuchi and Hiroshi Kikuchi (Japan),  David 
    Reynolds (England), and Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles (England.) Fuller 
    and  Randles argued that plasma vortices can account for virtually  all 
    still-unexplained UFO sightings,  and proposed that UFO studies  should 
    be considered a branch of meteorology. 
     
      But  many  thought the most important speaker was Busty  Taylor.   He 
    showed  slides and videotapes of recent formations he had  filmed  from 
    the air.  They were so new that most of the people in the audience  had 
    not seen them.  Their impact was sensational.  For many,  they made the 
    carefully phrased arguments for a natural cause disintegrate. 
     
    Events outside England 
    ---------------------- 
    
      North America has "caught"  the circles.  MUFON's April  1990   issue 
    reports  a 7-foot,  8-inch diameter circle discovered in  Gulf  Breeze, 
    Florida in November 1989.  A  46 1/2  foot diameter circle was found in 
    Milan,  Illinois, on October 16, 1990 (Chicago Tribune, Oct. 28,  1990, 
    p.  1).  I  have a letter from a farmer which sketches a May 31,   1989 
    discovery  of a 20-by-18  foot diameter circle of uprooted  tall  grass 
    found near Anderson, Indiana. 
     
      The  October  1990   issue of the Dakota Farmer reports  a  formation 
    discovered in Leola, South Dakota, in early August 1990,  consisting of 
    a "reversed question mark"  surrounded by three rectangles arranged  on 
    the  points of an equilateral triangle.  The "question mark"  is  about 
    thirty feet wide and eighty feet long, and consists of plants bent over 
    exactly two inches above the ground. The width of the affected areas is 
    a consistent five feet. 
     
      There  was  highly concentrated activity in  1990   around  Winnipeg, 
    Canada.  Chris Rutkowski of Winnipeg has submitted a preliminary report 
    to MUFON noting at least seven formations.  One circle was 59  feet  in 
    diameter,   and appeared on August 18,  1990,  near a town  called  St. 
    Francois  Xavier.   Another,  62  feet in diameter,  was discovered  in 
    Niverville  on  August 29,  1990.  Most of the reports  are  of  simple 
    circles, though a triple-ringed circle is said to have been found. 
     
      The  TV  series  "Unsolved Mysteries"  keeps a  listing  of  callers' 
    reports. One caller, from Naples, Florida, reported a 10-foot circle in 
    a field of tall weeds. Other reports come from Oregon, Minnesota, Ohio, 
    Tennessee,   California,  Pennsylvania,  and New York State.  Most  are 
    recent, but some go back as far as 25 years. 
     
      There is considerable variation in the types of  formations  reported 
    in  North  America.   Many  are of flattened plants  like  the  English 
    circles, while others are of burned plants.  In others,  the plants are 
    uprooted entirely,  leaving a bare circle of dirt. No one knows whether 
    these formation types are related. 
     
      Finally,   in the UFO literature,  going back at least twenty  years, 
    there have been reports of circles in Australia,  America, Canada,  New 
    Zealand,   Japan,  and the Soviet Union.  MUFON's October  1990   issue 
    reports a 35-by-45  meter circle found on June 21,  1990, near the town 
    of Yeisk (near Krasnodar) in the Soviet Union. 
     
      One of the most interesting questions at the present time is  whether 
    the  circles  phenomenon in other countries  will  follow  the  English 
    pattern.   So far,  the  majority  of nonenglish formations are  simple 
    circles,  with a handful of more exotic shapes.  Will  the same English 
    shapes as seen in 1990  appear in Winnipeg in a few years,  or will the 
    phenomenon  take a different direction?   The  South  Dakota  "reversed 
    question mark in a triangle" suggests that the latter may be the case. 
     
    A Coded Message? 
    ---------------- 
    
      Do we have a coded message on our hands?  Nobody knows,  but much can 
    be  done  to  try  to find out.  In this section I  will  propose  some 
    guidelines for such an effort. 
     
      The first thing to consider is whether the circles are a message.  As 
    I see it, there are three possibilities. 
     
      1. The circles might not be a message.  They could be the side-effect 
         of  some intelligently directed process,  the way tire-tracks  and 
         footprints are.  In that case there would be no meaning to decode, 
         only a process to discover. 
     
      2. The   circles could be an anti-code,  a  null code.  They could be 
         intended  to  convey  a message merely by  their  presence,   like 
         "2001"'s  monolith.  Their variety and complexity might  be  meant 
         only to convince humans of their non-natural origin. If so,  there 
         would  be no content to decode,  only a awe inspiring calling-card 
         to contemplate. 
      
      3. The  circles could be a positive code that we can crack.  This  is 
         the most interesting idea,  and the only one that can be developed 
         at any length. For the rest of this discussion, let us abandon the 
         foregoing  possibilities,  and assume that the circles are a code. 
         How can we crack it? 
     
       We can apply various kinds of coding strategies to the formations to 
    see if any work.  For convenience,  I'll divide the possible codes into 
    three  broad types:  "linguistic"  codes ("words"),   "figural"   codes 
    ("pictures")   and  "logical"   codes ("sequences").  If  we  look  for 
    linguistic codes,  we try to find ideograms or alphanumeric characters. 
    If  we  look  for figural codes,  we try to  find  schematic  diagrams, 
    pictures of objects, maps, or works of art.  And if we look for logical 
    codes, we look for mathematical or logical sequences. Let's look at the 
    particular challenges of each kind of code. 
     
    Linguistic codes 
    ---------------- 
    
     A linguistic code is,  of course, either a natural alphabetic language 
    like English,  a  direct isomorphism of it (like a cryptogram),  or  an 
    ideographic  language (like Chinese.)  To crack such a code,   we would 
    need  a "Rosetta stone"  establish-  ing equivalences between human and 
    alien languages. So far, of course,  we have none.  We would have to be 
    given  one,   or we would have to find that the formations are  adopted 
    from an obscure or forgotten human language (like Mayan,  which they do 
    superficially resemble.) 
     
      Lacking a Rosetta stone, we might be able build a grammar of the code 
    on  the order of "x always follows y,  z  is always part of q",  though 
    this  would not be a "decoding."  But even a purely relational  grammar 
    would be a significant advance.  We may have its raw elements at  hand. 
    The  circles  are composed of  a  limited number of elements which  are 
    combined and recombined  to make a wide variety of formations.  So far, 
    the simple elements--the building blocks--seem to be circle,  the ring, 
    the rectangle, the straight spur, the curved spur, the partial arc, and 
    the "fork" of two or three prongs. (The "fork" may be decomposable into 
    overlapping rectangles.) The elements might be semantically modified by 
    variations  in  size  and floor lay.  The position  of  the  formations 
    relative to the tramlines,  and to the countryside as a whole, could be 
    additional modifiers. It is certainly possible to look for a grammar. 
     
      Personally, I am skeptical about the linguistic approach. The circles 
    are growing increasingly complex, but compared to human language,  they 
    still seem simple. There are many variations,  but they are  relatively 
    restricted (take the three double-dumbbells). Furthermore,  if they are 
    linguistic,  the language is an  inefficient one. The shapes are highly 
    symmetrical, hence highly redundant. If most of the formations were cut 
    in half lengthwise, they would still convey the same amount of implicit 
    information;   some  could be cut in quarters.  If one looks  at  human 
    language,   one  will  see  that nearly all  words  and  ideograms  are 
    asymmetrical.   This  also holds for letters;  most fonts are  serifed, 
    making even "i"  and "l"  asymmetric. Symmetry  wastes space. Asymmetry 
    maximizes information content and transmission in a limited space. 
     
      Still,  this  does  not eliminate the linguistic  code  theory,   for 
    inefficiency can be overcome by length.  DNA has only four base  units, 
    but it is very long.  The circlemakers, like Tolkien's Ents,  might not 
    care about brevity or efficiency. 
     
      All  this being said,  we are still left with a basic question:   Why 
    would the circlemakers use such a code at all?  It would have been easy 
    to start with something simple like a sequence of primes, and build up. 
    The  circles  may  be inscrutable for  subtle  cultural  and  political 
    reasons,  rather than out of any deficit of sense. Or perhaps we have a 
    deficit  of  sense:   the circlemakers could be sitting around  (so  to 
    speak),  scratching their heads (so to speak), and wondering,  "What is 
    it with these humans?  All the other planets got it right away."  But I 
    prefer  to  believe that our only deficit is in the attention  we  have 
    given to decoding strategies. 
     
    Figural codes 
    ------------- 
      Turning  to  the  second  broad approach,  the  formations  could  be 
    "pictures."   They  might  be schematic diagrams,   say  of  molecules, 
    electronic circuits,  or constellations.  To explore this  possibility, 
    people ought to distribute the pictures as widely  as possible,  hoping 
    that somebody somewhere will recognize the code. 
     
      Or the formations might be literal images.  They could be pictures of 
    spacecraft,   or  alien physiologies,  or body  markings,   or  natural 
    phenomena.  As "pictures",  however, they seem rather limited. There is 
    no apparent effort at perspective or shading. Perhaps they are meant as 
    two-dimensional images,  like projections or shadows.  Or perhaps there 
    is  a  form  of perspective at work,  but  one  quite  foreign  to  our 
    conventions. (Consider how the Egyptians and the Cubists drew the human 
    form.) 
     
      Of  course,   the formations might be diagrams of  wholly  unfamiliar 
    objects, in which case we would have no chance of recognizing them.   A 
    more unsettling possibility is that they are diagrams of quite familiar 
    objects, but drawn by unfamiliar conventions. 
     
      Another   possibility   is   that  they  are  symbols   of   cultural 
    significance,   akin  to our crosses and flags.  There do appear to  be 
    motifs, such as the quintuplets and dumbbells,  which appear repeatedly 
    with variations. 
     
      Finally,   they  might be works of art.  Certainly some of  them  are 
    beautiful  enough to be.  We could try interpreting them as such.   The 
    double dumbbells look like meditations on mechanical fluidity;  the eye 
    spills  from  circle to circle,  simultaneously drawn along and  slowed 
    down by the forklike extensions.  The overall impression is of arrested 
    motion.   One  can visualize the forks spinning round,   the  dumbbells 
    gyrating like molecules around centers of gravity. 
     
      If  the  circles are art,  the point is not to produce the  "correct" 
    response; it is to respond, period. Thus a dialogue opens.  It could be 
    that  the response to our amazement and wonder is the creation of  even 
    bigger and more beautiful formations. 
     
    Logical codes 
    ------------- 
    
      The third approach is to look for patterns in the forma- tions. There 
    do seem to be some.  For instance,  each double-  dumbbell has a three-
    pronged "fork"  sticking off the largest circle,  with a short spur  on 
    the other end of the circle.  Each formation has a two-pronged fork  on 
    one of the other circles.  And many of the single dumbbells have either 
    two or four rectangles flanking the bar.  And so  on.  The question is: 
    Can we find a logical pattern?  If we can, the crucial test would be to 
    predict  subsequent formations.  It would be even better to make a  new 
    formation following the rules, and see if there is a response. 
     
    Program of Action 
    ----------------- 
    
      "Cereology"--the study of the circles--is proceeding (or,  sometimes, 
    not proceeding)  along four fronts:  publicity,  data collection,  data 
    distribution, and data analysis. 
     
      Publicity is crucial, for only when people become deeply aware of the 
    situation will they be moved to do something about it. Much has already 
    been accomplished,  on TV and in a number of articles in the mass media 
    (see  bibliography).  But more needs to be done in America,  since  the 
    people   who   have   the  resources   to   do   something--scientists, 
    policymakers,   academics--have  not been given enough  information  to 
    convince  them to act.  Nor is information being targeted to the  right 
    places.   Thus books need to be distributed to American bookstores  and 
    placed in the science (not New Age,  not occult) sections,  and indepth 
    articles  need to be published in journals like Scientific American and 
    National Geographic. So far, many upper-rank magazines are unwilling to 
    get involved,  but hopefully this will  change as the dimensions of the 
    phenomenon become more widely known. 
      
      Data collection is being done by a relatively small band of people in 
    England,   most  of them amateurs.  They mount  nighttime  surveillance 
    operations like Blackbird, drive around looking for new formations,  do 
    aerial photography, make surface measurements,  mount weather stations, 
    analyze  plants,  and dowse.  (The largest data base of information  is 
    held by Colin Andrews.)  But as said before,  the number of circles far 
    outstrips  their collective ability to keep up.  As for North  America, 
    things  still  depend on the farmer or reporter who is willing to  take 
    pictures  and make measurements, though Winnipeg seems to be gearing up 
    fast. 
     
      The  state of data distribution is difficult to assess from  America. 
    Certainly  America  gets little of the English data,  though  lines  of 
    communication are beginning to open.  The CCCS in England is working to 
    establish a clearinghouse of information.  Within North America, people 
    are beginning to find each other and correspond.  But there is still an 
    urgent  need  to create a North American and international  network  of 
    data distribution. 
     
      Data analysis (mathematical, linguistic, chemical) is just beginning. 
    Serious  work  can  only  take place when the three  other  fronts  are 
    functioning smoothly. 
     
      There  may come a fifth front:  response/action.  If  the  formations 
    constitute  a  message and we decode it,  we may want to answer,  as  I 
    suggested  above,  by tromping plants down to make patterns  ourselves. 
    (Interestingly enough,  several days after the Blackbird hoax,  genuine 
    circles   appeared  in  an  adjacent  field  parallel  to  the   hoaxed 
    formation.)  Or if they constitute blueprints or instructions,  then we 
    may want to start making or doing something. And this, too,  would need 
    organization. 
     
      If  the readers of the MUFON journal want to get involved,  the  best 
    way is to pick a clearly defined goal for one's locality.  For example, 
    ask local farmers if they have seen circles on their land,  or get  the 
    area bookstores to order some of the books, or persuade the paper or TV 
    station  to  run a story,  or start giving information to  people  with 
    resources, or do data collection, or try to decode the circles oneself-
    -there's no lack of things to be done. 
     
      There  is much to be done,  but there is also the need for  strategic 
    patience.  It's hard for people to accept that these luminous forms are 
    truly  part of our world.  The concept takes time to sink in.  And  new 
    concepts  often  get  harsh treatment at  first.   Galileo's  Ptolemist 
    contemporaries,  presented with a telescope to look at Jupiter's moons, 
    dismissed what they saw as illusions,  or refused to look.  Since  this 
    kind  of  rigidity  still  exists  today,   it  will  take  persuasion, 
    publicity,  and patience to convince people to look at them with a more 
    open mind.  And if the circles do lead to a conceptual revolution,  the 
    task will be to manage it wisely. 
     
    Send circle reports to MUFON 
    ---------------------------- 
    
      If any readers of this journal know of new formations,  please report 
    them!  Document them with photos and measurements if you can,  and send 
    the data to MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, Texas 78155-4099. 
     
    Acknowledgements 
    ---------------- 
    
     The authors would like to thank Walt Andrus, Paul Bone, Grant Cameron, 
    Malcolm and Maureen Gilham,  Jerrold R.  Johnson,  Ludwig and  Kathleen 
    Lowenstein,  John Salter, Dennis Stacy,  and Don Tuersley for all their 
    help and encouragement. 
     
     
    Bibliography and Ordering Information 
    ------------------------------------- 
    
    Americans  have to pay high prices for publications available only from 
    England,  since the dollar is weak.  There are two options:  make out a 
    check in pounds at a bank, adding two pounds to cover the extra cost of 
    overseas postage if not already included, or send a check in dollars at 
    the  current  exchange rate,  factoring in an extra pound  to  pay  for 
    currency  conversion,   and two more to cover postage.  These are  only 
    guidelines, based on what's worked for me. 
     
    Citations are alphabetical by first author. 
     
    Books 
    ----- 
    
    Circular Evidence.  Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews.  London:  Bloomsbury 
    Press, 1989. 190 pp. US price $29.95. One can order from at least three 
    places:  (1) Phanes Press, P.O. Box 6114, Grand Rapids, MI 49516,  tel. 
    (616)  281-1224.  (2) Arctu-rus Book Services, P.O.  Box 831383,  Stone 
    Mountain,  Georgia,  30083-0023,  tel. (404)  297-4624.  (3)  Trafalgar 
    Square, Ver- mont, NY, tel. (802) 457-1911. 
     
    The Crop Circles:  The Latest Evidence.  Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews. 
    London:  Bloomsbury Press, 1990. 80 pp. UK L5.99.  Ordering information 
    as above. 
     
    The  Controversy  of the Circles.  Paul Fuller and Jenny  Randles.   UK 
    L4.20. Order from BUFORA, 103 Hove Avenue, Walthamstow, London. 
     
    Crop  Circles:  A  Mystery Solved.  Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles.   UK 
    L13.95. Robert Hale Ltd., 45-47 Clerkenwell House, London, EC1R 0HT. 
     
    The Circles Effect and Its Mysteries.  George Terence Meaden. Bradford-
    on-Avon:  Artetech Publishing Company, April 1990 (2nd ed.) 116 pp.  UK 
    L11.95. Order from Artetech, 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, BA15 1LD; 
    tel. 02216 2482. 
     
    Proceedings  of  the  First International  Conference  on  the  Circles 
    Effect.  Ed.  George Terence Meaden and Derek Elsom.  Copyright  TORRO-
    CERES (Tornado and Storm Research Organization-Circles Effect  Research 
    Group).  134pp. Conference held at Oxford Polytechnic on June 23, 1990. 
    Meaden plans to publish the proceedings in book form, as Circles in the 
    Sky. 
     
    The Crop Circle Enigma.  Edited by Ralph Noyes.  Bath:  Gateway  Books, 
    1990.  192 pp. $29.95. One can order from at least four places: (1) The 
    Great Tradition, 11270 Clayton Creek Road, P.O. Box 108, Lower Lake, CA 
    95457,  tel.  (707) 995-3906. (2)  New Leaf Book Distributing Co,  5425 
    Tulane Drive SW,  Atlanta,  GA 30336-2323,  tel.  (404)  691-6996.  (3) 
    Inland Book Co,  P.O.  Box 261, East Haven, CT 06512, tel.  (203)  467-
    4257. (4) Bookpeople, 2929 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710, tel. (415) 
    549-3030. 
     
    Periodicals 
    ----------- 
    
    Circles Phenomenon Research (CPR)  Newsletter. Editor: Pat Delgado.  1-
    year subscription (4 issues) $24.00. CPR Satellite Office, 117  Ashland 
    Lane, Aurora, OH 44202. Make checks payable to D.S. Rulison. 
     
    The Crop Watcher.  Editor: Paul Fuller. 1-year subscription (6  issues) 
    UK L13.00  (overseas airmail price.) 3 Selborne Court, Tavistock Close, 
    Romsey, Hampshire SO51 7TY, England. 
     
    The Circular.  Editor:  Bob Kingsley. Circulated free.  58  Kings Road, 
    West  End,   Woking,  Surrey GU24  9LW,  England.  The editor  requests 
    donation of stamps; American subscribers ought to send checks for a few 
    dollars. 
     
    Journal  of  Meteorology.  Editor:  Terence  Meaden.   1-year  overseas 
    subscription (10  issues)  UK L55 surface, L65 airmail. 54  Frome Road, 
    Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LD, England. 
     
    The  Cereologist.  Published by CCCS (Centre for Crop Circle  Studies). 
    Editor:  John Michell. 1-year subscription (3 issues) UK L7.50, US $18. 
    11 Powis Gardens, London W11 1JG, England. 
     
    Selected Bibliography 
    --------------------- 
    
    "Prepare  to  Meet Thy Drought."  Anonymous.  Today,  July  20,   1990. 
    (Suggests  the  multiple pictograms resemble the Sumerian  language  or 
    weather-map symbols.) 
     
    "More Circular Evidence." Richard Beaumont. Kindred Spirit, vol. 1, no. 
    8,  pp.  25-28.  (Interview with Colin Andrews.  Discusses  electrical, 
    psychic, and historical events associated with the circles. This is the 
    best single article I've seen.) 
     
    "Crop Circles:  The Mystery Deepens." Richard Beaumont. Kindred Spirit, 
    vol.  1,  no. 12,  pp.  32-37.  (Summary of the key developments of the 
    Summer  1990   season,  with aerial photos.  Another  good  article  by 
    Beaumont.) 
     
    "UFO Report to Farmers."  George Brandsberg.  Farm Profit,  July-August 
    1975. (Discusses scorched patches and long swathes of sliced-off corn.) 
     
    "Around and Around in Circles." Sally B. Donnelly. Time Magazine. Sept. 
    18, 1989, p.50. Letters of response in Oct. 9th issue, p. 14. (Overview 
    of the phenomenon; three color pictures.) 
     
    "Mysterious  Circles  in  British Fields Spook  the  Populace."   Craig 
    Forman. Wall Street Journal, Aug 28, 1989, p. A1. (Basic overview.) 
     
    "Circles in the fields inspire talk of UFO's."  Maria Goodav- age,  USA 
    Today, November 15, 1990, p. 6A. 
     
    "Daylight Close Encounter." Stan Gordon. MUFON UFO Journal,  July 1989, 
    pp.   18-21.  (Discusses Pennsylvania UFO sighting and related circular 
    landing trace.) 
     
    "Retrospective  Investigation of a Possible Trace at Mt.   Gar-   net". 
    Holly Goriss and Russell Boundy.  UFO Research Austra-  lia Newsletter, 
    March-April 1981  (Vol 2.  No. 2) pp. 4-6. (Investigates a 1977  ground 
    marking which looks like a crude quintuplet.) 
     
    "They never yet could find my measure."  Wendy Grossman, New Scientist, 
    December 1, 1990, pp. 61-2. (Review of The Crop Circle Enigma.) 
     
    "A Sighting in Saskatchewan."  Hynek, J. Allen and Vallee, Jacques,  in 
    The  Edge  of  Reality (Appendix A).  The  Henry  Regnery  Co.,   1975. 
    (Discusses Canadian UFO sighting and related circular flattened areas.) 
     
    "Experts  Can't  Square  Explanations  of  Circles."   Gregory  Jensen. 
    Washington Times,  July 27, 1990. Page A1.  (Reports the Blackbird hoax 
    incident. Photo of one of the pictograms.) 
     
    "Circles in the corn."  Terence Meaden.  New Scientist, June 23,  1990, 
    47-9. (Argues for the plasma vortex theory.) 
     
    "The Beckhampton 'Scroll-Type' Circles, The Beckhampton 'Triangle', and 
    Strange   Attractors."    Terence  Meaden,   Journal   of   Meteorology 
    (Trowbridge, U.K.), October 1990, pp. 317-320. 
     
    "And Now...Cornfield Circles in Australia!" Paul Norman.  Flying Saucer 
    Review,  vol.  35,  no.  1 (March Quarter,  1990),  pp.  7-8.  (Briefly 
    discusses nine 1980's crop circles in Beulah,  Victoria,  between 3 and 
    16 feet in diameter.) 
     
    "And  More Cornfield Circles in Canada."  Paul Norman.   Flying  Saucer 
    Review,  vol.  35,  no.  1 (March Quarter,  1990),  pp.  8-9.  (Briefly 
    discusses 1989 circles between 6 and 24 meters in diameter in Manitoba; 
    2 photos.) 
     
    "Mysterious circles." Andrew Phillips, Macleans, Aug. 13, 1990, pp. 46-
    47. 
     
    "The  Hertfordshire  'Mowing Devil'  Woodcut:  A  17th  Century  Circle 
    Report?"  Jenny Randles.  UFO Times, no. 5 (January 1990),  pp.  30-32. 
    (Presents  a 1678  woodcut showing a devil "mowing"  a   pattern  which 
    Randles suggests may be a crop cir- cle.) 
     
    "Swirled Landing Trace?"  Carol and Rex Salisberry.  MUFON UFO Journal, 
    no. 264 (April 1990), pp. 3-7. (A Gulf Breeze crop circle.) 
     
    "Field Of Dreams?" Dava Sobel. Omni, December 1990, pp. 59- 128. 
     
    "Graffiti of the Gods?"  Dennis Stacy. New Age Journal, Jan/Feb.  1991, 
    pp. 38-103. (A thorough overview.) 
     
    "Hoping  Some  Furry  Little  Creatures  Crop  Up."   Calvin   Trillin. 
    Syndicated newspaper column,  August 13, 1990.  (A humorous look at the 
    circles.) 
     
    Multiple stories,  multiple authors,  Fortean Times,  issues 53  and 55 
    (sorry, dates not known.) 
     
    Studies 
    ------- 
    
    "North  American  Crop Circles and Related Physical  Traces  in  1990." 
    Released  February  1991.  18pp.  Conducted by NAICCR  (North  American 
    Institute for Crop Circle Research.)  For information, write to NAICCR, 
    649 Silverstone Avenue, Winni- peg, Manitoba R3T 2V8, Canada. 

