The 2004 crop circle season was a strange one. Not so much due to its shapes or number of formations, but due to the atmosphere in and around the circles this summer. I arrived in Wiltshire by the end of July, together with four friends from the Netherlands. After having spent the first day in Glastonbury, we noticed a strange atmosphere among the people visiting the crop circle symposium. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but it felt like there was a tension in the air.
In the days that followed, it dawned on me what was happening. What we had felt in Glastonbury was confusion. People were confused, they walked confused in and out of formations, they shared confused stories. People were suspicious, disappointed.
Each and every morning we were approached at the campsite by people who told us that new formations had been discovered, but they added straight away: "Don't bother Janet, it's obviously a hoax". I had never experienced this before, not once in the last ten years. What on earth was going on here?
In the course of the week it became obvious. In quite a few formations people had found objects that seemed to indicate a man-made origin: ropes, marker boards, holes in the ground and even a car tyre underneath the flattened crop. Many visitors drew the conclusion that these formations had to be man-made. Instead of taking a good and critical look at the 'evidence', they left the formations disappointed and confused. And they kept wondering for weeks how on earth it was possible that those hoaxers were capable of making such beautiful formations...
One story followed the next. And the next... People had found a stomper board underneath the wheat or in the bushes at the border of the field: clear evidence that this magnificent formation was man-made... A loyal crop circle researcher from the United States climbed Knap Hill at 4.30 a.m. and ran into a group of men with objects hanging over their shoulders. He conluded they had to have made the fresh formation that he subsequently discovered at the foot of Golden Ball Hill...
His story spread like wildfire. In no time just about everybody ignored this beautiful formation completely. Wiltshire was covered with magnificent formations that were avoided and ignored by many people... in my opinion quite a painful development.
Thanks to our extensive experience in the crop circles, most researchers realised that the majority of the formations had absolutely not been made by people. But what was going on? What had caused this weird development? And why did so many people - tourists but also several researchers - swallow the so-called 'evidence' without thinking?
It became more and more clear to me that we were witnessing the effects of an extremely powerful debunking campaign. The truth is, those holes in the ground and other traces of hoaxing could not be found in most formations until the second day of their existence... A beautiful example was the Windmill Hill formation: on day 1 all visitors were unanimous about the sheer beauty and perfection of the formation's lay. There was no trace of human origin whatsoever. But on day 2, all of a sudden there were clearly visible holes in the ground, as if someone had hammered a pole into the ground in order to pin-point the centres and be able to subsequently create the circles.
Here's another example: the Etchilhampton formation. Truly magnificent on day 1 when I arrived with my friends, but according to others terribly messy on day 2. And then there was the car tyre: too ridiculous to be true. What kind of well-trained hoaxer would forget a large tool like that? And what about the marker boards that were found in the Silbury Hill formation? Talk about absurdity... These boards (shown in the past by Team Satan, a well known group of claimers) showed no attachment points where poles had been added. Perceptive researchers found no traces of glue or any other traces at all. There was no way that these boards could have been used as markers, just above the crop. They had obviously been put there to spread confusion.
Then there was the example of the group of so-called hoaxers that were discovered at early dawn at Knap Hill. This story is quite interesting: our loyal crop circle researcher from the United States woke up early in the morning, feeling a strong urge to go to Knap Hill. He took his intuition seriously and drove up to the hill. When he got there, at about 4.30 a.m., he saw a man standing there solitary at the car park, smoking a cigarette. Kind of weird, so early in the morning, right? Nevertheless, our friend starts climbing Knap Hill and runs into a group of men dressed in black, carrying board and ropes over their shoulders. They pass him by without saying a word. Our friend draws the rash conclusion that these men had got to be hoaxers (what else do hoaxers look like?!) and when he discovers the beautiful dolphin formation at the foot of Golden Ball Hill, he knows for sure... His explanation and his warning to all croppies and researchers spread like wildfire via the Crop Circle Connector website. The judgement had been pronounced...
However, a straight and rational analysis of the situation leads to a completely different conclusion: the lonesome smoker at the car park was a stake-out. He warned his friends who were waiting for the first innocent witness to pass by. The moment our friend starts climbing Knap Hill, they suddenly appear from wherever they were hiding and pass him by, knowing that he will take care of the rest...
After all, let's face it: suppose they were indeed hoaxers, then the lonsome smoker would definitively have been on the lookout. Through his walkie-talkie he could warn his friends – who were working hard in the wet field, making the dolphin formation – to stay low when people approached. But instead of staying low, they appeared! Exactly the moment a witness showed up. At exactly the right place on the hill. Isn't that a coincidence? Isn't that bizarre? What are the odds?! And isn't it everything you would NOT expect from a group of well-trained hoaxers? And believe me, in order to be able to make that dolphin formation, you'd have to be well-trained...
Why did our friend choose to come to his bizarre conclusion? And why did he put it on the Connector so that everyone knew within a few hours?
Why did two men roam around the Wiltshire countryside – David Cayton and Robert Hulse – spreading their opinion in and out of the season that all formations were hoaxes? Why did they present their ridiculous story at the Glastonbury Symposium that all formations were hoaxes, except the ones in which the seed heads lay perfectly parallel to each other? Why did they spread the absurd lie that several researchers were in fact hoaxers and spies? Why did they tell this to everybody they met, day in day out? And why did they show me – without my asking them to – in the magnificent Etchilhampton formation, by using their dowsing rods, that this formation contained no energy whatsoever? When I got mad and snatched the dowsing rods from David's hands, using them myself, the rods stroked out at each and every crucial point. The formation was all energy! Why did David hold his hands so tightly around the rods that they simply couldn't strike out? Why did these two men deliberately spread so much confusion?
But of course the most crucial question of all: why was this all so easily swallowed by so many? Why did confusion get the chance to strike and stick? For me, that is the real mystery.
I feel we are dealing with powerful counterforces. After all, it's not just an ordinary psychological process. Crop circles bring out the best and the worst in people. Everything is exposed and magnified, also our dark side. That, I believe, is normal. But the fact that this 'dark side' now seems to prevail, is not normal. This summer I strongly got the impression we are dealing with counterforces that are not easy to resist.
I am convinced that the army and government play an important role here. For many years now, I have seen claimers – often accompanied by the press – standing in fresh crop circles very early in the morning, enthousiastically telling their stories about how they made the formations, jumping up and down with their boards and ropes in front of the cameras, showing just how clever and cunning they really are. Each time – when I was absolutely sure they were lying because they were obviously standing in a genuine formation – I wondered how on earth they knew so soon where the brand new formations had appeared. And each time I came to the same conclusion.
I would not be the least bit surprised if the British army – quartered in nearby Salisbury Plain – has a large computer screen at their disposal, showing the electro-magnetic status quo of the entire Pewsey Valley. The moment a new crop formation manifests, an electro-magnetic fluctuation will occur at that specific spot. This fluctuation will be seen on the screen at once, maybe as a peak or a highlight. This gives the army the chance to send men. With the technology of today, this is very well possible and not far-fetched at all. It would also explain the presence of army helicopters at the right place at the right time in so many cases. And it would explain the early presence of the curious group of men at Knap Hill, close to the dolphin formation.
I have the feeling that the crop circles are guiding us to a climax. The tension still rises every year. I know for sure that this climax (whatever it will be like) will not be long. No doubt, this results in ever stronger counterforces: government, army, but probably also forces that are not of this world or dimension. Long-time researcher John Haddington once said: "Just as there's a group of people smearing the crop circle phenomenon, there are spiritual entities who do the same thing. It's not all love and light on the other side. There are malicious entities who are just as dedicated trying to spread confusion and distracting the researchers from what it's really all about, as their human colleagues".
This summer I got the distinct impression that these counterforces are culminating desperately, in a final attempt to prevent the crop circle climax; a last convulsion in an ultimate attempt to put out the Light. It was good to see that at least some of the researchers remained critical and realised what was really going on. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) once said:
Every truth passes through three stages:
At first it is ridiculed
Then it is disputed fiercely
Finally it is accepted as the most ordinary thing on earth...
It may be clear that we have not yet fully left the second stage behind. However, I also feel that we are in the transition to the third stage. It's obvious that this transition will not occur without a blow. This summer made that perfectly clear...
1 September 2004
