When I first read this I was very sceptic about the authenticity of the crop formation. The message seemed pretty meager to me and to be honest, I didn't quite like the alien as much as liked the Chilbolton alien of the previous year, which looked so much friendlier... My biased nature hit and I rejected the formation in advance. Luckely there were other researchers who did dive into this one and who reached some remarkable conclusions. Most importantly, they agreed unanimously that this formation too was genuine. My timing was bad once again, I had just returned to the Netherlands. But once again I was told the lay was really pretty and there were no traces of human activity. And so, I had to put my biased nature and my fear about scarry looking aliens aside...

The decoded message surprised all researchers. The short sentences and the weird usage of capitals made us all wonder. Martin Keitel came to the conclusion that there was probably yet another hidden message in the code. Whoever designed the code made use of binary code, of ASCII signs that can be turned into English, and the strange interpunction seem to point in the direction of a third layer in the message that has not been decoded just yet.

Whatever may be, we can conclude safely that these aliens (who look quite different than those of 2001) are familiar with our first international language (English), its digital coding (ASCII) and our computer technology. And... there is indeed a reference to the dwelling-place of this creature. Slightly to the left of its face were three small circles in the crop, in a very recognizable position relative to each other. Anyone who has studied the Egyptian pyramids, recognizes the three pyramids of Gizeh. And like most people know, these pyramids are - through their position relative to each other - a direct reference to (and perfect representation of) the belt of the Orion constellation. According to some egyptologians the pyramids were built by aliens from Orion. Are the Circle Makers coming from Orion also? And if that is the case, have they been here all along then, or have they only just returned? And with what mission? And are these creatures the same as those of the Chilbolton formations? Or are the Circle Makers - if indeed they are ET - different nations/tribes of different planets?

It may be clear that these three small, simple circles slightly to the left of the face of the Crabwood formation, evoked many questions. Most of these questions were not answered by the formation itself. Unless of course they are hidden in the unresolved third layer of the binary encoded disk. If that is the case, we'll just have to wait for further decoding...

For an elaborate report I gladly refer to the articles of Martin Keitel,
who also made this awesome artist impression of the Crabwood formation.