AudioBlog: PART II The Rise and Fall of Interest in the British Crop Circle Mystery

In last week’s blog, we looked at the beginning of the modern crop circle phenomenon that first got the attention of the media and UFO researchers in 198o. This was described in the 1986 report compiled by Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles (written by Randles) for the British UFO Research Association titled Mystery of the Circles. According to Randles, the idea that UFOs had something to do with the mystery came from the fact that the first circles appeared in the West Country in the area of Warminster, which had become famous in the 60’s as a UFO hotspot. When we left off, that idea was falling out of favor with researchers, particularly Ian Mrzyglod of the newly formed organization, PROBE, who is quoted from the March 1982, Vol. 2, No. 4, PROBE Report: “…even to suggest that the flattened circles were UFO landing nests is wildly speculative wishful thinking, without any foundation.” After a lull in attention in 1982, things picked up after eight sets of five circles appeared that were made up of one large circle surrounded by four smaller circles at equidistant locations. Prior to this, there had been only single circles or two or three in a row.Playing a large part in the media attention was the fact that the circles appeared in the summer, often called the silly season due to the fact that stories of a less-than-serious nature are used as filler in the midst of what is traditionally a slow news period. And, it did get silly. One example presented by Randles is Daily Express columnist Jean Rook being sent to one of the sites “to come up with a lovely, poetic ode to ‘E.T.,’” the titular alien from the movie. According to Randles, Rook “found physical evidence of his presence in the midst of one of the rings – a poppy.”Randles emphasizes that “serious UFO investigators refused to get involved” and notes that she, herself, refused to appear on BBC and ITV television, even though she had a new book to promote, The Pennine UFO Mystery. Read more →

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
The Rise and fall of interest in the British Crop
circle Mystery, Part two by Charles Lear. In last week's blog,
we looked at the beginning of the modern crop circle
phenomenon that first got the attention of the media and
UFO researchers in nineteen eighty. This was described in the
nineteen eighty six report compiled by Paul Fuller and Jenny Randalls,

(00:34):
written by Randalls for the British UFO Research Association, titled
Mystery of the Circles. According to Randalls, the idea that
UFOs had something to do with the mystery came from
the fact that the first circles appeared in the West Country,
in the area of Warminster, which had become famous in
the sixties as a UFO hotspot. When we left off,

(00:56):
that idea was falling out of favor with the researchers,
particularly Ian Mertzigott of the newly formed organization Probe, who
was quoted from the March nineteen eighty two Volume two,
number four Probe report even to suggest that the flattened
circles were UFO landing nests. His wildly speculative wishful thinking

(01:16):
without any foundation. After a lullent attention. In nineteen eighty two,
things picked up after eight sets of five circles appeared
that were made up of one large circle surrounded by
four smaller circles at equidistant locations. Prior to this, there
had only been single circles or two or three in
a row. Playing a large part in the media attention

(01:39):
was the fact that the circles appeared in the summer,
often called the silly season due to the fact that
stories of a less than serious nature are used as
filler in the midst of what is traditionally a slow
news period, and it did get silly. One example, presented
by Randalls, his Daily Express columnist Gene Rook be sent

(02:00):
to one of the sites to come up with a
lovely poeticode to e t, a titular alien from the movie.
According to Randall's, Rook found physical evidence of his presence
in the midst of one of the rings. A poppy.
Randals emphasizes that serious UFO investigators refused to get involved

(02:22):
and notes that she herself refused to appear on BBC
and ITV television even though she had a new book
to promote. The Pennine UFO mystery. According to Randall's, members
of Probe took visitors out to see the five circles
at Westbury and were shocked to see an identical set
right next to them. Somehow they had been missed by

(02:43):
the media. At this point, the group was looking out
for hoaxers who might be encouraged by all the attention
from the press, and Randal's notes that the fivring patterns
looked remarkably symmetrical and artificial, throwing confusion into the mix.
It was found that the aerial photos taken by Now
magazine for his story on the first circle reported in

(03:06):
Westbury in nineteen eighty showed there were three smaller circles
around it, with a hedgerow running through the position where
a fourth circle would be. Randalls seized this as supporting
the possibility that the five circle patterns could be naturally formed.
What was odd about the second set at Westbury was
that the circles were swirled counterclockwise, where as every circle

(03:29):
previous had been swirled clockwise. They were finally reported on
in the August twenty ninth, nineteen eighty three Wiltshire Times
and Francis Sheppard, son of the owner of the Westbury Field.
Alan Shepard said they had been possibly hoaxed because he
and his family were able to create a circle themselves
using rope in a chain. Probe followed up and discovered

(03:53):
that the Shepherds had created the entire second set. The
story that came out was that the Daily Mirror, not
one of to be outdone by the Express, had paid
the Shepherds to have Francis, his father, and some Mirror
reporters create the circles. They filmed the operation with a
stop motion camera, and the whole process from arrival to

(04:13):
departure took under an hour, with only twenty four minutes
spent actually making the circles. The idea was that the
circles would be discovered and reported on, hopefully by the Express,
and then the Mirror would step in and expose the hoax.
As it turned out, interest in the circles had already
died down that season, and the only report covering the

(04:35):
whole affair was in the volume four, number two October
nineteen eighty three prob Report, which was the final issue
before the organization folded. Randalls describes Merciglod, a council member
of behufora during this period, quitting eupology after becoming frustrated
by people who did not want to know the facts.
The shepherds are said to have insisted that they were

(04:58):
only responsible for the one set, and not for the
other on their land or any of the others elsewhere.
According to Randall's Machine, bufora stuck to playing down the
UFO connection when dealing with the media, the media played
it up. She cites the article Heally's Comet, named after
Shadow Foreign Secretary Denis Hely, who took photos of a

(05:19):
fivring pattern featured in the article in the August fourth,
nineteen eighty four edition of The Daily Mail that mentions
a giant spaceship and people being totally baffled. She points
out repeatedly that not a single UFO was reported in
connection with any of the circles. The report is broken

(05:39):
up into five sections, and after a historical review of
the Mystery Circles, the remaining four are facts about the
Mystery Circles, theories, the weather, theory, and conclusions. Randalls starts
off the theory section, saying that the most popular theory
is that the circles are hoaxes and other theories, all

(06:01):
of which are presented along with their problems include helicopter downwash, hippies,
marking areas for aerial drug drops, and ufoes. The weather
theory section is a detailed look at the work of
meteorologists doctor Terence Meaden, who argued that the circles were
caused by whirlwinds. Finally, in conclusions, Randall's states that Bufora

(06:26):
doesn't intend to offer a solution and that UFOs are
low on the list of possible causes, as any one
who is following the UFO subject in the late twentieth
century is probably aware. The report failed to make the
mystery go away, and its association with UFOs, mostly in
the press, continued. In nineteen ninety, Bob Kingsley put out

(06:49):
the first issue of The Circular, which is a compilation
of articles, news clippings, and reports, and it is noteworthy
that the only mention of UFOs are in the news clippings.
In one instance, where Kingsley includes euphology in a list
of other ologies that might be of use in exploring
the mystry, he provides the phone number of the information

(07:10):
line of the Circle's Phenomenon Research Group, run by Pat
Delgado and Colin Anders. Since nineteen eighty four, but notes
that he's not sure it will be set up for
the next year's season. At this point, the circles are
more plentiful than elaborate, and Kingsley mentions in the introduction
that hoaxers are making research more difficult. The very next year,

(07:33):
the media caught on to the hoaxing aspect when two
landscape painters, David Chorley sixty two and Douglas Bowers sixty seven,
came forward claiming they had been making circles since nineteen
seventy eight and would make twenty five the thirty every season.
Kingsley teamed up with the Center for Crop Circle Studies,
and starting with the Volume two, number one March nineteen

(07:55):
ninety one issue, the Circular became that organization's quarterly journal,
with Kingsley staying on as editor. They kept publishing until
two thousand five, and in the final issue it is
announced that CCCS is shutting down. Kingsley sums up the
state of the phenomenon at that time as someone who

(08:17):
has kept a watchful eye on the phenomenon and those
involved with it since nineteen eighty eight. I have been
saddened to see the evident loss of its magic. Over
the years. Both the hoaxers were self styled land artists
aided and embedded by the media, and an increasing bandwagonism
by so called croppies have sapped much of what was

(08:41):
once a mystery and replaced it with a dull repetitiveness
of pretty patterns, new age commercialism, and of often tiresome
adages repeated at summer gatherings. But this is not to
say that the mystery the genuine crop formation has ceased,
as numbers of most interesting an unusual events are continuing

(09:02):
to be recorded, both in Britain and across Europe and America.
Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,
available in its second edition at Amazon dot com.