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From: Jenny Randles <nufon@currantbun.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 23:19:07 +0100
Fwd Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 05:50:47 -0400
Subject: UpDate: Crop Circles: A Plea For Sanity


Crop Circles: A plea for sanity

This week the British media, via several TV reports, national
news, major newspaper articles and ongoing hype have revived the
long flagging field of crop circle research through coverage
that puts this 'mystery' into the context of UFOs and aliens.

Indeed in the Daily Mail (10 August 2000) the noted author Colin
Wilson pens an article 'Why I still believe that aliens created
crop circles' and includes with it an image of a 'grey' being
from an alien abduction book to cement the relationship in the
public imagination.

UFOIN (the UFO Investigators Network) has in its team many of
the pioneer researchers within this field. Chris Rutkowski, who
investigated Canadian circles long before they appeared in the
UK, Ian Mrzyglod and Marty Moffat, from the only UFO
investigation team to study the earliest discovered British
circles (l980) and Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles, who produced
the first ever circle evidence publication and (with Mike
Wootten - our web site designer) arranged the first conference
in l985. They also co-authored the book 'Crop Circles: A Mystery
Solved' in l990 and were the only UFOlogists invited to attend
the one scientific conference ever held to debate circles (in
Oxford) and that involved scientists from Europe, Asia and
America (its proceedings being published in l991)

Given this extensive collective background and a probably unique
track record of association UFOIN has decided to issue a
statement on the matter.


We believe that crop circles are the result of two primary
causes. The vast majority - and virtually all circles being
reported today - are hoaxes. A very few (mostly simple circles;
although occasionally these are found in small groupings) result
from a combination of largely well understood atmospheric
phenomena.

There is no mystery, no strange forces, no aliens, no spaceships
and no secret messages trying to persuade the earth to mend its
wicked ways. The intergalactic cavalry are not coming.

Such claims are wishful thinking that evaporate once the
evidence is properly evaluated with objectivity.


These are the main reasons why we hold to this opinion after
over 20 years of research.

1: Complex, geometric shapes and images only began to appear in
crop fields AFTER the onset of media interest in the early/mid
l980s. They clearly played to the gallery and were the
consequence of an intelligence at work.

2:  The choice is between an 'alien' intelligence and a 'human'
one. We know that humans exist. We know that they love playing
tricks. Aliens are largely speculative and their presence on
earth controversial at best. As such good evidence is required
to argue that aliens - not humans - are creating circles. There
is no such evidence (not even bad evidence).

3:  Humans, on the other hand, have frequently displayed a
talent for faking convincing crop circles. A body called
Circlemakers have proven their expertise and been filmed
creating complex formations that defied the verdict of the so
called experts. The first hoax exposed was back in l983 when one
national newspaper set out to hoodwink another by paying a
farmer to fake circles. Since then  armies of hoaxers, skeptics,
fantastists and jokers have deliberately played games with the
media, the crop circle fans and engaged in a battle of wills
upping the ante with ever more amazing designs. It has become a
challenge that is made worthwhile every time silly media stories
take their circles seriously.

4:  Other motives also apply. There is a tourist potential to
having lots of fine circles in your area every summer. Whilst
most farmers are honest and have their land wrecked by wanton
hoaxers and unwelcome visitors, some have recognised that
circles on their land can be an asset. It is possible to make
more money from charging viewing fees than by harvesting crop -
especially if it has been trampled on by circle spotters
constantly on the prowl for new prey.

5:  There is ample evidence for human association with circles.
Circles appearing near locations such as 'Fakenham' and 'Littley
Green' (where the image that 'Littley Green Men' did it was the
obvious intent) are some examples. When English words were spelt
out in a field by a hoaxer they were taken seriously by many
despite a basic error made by the trickster. The message read
'We are not alone'. Any aliens, of course, would have written
'You are not alone'.

6:  However, we also believe that a few circles each year
(unfortunately swamped by the circus that goes on) are the
result of natural forces. Every indication from study of these
suggests that they result from atmospheric forces akin to
fairweather whirlwinds and electrostatic fields. Their precise
nature has been studied by meteorologists and physicists and
attempts to recreate them in the lab have been partially
successful. It has even been possible to predict other
environments in which to find circles from their physical
characteristics. They have in this way been discovered in snow,
sand, and even dust within underground railway tunnels.

7:  Although the complex (human engineered) circles are a
product of recent times simple circles are not. The easiest way
to test the 'natural phenomenon' hypothesis is to demonstrate
its universal and sustained existence. If aliens were sending us
a message they would surely not do so unaltered for centuries.
If simple circles result from atmospheric forces then on the
other hand they would have always been reported. They have been.
We have records of circles as far back as the 16th century.
There were reports of them in science journals around the world
- for example a case from near Guildford reported by the august
journal Nature in 1880. They have featured in other prestigious
publications such as New Scientist and these references start
long before crop circles or even UFOs were discussed.

8:  In addition there is a long track record of eyewitness
observations to the creation of a crop circle. These stem from
first hand reports dating back to at least the early 20th
century. In virtually every case simple circles are all that has
been observed under formation. In no case was anything like an
alien craft described.  Instead these observations are
consistent with the premise that atmospheric forces produced the
circles.

9:  As with all real natural phenomena (such as mirages or
comets) circles have even generated mythology. There is a
woodcut describing the formation of circles in Hertfordshire in
the 17th century and ascribed to the work of the devil. One of
our team has even spent time talking to aborigines in Queensland
where reed bed circles have been reported for centuries and
where they were photographed 20 years before the media interest
in circles in the UK even began.

It is our opinion that the crop circle phenomenon has been
extremely well studied, its nature has been largely defined
through scientific methods and the latest revival of it is
nonsensical, inappropriate and completely unneccesary -
especially given its baseless association with alien imagery.

As such the evidence needs to be seen in context.

We simply wanted you to have the benefit of our collective
experience to see why we do not believe that crop circles have
anything to do with aliens and why, in our opinion, this is now
a solved mystery.

UFOIN