alt.alien.visitors

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From: dona@bilver.uucp (Don Allen)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: Re: VAN HALEN SONG: ABOUT ALIENS?
Message-ID: <1991Sep17.042737.6527@bilver.uucp>
Date: 17 Sep 91 04:27:37 GMT
References: <1634@mixcom.COM>
Distribution: usa
Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL
Lines: 31

In article <1634@mixcom.COM> jjwwjj@mixcom.COM (Robotic Systems) writes:
>I asked this a couple of days back, but got no reply. I hope no one minds that
>I ask it again:
>
>Does anyone know if the song "Love Comes Walking In" is a about aliens? I don't
>know if that is the real name of the song, but that is the most often repeated
>phrase. Anyway, I was listening to the words and a lot of the song seems to
>deal with aliens.
>
>What does Sammy Hagar know? Is Sammy Hagar a GREY with hair?
>
>

ROTF!

Other than the "skeptics" explanations for the "crop circles", this was
the BEST joke I've seen all week. :-)


Sammy Hagar a Grey? Nahhhhh
Right..."Could you please pass the GREY Poupon, Sammmy?"

Don



--
-* Don Allen *-  InterNet: dona@bilver.UUCP  // Amiga..for the best of us.
USnail: 1818G Landing Dr, Sanford Fl 32771 \X/ Why use anything else? :-)
UUCP: ..uunet!tarpit!bilver!vicstoy!dona  KING George Bush?? Just say NO!
UFO's in commercials....is the GOVT getting us ready for OCTOBER of 1992?
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From: Michael.Corbin@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Michael Corbin)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: The Continuum
Message-ID: <75173.28D522DE@paranet.FIDONET.ORG>
Date: 16 Sep 91 00:56:00 GMT
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 * Forwarded from "ParaNet UFO Echo"
 * Originally from Michael Corbin
 * Originally dated 09-15-91 17:55

After a small delay, the premier issue of Continuum, ParaNet's official bi-
monthly news magazine is ready to go to press.  This is a final call for you to
get a free first issue, by sending your name and mailing address via this
network or email to mcorbin@scicom.alphacdc.com.

Don't miss out!!  It ships on Friday, September 20th.

Mike

-- 
Michael Corbin - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: Michael.Corbin@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG
Path: ns-mx!uunet!bonnie.concordia.ca!ccu.umanitoba.ca!bison!sys6626!gstimp
From: gstimp@sys6626.bison.mb.ca (Gary Stimpson)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: Thanks for the information.
Message-ID: <F0FF91w164w@sys6626.bison.mb.ca>
Date: 17 Sep 91 14:42:26 GMT
Organization: system 6626 BBS, Winnipeg MB
Lines: 10

Thanks for the info everybody (about Sleep Paralysis)!  It was very
interesting, now I can feel a bit more normal <grin>. 

I've only experienced this twice, and also have had 2 OBE experiences.
All I can say is "AWESOME!".  It was great.. but this has nothing to do with
Aliens, so I'll stop.

--- (Gary Stimpson) a user of sys6626, running waffle 1.64
E-mail: gstimp@sys6626.bison.mb.ca
system 6626: 63 point west drive, winnipeg manitoba canada R3T 5G8
Path: ns-mx!uunet!infonode!ingr!b17a!brock
From: brock@b17a.ingr.com (James Brock)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: Pleiadian Transcripts
Keywords: DON SHWEN
Message-ID: <1991Sep17.200347.25238@b17a.ingr.com>
Date: 17 Sep 91 20:03:47 GMT
Organization: Intergraph
Lines: 13

Would DON SHOWEN please send me the PLEIADIAN TRANSCRIPTS?

I am unable to find your EMAIL address, but please send the
material to me.

THANKS,

JAMES
--
################################################################
James A. Brock, Jr.
Post office Box 859, Huntsville, AL 35804
"All opinions/facts are mine, belong to no other entity"
Path: ns-mx!uunet!mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!glasgow!degnans
From: degnans@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Stephen Degnan)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: X the bodydigger is back, folks...SO WATCH OUT!
Summary: Well....
Keywords: X, FROG, BELGUIM BEER, MOUSTACHE
Message-ID: <1991Sep17.140230.28286@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Date: 17 Sep 91 14:02:30 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.
Lines: 11

YESsurrreeeeFOLKS:

I have it from my European sources, that X, the bodydigger is on his
way back from France, via Belgium. (notices the similarity to
NATIONAL LAMPOONS EUROPEAN VACATION?...did you also notices that
it you play the works "Chevy Chase" backwards with a flanging effect
you can almost hear the words "X the bodydigger"?)

Anyway....he'll be back in Glasgow soon. So be careful out there, dudes.

And remember.
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From: jmilhoan@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jason T Milhoan)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: Re: Owl memory -> Sleep Paralysis
Message-ID: <1991Sep17.232703.25482@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 17 Sep 91 23:27:03 GMT
References: <w60081w164w@sys6626.bison.mb.ca> <1296@cronos.metaphor.com> <11124
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I have experienced sleep paralysis, but usually it occurs when I try to induce
an out of body experience.  In fact, they are very scary.  I haven't been able
to achieve an OBE due to the hallucinations (????) associated with SP for about
5 or 6 years.  I dont thinkt it is an entirely mental thing, but probably some
connections to "the dark side" :-)

jmilhoan
Path: ns-mx!uunet!fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Don_-_Showen
From: Don_-_Showen@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors,sci.skeptic
Subject: Mt. Shasta Pt.1
Message-ID: <47271@cup.portal.com>
Date: 18 Sep 91 00:13:59 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 13
Xref: ns-mx alt.alien.visitors:2056 sci.skeptic:15168


     This information has been posted  for John Winston by Don Showen.
     In my last trip to Phoenix for the  UFO Conference I had the opportunity
to tape an couple of people named Shield and Sharula Dux.   They claim to be
from a city underneath Mt. Shasta called Telos.   This city has one and  one
half million people.  They claim to have been there for the last l4 thousand
years when they came from Lemuria in the Pacific after it  sunk beneath the
ocean.  The man is from New England, in America but the lady was born  in
Telos.   They do operate some of the space ships that are seen in our skies.
The overall leader of their space fleet is called  Ashtar and a command of one
of their fleet called the Silver fleet is called Anton.
     I ll leave you with this saying; Anybody who s as  sound as a dollar
these days had better see a doctor. Standard Disclaimer. John.
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From: westfall@merlin.ucs.ubc.ca (Valerie Westfall)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: Re: Doug and Dave on hoaxes
Message-ID: <1991Sep18.050005.2604@unixg.ubc.ca>
Date: 18 Sep 91 05:00:05 GMT
References: <1991Sep16.201907.25325@aixssc.ibm.co.uk>
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Yes, I too find it hard to imagine Doug and Dave travelling furiously around
the world creating circles in foreign crops.  Uh, like maybe other people have
been trying to make crop circles too. :-)  Maybe this explains why crop
circles in other countries, for example Canada, are quite rough and even
primitive in comparison to recent formations in England. Find me a complex
formation (ie. an insectogram) in a country where no circles have previously
appeared and THEN I'll be impressed. Maybe you should check Doug and Dave's
passports while you're at it...(:-))2
Path: ns-mx!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!masscomp!peora!tarpit!bilver!dona
From: dona@bilver.uucp (Don Allen)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors,alt.conspiracy,sci.skeptic
Subject: FILE: Circle Bibliography - MUFON file
Message-ID: <1991Sep18.031424.24825@bilver.uucp>
Date: 18 Sep 91 03:14:24 GMT
Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL
Lines: 549
Xref: ns-mx alt.alien.visitors:2058 alt.conspiracy:7178 sci.skeptic:15179


With all the ruckus that has been stirred up lately by cries
of "It's all a hoax!" in the crop circle threads in various
newsgroups, I'm presenting this file so you can source the
included publications and learn that there's more to this
phenomenon that has been going on for over 400 years than just
"2 old geezers with a board did it".

-----begin included text -------------------------------------------




          Circles of Note: Bibliography on the Crop Circles
         Updated June 9, 1991

                        Michael Chorost

     Bibliographies always look rather dry.  However, a careful reader
can learn much from this one, since many of the entries have parentheti-
cal summaries attached to them.  Also, a close look at the topics will
reveal the diversity of the crop circles phenomenon and the responses it
has gathered.  Finally, the sections on books, magazines, and studies
include price and ordering information, where known.

     I should note two sets of exclusions.  First, I have not indexed
articles from journals devoted to cerealogy.  Much of the best information
has been printed in their pages; back numbers can often be obtained by
writing to the editors.  Second, I have tended to include newspaper arti-
cles only of particular interest or informativeness, such as ones reporting
circles in detail, non-English circles, or noteworthy points of view.

     Inclusion in this bibliography does not imply endorsement.

     I am indebted to my contacts and colleagues in England, Canada,
and the United States, who generously sent me many of the articles listed
here.  I would be grateful to receive any corrections and additions, which
will be included in future updates.  Contact me at:

                        Michael Chorost
                      North American Circle
                         P.O. Box 61144
                     Durham, NC 27715-1144


All items listed alphabetically by author.

Books

Circular Evidence.  Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews.  London: Bloomsbury
Press, 1989.  190 pp.  US price $29.95 hardcover, $14.95 softcover.  At
least three sources: (1) Phanes Press, P.O. Box 6114, Grand Rapids, MI
49516, tel. (800) 678-0392.  (2) Arcturus Book Services, P.O. Box 831383,
Stone Mountain, Georgia, 30083-0023, tel. (404) 297-4624.  (3) Trafalgar
Square, Vermont, NY, tel. (802) 457-1911.

Crop Circles: The Latest Evidence.  Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews.
London: Bloomsbury Press, 1990.  80 pp.  UK L5.99, US $13.95.  Ordering
information as above.

The Controversy of the Circles.  Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles.  UK
L4.20.  BUFORA, 103 Hove Avenue, Walthamstow, London.

Crop Circles: A Mystery Solved.  Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles.  London:
Robert Hale Ltd, 1990, 250 pp.  UK L13.95, US $30.95 (from Arcturus Books,
see entry for Circular Evidence above.)

The UFO Report 1990.  Edited by Timothy Good.  Sidgwick & Jackson,


1990.  See "The Celtic Cross", p. 91-94.

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.
Edited by 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.
Available from Artetech (see previous item) at UK L10.

Circles From The Sky.  Edited by George Terence Meaden.  The expanded,
hardcover edition of the Proceedings (see previous item.)  208 pp.  UK
L14.99 from Souvenir Press, 43 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PA.

The Crop Circle Enigma.  Edited by Ralph Noyes.  Bath: Gateway Books,
1990.  192 pp.  $29.95 (note price increase.)  At least four sources: (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.

Physical Traces Associated With UFO Sightings.  Compiled by Ted Phillips,
edited by Mimi Hynek.  Northfield, Illinois: Center for UFO Studies, 1975.

The Natural History of Stafford-shire.  Robert Plott (spelled "Plot" on title
page.)  Oxford, 1686.  (Pages 7-21 describe what may be 17th-century
fairy rings or crop circles.)

Passport to Magonia.  Jacques Vallee.  Chicago: Henry Regnery Co, 1969.
(See "Rings In The Moonlight", pp. 31-39, on "UFO nests.")

Periodicals

Circles Phenomenon Research (CPR) Newsletter.  Editor: Pat Delgado.  1-
year subscription (4 issues) $24.00 (but price may be reduced; write for
current information.)  CPR Satellite Office, 117 Ashland Lane, Aurora, OH
44202.  Make checks payable to D.S. Rulison.  (Sympathetic to theories of
non-human intelligence.)

UFO Newsclipping Service.  Editor: Lucius Farish.  1-year subscription (12
issues) $55. Route 1, Box 220, Plumerville, Arkansas 72127.  (Excellent
source for newspaper reports of crop circles worldwide.)

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.  (Sympathetic to the meteorological theory.)

The Circular.  Editor: Bob Kingsley.  1-year subscription (4 issues) in-
cluded with membership in CCCS (Centre for Crop Circle Studies.)  Over-
seas membership UK L15, US $33.  Payable Visa/Access/Mastercard/Euro-
card.  Write to Specialist Knowledge Services, St. Aldhelm, 20 Paul Street,
Frome, Somerset BA 11 1DX, U.K., or call (0373) 51777.

Journal of Meteorology.  Editor: George Terence Meaden.  1-year overseas
subscription (10 issues) UK L55 surface, L65 airmail.  54 Frome Road,
Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LD, England.  (The bastion of the
meteorological theory.)

The Cerealogist.  Editor: John Michell.  1-year subscription (3 issues)
L7.50, US $18.00.  Payable Visa/Access/Mastercard/Eurocard.  Write to
Specialist Knowledge Services, St. Aldhelm, 20 Paul Street, Frome, Somerset
BA 11 1DX, U.K., or call (0373) 51777.  (Closely associated with the CCCS.
Eclectic approach.)

The Swamp Gas Journal.  Editor: Chris Rutkowski.  For subscription
information, write to the editor at Box 1918, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3C 3R2.  (Loosely associated with NAICCR--see "Studies"; runs stories on
Canadian crop circles.)

Mufon UFO Journal.  Editor: Dennis Stacy.  1-year subscription (12 issues)
$25.  103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, Texas 78155-4099.  (Frequently runs
articles on crop circles, particularly North American ones.)

Articles

"Midwest Crop Circles."  Erich A. Aggen, Jr.  Mufon UFO Journal, no. 272
(December 1990), pp. 15-16.  (Irregular crop circles near Odessa,
Missouri.)

"Circular Evidence."  Colin Andrews.  Mufon UFO Journal, no. 243 (July
1988), pp. 11-13.  (Discussion of several 1987 formations.)

"Major Increase in Mystery Circles."  Colin Andrews.  Kindred Spirit (UK)
vol 1 no. 5 (Winter 1988-89) pp. 27-28.

"Crop Circles Appear in the U.S.S.R."  Walt Andrus.  Mufon UFO Journal,
no. 270 (October 1990), p. 13.  (Oval, 35 by 45 meters; Krasnodar region.)

"The Thumb Prints of the Gods?"  Anonymous.  U.S. News & World Report,
Sept. 11, 1989.  (Short item.)

"Prepare to Meet Thy Drought."  Anonymous.  Today, July 20, 1990.
(Suggests the multiple pictograms resemble the Sumerian language or
weather-map symbols.)

"Mystery Circles in Fukuoka."  Anonymous.  Asahi Evening News (Tokyo),
Sept. 28, 1990.  (Two circles 12 km. E of Fukuoka City, Japan, found Sept.
17, 1990.)

"More Circular Evidence."  Richard Beaumont.  Kindred Spirit, vol. 1, no.
8, pp. 25-28.  (Interview with Colin Andrews.  Discusses electrical, psy-
chic, and historical events associated with the circles.)

"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.)

"The English 'Circles' Mystery."  Jon Erik Beckjord.  UFO vol. 5, no. 6
(probably late 1990), pp. 9-13, 39.  (Discusses personal visit to several
formations.)

"Possible Physical Mechanism for Producing Crop Circles."  John Branden-
burg.  Mufon UFO Journal, no. 276 (April 1991), pp. 10-11.  (Suggests
microwave beams are responsible for flattening plants.)

"UFO Report to Farmers."  George Brandsberg.  Farm Profit, July-August
1975.  (Discusses scorched patches and long swathes of sliced-off corn.)

"The Summer 1990 Crop Circles."  Michael Chorost and Colin Andrews.
Mufon UFO Journal, no. 272 (December 1990), pp. 3-14.  (Layering of
crops, EM effects, possibility of language. 10 photos, 3 diagrams.)

"Circles of Note: A Continuing Bibliography."  Michael Chorost.  Mufon UFO
Journal, no. 276 (April 1991), pp. 14-17.  (This bibliography, as of April
1991.)

"Theses for a Pre-Paradigm Science: Cereology."  Michael Chorost.  To be
published in Mufon conference proceedings, July 1991.  (Current state of
cereology; further theorizing on language hypothesis.)

"Erasmus Darwin on Cropfield Circles in 1789?: The Fairy-Ring
Connection."  Mark Chorvinsky.  Strange Magazine no. 6 (date unknown;
probably late 1990), p. 32.  (Reprints Darwin's discussion of odd fairy-
rings; it is quite similar to Plott's account--see "Books.")

"UFO Mania Hits Odessa: Circles In Field Create Media Interest."  Carol
Conrow.  The Odessan (Odessa, Missouri), September 20, 1990, pp. 2-3.
(Discussion of Odessa crop circle in a field of sorghum.)

"Circles in Lowe Fields Stir Interest Across Nation."  Carol Conrow.  The
Odessan (Odessa, Missouri), September 27, 1990.

"The Whippingham Ground Effects."  Leonard G. Cramp.  Flying Saucer
Review, vol. 14, no. 3 (May/June 1968).  (Extensive documentation of
straight and circular plant flattenings correlated with a reported UFO
sighting on July 10, 1967, near Newport, Isle of Wight.)

"The Circles: England's Greatest Unsolved Mystery."  Sean Devney.  UFO
Universe, July 1990, pp. 30-59.  (Discussion of possible relationship to
Stonehenge.)

"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.)

"Ever-Increasing Circles."  Elisabeth Dunn.  Telegraph Weekend Magazine
(UK), July 8, 1989, pp. 24-28.  (Basic overview; good photographs.)

"Magical Mystery Tour."  John Eccles.  Sussex Express (UK), August 3,
1990.  (Formation on Milton Street Farm, near Wilmington Priory.)

"Logic Flattens 'Corn Circle' Theories."  James Erlichmann.  Guardian (UK),
July 6, 1990, p. 24.  (Reports Robert Cory's theory: "The phenomenon is
caused by the old-fashioned circular irrigation machine.")

"El Enigma Que Cayo Del Cielo."  Hilary Evans.  Ano Cero no. 2 (September
1990), pp. 50-55.

"Mysterious Circles in British Fields Spook the Populace."  Craig Forman.
Wall Street Journal, Aug 28, 1989, p. A1.  (Basic overview.)

"Squaring The Circles of Alien Visitors."  Nigel Fountain.  Guardian (UK),
August 1, 1990, p. 36.  (Humor: "Stuff fluid dynamics, I want some
aliens.")

"Mystery Circles: Myth in the Making."  Paul Fuller.  International UFO
Reporter, May/June 1988, p. 4-8.  (Supports meteorological theory;
presents two eyewitness cases of whirlwinds.)

"Weird Circles Puzzle Britons."  Jacqui Goddard.  The High Plains Journal
(Dodge City, Kansas), September 11, 1989, p. B1.  (Basic overview.)

"Circles Run Rings Around Experts."  Timothy Good. Hampshire Chronicle
(UK), Aug. 4, 1989.  (Basic overview.)

"Circles in the fields inspire talk of UFO's."  Maria Goodavage. USA Today,
November 15, 1990, p. 6A.  (Short discussion of double-dumbbells.)

"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. Garnet".  Holly
Goriss and Russell Boundy.  UFO Research Australia Newsletter, March-
April 1981 (Vol 2. No. 2) pp. 4-6.  (Investigates a 1977 ground marking
which looks like a crude quintuplet.)

"Farmer's Amazing Find in Cornfield."  Richard Green.  Chase Post (Lich-
field, UK), Aug. 9, 1990.  (Chorley, Lichfield "cross" formation.)

"Crop Circles Create Rounds of Confusion."  Wendy Grossman.  Skeptical
Inquirer, vol. 14 no. 2 (Winter 1990), pp. 117-118.  ("A genuine modern
mystery.")

"The Year of the Vajra."  John Haddington.  Link Up, Sept-Nov. 1990, p.
4-13.  (Suggests dumbbells are Buddhist symbols; discussion of camera
failures.)

"If It Can't Be Explained, Women Ready To Listen."  Bill Harlan.  Rapid
City Journal (South Dakota), March 10, 1991.  (Report circles in area to
Davina Ryszka of Custer, S.D., (605) 673-2818.)

"Round and Round They Go: New Crop of Oddities Has British Going in
Circles."  Timothy Harper. The Detroit News, Oct. 2, 1989, p. 3A.  (Basic
overview.)

"Going Round in Circles."  Andrew Hewitt.  Huddersfield Examiner (UK),
August 7, 1990.  (Supports vortex theory, dismisses hoax theory.)

"Taking A Turn Around The Circles."  George Hill.  The Times (UK), July
27, 1990, p. 16.  (Attack on uncritical media approaches to phenomenon.)

"Beware of the Supernatural."  Juliet Hughes.  Wiltshire Gazette (UK),
August 9, 1990.  ("If the crop circles prove to be meteorological phenome-
na, then all the more glory to God.")

"England's Puzzling Crop Circles: The Shape of a Mystery."  J. Antonio
Huneeus.  New York City Tribune, 2 parts: May 3 and 10, 1990 ("Science"
section.)  (Discusses history, and hoax and meteorological theories.)

"A Sighting in Saskatchewan."  J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallee, 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.  Wash-
ington Times, July 27, 1990.  Page A1.  (Reports the Blackbird hoax inci-
dent.  Photo of one of the pictograms.)

"Round and Round in Circles."  Dianne Kenny.  Global Link Up, December
1988/Feb. 1989, pp. 4-7.  (Overview, theories.)

"Corn Circles and an Artful Explanation."  Miles Kington.  The Independ-
ent (UK), Sept. 5, 1990, p. 20.  (Humor: "I would surmise that Wiltshire is
a very out-of-town gallery for some galaxy.")

"A Rare Circle for Skeptics."  Marek Kohn.  Weekend Guardian (UK), Aug.
18, 1990, p. 17.  (Skeptical discussion of the phenomenon.)

"The Corn Circles Riddle."  Idina Le Geyt.  Share International vol 9, no.
3 (April 1990), pp. 17-19.  (Focuses on paranormal events associated with
the circles.)

"Spherical Sounds?  Zounds!"  Eugenia Macer-Story.  Mufon UFO Journal,
April 1991, pp. 12-13.

"Strange Sighting at Silbury Hill."  Richard Martin.  Kindred Spirit (UK),
vol 1 no. 5 (Winter 1988-89), pp. 26-27.  (Glowing lights associated with
circles.)

"Mysterious Ring in Field Gets Plenty of Attention."  Tom McCoag.
Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Canada), April 22, 1991, p. A1.  (Early 1991
formation in Amherst, Nova Scotia; 30-foot dia. ring, 12 inches wide.)

"More Puzzling Circles Found in Fields."  Donna McGuire and Eric Adler.
Kansas City Star, September 21, 1990, p A1.  (Map locates seven circles in
Kansas City region; discusses microburst theory.)

"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."  G. Terence Meaden, Journal of Meteorology (Trow-
bridge, U.K.), October 1990, pp. 317-320.  ("The triangle is nothing other
than an imperfect circle."  Useful for discussion of luminous tubes and
diagram of a scroll.)

"Crop Circles Explained???"  Ernest P. Moyer.  Insight, Sept. 24, 1990;
reprinted in Focus, December 31, 1990, p. 16.  (Translates one double-
dumbbell to mean "Khawah", or "Eve, the life-giver.")

"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.)

"Crop Revolution 10 Years On."  Ralph Noyes.  Country Life, July 6, 1989,
pp. 102-103.  (Discusses White Crow, 1989's surveillance experiment.)

"Circular Arguments."  Ralph Noyes.  Mufon UFO Journal no. 258 (October
1989), pp. 16-18.  (Discusses books, meteorological theory.)

"Farmers Fear Mysterious Vicious Circle."  Nick Nuttall.  The London
Times, June 23, 1990, p. 4.  (Oxford Polytechnic conference.)

"L10,000 Reward."  Terry O'Hanlon.  Sunday Mirror (UK), July 22, 1990.
(Mirror offers reward for solution of mystery.)

"Mysterious Circles."  Andrew Phillips. Macleans, Aug. 13, 1990, pp. 46-47.
(Short overview.)

"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 circle.)

"Shedding New Light on Mystery Crop Circles."  Ross Reyburn.  Birming-
ham Post (UK), August 16, 1990.  (Interview with Jenny Randles.)

"Scientist Tells How He Squared A Corn Circle."  Amit Roy.  The Sunday
Times (UK), July 1, 1990, p. 4.  (Discussion of meteorological theory.)

"Swirled Landing Trace?"  Carol and Rex Salisberry.  MUFON UFO Journal,
no. 264 (April 1990), pp. 3-7.  (A Gulf Breeze crop circle.)

"Measuring the Circles."  Michael T. Shoemaker.  Strange Magazine no. 6
(date unknown; probably late 1990), pp. 34-35, 56-57.  (Critical review of
current theories.)

"Did They Have Visitors?"  Richard Simon.  Fate, vol. 44, no. 2 (February
1991), pp. 66-69. (46-foot circle in shallow grass, Millersburg, Ohio.)

"The Crop Circle Mystery."  A. Robert Smith.  Venture Inward, Jan/Feb
1991, pp. 12-16.

"Unidentified Farm Object Shakes State."  Wes Smith.  Chicago Tribune,
October 28, 1990, p.1.  Reprinted as "Illinois Aflutter Over Unidentified
Farm Object" in Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas), November 14,
1990, p. D10.  (Discusses 1990 crop circle in Milan, Illinois.)

"Field Of Dreams?"  Dava Sobel.  Omni, December 1990, pp. 59-67,121-128.
(Extended overview, slanted toward meteorological theory; many photo-
graphs.)

"Graffiti of the Gods?"  Dennis Stacy.  New Age Journal, Jan/Feb. 1991,
pp. 38-44, 103.  (Extended overview, more balanced than Omni article;
many photographs.)

"River, Lake, and Creek."  Michael Strainic.  Mufon UFO Journal, March
1990, pp. 10-14.  (Circles and UFO reports in British Columbia.)

"Corn Circle Experts in Plea for Action."  Chris Tate.  Salisbury Journal
(UK), July 27, 1989, p. 4.  (British government not discussing the phe-
nomenon.)

"Hoping Some Furry Little Creatures Crop Up."  Calvin Trillin.  Syndicat-
ed newspaper column, August 13, 1990.  (A humorous look at the circles.)

"Did a UFO Visit This Farm?"  Lon Tonneson.  Dakota Farmer, October
1990, p. 9.  (Early Aug. 1990 "reversed question mark" in Leola, S.D.)

"Anatomy of a Corny Hoax."  Simon Trump and Bill Mouland.  Today (UK),
July 26, 1990, pp. 24-25.  (Chronology of the Blackbird hoax.)

"Proposed Physical Measurements of Crop Circles."  Michael Wales.  Mufon
UFO Journal, March 1991, pp. 15, 23.  (Suggestions for instrumented re-
search.)

Multiple stories, multiple authors, Fortean Times, issues 53 (Winter
1989/90) and 55 (sorry, date not known.)  Issue 53 is entirely devoted to
the phenomenon, with articles by Bob Skinner, John Michell, Ralph Noyes,
G. Terence Meaden, Hilary Evans, and Bob Rickard.  Issue 55 contains an
update, pp. 7-13, on 1989-1990 formations outside of Wiltshire.

"Das Ratsel im Roggen." Stern, #38 (Sept/Oct 1989), p. 250-1.

"Ein Phanomen Zieht Kreise." Esotera, December 12, 1989, p. 52-57.

"Los misteriosos y polemicos circulos aparecidos en los campos del Sur de
Inglaterra."  !Hola!, date ?, p. 134-140.

Reviews

"Crop Circles in North America: The NAICCR Report."  Michael Chorost.
Mufon UFO Journal, June 1991.

"A Crop of Circles."  Circular Evidence and The Circles Effect and its
Mysteries.  Derek Elsom.  New Scientist, July 29, 1989, p. 58.

"They Never Yet Could Find My Measure."  The Crop Circle Enigma.
Wendy Grossman.  New Scientist, December 1, 1990, pp. 61-2.

Crop Circles: The Latest Evidence.  Jerrold R. Johnson.  Mufon UFO
Journal, March 1991, pp. 17-18, 23.

The Circles Effect and Its Mysteries, Circular Evidence, and Controversy
of the Circles.  Ralph Noyes.  Journal of the Society for Psychical Re-
search, vol. 56, no. 820 (July 1990), pp. 235-237.

The Crop Circle Enigma.  Dennis Stacy.  Mufon UFO Journal, March 1991,
pp. 16-17.

"Field Events."  Circular Evidence.  Alexander Urquhart.  Times Literary
Supplement, August 4, 1989, p. 845.

Studies

"Circles Investigation."  Colin Andrews.  Released 1986.  19 pp.  Presents
some data for the years 1975-1986, primarily dates and approximate loca-
tions.  Discusses hoax theory and circles' relationship to tramlines.  Cir-
cles Phenomenon Research, 57 Salisbury Road, Andover, Hampshire SP10
2LL, UK.

"A Sample Survey of the Incidence of Geometrically-Shaped Crop Damage."
Paul Fuller.  Copyright 1988.  41 pp.  Commissioned by BUFORA and
TORRO.

"North American Crop Circles and Related Physical Traces in 1990."  Re-
leased February 1991.  18pp.  Conducted by NAICCR (North American Insti-
tute for Crop Circle Research.)  Presents data for 45 North American cases
in 1990, about 30 of which appear to be English-style crop circles.
NAICCR, 649 Silverstone Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2V8, Canada.

Television
(My thanks to Richard Benham and Paul Hicks for this information.)

Good Morning America--May 9, July 24, July 25, July 26 (all 1990).  Cover-
age of the Blackbird surveillance operation and the hoax of July 24, 1990.

ABC Evening News--July 19, 1990.  Coverage of double-dumbbells.

CBS Evening News--July 25, 1990.  Coverage of Blackbird hoax.

Unsolved Mysteries--January 31, 1990.  Overview of phenomenon and 1989
events.  Reshown with update on September 12, 1990.

A Current Affair--August 27 and September 14, 1990.  Latter show dis-
cusses Canadian crop circles and interviews Whitley Streiber about them.

Inside Edition--March 5, 1990.

20/20--September 21, 1990; 10-minute segment.


Miscellaneous

The Skyland bulletin board (Asheville, N.C.) has inaugurated an NACIRCLE
conference (#14.)  Contains an online version of Mufon's December 1990
article by Chorost and Andrews, and a copy of this bibliography (which
will be updated regularly.)  Sysop: Michael Havelin.  Telephone (704) 254-
7800.  2400 baud, N-8-1.  No charge.

"Out of the Prairie Comes Proof that a Higher Level of Communication Has
Arrived."  Advertisement for Procomm Plus 2.0 (Datastorm Technologies
Inc.)  Clever depiction of a crop circle shaped like a computer diskette.
Designer: Stephen Monaco.  Ran in computer magazines starting Feb-Mar.
1991.

A recent Led Zeppelin album cover contains a photograph of the first
Alton Barnes double-dumbbell with a zeppelin's shadow over it.

The Koestler Foundation is offering a reward of L5000 for a documented
explanation of the crop circles.  For information, write to The Koestler
Foundation, 484 King's Road, London SW10 OLF.  Include a stamped ad-
dressed envelope.

CD-ROM bibliographic sources are beginning to index articles under "crop
circles.

EOF

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Don


--
-* Don Allen *-  InterNet: dona@bilver.UUCP  // Amiga..for the best of us.
USnail: 1818G Landing Dr, Sanford Fl 32771 \X/ Why use anything else? :-)
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From: dona@bilver.uucp (Don Allen)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors,alt.conspiracy,sci.skeptic
Subject: FILE: A Thesis on the Crop Circles - Michael Chorost - MUFON
Message-ID: <1991Sep18.032531.24946@bilver.uucp>
Date: 18 Sep 91 03:25:31 GMT
Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL
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Xref: ns-mx alt.alien.visitors:2059 alt.conspiracy:7179 sci.skeptic:15180



I had posted this a few months back. In light of the recent developments
and discussions on various newsgroups on the crop circles and hoax
explanations, media hype and general queries on the subject, I'm
re-posting it again.

-----begin included text --------------------------------------------




            Thesis for a Pre-Paradigm Science: Cereology

                        Michael Chorost

Written March 1991; published July 1991

     1.  Cereology as a Pre-Paradigm Science
     2.  Non-Human Intelligence?
     3.  The Problem with "Intelligence"
     4.  A Guess: Are the Crop Circles A Symbol System?
     5.  About Unconvincing Guesses
     6.  The Future Looks Back on the Present: A Hopeful Guess
       
     Appendix: Colin Andrews' Catalog of Formations, with Annotations by
     Michael Chorost (not included in electronic version)

     I'm writing this paper in March 1991, well before the start of the
next crop circles season.  I anticipate that by July, there will be new
developments I will want to talk about, instead of reading a paper written
months before.  Thus I have not designed this paper to be read aloud. 
However, since it is oriented toward grounding cereology as a theoretical
discipline, I am likely to presume many of its points in my talk.  I will be
happy to entertain questions about it in Chicago. 

              1.  Cereology as a Pre-Paradigm Science

     In this first of six sections, I want to talk about cereology as a
discipline, and acquaint readers with some of its complexities and prob-
lems.  In the remaining sections, I will explore one particular problem in
detail: are the circles a language?  And if so, how might we figure it out?

     The crop circles phenomenon is much more complex than it appears
at first glance, so it follows that cereology, the study of the phenomenon,
needs to think ways which will encompass that complexity.  So it is impor-
tant to establish right off that the phenomenon has aspects which make
naive "the aliens have started talking to us" theories difficult to uphold. 
The evidence leads in contradictory directions.  For example, researchers
(primarily meteorologists) have gathered eyewitness reports of circles from
as far back as 1918, and have found written texts describing what may be
crop circles from as far back as 1590.  One 17th-century text describes
an event in 1633, where a school curate saw, while walking at night in a
Wiltshire field, "innumerable quantitie of pigmies or very small people
dancing rounde and rounde, and singing and making all manner of small
odd noyses."  He heard "a sorte of quick humming noyse all the time" and
"when the sun rose he found himself exactly in the midst of one of these
faery dances."1  Such "quick humming noyses" have been heard in
present-day crop circles,2 and have been captured on tape by the BBC
and other observers.  The curate's story seems to fit, because modern
crop circles are believed to form very rapidly, as this one apparently did,
and the "pigmies...dancing rounde" could have been a 17th-century
observer's way of interpreting a spinning, possibly glowing force field. 

     Another text, authored by Robert Plott in 1686, discusses an appar-
ently similar event in 1590 and theorizes that such artifacts are made by
lightning.  An illustration theorizes that cone-shaped "lightning strikes"
are responsible for the rings and, astonishingly, rings containing squares. 
David J. Reynolds notes that Plott describes "'imperfect segments', rings
within rings, squares (?!), 'Semicircles, Quadrants and Sextants' being
formed by combinations of multiple strokes, differing angles of descent
and variations in lightning strength across a stroke" (p. 348, italics in
originals.)3  Unfortunately, Plott does not give enough information to make
it clear whether he is observing "fairy rings", which are fungal infections
in the soil which blight plants in slowly spreading circular areas, or crop
circles.  In fact, much of his discussion points away from crop circles. 
Not once does he mention that the plants are flattened in spiral patterns,
nor does he talk about the intricate braiding often seen in crop circles. 
And when he digs under one formation, he discovers that the soil "was
much looser and dryer than ordinary, and the parts interspersed with a
white hoar or vinew much like that in mouldy bread, of a musty rancid
smell."4  This is a finding entirely consistent with fairy rings.  And yet,
as Reynolds notes, Plott is quite explicit about the existence of non-circu-
lar formations like quadrants and hollow squares, going so far as to
provide diagrams of them.  To my knowledge, there is no such thing as a
fairy square.  Thus we cannot eliminate the possibility that Plott saw what
we think of as crop circles.  Of course, it's also possible that he saw
something which was neither fairy rings nor crop circles, but something
else altogether. 

     Plott's discussion anticipates parts of the modern debate with
remarkable fidelity.  He devotes considerable attention to rumors of pos-
sessed satanic dancers, but ultimately concludes that such "hoaxes" could
only account for a particular subset of the phenomenon: "If I must needs
allow [dancers] to cause some few of these Rings, I must also restrain
them to those of the first kind, that are bare at many places like a path-
way; for to both the others more natural causes may be probably as-
signed" (14.)  It appears that Plott anticipated the meteorological theory
by roughly 300 years. 

     These observations have to make any alien-intelligence theorist stop
and think.  Plott talks about events which happened in 1590.  The
curate's anomalous sighting happened a decade after the publication of
Shakespeare's First Folio.  If they are true crop circles, and if they're by
aliens who have been trying to get our attention for four centuries, there
is at least one species in the galaxy which is remarkably dumb (and it's
not necessarily us.)  The finders of these texts subscribe to the meteoro-
logical theory, so they interpret the reports as evidence of a naturally
occurring plasma-vortex phenomenon.  The reader may not accept that
theory, but whatever he or she does accept has to take these astonishing
writings into account. 

     The 17th-century texts are not the only example of fractious data. 
For every eyewitness report of a glowing object or alien spacecraft
making a crop circle at night, there is another eyewitness report of a
violent wind which flattens out a circle in broad daylight.5  And there are
now numerous articles claiming that the phenomenon is generated by
"earth energies" which determine the location and shape of each crop
circle.  The theory relies on dowsing results.  Nonsense?  Possibly; but
Terence Meaden, the arch-enemy of intelligence-oriented theories, has
begun using dowsing himself, theorizing that "the metal-rod movement of
the dowser may be related to a reaction to the minor changes in the local
magnetic field of the soil induced by the plasma vortices and their fast-
spinning fields."6  Whatever the validity of such claims (and they need to
be tested!), they add further complications to cereology. 
   
     I hope these examples have served to shred the belief that all the
evidence points in one direction.  Hoax theorists point to the Bratton
hoax, an embarrassing but quickly detected hoax perpetuated on one of
1990's surveillance groups; alien-intelligence theorists point to eyewitness
reports and the humming noises; vortex theorists point to other eyewit-
ness reports, and the humming noises; earth-energy theorists point to
dowsing results, and the humming noises; and everyone points to every-
one else as terrible examples of interpretation of data. 

     So we have a complex situation.  That's nothing new; it's life.  But
there is an illuminating way to describe the kind of complexity that reigns
now.  I borrow from Thomas Kuhn's well-known work The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions7 in suggesting that cereology is a pre-paradigm
science.  Kuhn defines a "paradigm" as an "implicit body of intertwined
theoretical and methodological belief that permits selection, evaluation, and
criticism" (17).  More briefly, a paradigm is a way of thinking which
unifies a scientific discipline.  So far, that's exactly what cereology lacks. 
It consists of a mass of disparate observations and a few theories, none
of which explain very much.  The absence of a paradigm is beautifully
illustrated by two very different interpretations of what may be an eye-
witness report of a quintuplet formation being made.  On July 13, 1988,
according to Circular Evidence, a woman saw "a large, golden, disc-shaped
object within [a] cloud" which emitted "a bright white parallel beam...from
the bottom of the disc at an angle of roughly 65o [which] shone across
the sky towards Silbury Hill" (p. 115.)  Delgado and Andrews imply that
an alien spacecraft used an energy beam to inscribe the formation. 
Terence Meaden, on the other hand, writes, "On 13th July 1988, a lady
was eyewitness to a hollow pencil-shaped tube (not a beam) of light which
reached from cloud to ground for an observed period of a couple of
minutes.  A huge volume of the cloud, which was at 4000 feet, appeared
electrified."8  One event, one witness; two interpreters, two "facts"; no
paradigm. 
   
     So how are cereologists to conduct pre-paradigm science?  Kuhn
writes, "In the absences of a paradigm or some candidate for a paradigm,
all of the facts that could possibly pertain...are likely to seem equally
relevant.  As a result, fact-gathering is a far more nearly random activity
than the one that subsequent scientific development makes familiar." (15) 
This accurately describes how matters stand as of this writing.  The
sensible thing to do is to repeat history, i.e. gather as many observations
as possible, omnivorously, excluding nothing.  There should be routine
data collection with IR cameras, geiger counters, magnetometers, plant DNA
assays, weather stations, and so on.  Good photos and accurate measure-
ments need to be taken; even dowsing results and unusual physical sensa-
tions should be assiduously recorded.  And everything should be pub-
lished.  Some sets of observations may not be deemed relevant in the
future--that is the risk of pre-paradigm science--but we owe it to future
researchers and historians to bequeath them as rich a storehouse of data
as we can. 

     We could be doing better on this score.  As of this writing, meas-
urements and positional data of both English and North American forma-
tions are both scarce and of uneven quality.  Instrumental experiments
are rarely performed.  In addition, poor organization and political battles
impede the release of what data does exist.  Michael Green is sadly right
when he notes that "inordinate professional jealousy and commercial rival-
ry...has unfortunately marked the study of the subject to date, and has
led to a hoarding of essential information."9  For example, the meteorolo-
gists are sitting on their data, partly because they're unwilling to let
their opponents have it.  The alien-intelligence theorists are also sitting
on their data, partly because they feel reluctant to give away the product
of many hours of hard work.  Neither concern is justified.  Researchers
are responsible only for the quality of their data, not for what others do
with it.  It seems to me that anybody who thinks his data will help his
opponents more than it will help him is in an unenviable position, as far
as his theory is concerned.  And to sit on data is effectively to waste the
work that went into its collection.  The CCCS (Centre for Crop Circle
Studies) is trying to overcome these problems, and we should wish them
the best of luck.  Steady but polite pressure from Americans may help,
too.

     Two things are necessary, over and above performing the research:
a smoothly functioning network funneling data toward publication, and the
attitude that information should be shared with the community to promote
further research.  Secrecy and mercantile considerations serve only to
gum up the works, especially at this fragile stage.  It would be best if
history could record that information was freely and generously shared in
these difficult early days.  A 1991 report by Chris Rutkowski and other
members of the NAICCR (North American Institute for Crop Circles Re-
search) beautifully exemplifies this attitude.  It lists 46 cases of ground
markings in 1990, about thirty of which appear to be English-style crop
circles.  It provides formation types, lay rotations, dates, sizes, and
approximate locations.  (I am now writing a review of it, which I anticipate
will appear in the May 1991 issue of the Mufon UFO Journal.)  I hope
other cereologists will consider its example well. 

     After obtaining data, cereologists will just have to theorize as
carefully and responsibly as they can, and dare to be wrong.  Francis
Bacon writes, "Truth emerges more readily from error than from confu-
sion."10  This maxim strikes me with particular force when I contemplate
the meteorologists' corpus of research.  I think its basic thesis is in
error, yet even the few the scraps of data the meteorologists publish are
more useful than the typically haphazard observations offered by people
whom I think are closer to the mark.  Organized error can be re-organ-
ized into truth. 

                   2.  Non-Human Intelligence?

     2001: A Space Odyssey seems less science-fictional than it did in
1968, now that artificial constructions of an anomalous nature are appear-
ing repeatedly around the world.  Most of the major researchers in cere-
ology are convinced that human beings are not making them, because they
cannot figure out what human device, however sophisticated, could pro-
duce all of the observed effects and remain undetected for so long.  I am
inclined to agree with them, though I would add that it is always risky to
underestimate the ingenuity of our own species.  I suspect that the
possibility of a fabulously intricate hoax, however slight, keeps a lot of
cereologists awake at nights.  Perhaps worrying about the hoax theory is
one way of worrying about the implications of the circles not being hoax-
es. 

     Some researchers, primarily the meteorologists, believe that the
circles are produced by a natural phenomenon that we have only now
begun to notice.  Many people find this unconvincing.  Nature can indeed
produce fabulously intricate structures, like us, but I have never seen it
do so both overnight and on such a vast scale.  And I find it difficult to
ascribe the rapidly increasing complexity of the shapes to natural forces,
which typically change slowly when they change at all.

     By elimination, I have become sympathetic to non-human intelligence
theories--as I suspect many of my readers will be also.  There is some
slight anecdotal evidence for such theories; NAICCR's report on ground
markings notes, for instance, that 4 of its 46 listed cases have UFO sight-
ings associated with them.  Anecdotal evidence is notoriously difficult to
use, however, so I will not appeal to it in my analysis. 

     Let us suppose--it is still more or less an outright guess--that the
crop circles are the products of a non-human intelligence, and explore the
implications of that thesis.  It will be fun to do so, if nothing else.  The
rest of this essay will be devoted to that undertaking. 

     It is possible, as I have remarked elsewhere,11 that the formations
are the visible side-effect of some deliberately directed physical process,
the way tire tracks and footprints are.  At present, there is virtually
nothing that can be said about this important theory.  Discussion only
becomes possible when one hypothesizes that the formations are supposed
to mean something, either to their creators or to ourselves.  And it is to
this possibility that I will devote most of my attention. 

     If we want to try to decode the circles, we are faced with gigantic
problems at the very outset.  Typically, when we receive messages from
human intelligences, we have some amount of shared background to draw
upon in decoding them.  Shared language is obviously the most useful
background; but if that is absent, there are usually others, such as
shared physical environment, shared needs, shared knowledge of history,
shared interests, shared physiologies.  Not knowing Arabic, I can still
guess that an Arab with me in a souk is hungry if he looks at me and
mimics the act of eating. 

     But we may share nothing with an alien intelligence.  At any rate,
we can presume nothing.12  We cannot presume similar sensory equipment
or physical needs; we cannot presume similar evolutionary conditions; we
cannot even presume corporeal bodies or a sense of self.  I could go on
and on about the radical uncertainty involved.  To cut a long discussion
short, it comes down to this: we must guess, just plain guess, that they
are like us in some ways, and proceed accordingly.  In writing about
decoding a hypothetical alien message, Lewis White Beck argues that "we
must guess that it is a message, guess what it says, and then try to see
if the signal can convey that message."13  For example, we could guess
that the dimensions of the circles encode mathematical relationships such
as pi and e, and search to see if such numbers can be found in a sys-
tematic way.  Or we could guess that certain logical relationships are
being implied, and search for the most basic ones, such as transitivity
and hierarchy.  Or it could be posited that the spatial locations of the
circles relative to each other are related to spatial distances elsewhere,
such as between stars.  The chances of picking the wrong message are
high, but Bacon's dictum about truth still applies. 

                3.  The Problem with "Intelligence"

     I will dare to be wrong later in this essay, but I want to make a
remark about "intelligence" first.  The debate over the crop circles can
all too easily polarize into two camps, intelligent versus non-intelligent
causation.  But the entire debate could be off the mark.  The
phenomenon's cause may not be "blind nature", but it may not be intelli-
gence the way we know it, either.  If it's aliens, they might be far smart-
er than us in some ways, but dumb as bricks in others.  Or suppose the
circlemaker is Gaia--an intelligence resulting from complex interactions in
the biosphere of the planet?  Or, the combined psychic interactions of the
human race?  Or a natural phenomenon which is being manipulated by
such psychic interactions?  Farfetched ideas, to be sure, but so is the
phenomenon.  As my colleague Dennis Stacy has repeatedly warned me in
correspondence, thinking along rigid "p or not-p" lines can overlook
fruitful areas of inquiry.  An arrow flying in a straight line can still miss
the target. 

     Also, it is well to remember that all of the words denoting "intelli-
gent beings" in English were designed to refer to exactly one species:
Homo sapiens of Earth.  All English words denoting "intelligent non-human
beings" are negatives: "alien" is rooted in the Sanskrit antara, which
means merely "other", and "extra-terrestrial" means "not from Earth."  In
terms of thinking about alien intelligence, our language is as limited as
the counting system which calls all quantities above five "many."   

     However, I will guess an intelligence not altogether different from
ours, simply because it is the easiest for us to think about.  It is as
reasonable a place to start as any. 

     Of course, the problem of decoding would still be daunting.  To
manage it, we can make more guesses: perhaps the circlemakers have
already observed us and know something about us.  They may have
guessed that our minds will leap to certain guesses, and attempted to play
to our predilections.  (Such double-guessing could someday tell us quite a
bit about them.)  As Cipher A. Deavours points out, aliens ought to have
some interest in developing codes designed to reveal rather than conceal
information.14  Decoding could be orders of magnitude easier if the cir-
clemakers have taken our ways of decoding into account.  We may be
seeing our humanness being filtered through alien consciousness and
played back at us. 

     Of course, the simplest way of communicating with us would have
been to use our own symbols, or to use something readily comprehensible
to us, like groups of circles corresponding to the prime numbers.  The
fact that we have not readily understood the circles suggests a number of
possibilities: we have not really tried yet; there is no message; there is a
message, but one whose content is not directed at us; the entities are so
profoundly different from us that they cannot figure out what we would
find easily accessible; they have more subtle motives than straightforward
communication; they have decided to dispense with easy formalities and
want us to think hard, perhaps with the implied lure that the reward will
be worth the effort.  I find the first the most preferable, since so little
has been done by way of attempts at decoding.  In any case, it's reason-
able to guess that something complex and multileveled is either happening
or being communicated.
   
         4.  A Guess: Are the Crop Circles A Symbol System?

     All this said, I will now risk being wrong in a major way.  I will
argue that we are indeed looking at a symbol system.  The shapes seem to
have a certain "symbolicity" (see Colin Andrews' catalog, Appendix I.) I
don't necessarily mean that they are a phonetic alphabet like English; I
mean something more like pictorial codes or schematics.  However, I shall
have to be rather vague about what I mean by the word "symbol."  The
most specific definition I can offer is "a mark which means something to a
group of people, by convention."  For there can be many different kinds
of symbols.  A symbol can be a mark with exactly one referent; for exam-
ple, there is a certain schematic which signifies exactly one kind of tran-
sistor.  Or it can be a mark amenable to different interpretations, like the
color red in the Soviet flag (it means revolutionary political possibilities
to some, raw tyranny to others.)  Or it can be a mark which functions in
a language, meaning little in itself but contributing to a total meaning. 
For example, the physical mark "key" contributes in a certain way to the
sentence "Where are my car keys?" and in a different way to "The key to
the treasure is there."  It seems to me that the circles could be symbols
in any of these ways (and there are many more possible ways.)  I tend to
gravitate toward the third, language-oriented kind of symbolicity, but I
don't wish to exclude the others.  My intention is to spark a rich debate
by opening up possibilities, not to truncate debate by closing them off. 

     To a lot of people, the formations "feel" like a symbol system.  And
they do have broad structural elements in common with human symbol
systems (which, it must be pointed out, may not be much of a basis for
comparison.)  Like many human symbol systems, they can be broken down
into certain recurring basic shapes--the circle the line, the rectangle, the
ring, the curved arc, and so on.  These elements are their "strokes."  If
the formations are complex, they are complex by the accumulation of pre-
existing elements, not the creation of new elements (though each summer
does bring some new elements.) 

     Like human symbol systems, the crop circles present enough variety
to suggest the possibility of reference to a large number of objects or
ideas.  If we saw only three formations repeated over and over, we would
probably be more inclined to think them artistic or cultural icons, or
natural artifacts, rather than members of a linguistic or representational
system. 

     Like human symbols, their variety remains within limits; of 1990's
numerous single and double dumbbells, no two are alike, but all are
recognizably part of a class.  It's a bit like the way the English letters
b,d,p,q,c, and o form a recognizable class.  The Egyptian hieroglyph for
"bird" would stick out and look very strange in that class, and indeed it
would not belong anywhere in the alphabet.  As would the letter "b" look
very odd, if claimed to be a Chinese ideogram. 

     The "variety within limits" argument is important for another rea-
son.  The appearance of "scrolls", rectangles, and triangles suggests that
there is no physical limitation to the kind of shapes that can be created. 
If a short rectangle can be made, so can long ones to form lines, and the
scrolls suggest that irregular lines can be drawn "freehand", as it were. 
The fact that the formations seem to vary within boundaries seems to
suggest a defined and ordered system. 

     Of course, there are problems with the argument, such as that the
formations bear little obvious spatial relationship to each other the way
human symbols usually do.  One is also hard-pressed to group the weirdly
curvy "scroll" formations as belonging to the same system as the highly
angular double-dumbbells; perhaps the scrolls really are mistakes or
doodles.  Or perhaps the only message being conveyed is "Watch this
space, and be here next summer."  Humorists have also suggested alien
art galleries and alien advertising.  My guesses may more wrong than I
can imagine.  But for all that, I think it is not crazy to guess that we are
looking at a symbol system, not random squiggles. 

     It just may be possible to start grouping 1990's new formations into
classes.  Such attempts are highly arbitrary by their nature, conditioned
by the viewer's predispositions (as are readings of Rorschach inkblots),
but the attempt is worth making.  It would be interesting to see what
groupings other people make.  Colin Andrews' catalog (see Appendix A)
lists 65 formation types (one is a known hoax, so I don't count it.)  I can
derive the following classes from studying Colin's catalogue:

     (Numbers refer to the formation number in the catalog)

     Single dumbbells (21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 36, 55)
     Double-dumbbells (34, 35, 54)
     Thetas (40, 41, 49, 50)
     Plain circles with satellites (3, 5, 6, 17, 43, 52)
     Ringed circles (10, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 38, 64)
     Saturns (7, 8, 11, 32, 37, 46)
     Rings (44)
     Scrolls (45, 48, 65)
     Triangles (47, 63)
     Sports (unique formations, i.e. 26, 39, 53, 58, 59, 62)

To explain my nomenclature: I call the "thetas" so because their split
central circle reminds me of the Greek letter "O" (I imply no actual con-
nection to Greek.)  The "saturns" remind me of Saturn with its moons
(again, no connection to the planet implied, though it's not impossible that
there be one.)  I take the name "scroll" from The Crop Circle Enigma
(which shows pictures of them on p. 156.)  I name the "sports" so be-
cause a "sport" in biology is a unique object.

     Interestingly enough, it may be that the formation types are also
roughly contiguous in space.  The hand-drawn map reproduced in Issue 2
of The Cereologist (p. 3) shows that all three double-dumbbells appeared
quite close to each other, in fact within an area five kilometers long and
two kilometers wide, just north of Alton Barnes.  At least six of the ten
single dumbbells appeared in the Longwood Estate area, just southwest of
Winchester.  The four thetas may fall in a line (it will take much better
data to verify this.)  Two of the scrolls are quite close to each other, at
Beckhampton. 

     The spatial-relationships idea is being pursued vigorously by
Harvey Lunenfeld of East Northport, New York.  We've been trying to
obtain positional data for as many of the formations as possible, in order
to create a computerized database.  Harvey and his son Randy are now
configuring sophisticated mapping software which will facilitate the search
for spatial relationships, and also for correlations with other types of
data.  So far we've been obtaining our positional data from thumbnail
deduction from photographs and other available evidence.  The job will
become much easier once we gain access to satellite imagery good enough
to show exactly where the formations are.  Access to some of the English
databases would also help greatly, of course. 

     Allow me to call attention to the fact that certain elements recur in
different contexts.  The triangle's "F" is much like the shapes jutting out
from all three double dumbbells.  (Could it be significant that none of the
single dumbbells have such shapes?)  The other triangle's flanking shapes
are very much like the double rectangles on many of the single dumbbells
(and, note, none of the double dumbbells.)  One simple circle has a three-
fingered shape jutting out of it which looks almost exactly like the one
attached to the Allington Down (more precisely, East Kennett) double
dumbbell.  Some of the single dumbbells and the theta formations have
partial arcs as components.  The saturns are a combination of plain circles
with satellites and ringed circles.  This evident combination and recombi-
nation of elements makes it plausible to suppose that there is some form
of "grammar" ruling their placement. 

     It may be possible to work out the properties of the grammar
without understanding the meaning of the symbols.  One way to do this is
to compare groups of symbols to each other, isolating consistent statistical
similarities and differences.  For example, if the ratios of the areas of the
two circles in single dumbells compares in some consistent way to the
ratios of the lengths of the forks to their circles, that might indicate a
meaningful element of language.  This particular example is mathematically
oriented, but other strategies are feasible, too: one could compare the
spatial orientation of the thetas to that of all of the other groups, or
compare the length of formations to their compass orientations.  It is an
encouraging fact that cryptographers are frequently able to decode
messages whose plaintext is written in a language they do not know very
well.  Deavours writes,

          It is of interest that codes can often be solved where
          the underlying language of the plaintext is not known
          for certain.  One can also gain an immense knowledge of
          the structure and character of a communication without
          understanding a single thought expressed therein.  For
          intergalactic communication, this offers much hope that
          we may succeed in deciphering what is received (203-
          204.)

As evidence that meaning is not crucial to decipherment, Deavours men-
tions that

          the great French cryptanalyst, Georges Painvain, of
          World War I fame, solved many complex ciphers of the
          German General Staff but possessed so little knowledge
          of German that he was unable to translate the deci-
          phered text after solution (209). 

Not knowing the language need not impede understanding its shape and
general characteristics.  Such research could yield one great practical
benefit down the road: upon receiving a Rosetta Stone, we would then be
able to learn and read the language that much more quickly, perhaps well
enough to begin using it ourselves.  In the touchy and uncertain days
immediately following alien contact, such an advantage might be very
welcome indeed.  This makes it all the more imperative to facilitate re-
search with an effective network of data distribution. 

     Figuring out what the grammar's shapes represent (if grammar it is,
of course) will be tough, because the formations appear to lack all social
context.  There is no "Rosetta Stone" permitting them to be compared to a
known symbol system; there are no objects helpfully put next to them to
show what they depict or schematize; there are no appreciative alien enti-
ties in view admiring them as art.  Quite the contrary, they are placed
wordlessly (so to speak) on this planet's largest equivalent of a blank,
lined sheet of paper.  But we should try.  We can attempt to restore the
context, or at least make one.  Our guesses might be correct.

     But a worrying philosophical issue intrudes here.  Let us say we
guess a message--a meaning--and find out that the circles transmit it. 
Can we be sure that we have truly decoded the circles?  Perhaps not. 
Humans are infinitely resourceful at seeing patterns that are not there. 
Edward R. Tufte, in his engaging book "Envisioning Information", reprints
a picture of a rock in southern Massachusetts which is covered with
ancient hieroglyphs.15  Next to the picture he reproduces ten hand-drawn
sketches of the markings, made between 1680 and 1854.  Not only are the
sketches strikingly different, but different scholars have triumphantly
adduced totally different origins for the glyphs: Scythian, Phoenician,
Runic, Viking, and Algonquin, to name a few.  Tufte cheerfully damns this
as "scholarship of wishful thinking" (73).  I am not sure if there is any
way to solve the problem, other than asking the circlemakers what they
mean (and even that might not help as much as we think it would.)  My
reaction is just to say, "Let us see what we can guess and find, then see
which guess convinces the most people, and deal with the philosophical
problems as they arise."

     The lack of context is significant in another way.  It is a truism
that symbols mean something only in a social context.  If these shapes
have a concrete and socially-based meaning to their creators, how are
they changed by being engraved on fields on another planet?  Suppose
that the magnificent Fawley Down pictogram (a "theta" formation) refers to
a Rigellian action which human physiologies cannot duplicate?  If we know
nothing of Rigellian physiology, we'll never figure that out, will we?  And,
more importantly, how does the meaning of the symbol change when it is
stamped, without context or explanation, in a field of wheat near Winches-
ter, England?  What does the symbol mean at that particular place and
time, if anything?   Not, I feel sure, just to tell us what Rigellians do. 
What would a glowing Coca-Cola advertisement mean in a Brazilian rainfor-
est where Coke is not available?  Anything but "Buy Coke."  Perhaps it
would be (meant as, read as) an ironic statement on the extravagance of
modern advertising.  But if a picture of that advertisement in the rainfor-
est was reproduced as an advertisement by Coke, the sign would again
mean "Buy Coke"--but also something more, like "Coke is, or should be,
available literally everywhere."  Meaning is an event with multiple layers,
most if not all of which are radically and subtly dependent on context. 

     It is attractive to suppose that the formations are a sort of logical
puzzle, like an IQ test.  This would seem to make their context internal
rather than external; the shapes would define their own context.  But this
argument is misleading.  If one was presented with an IQ test without
knowing what it was, or being shown how to work with the shapes pre-
sented, it would be meaningless.  The very idea of the logical puzzle is
socially constructed.  The Soviet psychologist A. R. Luria has shown that
it is almost impossible to convey the idea of the syllogism to normally
intelligent but nonliterate people.  When Russian peasants were given the
syllogistic puzzle In the Far North, where there is snow, all bears are
white.  Novaya Zembla is in the Far North and there is always snow there. 
What color are the bears?, a typical response was, "I don't know.  I've
seen a black bear.  I've never seen any others.  Each locality has its own
animals."  From their point of view, it was absurd to try to figure out the
color of bears with logic, since bear coats are something you see, not
deduce.16  The ideas of the logical puzzle and the transitive relationship
are evidently learned, not inherent to human intelligence.  If there is a
logical pattern, it would be nothing simple to figure out, for the first
thing we would have to do is figure out what has to be figured out.  And
that would almost certainly require the discovery of some external context,
like an alien culture's way of thinking and reasoning.  Unless, of course,
the circlemakers have tried to use some human mode of reasoning. 

     There are an enormous number of possibilities.  A reading of the
circles will not come easily.  A lot will depend on the ability to make
inspired guesses, and convince other people that they are right.  The
rest will depend on good data, good analytical tools, and vast amounts of
hard work.  But the potential payoff ought to make any linguist salivate. 
The field has ample room for the next Chompollon. 

                 5.  About Unconvincing Guesses

     Having put forward a guess (of a sort), let me say something about
unconvincing guesses.  I have seen quite a few articles purporting to
decode individual formations to reveal some definite meaning, like "Kha-
wah" ("life giver")17 or "This is a dangerous place to camp."18  The
typical move in such guesses is to declare that the formation contains
letters in an ancient language or elements from an obscure symbol system,
and decode it by translating those letters/elements into English.  I find
these kinds of guesses uniformly unconvincing.  If you compare the cir-
cles to any language or symbol system, you'll score a number of hits. 
Compare them to English, and you'll find F's, O's, C's, Q's, I's, M's, and
W's.  Compare them to American traffic symbols, and you can find resem-
blances to stoplights (i.e. three circles in a row), dashed lines on the
road, and "no entry" signs.  This second example is deliberately ludi-
crous, but it illustrates the "Rorschach" quality of the phenomenon: one
can see almost anything in it.  Simple resemblance alone, let alone highly
approximate resemblance, is a very shaky ground for decoding. 

     It is also very common for such arguments to ignore the fact that
the supposed "letters" and 'symbols" are stuck onto unrelated shapes,
and otherwise distorted and garbled.  It doesn't make sense to use an
alphabet or symbol system by making it nearly unrecognizable.  Finding a
highly resemblant set of symbols could change the whole game, but to my
knowledge, no one has accomplished this, not even Michael Green in his
ambitious attempt to link the circles to designs on ancient Roman and
Celtic stone carvings.19  Green finds several interesting similarities
between ancient carvings and modern crop circles, but it's not enough to
establish a meaningful link, since hundreds of formations have appeared
in the last few years, and there are hundreds of Roman/Celtic shapes
which look nothing like any known crop circle.  More problematically, the
Roman/Celtic shapes are typically combinations of circles, so the probabili-
ty of a few rough matches by pure chance is very high.  And, of course,
even if the Celts were imitating crop circles seen thousands of years ago,
their interpretations of them ("cosmic egg", "sun god", etc.) cannot be
known to be the same as the intentions of the entities who generated
them.  They could be completely off the mark, as far as the circlemakers
are concerned.  The historical link would be exciting and valuable if
Green could establish it more strongly, but it would be of little direct
assistance in interpretative efforts. 

     In sum, most would-be "decoders" look at a few formations, ignoring
all the rest; they make no attempt to resolve diverse shapes into a sys-
tem; they fail to consider disconfirming evidence.  Instead, they Rorschach
their theories into a small part of the phenomenon, and find exactly what
they want to find.

     Of course, no one can avoid Rorschaching into the circles.  I myself
have read my hopes, beliefs, and professional biases into them.  But one
must at least try to consider the whole phenomenon and think about it
systematically.  Error may then be productive error.  Anything else is
only confusion.

      6.  The Future Looks Back on the Present: A Hopeful Guess

     There is far more that could be said, but I am probably pushing
the limits of Mufon's printing budget with a paper of this size, and the
patience of my readers as well.  I will close, then, by offering a hopeful
look at the present from the viewpoint of the future.  Someday, there may
be a paradigm which explains the crop circles to everybody's satisfaction. 
Then it will be difficult for people to see this strange and beautiful
phenomenon any other way.  But historians will be fascinated by the pre-
paradigm writings of this era.  To them our ways of seeing will look
untutored and naive, but also fresh and new--the words of children
seeing things for the first time.  Despite their superior knowledge, they
may envy us, we who have the extraordinary opportunity of first sight. 
Naivete is a rare gift.  Let us use it well. 




Notes

(1) R.M. Skinner, "A Seventeenth-Century Report of an Encounter with an
Ionized Vortex?"  Journal of Meteorology, November 1990, p. 346.  The
source is John Aubrey's Natural History of Wiltshire (publication date not
given.) 

(2) John Haddington reports hearing and recording "a strange and beauti-
ful trilling noise" in a circle at Bishops Canning, 1990.  See his "The
Wansdyke Watch", The Cereologist, issue 1 (Summer 1990), p. 15.

(3) David J. Reynolds, "Possibility of a Crop Circle from 1590."  Journal of
Meteorology, November 1990, pp. 347-352.  The text is Robert Plott's The
Natural History of Stafford-shire, Oxford, 1686. 

(4) Plott, p. 15 (italics in original.)  I am grateful to Carl Carpenter for
sending me a xerox of the relevant chapter of the book, pages 7-21.

(5) For examples of the former, see Delgado and Andrews' Circular Evidence
(Bloomsbury Press, 1989), pp. 179-190.  For examples of the latter, see
Terence Meaden, The Circles Effect and its Mysteries (Artetech, 1989)
especially chapter 2. 

(6) Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Circles Effect
(held at Oxford Polytechnic, June 23, 1990), p. 50.  This has been reprint-
ed as Circles From the Sky.  The April 1991 issue of the Mufon UFO
Journal contains a large bibliography which includes ordering information
for most of the books cited in this paper.

(7) University of Chicago Press, 1962.

(8) Proceedings, p. 39.  The event is also discussed in The Circles Effect
and its Mysteries, p. 55.

(9) Michael Green, "The Rings of Time: The Symbolism of the Crop Circles." 
In The Crop Circle Enigma (Gateway Books, 1990, ed. Ralph Noyes) p. 139.

(10) Quoted in Kuhn, p. 18.

(11)  Michael Chorost and Colin Andrews, "The Summer 1990 Crop Circles",
Mufon UFO Journal, December 1990, pp. 3-14. 

(12)  Some people have tried to define what we can presume.  Gregory
Benford: "The most extreme view one can take is to reject any category of
knowledge of the alien, declaring them all to be inherently anthropomor-
phic or anthropocentric, and flatly declare that the alien is fundamentally
unknowable" (26).  Benford later goes on to suggest, though, that we may
be able to expand our categories to include alien ways of knowing: "We
can make ourselves greater.  We can ingest the alien" (27).  ("Aliens and
Unknowability: A Scientist's Perspective", in Starship, vol. 43, Winter-
Spring 1982-3, pp. 25-27.)  On the other hand, Marvin Minsky argues that
alien intelligence is likely to resemble ours, because "every evolving intel-
ligence will eventually encounter certain very special ideas--e.g. about
arithmetic, causal reasoning, and economics--because these particular ideas
are very much simpler than other ideas with similar uses" (127).  (Byte,
April 1985, pp. 127-138.)  Speculation is useful for defining the problem,
but it's rather like Robinson Crusoe trying to do sociology. 

(13) Lewis White Beck, "Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life."  In Extraterrestri-
als: Science and Alien Intelligence, edited by Edward Regis, Jr.  Cam-
bridge University Press, 1985.

(14) Cipher A. Deavours, "Extraterrestrial Communication: A Cryptologic
Perspective", in Extraterrestrials: Science and Alien Intelligence. pp. 201-
214.  (Interestingly enough, the author's name is not a joke.)

(15) Edward R. Tufte, Envisioning Information.  Graphics Press, Cheshire,
Connecticut, 1990.   

(16) Luria's finding is discussed in Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The
Technologizing of the Word (New York: Methuen, 1982), pp. 52-53. 

(17) Letter by Ernest P. Moyer, reprinted in Focus (Dec. 31, 1990), p. 16.

(18) Jon Erik Beckjord, broadside sheet, February 1991. 

(19) Michael Green, "The Rings of Time: The Symbolism of the Crop Circles."
In The Crop Circles Enigma, Gateway Books, 1990, pp. 137-171. 




About the Author

Michael Chorost was educated at Brown and the University of Texas at
Austin, and is now at Duke, working toward his Ph.D. in Renaissance liter-
ature and philosophy of language.  His first article on the subject, "The
Summer 1990 Crop Circles", was coauthored with Colin Andrews and was
published in December 1990's Mufon UFO Journal.  He has also authored
a bibliography of the phenomenon. 

The author may be contacted at:

North American Circle
P.O. Box 61144
Durham, NC 27705-1144


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