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SUBJECT: CAN ANYBODY SQUARE UP THE CIRCLES                   FILE: UFO1234



DAILY MAIL, London, England-July 19, 1990
CR: N. Oliver

CAN ANYBODY SQUARE UP THE CIRCLES?
by: SINCLAIR McKAY

A faint, warm, night-time breeze wafts through the cornfields at Alton Barnes
in Wiltshire.  The atmowphere is heavy and oppressive and -sometime between
dusk and dawn-the inexplicable happens.
    A large circle appears in the corn.  It has been happening with surprising
regularity-sometimes one circle, sometimes a series of them-all over the West
Country.  Every summer for the past ten years the cornfields of Wiltshire have
been covered with these peculiar circles.
     Hundreds have already appeared this year alone and all sorts of people are
now trying to explain why.  So far, nobody has come up with a satisfactory
answer.

                   DEBATE

     The latest circle manifestation has started the most feverish debate of
all.  Last week nine circles, all in a row, appeared in a field owned by the
Ministry of Defence in Wiltshire.  And for the past few days the site has been
swarming with experts from all over the world.  The Americans, Canadians and
Japanese are getting hugely interested-because these markings have been
appearing in their countries as well.
     Indeed, interest in corn circles has been so intense this year that
experts from several different continents have met to discuss them.  Last
nomth, Dr. Terence Meaden of the Tornado and Strom Research Organisation
presented his theory at a conference in Oxford attended by TV crews from all
over the world.  He believes that the circles are caused by localised
whirlwinds charged with electrified dust.
     He was joined by American meteorology experts and Japanese physicists.
But the meeting ultimately clouded the issue rather than explaining it.  The
idea of a localised whirlwind could perhaps explain the simple circles, but the
scientists admitted that they were still baffled by the more complex patterns.
Meaden, however, is confident that some day his theory will explain them, too.

------------------------------------------------------------|
|
|                       THE THEORIES                       |
|                                                          |
|    These are the most popular:                           |
|                                                          |
|    1.  Wind vortex. Wind sweeping round a hill presses   |
|        corn down.                                        |
|    2.  Fungus.  This can cause a crop to collapse in     |
|        circular pattern.                                 |
------------------------------------------------------------






------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                          |
|     3.  Soil disorder.  Chemical weaknesses causing      |
|         crop to collapse.                                |
|     4.  Badgers/Hedgehogs.  Amorous animals running      |
|         around in the middle of the night.               |
|     5.  Elaborate hoaxes.  Youngsters creating circles   |
|         using chains or a weight on the end of a rope    |
|         which they swing round.                          |
|     6.  Descending flying saucers, spaceships coming     |
|         down in fields leaving landing marks.            |
|                                                          |
------------------------------------------------------------

     Alton Barnes, scene of the last incident, is a place which certainly lends
itself to the mystical atmosphere that these circles provoke. The area is
steeped in legends and folklore. Stand in the middle of a field on a hazy
summer's day surrounded by gloden crops and the gently rolling hills on the
horizon and it is impossible not to feel a twinge of awe.
     It is really possible to explain scientifically these beautiful patterns?
Dr. Meaden would rather do that then give credence to the UFO theories. But
why, then, are most of the circles appearing in Wiltshire and not elsewhere?
     'Indeed, we've had 320 circles this year in Wiltshire already.' said Dr.
Meaden. 'I think they're appearing here beacuse of the chalky soil. They are
all near hills and the wind vortices which may create this effect only appear
in fields near hills.'
     'I visited a new circle for the first time last Friday - the best circle
formation I've ever seen.'
     'It's nine circles in a row - four are absolutly magnificent - and one is
imperfect. It seems to show an arm coming out of the circle with three fingers.
I'ts a circle that's gone wrong.'
     'It supports my theory involving spinning balls of air. 'The vortex has an
internal structure which can't be seen. The internal structure of this one
appears to have gone wrong.'
     Adding to the fever of the debate is an ill-concealed irritation that Dr.
Meaden feels for the amateur circle enthusiasts Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado
who say the circles are the work of an 'intelligence'.
     
                       BIZARRE
     Colin Andrews counters: 'There is nothing in this theory of wind vortices.
Only three people in the world have looked in depth at this problem: myself,
Pat Degaldo and Terence Meaden. We worked together for a couple of years some
time ago. It is certain that the circles are caused by something airborne but I
am sure there is nothing random about them.
     "The largest formation we've come across is in Wiltshire.  It's 300ft
across-one large circle and three concentric rings around it.  We discovered a
further concentric ring had appeared and 36 more had manifested across the
landscape.  There is something here which is acting, reacting and locating in
the most bizarre way."
     So there is still no theory which satisfies everybody, although UFO
researcher Jenny Randles, in her book on the subject, gives an interesting
explanation of why people think the circles are caused by supernatural means.
She believes that they are caused by natural phenomena that we have not yet
understood and which we exaggerate in our thirst for mystery.
     So, as Dr. Meaden says, the wind may be the answer but it may be another
50 years before we know expactly how.  Which means we probably have another 50
years of spaceship theories to look forward to.  Summer just wouldn't be the
same without circles in corn fields.


              
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