Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 | |
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In the January 1990 issue of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K., two reports appeared describing eyewitness observations of crop circles-in-the-making. Both involved a self-luminous spinning ball of light. We reproduce here the second of these accounts.
June 28, 1989, north-central Wiltshire, near Silbury Hill.
"Soon after midnight the occupier of the roadside cottage by the path which leads to West Kennett Long Barrow noticed a large ball of light 400 metres distant in a wheatfield to the west. At the time of the observation he was walking from house to garage, and had a clear view to the illuminated part of the field through a gap in a hedge which borders his garden. He described the ball as orange in colour, adding that it was brighter around the periphery, and he guessed the diameter as 30-40 feet (say, 10-13 metres). When first seen, the ball was already low over the field and still descending. The witness watched the base of the ball 'go flat' as it made contact with the crop and/or the ground. The ball then gave 'a little bounce' and after a further 'seven or eight seconds' disappeared in."Next morning on leaving the house the witness could see via the gap in the hedge a large circle at the place which corresponded to the position of the light source the previous night, and some smaller circles were evident as well."
A flyover the same day revealed a big circle with a ring around it plus smaller circles. G.T. Meaden (the writer) arrived at the site on the morning of the 30th to find that a half dozen additional circles had joined the earlier ones. Five of these formed a quintuplet - a large central circle with four small evenly spaced outriders.
(Meaden, G.T.; "Nocturnal Eye Witness Observation of Circles in the Making. Part 2: North Wiltshire, 29th June 1989," Journal of Meteorology, U.K., 15:3, 1990. Journal address: 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, ENGLAND BA15 1LD)
Comment. Meaden, Editor of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K., is the proponent of the plasma-vortex theory of crop-circle formation. It is remarkable that circles should have been inscribed in the same spot two nights running. It is equally strange that crop circles seem to favor ancient sites, such as Silbury Hill.