photo 8 - Alton Priors, Wiltshire 27th July

High upon the crest of South Field, Alton Priors, flyers discovered an intriguing rope design on the 27th July. Like many of its predecessors, its design simply couldn't be appreciated until it was viewed from above.

photo 9 - Avebury, Wiltshire 28th July

Six days later on the 28th July, an interesting "nested comet" design appeared just to the north of the Avebury stone circle. Avebury is the UK's epicentre for the phenomenon, and its surrounding fields have been blessed with some truly spectacular formations over the years. This particular one held much energy, and was well received by its many visitors.

Photo 10 - The Gallops, Cherhill Down, Wiltshire 28th July

... Later that same day, an elaborate radial-spoke design apparently arrived in less than an hour, and in broad daylight! A helicopter pilot, who regularly flies tourists over the circles in the area, spotted it at 2 pm and swears it wasn't there an hour earlier, even after flying the same route!

photo 11 - Pitt, near Winchester, Hampshire 15th August

Arguably one of the most stunning formations ever to grace our fields arrived near Winchester in Hampshire on the 15th August. Amazingly here we had an archetypal ET staring back at us, offering what we now accept as being a data disc.

Researchers who arrived early that morning found the lay of the crop to be "outstandingly perfect". Spending many hours looking for evidence that might suggest it was man-made resulted in none being found! ... No crushed stalks ... No board-scrape marks ... No peg-holes etc. Along with others I concluded that if it was man-made, then surely a technology must have been employed that's only known to a privileged few. It was almost as if it had been scanned into the field! ... Maybe a transmission of sorts as suggested by the horizontal "TV-type" lines employed.

It was the data disc that aroused most interest though, especially when it was realised that it literally did store data, and that a message had been encoded within. The disc in the formation resembles a CD-ROM, in that if you were to view such a disc under powerful magnification, you would see blocks (just like the blocks of standing crop in the formation) representing digital information. Researchers Paul Vigay and Eltjo Haselhoff decoded the binary-encoded disc to reveal the following, which is obviously open to much interpretation:-

Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES. Much PAIN but still time. (unclear word). There is GOOD out there. We Oppose DECEPTION. Conduit CLOSING\ (bell sound)

Isn't it interesting that some letters and words, apparently at random, are issued as capitals, whilst the rest remain in lower case? ... Is there another message here yet to be discovered?

Something also quite interesting happens when you attempt to blur the entire image. The horizontal transmission lines disappear and the image becomes far more comparable to a photograph than anything else, albeit one that's obviously out of focus. The disc now appears as an orb of light, which judging by how the right hand side of ET's face is lit, appears to be the light source for the entire image. ET appears to be offering this light ... offering "the light", or "enlightenment", which is clearly the spiritual intention behind the whole phenomenon.

photo 12 (blurred image) - Pitt, near Winchester, Hampshire 15th August

Not long after the alien event, the grim reaper suddenly appeared everywhere, and "The Circlemakers" found themselves rapidly running out of canvas! However amongst the last to arrive was a beautiful design at Crooked Soley, near Hungerford in Wiltshire, ending this year's brief review of the circles, which as always remain ever fascinating.

photo 13 - Crooked Soley, Wiltshire 28th August

Graham Tucker © 2002

End notes

1. Interior photographs of Silbury formation used by kind permission of Janet Tucker © 2002.

2. All other photographs used by kind permission of Steve Alexander © 2002.
Steve is a professional crop circle photographer who produces a beautiful yearbook illustrating the season's events. Details to be found on his homepage at: http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk/