The other two that arrived on that same day were discovered in Oxfordshire and they also were placed close to some very ancient sites. Found literally behind the amazing chalk figure that's known as the Uffington White Horse, the formation seen in the photo below was clearly symbolising a bird. Could this be the Egyptian Phoenix or Bennu Bird, which legend has us believe would consume itself at the end of every 500 years by fire, in order to re-cycle itself? It's said that out of its ashes a very young and beautiful bird would be born that would live through another renewed cycle. Again this is along the lines of "Revelation", in that whilst we're now wrestling within the death throes of a dying age, we're obviously poised to embrace the new.
The fourth formation of the day turned out to be a real groundbreaker. Located behind the ancient tree lined barrow that's known as Wayland Smithy, it really was a rapid departure from whatever we'd seen before. Through a clever use of 3 dimensional geometry, eye-popping cubes emanating from a single source resulted in a very powerful impact when viewed from above.
In the "Book of Revelation" St. John's frightening imagery of world end is made only too clear. But he also offers us hope throughout its text with the promise of a "New Jerusalem" that symbolically attempts to make us aware of the cyclic renewal process that's bound to follow. Dubbed "The Skyscrapers", the formation provides us with a very surreal image that looks as if we're witnessing the exploding birth of a new metropolis...(So might we interpret this as being the "New Jerusalem" springing up from the ashes?) According to Crop Circle Connector, only 46 formations were reported throughout the UK this season, with roughly half that number openly declared as being hoaxes. As far as the genuine phenomenon is concerned this represents a huge drop in numbers when compared to previous years, whilst the number of fakes around appears to average out at much the same. Unfortunately Kent was on the receiving end of two such welly-stomped efforts this year. One appeared on June 22nd, at the bottom of Blue Bell Hill next to the A229, that from the air looked decidedly suss! As you can see from the aerial photo the walls of the standing crop were "squared-off" and so appeared quite wobbly.
Although there's no real magic litmus test for determining real from fake, in 90% of all hoaxed formations we often find evidence of what we refer to as being "boardmarks". Seen more clearly in unripened crop, this is where the edge of a board has damaged the plants during the flattening process. The following photo taken in the Lower Blue Bell Hill formation clearly shows a boardmark... one of many that was repeatedly found throughout this vandalised effort. Note that when the true weaver of corn is at work, it gently lays the crop over and the plants continue to grow.
We're not going to end on a negative note though, for towards the end of the season "The Circlemakers" fired two impressive "jawdroppers" right across the bows of "The Circlefakers"!
Always one step ahead of any plankers, "The Circlemakers" signed off the year with a couple of superb formations. The Blowingstone formation showed us an amazing three dimensional effect, whilst the Etchilhampton one proved just how precise and deadly accurate these transmissions can be at times. All in all though most will look upon this season as being the quietest we've known in years. Which I know doesn't say a lot about next year...For if the current trend continues, it's likely we'll see even fewer formations. It has to be said though, that unfortunately we've become quite complacent about them, with many regarding these amazing events as "just another crop circle full stop". Thanks to media coverage that's done its utmost to ridicule and disprove, it's also quite possible that we're receiving less, simply through our misguided disenchantment of them. Never forget though that as well as being one step ahead of any circle faking team, "The Circlemakers" are always one step ahead of us...and so we might well be experiencing the lull before the storm! The crop circle phenomenon behaves how it wants to behave and that's probably how it manages to maintain much of the interest for those who stay the course! Graham Tucker © 2006 End notes 1. Overhead photograph of the Lower Blue Bell Hill formation, used by kind permission of Andrew King © 2006 2. Overhead photograph of the Boxley formation, used by kind permission of Andy Fowlds © 2006 3. Many thanks to William Betts for his internal shots © 2006 - Visit his website at www.culture-crop.com 4. All other photographs used by kind permission of Steve Alexander © 2006. 5. Don't forget to visit the Kent site at: www.medwaycropcircle.co.uk |
