A Crop Circle In Newtown?

By Steve Bigham

A mysterious “swirl in the grass” was discovered in a field along Green Leaf Farms Road Monday morning. The matted down, spiraled grass brought to mind the crop circles found in English farmlands, although this particular circle is not as elegant or symmetrical as those found abroad.

Jim and Ann MacNaughton of Poverty Hollow Road reported the circle to The Bee after seeing them during a morning stroll. At 10 am Monday, Newtown resident Doug Rogers, the US coordinator for the Centre for Crop Circle Studies, was on the scene.

“There are changes in direction all around, so it is difficult to eliminate the possibility that something happened here other than wind,” Mr Rogers said. “Wind happens in a swath. It would move along. There is no reason for wind to come down, hop around a little bit, then blow out of there.”

Mr Rogers used dowsing rods and a compass to check for electromagnetic energy in an around the circle. He also photographed the scene and planned to share his documentation with colleagues in both the US and Europe.

“It’s the first I’ve seen in Newtown. The biggest problem we have with this one is the multiple swirls. How do you get multiple swirls from a burst of energy coming out of the sky in the form of wind? This remains a mystery,” Mr Rogers said. “When you get a swirl and a little column of a dozen grasses sticking up, you’ve got an interesting configuration.”

The circle is about 35-40 feet in diameter and could be seen just off the northwestern edge of Green Leaf Farms Road, about 300 yards from its intersection with Poverty Hollow Road.

Another resident of the area reported seeing two other large circles in a field further up Green Leaf Farm Road.

Mr Rogers first became involved in the study of crop circles 11 years ago and has since made several trips to England to view this paranormal phenomena close up. Crop Circles are areas of flattened crop, usually circular in shape and often in elaborate patterns. They have been traced back to as far as 1678 and have been found all over the world. There are many explanations as to their origin, including the possibility that they may be man-made. The circles themselves are created through the flattening of the fields, creating strange circular shapes and curves.

Could these be messages left for us by an alien race, or is there a more rational explanation for their appearance? There are many theories. However, as Mr Rogers points out, mainstream science avoids the issue at all cost because of the fact that it does deal with the paranormal.

“It’s like cold fusion,” Mr Rogers remarked. “As soon as you get outside the acceptable studies of science they won’t disturb their reputations.”

The first modern-day crop circle was found in 1966.