The Pictogram that grew up! 

West Overton, the sleepy village in the heart of Crop Circle country is always caught in the action of the annual events of Wiltshire. The fields surrounding the village are guaranteed locations for Crop Circles. This year saw a brief return to the old days of crop circling, as the Connector team discovered that this formation just wanted to grow and grow into a long 1990 Pictogram! 

Its always great to see the old crop circle designs appearing around the larger more complex shapes we see today. But at the same time, we are brought back to a time, which certainly seemed a lot different, not only in the patterns that were appearing, but also the atmosphere at that time. Perhaps we have become more blasé about the whole experience now, or immune. Its one of the two but this would be inevitable due to the amount of formations we have seen over the years.  

The appearance of the old designs also is an indication that we mustn’t forget the heritage of the crop circles, this maybe a personal opinion, not exactly the intentions of the Circlemakers. They’re maybe have other reasons why we see the old with the new still in the new millennium, but I am sure these patterns are part of the continuing dialogue.  

The West Overton formation was finally created into a text book early nineties Pictogram. Indeed it had an uncanny resemblance to the East Field pictogram from 1990. It was almost like looking back in time for a brief moment as  it was sat in the field, and certainly nostalgic for the old designs to keep on appearing. I have always had great affection for these archaic designs, as this was one of the first formations I saw, which was indeed the 90’ East Field pictogram.  

I suddenly turned round and saw this crop stretched out in front of me. 

The foramtion's life started rather humbly, which just a circle with a wide outer ring, with a key attached. This was quickly established nothing more than a small attempt to create the old style. This small design with the Key was called ‘The hand of God’ and indeed he may have lent a hand with what was to come.  

On the 31^st of July the first part formed, as discussed above, but by the 7^th of August it turned into something completely different. I personally remember visiting this formation after coming back from ‘the Swallows’ formation, and it was a double take job! I walked around the entire top circle, thinking that this was all there was, as the light was fading fast. I suddenly turned round and saw this crop stretched out in front of me. By that time Mark had already been told of its appearance, but to walk down this long pictogram was quite a discovery. Luckily I had enough time to take a few shots of the floor pattern, which resembled floor constructions from the early nineties.  

This formation was a nice surprise to the community who were beginning to feel the season was practically wrapped up for another year. It’s a testimony to the unpredictability of the phenomenon. They keep us on our toes constantly.  

Report by Stuart Dike