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INTERNATIONAL CROP CIRCLES OF 2000 |
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Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Reported 6th September.
Updated Wednesday 20th September 2000
© Dennis Eklund, CPR-Canada
REPORT ON SASKATOON FORMATION
A crop formation just outside of Saskatoon? We couldn't believe what we were hearing on our local television station as we caught just the end of our local news broadcast. My wife Jan and I where just talking about making a trip down to the Hazlet, Saskatchewan formation when we heard the news.
Immediately we started making phone calls to the television stations and the local newspaper to find out the location. Being in the evening, of course the offices where all closed. The first thing the next morning I managed to get a hold of the reporter responsible for the television news broadcast and he kindly gave me directions to the formation. This formation could not of been any closer. In every direction there was not a field of standing crop that
was closer to our home.
Not being able to wait a full day to at least get a quick view of it, we drove out to the site on our noon hour break. About a mile out of the city on a
fairly well travelled road, very visible from the road, it was quite obvious that it must have been a very recently created formation as it would of been
reported much sooner. Although smaller than anticipated, it was a very well formed formation consisting of a circle with a very nice counter clockwise
radial weave, very intricate, with a tuft of standing crop directly in the centre, then an outside ring surrounding it also counter clockwise.
Our noon hour visit was brief, but at least it gave us the opportunity to discover some node abnormalities and something else we where not prepared
for. Upon leaving the formation, we both began to feel a feeling we couldn't really describe........ kind of a fuzzyness or disorientation feeling. We talked about it on the way back to our places of employment and thought maybe it was just adrenalin flowing. But it was a bit of concern driving back on the
freeway.
At 5:00 we headed back to the formation. After doing a compass and battery check that proved no abnormalties, we took the measurements. The
centre circle measured 35 feet with a 5 feet span of standing crop on the outside, than a 2 1/2 foot ring of downed crop to form the outside circle. The total formation measured a diameter of 42 1/2 feet. Right away we began to see the node abnormalities in the downed oats. Normally the nodes on oat
stems have a very well formed, plump node, but what we were finding was nodes that had completely shrunk and disappeared leaving a dark ring
indented into the stem almost cutting the stem in some instances.
We started to take photographs, at first from various angles from the outside of the formation, then the inside, but after a few shots inside the formation the winding mechanism of the camera failed to operate. Later, fearing we lost all our photos, we immediately had the film processed. Sure enough, every photo outside the circle was fine, we didn't get one from the inside.
Off to the right of the formation I noticed what looked to be some randomly downed crop. After studying this area I discovered that the node
abnormalities were even more dramatic than in the circle itself. The crop stems in this area were each bent about a foot from the ground in a random but interesting pattern (see photo). Surveying the surrounding area with binoculars, I noticed an indentation in the crop approximately 200 yards north of the formation beside a large clump of trees. Seeing I had a camera that didn't work and the sun was going down we decided to leave further investigations for the next day. In this visit there were no abnormal feelings from either of us.
Returning Saturday, we immediately began taking photos of the inside of the formation, photos we had somehow lost the day before, this time there
were no problems with the camera. We did however discover that in the very centre of the formation a small hole was evident, about 3 inches deep and about an inch round in diameter. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing if this was created by one of the many visitors or if it was there all the time.
We then headed out through the crop towards that clump of trees that looked so interesting the day before. We were astonished to find the same type of random downed crop as previously found near the original crop formation was circling the formation of trees (approx. 350 feet wide) also with the
same node abnormalities. Also we came across some very unusual almost tunnel like impressions in the random downed crop. (see photo). We first
thought of some kind of animal, and maybe it was, but the walls of these impressions where 3 to 4 inches thick and weaved. Just an interesting
observation.
FINAL NOTE:
We did a little experiment on our own by putting a normal stem of oats with normal nodes in the microwave oven for about 15 minutes. The
result??.......... visually exactly the same as the abnormalities in the formation. But on the other hand....... I have had few control samples of normal crop here for a couple of days now just hanging, they are drying out, and are starting to show the same visual similarities. But, my control samples have been out of the ground for some time......the crop in the formation is still in the ground......... food for thought.
Dennis Eklund
CPR-Canada
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Preliminary Report - September 6, 2000
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
September 6, 2000
Report received this afternoon from Dennis Eklund in Saskatoon, of a large ringed circle about two miles outside of the city, found
this morning (?) according to initial reports. Reported on local TV news this morning. Details pending.
Dennis investigated the Moosomin, Saskatchewan dumbbell formation from August 20, and the Grenfell, Saskatchewan circle
from August 10, and is also now the new Saskatchewan director for CPR-Canada.
On a related personal note, I again had a dream last night of a similar looking formation, the second time that has happened in
the past couple weeks, the first with Moosomin, as related in my report on that formation. The last time before these that I had any
crop circle or related kinds of dreams, etc. was several months ago, so it is an interesting correlation if nothing else. Just food for
thought.
This is the seventh formation reported in Canada for 2000.
UPDATE #1 - SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN CROP CIRCLE
A ground photo of the Saskatoon formation has been posted on the web site.
http://www.geocities.com/cpr-canada/saskatoon00.html
The formation is approximately 43' in diameter, consisting of a circle with surrounding ring, in oats. Discovered September 6 by passing motorists on a
nearby road, and shown on local CFUC TV news in the morning.
Ground studies, including sampling for the BLT Research Team, are being conducted by Dennis Eklund, Saskatchewan director for CPR-Canada and a
field report will follow later this weekend. Again, some very unusual deformities have been found on the plant stalks inside the formation, not
the usual blown nodes and also different from the deformities found in the Moosomin formation of August 20. As with Moosomin, details are pending,
awaiting a full report to be issued by BLT.
The farmer, who is elderly, does not want any publicity. However the neighbouring farmers, who maintain his fields and also work for The
Western Producer, as does Dennis, are very cooperative and interested.
There are also areas in the same field of "randomly downed crop" like grapeshot type patches. The deformities found in the ringed circle are also
present in the random patches, but even more pronounced. The plant stalks in the random patches are bent over several inches above the ground. There
is also a large roughly circular area of similar downed crop surrounding a nearby clumps of trees. This is
similar to the second area found the same week about a mile from this location (Saskatoon #2), in a wheat field owned
by the same farmers who maintain this field. It is also similar in several aspects to a series of randomly downed areas found in August at Beaumont,
Alberta near Edmonton (preliminary report to follow).
It is also worth noting that Dennis reports that his mechanical camera would not work properly inside the circle and when he tried placing a few test stalks
of oats inside his microwave, he found similar "damage" to the nodes as what was found out in the field.
Paul Anderson.
UPDATE #2 - SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN CROP CIRCLE
Following is a field report on the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan crop formation from Dennis Eklund, Saskatchewan director for
CPR-Canada. Additional ground images have also been added to the report on the web site, from Dennis Eklund and field research
assistant Beata Van Berkom:
http://www.geocities.com/cpr-canada/saskatoon00.html
The central hole may indicate this particular formation to be man-made, however the node deformities, with similarities to those in
the random areas, (would) still need to be explained. Dennis indicated that a tuft of standing crop had been present in the centre of the
circle when the first brief ground inspection was done, but was gone when they returned later that day, either taken or trampled
by visitors. Similar feelings of disorientation or lightheadedness were also described by the farmer inside the Hazlet, Saskatchewan
formation and the camera malfunctions are also reported in many
formations, which should also be taken into account.
See also the CPR-Canada web site for complete listings of news
stories, reports and related information and links:
http://www.geocities.com/cpr-canada
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