CANADIAN CROP CIRCLES OF 2004

CROP CIRCLE IN A COLD CLIMATE – Waterloo, Ontario Dumbbell-shaped formation

If you think the crop circle season in England finishes far too early, then hop across the pond to Canada where it’s usually just getting underway.It’s a different kind of farming out here—the fields are often without tramlines and, in many parts of the country, miles away from any populated areas. I also think our crop circles are special in an important way. More about that later but first, here’s a report of a fascinating recent event.

On Sunday, October 17, 2004, I got a phone call from Lori Wiley, a member of my CCCRN Ontario volunteer list. She was quite excited and said she had stumbled across a crop circle, not far from her house, while looking for a lost dog. I got directions and immediately drove the fifty or so kilometres to her home (about an hour’s drive) where she and her husband, Brian, met me and led us to the formation.

The weather was cold, heavily overcast, and windy with the occasional drizzle. I’ve never been in a crop circle so late in the year and, when I first viewed it from the embankment near the road, I was impressed. The crop circle, in 8-9 ft high mature cattle corn (called maize in the U.K), consisted of large, house-sized circle with a clockwise swirl and a pathway of laid-down corn stalks leading to an even larger circle. I say ‘circle’ but the larger one was obviously more elliptical. It also had a type of apex or little triangle-shaped corner that seemed to point towards a hydro transformer in the background. Interestingly, a Native friend of mine who had a crop circle appear on the reservation land near his home six years ago, sees this ‘dumb bell’ shape as a symbol of communication (one circle leading to another through the pathway).

The first, smaller circle had a distinct clockwise swirl and a visible centre. I noticed that the many weeds throughout this circle were either bent over at the base or had already recovered somewhat, leading me to think the formation was created on Oct 13 or 14 when we had heavy rain and thunderstorms in the region after a very long dry spell. The larger circle, which hardly had any weeds, had a general clockwise swirl pattern too, but it seemed to have more than one centre. I even found areas in this circle where stalks had been laid down in one direction on one side of the planting line and in the opposite direction on the other side (the separation being only a couple of feet).

In some areas, it looked like there was some degree of ‘layering’ with the laid-down corn stalks. But most interesting of all was that in both circles (and the pathway) the sturdy corn stalks had virtually all been either 'pulled out’ or snapped at roots. None of the stalks were crushed though, and I couldn’t find any evidence of machine or tire prints. I couldn’t find any exploded nodes on the large corn stalks, but it was hard for me to determine if they were actually swollen. I did, however, find a few smaller corn stalk pieces near the centre that were stretched almost to the point of breaking at the node. You could easily pull it apart, which my five-year old daughter did, thereby making a sort of ‘telescopic’ stalk.

Both these characteristics (no obvious swelling, but sometimes ‘broken’ nodes) were similar to what I have seen with wheat and barley stalks in other Ontario formations. The ears of corn still in their husks were yellow and untouched whereas the exposed ears had already been picked at by birds (when we arrived, a large flock of Canada geese flew out of the formation). I didn't notice blackening of stalks or corn ears, a usual sign of possible fungus growth. The big difference in this larger circle was the many standing stalks that had been broken off (between the first and second nodes) about a foot or two from the ground. Most were completely ‘sheared’ but others were simple bent, the heavy top part of the corn stalk not having been completely separated from the stalk.

These broken stalks were in alignment (as when planted) and, although both circles had a general clockwise swirl of stalks 'pulled' and snapped at root, the standing snapped stalks made the second, larger circle look quite different from the first, smaller circle. The smaller one had only a handful of this ‘broken stalk’ trait. It did, however, have a 'bare patch'—a muddy, almost satellite or grapeshot circle (but hard to distinguish any pattern) adjacent to it that seems to be from the run-off of a nearby covered drainage hole in the embankment. Curious of all, this formation is steps away from a fenced-off hydroelectric substation, a union gas station, and nearby large transformers. Just before we were about to leave, Lori pointed out a silvery sphere or orb over the formation. Brian and I either missed it, or couldn’t see it.

I later learned that a new CCCRN volunteer, Rachel Hull who lived in the same area, would often drive by the corn field thinking that it would be a ‘good field for a crop circle'. As for me, I had been visited by a Grade 7 student who had interviewed me regarding crop circles for a school project. Perhaps I had 'crop circles' on the brain but I do remember dreaming about the phenomenon, although nothing specific to this new report. Still, assuming this crop circle is genuine, I wonder, as I so often do with crop circles, about all this 'interaction' being beyond coincidence.

Another coincidence occurred more recently. Thankfully, CCCRN is in touch with a Toronto-based helicopter tour business (The Helicopter Company) and, as it turns out, they were doing a promotion in the same town as the crop circle. I managed to go up with them and take some aerial photos. All in all, the larger circle of the crop formation did look ‘sloppy’ from above. It was a foggy day and because of the hydro towers we couldn’t get too close. Seeing the crop circle this way, I knew that many must think ‘oh, it has to be a hoax’. Throw in the facts that it occurred on university-owned land and near a busy road in a residential area and the whole formation story seems hard to take seriously. Still, Rachel had surveyed a dozen or so nearby homeowners and no one had seen or heard anything (in fact, they didn’t even know the formation was there). As with virtually all Canadian formations across this huge country, no one has claimed responsibility for making it. That, of course, doesn’t mean it isn’t man-made. But, in my opinion, the broken and pulled out stalks don’t mean hoax either. Cattle corn (maize) is a big, thick plant. The energies involved in pulling this plant out of the ground (or snapping it just above the root) would have to have been quite forceful. Still the lay of the corn did have an overall ‘fluid-like’ quality to it (unfortunately, it doesn’t show up well on my photos). I can say that from the ground I definitely noticed that ‘frozen ripples in water’ effect.

As someone who has now seen both Canadian and British crop circles, I feel fortunate. I know that both countries have different strains of crop (I noticed the wheat in the UK was shorter and thicker than Canadian, or at least Ontario, wheat), but I’m also starting to believe that, when it comes to trying to figure out this phenomenon, it might be helpful to be open to the possibility that the ‘rules’ are often far from it. The ‘bent but not broken’ one is an example. Most of the stalks in this crop circle were ‘killed’ (ouch, a strong word but I guess the forces of Nature can be harsh too). I have seen Ontario formations in wheat or barley with single standing stalks in an otherwise perfect-like lay, and even some ‘broken’ half-way up the stalk. The same was observed in this Waterloo formation; it was simply a different medium. I also think that just because a formation is near a road, or perhaps not perfectly symmetrical, it shouldn’t automatically be discounted. I do think there is a strong connection between randomly-downed areas and actual crop circles. I see this echoed in the formations here in Canada, perhaps due in part to our climate or crop and, in that way, crop circles over here are special and this research might be particularly interesting to follow. I’m curious to see how Canadian crop circles evolve (if they do at all) in the coming years. Perhaps the seemingly innocent (dare I say naïve?) insights into crop circles we now find (such as the latest Waterloo formation) can help us understand truths behind this phenomenon, both here, in the UK and elsewhere.