FGK-PROJECT "RECONSTRUCTION" (99/06)

Short summary of the previous history
For years the complete executive chairman-board of the "German Association For Crop Circle Research (Forschungsgesellschaft Kornkreise e.V. - FGK)"
(Note: This site - www.kornkreise-forschung.de / www.cropcirclescience.org is no member of the FGK) consisted of people that - secretly - preferred to make/hoax crop circles instead of researching the phenomenon to test their own members and Non-FGK researchers. Later they used their self-proclaimed "socio-psychological" projects to debunk and discredit other researchers as well as the FGK itself. After many years this secret behaviour came to surface and bit by bit that chairmen and -women left the FGK.

In 2006 the latest "secret-hoaxer"-chairman was revealed and stepped back from all of his positions within the FGK.

To test his claims, that he alone was responsible for some crop circle formations in the Kassel-area in the past, the FGK created "Project Reconstruction" in which this former chairman should demonstrate his skills, reproducing a formation of 1999 at night.

The FGK-Homepage informs:
"Under the lead of researcher Eckhard Weber and in full agreement with farmer Dieter Fröhlich the FGK commissioned the experimental making of a crop circle formation in a field of wheat just outside the village of Dörnberg (near Kassel in Hessen). The ambition of this experiment was the to have an object for comparison in questions of quality and design, and the question if - as claimed - a single person would be able to create a formation like the 1999er spiral formation at night. (...) The whole process was observed and documented by observing FGK-members.

Both, the farmer for his loss in crop as well as the maker of the crop circle were paid for their service. The farmer gave a general permission to enter the field and formation. (...)"

The Result
The diameter of the new spiral measured ca. 63 meters, the uncoiled spiral-path would have measured a length of 400 meters and was "decorated" with 215 small and wave-like placed semi-circles. A small dolphin-like formation of 23 meters length was made in a distance of about 30 meters in the same field.

The creation of the spiral-formation took 2 hours, beginning at 10:45pm - 00:45am.
The "Dolphin" was made in 30-45 minutes.
Both formations were made by a single person who used poles, ropes and the classical "stomper" for the flattening of the crop.

The used technique to create the wave-like spiral in 2006 is based on a previously marked spiral-path that was decorated on each side with semi-circles shifted for half a radius each:

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Fig. 1: How the "wave" pattern was constructed in 2006.
Graphic: Andreas Müller

Now Compare yourself

Fig. 2: The Reconstruction - made on June 21, 2006, at Dörnberg, near Kassel in Hessen.
Photo: Eckhard Weber


Fig 3: The Original - discovered on June 26, 1999, at Martinhagen in Hessen.
Photo: Frank Laumen

More photos of the formation and its details on the ground can be found at the FGK-Homepage.

Assessment
First of all I (A.M.) have to admit that I was not able to visit nor to investigate both, the formation in 1999 as well as its 2006 reconstruction myself in the field. Therefore I am unable to really judge the formation's quality of the lay from anything else than based on the available photographic material.

However, the floor-construction, flow and precision of the spiral as well as that of the small dolphin-like pattern look mostly clean, nice and fluid. Together with the formations' felicitous geometry (with the exception of some small less well performed parts) this demonstrations showed that this human circle-maker knows what he is talking about - and that he had some practise beforehand. I would guess from a hoaxer's point of view one could call it a success.

But some doubts do remain about the used technique to create the wave-like pattern.
Already in 2001 I showed how an idealised wave-pattern can be constructed by using the above shown semi-circle-method. The new wave-spiral shows the usage of this very same method in an exemplary way: The result is not a classical flowing sinuous wave (B), but a very much constructed meandering path with very pointed tips between each of the touching semi-circles (A). While the latest kind of "wave" structure is present as well here and there in the 1999er formation, most parts of it shows the more fluid and sinuous version.

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Fig. 4: Two different idealized ways to construct a "wave" pattern
Graphik: Andreas Müller

Those very same differences become visible by comparing the two formations (Fig. 2 and 3) ...however they might be explainable. While this observation does not tell anything about the 1999er formation's origin nor about the question if it was man-made or not (or by whom), it does cause serious doubts that the 1999er formation was made/constructed in the very same way as the reconstruction in 2006. It feels more likely that the original formation in 1999 was made by some sort of mixture of bothe shown methods.

Furthermore one can find fault in the fact that no continuative investigations and analyses - for examples of the soil and plants (BLT) had been conducted by the FGK. Consequently this means that again an opportunity was missed to prove or disprove the claim by hoaxers and sceptics (also made by the described "secret hoaxers" and former FGK chairmen) that anomalies such as discovered and described by BLT and others are nothing but the very natural result of the plants and soils reaction to the mechanical flattening.

Further observation
First reports of a spectacular UFO-observation soon after the work was done just above the field could be undoubtedly identified as nothing but the very visible overflight of the "International Space Station (ISS)".

One of the observers described the following:
"Suddenly at about 01:40/45am a relatively large white ball of light was passing just above our heads slowly for about 5 minutes in an eastward direction. The ball of light was not flying in the sky - not close to the ground - but it appeared that it was far lower than the normal background stars (...)."

If we compare this description with one that "warned" of the ISS over lights not to be confused with a UFO, we can find remarkable similarities:
"From Saturday until Wednesday people celebrating the soccer world cup can see an "extraterrestrial" ball of light passing slowly over the nocturnal sky!" (Source: CENAP)
Also the official over flight and sighting charts for the ISS by NASA match with the witness' observation.

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Fig. 5: The official NASA charts for the over flights and visibility of the ISS over Kassel in 2006.
Source:http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/real data/sightings/

Thanks: Eckhard Weber, FGK, Frank Laumen, NASA
Copyright: Andreas Müller, 27.06.2006