A new crop circle formation in wheat has been reported in the USA – in Huntingburg, Dubois County, Indiana:

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(All aerial photos by Travis McQueen – Manager, Huntingburg Airport – with permission). 

The formation was discovered on Sunday, June 25, 2006 by farmer David Ring while harvesting the field.  Based on his estimate of the continued growth of the standing plants vs. the flattened ones, Mr. Ring believes that formation could have been 1-2 weeks old by the time it was spotted on the 25^th, but no reliable date earlier than this time can be established.  The formation is in a peculiar spot in the field; it lies on a small slope facing away from the nearby access road, about 300 feet away.  Mr. Ring notes that they couldn’t see it from that vantage point, and it only became noticeable when they came upon it while harvesting was it possible to see it.  We believe that although it is very close to the nearby airport’s runways, and you would think would be spotted or reported quickly (property is adjacent to the Huntingburg Airport), it may have not been due to it being perpendicular to the runway and therefore not easily visible from behind a nearby grove of trees (see photo below). Travis McQueen, the manager from the adjacent Huntingburg Airport, managed to get a series of photos before the formation was cut: 

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This photo shows the proximity of the circle to the nearby Huntingburg Airport, and showing how it was perpendicular to the runways. 

Although the field has been cut, the ICCRA’s Ted Robertson has already done a preliminary ground investigation, with the main tests and a full survey to be conducted later today with additional members of the ICCRA.  The formation consists of a 99 foot diameter main circle, generally swirled counter-clockwise, but with several sections diverging from the main flow like this:

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You can see this in Ted Robertson’s photo below:

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While this is not exactly the same “herringbone weave” effect as the irregular square flattened formation from Patterson’s Corner, Greene County, Ohio reported on July 5, 2005 it nonetheless is an interesting divergence of flow in the circle.:

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Other sections of the formation include two ¾ rings on the south side of the circle approximately 3 feet wide, which give the appearance from the air of being full rings which have been overlapped by the main circle creating an invisible vesica pisces.  This partial rings, or as farmer David Ring calls “the handles”, do not appear to have extended their pathways underneath the main lay, but begin right at the circle’s perimeter.  These ‘handle’ pathways are slightly larger than the nearby tramlines, and were at first mistaken as four-wheeler tracks by Mr. Ring, but after closer inspection, he realized that they could not have been created in that fashion.  The diameter of the outer ring is very similar in size to the diameter of the main circle, but exact measurements will be taken later today. 

Also extending off the main circle are two straight pathways with small spurs branching off the main line.  The main pathway to the east is a backwards “F”-type key, with the main pathway approximately 3 feet in diameter and 66 feet in length.  This pathway extended right to the edge of the field, with the flattened wheat breaking the edge of the standing crop, and lying out into a grass/weeds buffer area between two fields.  The two spurs extending towards the north off this pathway were 2 ½ feet and 1 ¾ feet in diameter.  The second pathway is approximately 50 feet in length, but interestingly tapers down to a sharp point at its’ northernmost end away from the main circle.  Along its’ length are two spurs – facing opposite directions.  This second pathway to the NNE is not aligned to the geometric centre point of the main circle, but interestingly to the centre point of the invisible vesica pisces created by the design. 

It also appears that there may have been a small L-shaped segment located to the northeast of the formation.  Also in the direction was a series of randomly-downed, partially flattened wheat (RDF), although this section has been severely cut, making further investigation of this area difficult.  Formations often appear amidst areas of RDF. 

Located along the western edge of the formation is a drainage creek with flowing water. 

No immediate unusual weather was reported in the area prior to the formation’s discovery for at least 8 days, although severe storms did knock out power to the airport and to local residents several times in the 7-10 day period prior to the discovery.  It is possible that this timeframe is consistent with Mr. Ring’s evaluation that the formation had been there 1-2 weeks before they found it. 

The Huntingburg Press reported a crop circle in the area northeast of the town in March of 1998, and another crop circle was reported approximately 20 miles to the south in Troy, Spencer County, Indiana back in July of 1994 -- so the area has not been unknown to crop circles previously.