Horde (swarm) of curious (people) on a circled field of wheat 

The crop circle discovered Friday in a wheat field in Lausanne heights has attracted crowds yesterday. It is the third phenomenon within one month in the canton. A journalist of the the agency new China was present. Starting tomorrow, Chalet-à-Gobet will be famous in the "Empire du Milieu" (Empire of the Middle, Chinese Empire) 

Is it a coup of the Lausanne tourist office? In any case, nothing works better to attract crowds in the middle of the summer than a well positioned "crop circle".

Take the path of Moille-Saugeon, at Chalet-ä-Gobet (VD), yesterday afternoon. Following a "visit" during the night from Thursday to Friday, a previously boring Wheatfield was transformed into a tourist attraction, traversed by queues of curious (people). 

Yang Jingde, chief correspondent of the news agency Xinhua (new China) - which covers nothing less than all the medias of the country - made no mistake. Photo camera on shoulder strap, he made the trip from Geneva to study the artwork, composed by four half-moons and thirteen circles. 

This night, at 2 am Swiss time, the "Chinese Empire" will be inundated with images from Chalet-à-Gobet. If one talks about extraterrestrials, Yang Jingde has a good laugh: "All this is artificial. I do not believe in little men who came from space". Yet, "The Chinese are very interested in this phenomenon", comments his spouse Jia Shaohua. 

And they are not alone. Standing with bare feet on the squashed wheat, the Romands (Swiss-French) try to feel the vibrations and tremblings of the magic circle, according to the sayings. Some are smiling of pleasure facing the aesthetic geometry of the "artwork".  "The one of Corcelles-près-Payerne was also magnificent". assures Gaël Ravach, from Aclens (VD). For this 20 year old medical student, the crop circles are an "energetic phenomenon. Something natural we can not explain, as the lightning in the past." 

As some only hesitantly whisper "E.T.", Robert Meyer, from Lausanne,  tells it straight out. "It is a beautiful circle, absolutely perfect. I think that extraterrestrials made it. There are several ethnies, as the ethnies on Earth. They care for us." A dragonfly passes on the field. 

Extraterrestrials? This hypothesis makes Josetter Favrat, who is about to prepare fruit preserves in her kitchen a few minutes away, absolutely furious. For the farmer, who is exploiting the terrain with her husband, the circle is the work of vandals, full stop. With ropes and boards, as imagined also by the numerous curious non believers on the field? Mystery. The couple has filed a complaint, however, the police inquiry has not yielded any results up to now. "In any case, it is made "tip top" (perfectly), concedes André, Josette's spouse. 

"Tip top", the artwork will not stay for a long time, in view of the visitors who trample the tufts which had remained upright. "I did not go and look. I was always taught that wheat is bread and one should not walk on it", states Josette. Yesterday, all day long, Madam was harassed by phone by the crop circle amateurs. "This turning religious. A Monsieur just called to tell me that it is a sign of life". 

Natural, supernatural, human or religious, the phenomenon has the merit to excite the imaginations. And, as concludes a local inhabitant, picking up again his Mobylette: "Vandales? This is nothing. At Paris, the youngsters put cars on fire".  

"I am attracter by the invisible. I think that some of the circles are created by another intelligence. It would be sad if we were alone in the universe" Rachel Guichard, Lausanne.

Translation by Frederick Austerlitz