Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada. Reported 1st September.
Updated Thursday 17th September.
A report was just received this morning, September 1, from Chad Deetken (Pacific Research) and Graham Conway (UFO*BC) of ten circles in an oat field near the town of Vanderhoof, BC, just outside of Prince George. According to a CBC Radio news report, the circles range in size from about 30 feet to 150 feet. Discovered by Vanderhoof Flying Services. No tracks, etc. reported. Dogs reported barking through the night. More information as soon as it is available.
Reported by Paul Anderson
What is normally a quiet part of Canada for the phenomenon, we received a report of a grouping of single circles spread across the field, but within bunches of three to five circles. From the photographs it would appear that these late circles are well constructed.
VANDERHOOF (Canadian Press)
- an unexplained phenomena - dubbed crop circles - has been found in this forestry and
farming community about 100 kilometres west of Prince George. Airport owner Brent Mifufki
and pilot Larry Frey discovered 10 precise circles of varying sizes between three to 30
metres in a ripe oats field just beyond the approach to the runway this weekend.
"It's one right out of the twilight zone," said Mifufki.
Eleven crop circles were discovered in
Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada within the last 24 hours. A young pilot discovered
them and called them "baffling." He said they were perfect and there were no
footprints, etc. near the scene and that no one could have done this without being seen.
Thought you would like to know, if you don't already.
Reported by Jo Burbles
UPDATE ON VANDERHOOF, BC CIRCLES (1)
The Vanderhoof circles have attracted much media attention, as well as visitors to the
site. There are 11 circles (not 10 as first reported), in three groups, in one oat field
covering a total area of approximately 550by 200 feet, ranging in size from about 10 feet
to 100 feet diameter. Most circles are very close together, almost touching. All circles
are beautifully spiraled, with no broken plants, no footprints or other tracks seen and
no disturbance to the soil beneath the flattened plants. This is definitely a first for
this province! Circles have been sampled for Levengood / BLT. Further photos, video
available soon. Have attached
preliminary diagram (© Paul Anderson, CPR-Canada) and photo (© Jay Bangs).
UPDATE ON VANDERHOOF, BC CIRCLES (1)
Report from Chad Deetken
(Pacific Research):
written by Chad Deetken, Sept. 8, 1998
Sometime during the night of August 27 / 28,
1998, British Columbia got its first verified crop formation in the small small farming
community of Vanderhoof, just west of Prince George in central B.C. The formation,
consisting of 11 circles ranging in size from 18' 6" to 99' in diameter, was
located in a field of oats next to runway #250 at the small Vanderhoof airport.
One of the first people to see them was pilot Eric Stier. He was returning from aerial
fire patrol on Friday, Aug. 28th and was just approaching the runway at 4:15 PM when he
spotted the distinct pattern. He had flown over the same field the day before and says
there was nothing in it then.
Soon after landing, he and friends Neil Weibe, John McQueen and Bryan Wallace went back
into the air for a second look. They took numerous photos and scrutinised the field very
carefully but said they could see no tracks or points of entry. They had no idea what to
make of these strange circles.
The next morning, Saturday, they walked into the field. Still suspecting a possible prank,
they looked very carefully for paths and other signs of human involvement but found
nothing. At this point, they told the owner of Vanderhoof Flying Services Brent Miskuski
of their find and he in turn notified farmers Frank and Margaret Smith who lease the land.
Up to this point, only a handful of people knew about the formation and so it was
relatively undisturbed. However, by Monday, the press found out and from that moment on
interest and visits to the site began.
My wife Gwen and first learned about the formation on Tuesday morning and within an hour
and a half were on our way for the 9 1/2 hour drive from Vancouver. We arrived after dark
at about 9 PM. We entered the formation at 10 AM on Wednesday.
Since numerous people had already visited the site, it was difficult to detect certain
features which would indicate whether or not it was genuine. However, there were still
numerous areas that had not been walked on. In these areas, I found no obvious signs of
damage to the stalks or compaction of the soil. Also, the lay looked quite good and
dowsing the circles indicated a strong energy.
Related Anomalous Reports
During the three days we were at the site, we spoke to many people who had experiences
which may be related to the arrival of the formations.
a) Many people told us their dogs barked incessantly or acted strangely the night the
formation appeared. One woman, Rosie Martins, told us her dog was so out of control that
the family cat took fright and jumped into her son's bed to hide, scratching him badly.
Another woman, Mae Frankel, said her son's dogs were in a barking frenzy all that night.
Also, Margaret Smith's
mother visited the circles and when she returned home, her dogs and cats refused to come
near her. And a couple who were visiting the formation with their small dog said the dog
was desperate to get out of the large circle.
b) A woman told us that at 2 AM on Friday, the night the formations appeared, she saw an
eerie glow in the forest a few miles from her house. She thought it might be a fire and so
woke her husband but after an hour it simply blinked out. She said it was a fiery orange
light which lit up a large area and that there was no smoke.
c) That same Friday, during the day, two men in a neighbouring town said they saw two
silver objects rising from the lake they were fishing on. At first it seemed they might be
looking at reflections in the water about a half mile away but then whatever it was rose
and took off rapidly. These men say they are not believers in the paranormal and seemed
embarrassed by their sighting. Neither could explain what they had seen and they did not
know of the existence of the crop circles.
d) Lars Sabbie's wife was pulling a hay wagon with a pickup truck a few miles away from
the circle field at 7:30 PM on Monday, the 31st of August. Suddenly, the hay burst into
flames. She managed to save the truck but the wagon burned to the ground. She is a
non-smoker. Cases of hay wagons catching fire are not unheard of but are quite rare.
Collecting Samples
Over the next few days, we collected 53 sets of stalk samples from circles and 101
controls. Each sampling contains about 20 stalks. In addition, we took an equal number of
soil samples. These will be sent to the Burke/Levengood/Talbot team for analysis.
Technical Data
Crop - oats
Date of formation - night of Aug 27/28
Size of circles - in a cluster of 5, one was 51' diameter and clockwise
one was 23'10" diameter and counterclockwise
one was 50' 2" diameter and clockwise
one was 41' 8" diameter and counterclockwise
one was 46' 6" diameter and clockwise
- in a cluster of 3, one was 19' 8" diameter and counterclockwise
one was 19' 6" diameter and clockwise
one was 18' 6" diameter and counterclockwise
- in a cluster of 3, one was 99' diameter and counterclockwise
one was 21' 8" diameter and clockwise
one was 22' and clockwise
The distances that separated the circles in each cluster ranged from 1 foot to 2' 8".
The distance between the two circles furthest from each other was 535 feet. The closest
distance to edge of field was 175 feet. The distance of runway to closest circle is 600
feet
It is noteworthy to mention that after we had completed our sampling, hundreds of people
from the surrounding area began visiting the field. We talked to a great many of them,
always asking if they knew of any pranksters who might be capable of this or if they had
heard of the slightest rumour suggesting a hoax. Every single person, regardless of their
personal belief as to the circle's origins, said they had heard nothing. This holds true
today, 12 days later.
A link to the BC MUFON Crop Circles in BC with a full report and images.
