by Filip Coppens
In the summer of 1994, Holland took notice of a new phenomenon: crop circles. Suddenly, all over Holland, crop circles were discovered. Though none of them were as grand as those appearing in English fields, complex figures were found. What was happening? The media wanted to know and sent out TV crews to interview people who just passed by. One woman stated she had stopped along the road as someone was saying an ET craft had landed in the field nearby. The evening news invited "experts" over to voice their opinion on what was happening. Had ETs landed? Was it a natural phenomenon? Or were these just pranks performed by students -- as some people had claimed to have made certain formations?
The year passed by, and 1995 saw nothing but a book being published on the subject in the Dutch language. The experts, with one year of field experience, were confronted with a few crop circles, which they could quickly classify as "human made formations." The media was not interested.
1996 is now an echo of 1994. The written media, not only in Holland but also in Belgium, has devoted several pages to crop circles over the last few weeks. The most famous formations are found in the South of Holland, close to the Belgian border. The farmers are not happy with the situation, though one was charging admission. Another farmer had harvested the field as soon as he had found one. Various theories were voiced, and the media, reporting on the phenomenon, were clearly playing the game along.
On August 6, newspapers reported a Dutch farmer had at least found part of the solution. After having discovered a crop circle in one of his fields, nearby he discovered a rope that had formerly been used for loading and unloading ships. His crop circle had a diameter of 20 meters, the rope was ten metres long and covered with pieces of wheat. He felt it was pretty easy to put rope and circle together, and conclude humans had made the formation.
In the north of Holland, three formations were discovered. Investigators felt they might have been made using helicopters. How they did this was, however, unclear. Magazines specializing in the "weird" received several phone calls of people who wanted to visit these circles; some wanted to meditate. A patient suffering from terminal cancer went to a crop circle, hoping to find a cure for his illness.
The farmers are pretty much in favour of a terrestrial explanation and believe pranksters are constructing them. They want these "vandals" stopped, if only because they fear that the massive publicity they are receiving might lead to more crop circles, and more problems for the farmers owning the fields they appear in.
In 1994, about 20 people became interested in investigating the phenomenon to the core. Though it is unlikely they will achieve their objective this year, it is quite certain others will now join their ranks, in search of the holy grail of the crops.
Original file name: .CNI - Crop circles in Holland
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