February 1, 1997
[The previous edition of CNI News (vol. 2, no. 21) reported that a large number of researchers regard the so-called OCV, or Oliver's Castle Video, as "probably" authentic. If so, this video would demonstrate for the first time the apparently anomalous and almost instantaneous formation of an elaborate glyph in an English crop field. However, many questions about the video remain unresolved. In the following text, noted crop circle researcher Colin Andrews, who was the first to show the video publicly in the United States, explains why he has concluded the OCV is a hoax. CNI News thanks Eric Beckjord for forwarding this text, and Colins Andrews for permission to reprint it here. The original was an informal message addressed to Eric Beckjord.]
Colin Andrews writes:
"I can assure you that when all the information that is known is placed into the public domain, the OC video will be seen as a fraud. There are some very worrying aspects to it as far as the original plan and the man who is in the center of it all, Mr. John Wabe. Just 'Maybe' this man has been put to work on his first disinformation job by people in high places whom he met while at Nottingham University, studying for a degree in, of all things 'American Studies.' Naughty Uncle Sam at work again! At a nearby Nottingham university, a man by the name of John Weyleigh [said to be the person who shot the video] has also been a student.
"John Wabe set up business with a video/TV company in Bristol, where they make high quality videos for the television and pop music industry and have all the equipment that is needed to have made the several versions of this OC video. If I can find the funds to continue this investigation, I think we will have the evidence to prove the involvement of other people (some well known within the crop circle field) and perhaps Uncle Sam too.
"I spent an hour with my detective agent in UK recently, and it is clear that something very well planned is involved. It is also clear that more than one film version is involved. A version shown to [U.S. researchers working with Colin Andrews' organization CPR, or Circles Phenomenon Research] Freddie Silva and Jane Ross in the Barge Inn [a favored UK hangout for circle researchers] the same day the well-known OCV first appeared, is now known to have been a completely different film, with the crop circle already formed, not forming below the UFOs, and the UFOs [i.e. apparently glowing orbs] doing different things than on the OCV version I was given by John Wabe. My agent HAS made contact with Wabe, and some very important decisions will be made within a short while as to how to proceed.
"There are parties at work who are still determind to make it hit the spot it was orginally intended to hit. There are even those who are determined to have me say it is real, even though I have NEVER said so. Count me out. I will do my work, my way, and will openly share it when it is appropriate."
Further Note: A detailed report, written by Freddie Silva, of events surrounding the initial appearance of the Oliver's Castle crop formation and the OC video (in at least two distinct versions) can be found on the web at: www.nh.ultranet.com/~lovely/ocrep.html. CNI News readers are encouraged to visit this page.
In this report, Silva says, "It is imperative to note that the film we were shown on the night of August 11th [the night after it was allegedly shot by John Waleigh] is not the film that was given to Colin Andrews 6 days later by John Waleigh. The film given to Colin, which is being analyzed by various experts, shown at conferences and talked about continuously on the Internet, is simply not the film that was shown to us that night in the Barge Inn, which John Waleigh claimed to be the original film of the Oliver's Castle "balls of light." It is also important to note that no one at the table that evening, including John himself, mentioned that they had seen in the film a crop circle being formed. The discussion was limited to the amazing balls of light captured on the film."
CNI News will continue to report new developments in this case as they become available.
Original file name: CNI - OCV.Colin
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