1999

A final report by Freddy Silva. Photos © Freddy Silva, Lucy Pringle, Colin Andrews, Busty Taylor.

On April 9 a simple set of rings, circles and a crescent below Milk Hill signaled a very early start to a season that saw a shift in crop circles towards the more technical, as predicted by a number of psychics last year. The simple season opener also contained a code that reflected the geometry of designs to come, namely the first appearance of ninefold geometry, which I had confidentially predicted to a closed inner group of researchers as part of a project to prove the psychic and dowsing predictability of crop circles. By the end of the season no less than five major formations encoded or projected this complex geometry.

The first of these appeared in the fertile area around the Danebury hill fort and reflected Earth's other great preoccupation for the year- the solar eclipse. Measuring some 640 ft long, this pictogram (left) showed the symbolic stages of the Moon covering the Sun.

So immaculate was this design when I entered it with Paul Vigay and colleague Cathy that we made visible damage to the head-high oil seed rape plants behind us, despite the utmost of care. The trams were thickly overgrown and easily disturbed by us, yet no other evidence of entry was seen. The spiral lay of the plants was also impressive, with the brittle stalks firmly bent at the base. As we looked behind us, our feet left very obvious evidence, yet no other such damage was noticed.

The formation was located by map dowsing, and it was aligned on an energy line running to the Neolithic site, as confirmed by the helpful and knowledgeable farmer.

By mid-May the regular number of hoaxes had begun to rear their ugly heads throughout the country, though to a lesser degree than the previous year. Again, forgers placed their wares beside genuine formations. Indeed, the season spluttered throughout May, producing a number of noticeable hoaxes; the first, at prodigious Avebury Trusloe, attempted to align itself with one of the region's magnetic energy lines but missed it considerably. The idea was probably to throw more researchers off the scent. Then at Barbury Castle came a representation of a Jewish Menorah, hoaxers having decided to delve into Judaica just as they had done in the opposite field in 1997 when they created an even less impressive Tree of Life.

At 1 AM on the morning of June 12, I drove past the car park at Knapp Hill and saw a person signal to the field below with a flashlight. Already too tired to get involved, and with the New Moon evening as black as coal, I decided to leave the hoaxers to it. When morning came, a 700 ft-long amalgamation of eleven formations (or bits of them) from proceeding years lay beneath Knapp Hill. Although a great feat in terms of work, most of the formation made good use of the tram line, around which various designs, poorly copied, were anchored. The features consistent with the use of planks were evident throughout. No bent stalks, absolutely no EM energy registered, it failed to generate dowsing of any kind, and did not relate in any way to the lines of EM energy of which there are plenty in the vicinity.

But four hundred yards in front of this lay another formation. Two hoaxes during the same night? No. Here was a crop circle of superior craftsmanship, aligned along the intersections of two major EM energy lines, one of which had generated the season opener barely a mile away. This was the second ninefold pattern, the serpent of Quetzcoatl, symbolic of the end of the Aztec calendar which was being celebrated at Teotihuacan that very night. It was constructed by the most complex floor lay I had seen in some years- a spiral pattern resembling the DNA strand (ironically the design that appeared in the same field in 1996). The method of plant lay suggests the entire formation 'collapsed' simultaneously, given the intricate weaving, sometimes involving three layers. Many bent stalks were observed, as well as charring on the lower stems which I could not account for anywhere outside the formation.

The design will be part of a series of serpents which were predicted as a 'final chance for humanity' before the time of transformation begins. These are intended for all humanity as 'gifts of peace'. Ironically, the military conducted ultrasonic reconnaissance experiments using black helicopters over this formation. This was witnessed by myself and three others. Oddly, they took no interest in the hoax....next page