MAGAZINE OF THE CENTRE FOR CROP CIRCLE STUDIES (Sussex Branch) Subscription £10.00 ----------------------- ---------------------- rl ·NEVVS · s s SUSSEX CROP FORMATIONS 1994 - STONE THE CROWS 14 Bishops Drive lewes REF: SUSSEX 1994/03 EastEdiw Sussexr : ANM �� 0�("\/�@rn�'(-��. 'i�\�--�. -- BN7 1 HA Tel. 0273-- 474711 -- - - � Location: Birling Gap, East Sussex t: .tcu"' Slloe : . Crop: Barley · "My brain understands so little that it loves �� --- - -· Tear things it's not supposed to understand" Formed: 20/6/94 or 21/6/94 N (Approx.) OODIE SMITH Spotted by Chris Mansell, 21/6/94 ..,._ Description: The Egg, The Tear & The Slice There's a plethora of little crop circle magazines popping up in the wake of se, same with a nice line in self-prarotion. However, the claim of one (excellent) publication Diameters: Egg 25.6ft (narrowest) by 30.9 Egg advertising itself in the CCCS Circular as "the OOLY rronthly crop circle magazine with (widest), Tear 27.lft (narrowest) by regular pootographs and diagrams" is surely stretching too 33.3 (widest), Slice 27.6ft by 14.10. and the truth a little far, as this recent issues of the OOLY IOOilthly crop circle magazine called se denonstrate... a bit Distance from Tear to Slice 33.5ft at • of re-wording in the advert department needed perhaps? western end, 38.0 eastern. Distance from Tear to Egg 700ft approx. George Wingfield has denied that he will be speaking at any 'hoaxers conference' at the Tramlines at 097°, circles align at Waggon & Horses this Jronth (as reported last issue) and in a clear protest at the very idea 109°. Road of such an event, he is running an advertiserrent for it in the new issue of The Cerealogist, Surveyed by: Barry Reynolds & Andy Thomas once the cheque clears... The only thing is, sareone had better tell the staff of the aforementioned venue as any telephone enquiries are met with blank puzzlement from the Power Cables Beckhampton pub, who claim not to know anything about it as no roan has been booked. So DETAILS: First seen by the farm manager who says either the whole event is a hoax itself or the scheduled meeting of the hoaxing titans (Sid i that the circles were not there the previous weekend and Joe Stupid) is to take place at the bar... In any case, the chances are the rocrn will (18/19th June), confirmed by another farm worker. be heaving with CCCS rrenbers turning up to see who else will be turning up ("You - a Both the Egg and the Tear were noticeably non- hoaxer!" - "No, you must be a hoaxer!" Ho ho/biff) so what this dubiousness is all about is . circular, the one nearest the road being more egg-shaped and the farthest one be1ng more anybody's guess. Rumour puts Rob Irving at the top of the suspicion list for the brain cell tear-shaped. Both had very slight 'points' at either end. When surveyed on 25th June, behind this jolly jape. Incidentally, Irving got married recently. Best Man•• ? One Jim both shapes were in pristine condition. Three overhead electricity cables on telegraph Schnabel. poles (not telephone cables) cross the field approximately east/west. The Egg and the Slice were to the north of the cables with the Tear being to the south. Crows had eaten The long-promised and much vaunted CCCS Yearbook, initiated in an gallant effort to a large amount of the affected barley seed (we assume) but had NOT caused the original recapture sooething of the glory days of 'The Crop Circle Enigma' and 'Harbingers of World damage. The farmer, who had been working there for over 15 years stated that he had never Change' has been scrapped, much to the distress of those who had sweated blood to prepare seen anything like it before. their contributions. The initial reasons given were financial (encouragingly, no-one had the confidence that anyone would buy it) and logistical (it was too long, no-one was sure The crop was not bent at ground level as normal but had been bent at 180o fairly uniformly what it was trying to achieve etc.) but a brief glance behind the scenes suggests battling at a height of between 17" and 22". The bend occurred at the first we� point of the crop egos as the real factor in its demise. Incredibly, for a decision announced at the Branch which was where the sheath of the leaf finished. The crop then bent sl1ghtly out at about Convenors meeting on July 3rd, the book's editor Lucy Pringle still hadn't been notified 045° at the next node! This occurred all over all three days after this democratic decision had been made, friends being left to break the three formations in small areas so that where the news! A much scaled-down econany version consisting mainly of photographs is now being heads of barley gathered, small 'nests' were formed. considered for next year but I wouldn't hold your breath. Bend It was virtually impossible to retrieve a single stalk from a nest as they were woven so tightly. Talking of breath-holding, same of you may be wondering what has happened to the results of The shapes could not be walked across as your feet the se 1994 Crop Circle Survey, launched in our January issue this year. Fear leaf not, the broke the suspended web of crop, leaving large final � 'results' are currently being written up and scrutinised and should appear in a , Swollennode holes. The lay of all three shapes was the same. special edition in two or three issues' time, along with (I hope) a whole new look for the There was none of the usual spiralling or radial inside of se ... swirling, but instead a series of dinner-plate sized nests suspended in mid-air about 20-30cm from CCCS has suddenly K decided that it can't do without a 1994 conference after and all, so a the ground. Towards the centre of both the Egg and one day event has been arranged for September 3rd at the Wilberforce Centre, Clapham, -· the Tear there was a very slight cross-shaped lay, Iondon. The entrance fee is £10.00 but places are restricted to 90 and must be reserved in the only noticeable pattern in the formations. advance by contacting Michael Glickman, 80 Lamble Street, IDndon, NW5 4AB. One of the speakers on the day will be our very own Barry Reynolds. What rrore could you want? But if ' The Tear was very close to the overhead power you can't wait until then , Michael Green with support from yours truly and Paul Bura will be cables and also to one of the telegraph poles. At speaking at the Nash Country Hotel, Steyning on August 7th 11.OOam, £3.00 for the day .•• this point the tractor tramlines diverted from ANDY 'l'liCIW3 . their straight line as the tractor drove around the pole. It was this part of the tramline that the Sussex Circular: Edited and produced by Andy Thomas. Articles and contributions to the editorial address please. formation actually touched, with the edge of the CCCS Sussex Branch Convenor: Barry Reynolds (Tel. 0444 232873). Subscription applications and queries: De�bie Plllllllll 'l'''"'llllllllllllllllllllltlllll!lllllllltllllllli Tear joining it for a short way. This part of the Pardoe, 42 Croxden Way_, Willingdon Trees, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 OUJ. Subscription £10.00 (12 cop1es) cheques payable to 'CCCS Sussex'. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individua l shape was noticeably flat. The flat side of the 3 contributors and not the Sussex Circular or the CCCS as a whole, unless otherwise stated. Tear and flat side of the Slice were both 27.6ft. >> .. considerably taller than barley and it would only have been flailed at 20", not all the way To fully appreciate what happened th r and the when e Tea from top to bottom. Slice formed, imagine a circle coming down from the sky. As es which it drops to the ground it hits the pa.ver cabl Further similar crop damage was apparent further up the field to the east where oblong cut it into two parts, one considerably larger than the patches were discovered by Andrew King on 29th June. These ran parallel to a metal fence other. The larger part (the Tear) falls one side of the for a distance far in excess of lOOOft by 15ft wide and at 90° to the cables. Our pa.ver cables and the smaller part (the Slice) the other. postulation is that the circle-making energy came downwards from the sky and hit the cables slicing the formation into two parts. The energy ran along the cables until it earthed Around the telegraph pole there was a dead area where the itself at the metal fence spreading outwards from the power cables. This was given further farmer had sprayed weedkiller to keep the pole free from credence when Andy Thomas discovered yet more damage on 6th July in the north-east corner growth. A few other plants (rape and poppies) grew on of the field where an enormous triangular area of several thousand square feet had been the edge of this dead patch. The flat edge of the Slice similarly affected, finally putting to rest the hoax/flail or crow theories. Next to the butted up against this dead edge and the weeds around the metal fence at the end of the field was the only earth pole. The affected areas then pole. Where the barley had been gro.ving through the rape spread out from here and actually surrounded a gas-po.vered bird-scarer! Closer inspection it had still been affected and was actually bent through of the very edge of the affected strips (where they joined a hedgerow) revealed that wild the plant, incorporating it as part of the damaged area.