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NAVIGATION
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The Neilburg formation was discovered September 3, 1999 in wheat when the field was being swathed. It wasn't there on August 23, when the field was sprayed.
A central circle 45 feet in diameter is flanked by three arcing arms of smaller circles. There are eleven circles in all. The total size of the formation is about 185 feet, north to south.
  
  
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Beaumont, Alberta, Canada
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INTERNAL PATTERNS IN LODGED WHEAT
Beaumont, Alberta, Canada
August 2000
Report by Judy Arndt, posted April, 2001
Lodged (randomly downed) grain in the Edmonton area has a few similarities with the downed grain in crop circle formations. Although not organized in circles, there are repeating internal patterns. Stem node damage is similar to that found in some crop circle formations.
The photos in this report were taken in a wheat field south of Beaumont. This instance of lodging occurred during the period of rapid growth when the seed heads were filling out. The farmer, Andre Goudreau, says the crop goes down every year in this field in the same place. With his permission my husband, Mike Arndt, and I took photos and collected some plant and soil samples.
We also took a look at lodged grain in numerous other fields in areas around of Edmonton--Devon, Leduc, Wetaskawin, Morinville. We found two kinds of lodging:
1. By far the most common in 2000 was flattening that apparently results from excessive growth. Every one of these lodged areas had the internal lay patterns.
2. Weather damage, found in only two fields north of Edmonton. These areas were messy, not flattened and only partially downed. We did not find internal patterns in these fields.
Central Alberta had a late, cool, wet spring which delayed planting. July was wetter than normal with frequent thunderstorms, windstorms and hail. All of these factors can contribute to lodging. However, in the fields we looked at we saw no bruising, breakage or other evidence of hail damage. |
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Drayton Valley Crop Circle
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Drayton Valley Crop Circle Formation
Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada
Discovered August 18, 2001
This two-circle formation in green oats was discovered by the farmer on Saturday August 18 while swathing.
The location is near the junction of Highways 39 and 759. This is about 65 miles (104 km) southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. |
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The larger circle is slightly elliptical, with diameters of 41.5 feet to 45 feet. Total length of formation is 88 feet (26.8 meters). There is a counterclockwise spiral lay in both circles. Spiral central whorls are not on the geometric centers. When first found, the laid crop was very flat, neat and uniformly spiraled.
See larger diagram with measurements, including metric values. |
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The smaller circle is 20 feet in diameter. |
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We visited the formation on August 26, eight days after its discovery.
Edges between standing and laid crop are crisp. Plants are either bent over hard at the soil level or are completely upright. |
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All plants were bent over very firmly at ground level. However, the stems were not crimped or broken, and the plants continue growing. |
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There is an appearance of bundling, which is commonly seen in crop circles with spiral lay. |
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NODES
Stem nodes in formation plants were swollen. We didn't notice any blown or stretched stem nodes while in the field. However, upon examination of the samples we brought home, we found marked differences between the crop formation and standing plants. See close up photos for comparison. |
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What is not normal plant response, is that only a small percentage of the plants have begun growing upwards in a normal phototropic response, as shown in this photo. The majority of plants, one week after the event was discovered, were still green and growing, but remained horizontal.
See larger photo. |
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This is the center whorl of small circle. There was a bare spot about four inches in diameter in the center of each circle, but no evidence of the soil having been disturbed. The bare spot is surprising, considering the dense growth everywhere else. |
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Geometry. Pentagons galore! Please take a look at my geometric analysis. |
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The oat crop was seeded on rich loam soil with an air seeder, and with a nurse crop of clover hay. It is very evenly and densely grown at the ground level. The field was not sprayed, so there are no tractor tracks. No vehicles had entered the field after seeding to the time of swathing. It's impossible for any person to walk through this crop without crushing plants and leaving an obvious trail.
The farmers checked very carefully to find tracks in the field, or between the two circles, but there were none.
One of the farmers was up very late the evening before the formation was discovered, tending a fussy baby. She spent some time outdoors on her deck. It was a warm, calm, dry night. She says if there had been trespassers in the field, which is visible from the house, she would have heard or noticed something. None of the horses, dogs, donkeys or llamas in the immediate vicinity showed any signs of upset during the night. |
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Because of a very dry spring and long stretches of rainless weather, grasshoppers have become a problem in many areas of Alberta this year. I didn't get a photo of one of the thousands of live, hopping ones, but this shell left by a moulting grasshopper is a reminder of the weather and the insect infestation. See larger photo. |
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Is there a reason for this formation? Environmental concerns. |
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Here is a pleasant view of the field from the southwest corner. | |
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Red Deer Crop Circle Formation
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Red Deer Crop Circle Formation
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Discovered September 16, 2001
Seven circles in mature red wheat were found by the farmer on Sunday September 16 while he was harvesting. The formation was not in the field September 1 when the field was sprayed with a desiccant.
There is a report that the formation was spotted from the air on Sunday, Sept. 2. If that is so, then the formation was made during the night of Saturday, September 1 / Sunday, September 2.
Total width of formation is 422 ft (128.6 m). I visited on Tuesday, September 18. The crop was fully ripe and plants were very dry and brittle. Many people had already walked through the formation. |
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MEASUREMENTS AND CROP LAY, including a perspective distortion of the aerial photo above. |
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Take a close look at some of the circles.
North east circle panorama. (140 kb)
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South west circle panorama. (116 kb)
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Center circle panorama, larger version (152 kb) or smaller version (41 kb).
These panoramas are made from several images joined together. Distortion is due to the wide angle lens I used. |
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PATHWAYS
Paths were about three feet wide. The lay in most paths was fairly neat. One path meandered quite far off course and I couldn’t get a sight-line down the length of the path. |
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Other paths were very messy with plants bending sideways and not completely flattened. It looked like the plants were knocked down at an angle of about 45 degrees to the direction of the path.
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Paths overlapped circles. |
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WHORLS
This is the central whorl of the north east circle.
Although the lay within the circles was quite uniform, occasionally the edges were messy and knocked over. |
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On close inspection, some central whorls were indistinct. In some circles we had trouble locating the central whorl because the plants were splayed out at odd angles, not neatly spiraled. |
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STALK DETAILS
The laid plants throughout the formation were bent over at varying heights ranging from ground level to 3 inches from the ground, even within the same clump of plants.
The farmers say they didn't see any broken seed heads or stems when they first entered. However, when the formation was made, the plants were probably damper and more flexible than they were when I visited. |
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The plants stems within the circles were very straight. In an admittedly quick visual inspection, I found none of the node changes, bent nodes or bundling that would associate it with the rapid flash of heating that seems to create crop formations of unknown cause. |
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GEOMETRY
I enjoy studying the geometric relationships found in crop formations. Here is my analysis. |
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Crop art or high strangeness?
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SYMBOLS AND THEIR INTERPRETATIONS
Many people who see crop formations say, "What does it mean?" Some try to find a link with this formation and the recent terrorist attacks in the United States. Many see the Star of David, a symbol of Judaism. Christians have various interpretations depending on their own belief system. Some find reassurance that a higher power is keeping a watchful eye on us.
Some look for similarities with aboriginal motifs. The lovely rolling hills to the east of the formation were once Blackfoot Indian lands. Did the Blackfoot conduct spiritual ceremonies there before European settlers took the land for agriculture?
People with a leaning towards New Age beliefs may see this as a message from Mother Earth or Gaia. This design has a strong similarity to star tetrahedron diagrams and Metatron's Cube in the Flower of Life teachings.
http://www.floweroflife.org/toverview8.htm
If you're interested in UFOs, you may make a connection with recent sightings of triangular formations of peach colored lights over the nearby town of Lacombe.
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/editorials/rad4B229.htm
People who are interested in labyrinths are delighted at all the possibilities to explore the geometry by walking through it.
Is this a human artistic expression? Red Deer College has a fine arts program, including summer arts programs. I think crop art would be on the minds of at least some students in this farming community.
It doesn't matter to me if we solve the puzzle of who made it. People respond to the beauty and geometry. After the horrific images we've been viewing on TV this month, walking in the serenity of this crop formation is a soothing balm. | |
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.::Aliens Exist::.
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