Another recurring ôfearô held by the people working the lands in ancient times are ôthe Wild Huntô, also known as the furious Host. It was a riotous stampede of spirits which turned everyone insane in its path. That is - the oneÆs who survided from being maimed by these devoured spirits. With it followed the fear of the frightful sight of the disintegrating dead and tormented souls forced to run along with it and its pack of demonic hounds. All over Europe, even to the western and northern fringes of the Roman Empire and beyond, every region had its own version of the öWild Huntö. One of the brothers of the fairytale/mythological writers Grimm, Jacob cites a legend of the German Mark region which seems to weld together all the themes of the Wild Hunt, the whirlwind, damage to the crops and Diana the Huntress (in Germany known as Hulda). Where she transformed to a whirlwind that ôloved the chase above everythingö, even to the point of making öhavoc of a husbandmanÆs cropsö, for which she was ödoomed to ride with the storm for all eternityö.

During the 16th century Fairy Rings were always regarded with fear. Nowadays, fairy rings are scientifically accepted as being a simple product of fungi sporing patterns, and there is nothing to suggest otherwise. However - it was said that at certain times, stepping into a fairy ring (which didnÆt necessarily mean a fungal ring) would result in the person becoming trapped, destined to dance forever with the fairies, even after death. Fairy rings were thought to be the places that fairy whirlwinds would pluck a victim from the earth. Theories of öwinds and whirlwindsö like this go back as far as Pliny and Aristotle.

When I look through various books of crop circles, the first noted case is from Hertfordshire in the UK in 1678. The 1678 Hertford öincidentö was sparked off by a pamphlet, created most probably by disgruntled or angry workers of the time. The document, on first glances does seem to offer a historical account of the formation of a crop-circle, but the whole thing is couched in terms and imagery of contemporary folk-demonology and fertitility-god beliefs. Crops, circles, whirling winds and devils all make an appearance in the text. My collegue Neil D. Jackson of the UK has this to say on the case:

ôItÆs the cultural and social aspects (which arenÆt immediately obvious in the pamphlet) which point to a far more mundane reason for the pamphlet campaign. The likelihood is that it stemmed from a dispute between a farmer and the teams of mowers who depended on harvesting in order to make their living. Whether they were asking for more money, or other öprovisionsö from the farmer, is not known. However, it is fairly evident that the farmer took leave of the mowersÆ services, or paid them less than they thought fair. The pamphlet-campaign was örevengeö for this act.This has to be viewed in context, occurring as it did in times where mowers were usually living in ötiedö cottages (part of the farm, owned by the farmer). Their rates of pay were low and conditions were very poor. The lot of the average worker, compared to that of the farmer, was very, very bad. Farmers, on the other hand, were usually rich, powerful, wealthy landowners, and universally hated by their farm-workers. In the two centuries after the 1678 incident, farming changed, thanks to unionised workforces, social reforms, and other dramatic changes (including the industrial revolution). The Mowing Devil pamphlet of 1678 is most likely (though not conclusively, of course) a manifestation of this kind of ödoom-sayingö by the workers of the time: a warning to farmers and other greedy landowners that the Devil himself would seek retribution (on behalf of the poor oppressed workers, of course), by ruining the farmersÆ crops. A typical öClass Warö leaflet, circa 1678, if you like, but a bit more superstitious than modern-day versions!ô

An interesting thing is that around the same time (1680Æs) there was a very-much revered scientist of the time, a Richard Plot. He was investigating fairy-rings and he was very much the ömodelö scientist. He went into the rings, dug up the earth, tasted it(!), smelled it, noted the health and colouring of the vegetation To that he noted the behaviour of animals (particularly cattle which would not touch the grass in the vicinity), and usually got statements from everyone concerned.
PlotÆs analysis shows a number of possible explanations. Beginning with the common-of-the-time dancing witches and elves. But he boldly questioned these, nowdays, mythological explanations. He was more interested in natural explanations. The rutting stags, the fungi-infected soil and hollow tubes of lightning. All of these are today related to the crop-circle. We have heard about animal damage and fungi. And the viewÆs of Terence MeadenÆs which suggests that the plasma-vortex could form an illuminated tube between sky and ground and may sometimes have a hollow centre.
The big difference is that all of PlotÆs rings were in grassy fields and the circles wereÆnt fölattened in the centre. And there is no mention of flattened circles in wheat or korn-fields. And if Plot truly came upon the same phenomenon as todayÆs crop circles he would have left behind a great number of leads for us to follow. His omission along with known connections with a large group of scientists of the time show that he probably entered another of timeÆs mysteries.

Some people has connected the crop circles with the burned soil-rings that was belived to be æcaused by descended UFOÆs in the 50Æs up ætil today. The first modern reported crop circle appeared in Tully, UK in 1966. And then it was quite calm until December 1973 when a strange circular imprint appeard near Wokurma, Australia, followed by 7 others in the nearby town Bordertown. Theories from rotating wind to kangaroos was mentioned but no definite answer to the phenomena was ever reached. Finally the circles were nicknamed ösaucer nestsö, probably from the burned soil-marks I mentioned earlier. During this some re-occuring details was noticed, strange nocturnal lights and ôscreamingô noises were reported by the local people. Soon after the Australian circles they reappeared in Switzerland as Billy MeierÆs controversial photage and films were made of alleged Pleadian beamships. Here people claim to have noticed the fact that some uses to divide hoaxes from genuine circles - the unbroken wheatstalks. Only bent flat at the bottom and their continuence of growing in a circle

Soon after the Australian circles was reported some boooks of today say they reappeared at Billy MeierÆs farm in Switzerland in the mid 70Æs as Billy MeierÆs controversial photage and films were made of alleged Pleadian beamships. Here people claim to have noticed the fact that some uses to divide hoaxes from genuine circles - the unbroken wheatstalks. Only bent flat at the bottom and their continuence of growing in a circle. To this I canÆt find any confirmation and it is probably a afterward construction by the people around MeierÆs cult.

In September 1976 the phenomena started to appear in northern USA as a farmer of Langenburg, Saskatchewan, claim to have witnessed several silver, dome-shaped crafts hovering above his field. When the crafts left, they had left a number of circles in his field. More circles appeared overnight for the next few days, and 7 circles were found in total.