XMT: 11:41 Wed Jul 25
EXP: 12:00 Wed Aug 01


SCIENTISTS RECORD FLASHES AS MYSTERY CIRCLES FORM IN ENGLISH CORNFIELDS
LONDON (JULY 25) REUTER - Excited scientists said they recorded
evidence on Wednesday that could solve the centuries-old mystery of
circles in English cornfields which have aroused speculation of
visitors from outer space. Experts filmed two big circles being made
during the night amid a barrage of unexplained flashing lights in a
field in the southern county of Wiltshire. It was the first known
recording of the formation of symmetrical circles that have puzzled
Englishmen since the Middle Ages.

Theories of what causes them range from earthworms to whirlwinds to
spaceships.

In medieval times, countryfolk believed they were the work of the
Devil. Scientists from Britain, Japan, West Germany and the United
States monitored Wiltshire cornfields round the clock this week with
thermal imagers and low-light cameras.

On Wednesday, they recorded two circles being made, one about 100
metres (330 feet) across, the other half that size, said Colin Andrews,
leader of the project coordinated by the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC). Analyzing their recordings hours later, they sent in
helicopters to take daylight pictures of the find and said they had
made a significant scientific discovery.

"We do have a major event here, very much excitment as you can
imagine," Andrews said. "We do have two major ground markings in front
of all the surveillance equipment performing absolutely to form," he
told BBC television.

"We had a situation at approximately 3.30 this morning on monitor -- a
number of orange lights taking the approximate form of a triangle and
within that triangular form was a second triangle," Andrews said.

"We had many lights, following that a whole complex arrangement of
lights doing all sorts of funny things. It's a complex situation, we
are actually analysing it at this very moment. But there is undoubtedly
something here for science."

Andrews said the circles could not be a hoax.

"We have high-quality equipment here and we have indeed secured on
high-quality equipment a major event," he said.

Asked what caused the circles, Andrews said: "As you can imagine, this
only happened some hours ago. We have experts arriving by the minute
here now to analyze this. We do have something of great, great
significance." Describing the circles, he said: "One formation is about
100 metres in diameter, a circle with two satellites and two concentric
rings, another brother nearby about 50 per cent of the size of its
nearby neighbour." Andrews said the field had been cordoned off. "We're
doing nothing more now until we have helicopters over the top to film
in detail what we have before anybody enters that field."

The authoritative New Scientist journal published an article last month
which said corn circles, more than 300 of which appeared last year,
were caused by weather conditions creating whirlwinds and electrical
discharges in the atmosphere.

Author Terence Meaden said his theory could explain flashing lights
seen by eyewitnesses and patterns of flattened corn.

John,
telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23
http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080
---
þ Synchronet þ Rick's BBS telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23