Charles Mallet reports on a crop circle that appeared near Cambridge in 2001
During 2001 the area surrounding the Gog and Magog hills in Cambridgeshire became something of a hot spot for crop circles. A number of technically amazing designs arrived there that caused quite a stir in the crop circle research community. But one that appeared last summer struck a deep chord with me. In fact I was so drawn to it that I easily overcame any reluctance to drive the 200 hundred miles in sweltering July heat to reach the site.
With its overtly feminine, angelic form it quickly became known as the “Angel”, and after a few hours drive and a climb up the low Gog-Magog hill it became still more obvious why. Even from a distance I felt that I was looking at something distinctively different. There was a marked sense of purity and honesty about this formation that I had not experienced for some years in crop circle research. How much of my impression was affected by the locale remains a question. The Angel and other recent arrivals in this geographical area seemed a world away from the more familiar locations of Wiltshire and Hampshire; both of which now seem to be spiritually diminished as a result of bitter dissension and rivalry amongst researchers. Have the genuine Circlemakers sought more hospitable environments for their part in intercommunication?
Pondering this question I made my way into the field and down the parallel lines running through the crop, which led me directly into the formation. As I reached its edge I stood for a few moments taking in all its majestic beauty and harmonious proportion; the whole formation appeared seamless and precise with a razor sharp finish to all the edges of the standing sections.
I was looking at a flattened circle of wheat (237 ft diameter) within which sat two very dense crescents of standing crop. The largest of the two crescents had (approx.) seventy very thin pathways like rays of laid crop running through it, creating an impression of a broad Egyptian style necklace (which was another image ascribed to the Angel design). A slender tracer path separated the two crescents encircling and defining the head and arms of the Angel. Had this ring of flattened wheat gone down first to define this aspect of the event?
As I walked within the central areas of the formation, I observed many subtle and impressive aspects in its construction that were not apparent from the aerial photos. All the laid crop areas were finished to an amazing standard, as if the whole thing had been carefully crafted with nothing harsher than a fine tooth-comb. In various parts of the formation perfectly healthy poppy flowers in full bloom were growing up between the laid wheat stems. This feature gave one the impression that whatever was responsible for the creation of the formation had absolute respect for other living things. It would have been decidedly easier to flatten the entire area, but the delicate poppy flowers were left intact.
The seventy slender pathways were also perplexing. Each one was (approx.) six inches wide and all but one ran perfectly straight, as was no doubt intended. One very odd thing about these paths was the way the wheat had been laid down to create the narrow incisions. Rather than being flattened down to or just above the ground, the plants looked as though they had been put down very gently with the aid of a swirling wind tube or wave. One could see by peering down any of the paths that the stems were taken from one edge and curled around to rest on the opposite side of the standing crop. It was an intriguing detail that I had never seen before in any of the hundreds of formations I’ve visited.
In all, the Angel was clearly an inspirational and mysterious happening.
The crop circle near Gog Magog, Cambridgeshire. Photo: Steve Alexander
A ground shot of the same formation. Photo: Charles Mallet
As Charles reports, poppy flowers in full bloom were growing between the gently laid stems of the crop
Last updated 05/11/2002
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