Clich here for video 2.

"Oliver's Castle Crop Circle Video" withstands closest analysis, British Ministry of Defense.

I have just viewed the stunning "Oliver's Castle" videotape, a short (about 20-second) clip taken in southern England that appears to show the actual forming of a snowflake-shaped crop circle. Also depicted are four rapidly moving balls of light whose presence seems connected in some way with the forming of the crop circle.

The clip starts with a panoramic shot taken from a high vantage point, looking down towards several cultivated fields separated by trees and hedgerows. It appears to be early morning, and the sky is overcast so that the lighting is uniform and no clear shadows are visible. In this panoramic shot one can see an unattended second camera�probably a semi-professional camcorder with an interchangeable zoom or telephoto lens�mounted on an amateur or semiprofessional tripod with its centre column extended�the legs seem to be hidden behind a row of bushes. This camera is pointing off to the right, perhaps aimed at an adjacent field.

It is in the second shot that all of the action takes place. In this shot the camera starts with a wide-angle view of the largest and most central field and then zooms in as two glowing objects (very rough estimate: 3 to 6 feet in diameter, and maintaining perhaps 30-50 feet altitude throughout) appear at the far centre of the frame and loop around the right side into the foreground where they proceed right-to-left, apparently circling or "framing" the central portion of the field. They continue to loop around to the far left, still circling clockwise. As they pass over the far-CENTER of the field, a small "disturbance" appears in the crop. This disturbance expands into a definite, progressive, outward spiraling motion that appears to lay down the crop stalks in a circular fashion, starting at the CENTER, working its way outward through several revolutions, and abruptly terminating at the outer edge of what has now become a central circle. The entire process takes approximately one second.

Just before the central circle is completed, six "satellite circles" appear to form simultaneously in a similar fashion. These smaller circles are connected to the central circle by six "spokes" that have formed at the same time. Total elapsed time is approximately two to three seconds.

At this point the two "objects" are heading away toward the far right edge of the frame, but are still in view. Now a third "object" appears, coming into the frame from about the same direction as the first two and following a similar path, looping around to the right and momentarily going out of frame. When the "object" reappears in the foreground it is being followed by a companion "object", smaller and less luminous, which may have split off from the original one�though this is not clear, since the split would have occurred while the "object" was outside the frame. (This should be checked with an under scanned monitor, which displays the entire frame inside the picture tube in the manner of most computer monitors. Unfortunately I did not have one at my disposal for this viewing.)

Eventually all four "objects" leave the frame, and the recording cuts to the third shot, which is a zoom-out from a close-up of the crop circle to a broader shot of the field. At the widest extent of the zoom one can again see the second camera, which appears not to have changed its position.

eMail Joseph Lynn Oliver - [email protected]

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