The fallow days between Christmas and the New Year are typically a time when individuals in the public eye, government policy-makers or large corporations quietly approach the media with retractions, U-Turns in policy or controversial legislations, the general public being otherwise too distracted by hangovers, celebrations or end-of-year sales.

It was in this spirit that small articles appeared in the British press on Sunday, December 27, 1998, bearing statements by Doug Bower- surviving half of infamous Doug and Dave hoaxer duo- claiming that "an unknown force" told him to do the crop circles.

The pair claimed in 1991 that they had made all the crop circles in southern England since 1978 (about two thousand at that point, including those reported from around the world). Unfortunately they could not provide a shred of evidence at the time. During a confrontation with researchers in front of the media, the pair made one small circle with planks and string that bore an artistic ability more in keeping with the damage caused by a rough wind than the surgical precision associated with the phenomenon. When later challenged on specific facts by researchers, they retracted or re-worded they original claims, mostly away from the media eye.

They have since became media celebrities despite not being able to produce any of the anomalies associated with genuine crop circles. Researcher George Wingfield eventually traced their original story to a company in Somerset that carries out research on top secret military projects.

Whatever Doug and Dave's motives or backers, it now seems that even the phenomenon's most public hoaxer believes there is more at work in the fields than the hand of man.

By Freddy Silva. This article can be disseminated free, for non-profit use only.

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