{ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ }

UFO doomsday cult play When Prophecy Fails coming to Beacon

(Image: Christopher Bowen)

A THEATRE production about a UFO doomsday cult is coming to the Beacon Arts Centre.

Groupwork will present When Prophecy Fails at the venue on October 23 at 7.30pm.

The production is inspired by the true story of history’s first UFO doomsday cult.

It follows people who believe the apocalypse is near and prepare for salvation by flying saucer.

When reality challenges belief, the group faces a crisis on stage.

Tickets are available through the Beacon Arts Centre website or by calling 01475 723723.

{ https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/ }

Mars Has a Warm Region Inside

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Carbon Rocks Deep Underground Could Hold the Evidence of Mars' Watery Past.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Ancient Structure Found On Earths Moon In Crater! UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of discovery: Sept 28, 2026

Location of discovery: Moon

Source photo: 

• https://data.lroc.im-ldi.com/apollo/view?camera=P&image_name=AS15-P-0044

 

Guys I found this amazing structure at the center of a crater in this old NASA Apollo 15 panoramic photo. The structure is huge, about 1 mile across and has a large square entrance to it. Most people cannot adjust their eyes to black and white photos to see the detail, so if you really want to see but can't, then look at the photo for a few minutes. Take some time, let your eyes adjust. Also I this main photo is so over exposed with light that I had to add contrast to see these structures. This was not the only one I found, but its the only one I will report, because its takes a very trained eye to see what I see. Decades of research allows me to see the details better. So I just found the best one and shared it here. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily 

 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Egyptologists uncover 4,000-year-old tomb of the 'keeper of the king's secrets' – with a mysterious 'portal to the afterlife'

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

Archaeologists have uncovered a 4,000–year–old tomb that belonged to one of ancient Egypt's most powerful officials – with a mysterious 'portal to the afterlife'.

The discovery was made at the Bubasteion Necropolis in Saqqara, one of Egypt's most important archaeological sites.

Hieroglyphs reveal the tomb belonged to a senior official named Sakhnetio-Btah, who lived during the time of the Old Kingdom.

Inscriptions identified him as the 'keeper of the king's secrets', highlighting his privileged access to the pharaoh's inner circle.

Despite the mysterious name, the title probably did not mean guarding hidden treasures or religious mysteries.

Experts believe it referred to a high-ranking official who handled confidential royal documents and decrees on behalf of an Old Kingdom pharaoh.

He also served as a royal chamberlain, a priest of the goddess Maat and supervisor of the royal library.

'The hieroglyphic inscriptions… helped to determine the name of the owner of the cemetery and the number of his titles, including the keeper of royal secrets, which reflect the high status he held in the administrative system of the ancient state,' Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said.

The tomb also includes the remains of a funerary chapel and a false door, which ancient Egyptians believed was a portal to the afterlife

Inscriptions reveal the tomb belonged to the 'keeper of the king's secrets', highlighting his privileged access to the pharaoh's inner circle

The tomb includes the remains of a funerary chapel and a false door – a symbolic niche which the ancient Egyptians believed was a magical threshold between the world of the living and the realm of the dead. 

Archaeologists also discovered a funerary ritual objects including an offering table, an offering slab and a purification basin.

Experts say finding the objects exactly where they were originally placed provides a rare glimpse into Old Kingdom funerary practices.

The dig also uncovered an interconnected network of burial shafts surrounding the tomb.

Inside were numerous human burials and large quantities of painted funerary cartonnage – a colourful papier-mache-like covering placed over a mummy, often decorated with images of Egyptian gods, hieroglyphics and scenes intended to protect the dead on their journey to the afterlife.

More than 100 ushabti figurines, which were intended to serve the dead in the afterlife, were also recovered.

Among the most spectacular finds were three stone sarcophagi discovered sealed and intact in their original positions.

Archaeologists also found a wooden falcon statue and a wide range of pottery vessels and other artefacts.

   

Archaeologists also discovered funerary ritual objects including an offering table, an offering slab and a purification basin (left) and an interconnected network of burial shafts surrounding the tomb (right)

Preliminary investigations suggest that some parts of the burial complex were looted by tomb robbers in ancient times.

Despite this, many of the surviving finds remain in remarkably good condition.

Researchers believe the discoveries will help them better understand how the site was reused over different periods of Egyptian history.

Excavations are continuing, with experts convinced that the vast necropolis still has many more secrets waiting to be uncovered.

Saqqara, where the tomb was found, is one of Egypt's most significant archaeological sites.

It is the home of Egypt's oldest pyramid – the step pyramid of Djoser – which was built around 4,700 years ago.

The site also contains thousands of tombs belonging to pharaohs, nobles, priests and high-ranking officials from multiple dynasties.

In recent years archaeologists at Saqqara have uncovered dozens of sealed coffins, extensive animal cemeteries, workshops used for mummification, and richly decorated burial shafts packed with statues and artefacts. 

These discoveries have transformed understanding of everyday religious life in ancient Egypt.

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Archaeologists Opened a 4,000-Year-Old Tomb… What They Found Shocked Scientists

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Mysterious map found inside centuries-old Bible claims to pinpoint location of Eden

• READ MORE: Noah's Ark resting place '100% confirmed' after 4,300 years as astonishing 'man-made' structure is detected buried deep underground

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Hidden within a 1599 Bible is a detailed map revealing where its creators believed the Garden of Eden may once have stood.

Titled The Situation of the Garden of Eden, it places the biblical paradise in Great Armenia, near mountains believed to represent Mount Ararat in present-day Turkey.

Discussing the map on her YouTube channel, Ashleys_AntiqueBibles said it appears to locate Eden near the source of the Euphrates at the mountain's base.

The map also labels Mesopotamia, Babylon, Havilah, the Arabian Desert, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.

Most importantly, it shows the Euphrates beginning among the mountains and flowing westward, while the Caspian Sea appears to the right, or east.

This layout places Eden near the mountainous headwaters rather than beneath the Caspian Sea, a location the host said she had proposed in earlier videos.

That interpretation draws on Genesis, which states that one river flowed out of Eden before dividing into the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates.

Translated into modern geography, the map points to eastern Turkey, close to the borders of Armenia and Iran.

Titled The Situation of the Garden of Eden, the map places the biblical paradise in Great Armenia, near mountains believed to represent Mount Ararat in present-day Turkey

The antique Bible, known as the Geneva Bible, was produced by English Protestant scholars who fled England and took refuge in Switzerland. 

Historians estimate that as many as 360,000 copies were printed between 1560 and 1644. 

The Situation of the Garden of Eden map is a copy of one created by Protestant reformer John Calvin, first published in his 1554 commentary on Genesis to illustrate where he believed Eden had stood.

Genesis describes a river flowing through Eden before dividing into four branches.

Scholars generally agreed that two were the Tigris and Euphrates, while the Pishon and Gihon were often identified as the Ganges and Nile.

However, that interpretation created a major geographical problem because the four rivers do not meet.

Calvin proposed that the biblical term translated as 'headwaters' could refer to either the beginning or the mouth of a river, according to a pre-print study by Justine Angelique Walden, who previously taught history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

He therefore argued that the Pishon and Gihon were not separate rivers but names for the lower sections or outlets of the Tigris and Euphrates.

The antique Bible, known as the Geneva Bible, was produced by English Protestant scholars who fled England and took refuge in Switzerland

The Garden of Eden (Pictured) was described in the Book of Genesis as a paradise where the first humans, Adam and Eve, once walked before committing the first sin

By treating all four names as parts of the same river system, Calvin believed he had reconciled the biblical description with real-world geography.

His interpretation placed Eden firmly in Mesopotamia and presented it as a genuine earthly paradise that had existed before disappearing into history.

'Oddly, the Eden map showed the general location of Eden but did not specify the walled garden’s perimeter, and so ambiguously asserted both the presence of paradise as well as its absence,' Walden shared in her report.

'Eden had once been precisely locatable; now only traces of its existence, such as the four rivers, remained.' 

People have been actively searching for and theorizing about the location of the Garden of Eden for centuries, with every single one coming up empty.

A more recent investigation into the biblical paradise was released in 2025, when Mahmood Jawaid, a chemical engineer based in Texas, argued Eden was actually in Bahir Dar, a fertile region in northwestern Ethiopia near the southern end of Lake Tana, where the Blue Nile begins.

An American engineer proposed in 2025 that the Garden of Eden was located in Ethiopia due to the landscape and the Blue Nile that runs through the area

Jawaid based his research on a careful reading of both the Bible and the Quran, analyzing descriptions of Adam and Eve, the rivers and the garden itself.

The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, noted that the Blue Nile could correspond to the Biblical Gihon, and Lake Tana's outflows divide into multiple waterways, potentially forming the four rivers described in Genesis.

Early human evolution also played a role in this theory, proposing that Adam may have evolved from Homo habilis or a late form of Australopithecus in the East African Rift Valley near Olduvai Gorge, a region considered a cradle of humanity.

From there, Adam and Eve could have been 'placed' in the highlands of Bahir Dar, a paradise at a higher elevation, before descending, what the Quran describes as 'habata,' to settle in the Rift Valley.

This is because the region sits about 6,000 feet above sea level, boasting lush vegetation, abundant wildlife and the flowing Blue Nile, features that align with both the Biblical description of Eden's rivers and the Quranic concept of a garden on Earth.

'All clues point to Bahir Dar, near Lake Tana, a region of striking beauty, abundant vegetation, and the source of the Blue Nile, which fits the ancient description of Eden's rivers,' Jawaid wrote.

The Gihon, in particular, is said to encompass the land of Cush, an ancient term widely associated with Ethiopia.

Jawaid seized on that linguistic clue, arguing that the Gihon corresponds to the Blue Nile, which begins at Lake Tana before winding northward through Sudan to join the White Nile in Khartoum.

'Lake Tana fits the description of Eden perfectly,' he writes, noting that volcanic ridges enclose the surrounding highlands and feed multiple river systems.

In his reconstruction, Lake Tana itself represents Eden, while the Garden of Eden lies immediately to the south, around Bahir Dar, 'east of Eden' in biblical phrasing, where the river emerges from the lake.

The Book of Genesis discusses a 'flaming sword,' which God placed at the entrance of the garden to prevent humans from accessing the Tree of Life after Adam and Eve were banished.

The Tree of Life was a literal tree with fruit that would grant eternal life. After Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they were expelled from Eden to prevent them from also eating the Tree of Life and living forever in their fallen state.

Jawaid's study suggested that the 'fiery flashing sword' could be represented by the volcanic ridges surrounding Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands.

'Considering that the valley is surrounded by historically active volcanoes, it is very much possible that the active volcanoes formed the flaming sword mentioned in the Bible,' he shared. 

RELATED

Garden of Eden Discovered? Evidence for Eden's Location! Fall of Adam, Eve, Creation

The Garden of Eden Found? Map & Evidence Explained

The REAL Garden of Eden Has Been Found...and It's NOT Where You Think

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html )

Ancient underwater city discovered 'near resting place of Noah's Ark' rewrites human history

• READ MORE: Noah's Ark resting place '100% confirmed' after 4,300 years as astonishing 'man-made' structure is detected buried deep underground

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Deep in the murky waters of an ancient lake in Turkey lie mysterious ruins that researchers believe could be part of a forgotten city, rewriting human history. 

Divers have uncovered an enormous circular structure and a wall of interlocking stone blocks 75 feet below the surface of Lake Van.

Researcher Matthew LaCroix, who is part of the diving team, told the Daily Mail: ‘What we know of the underwater ruins may just be a tiny piece of something much larger.'

LaCroix believes the ruins are at least 11,700 years old and could date back as far as 40,000 years, based on geological estimates for the eruptions of near by  he said blocked the lake’s ancient outlet and submerged the structures.

The wall features three steps leading to the circular structure and seven levels of stonework rising more than eight feet from the lakebed. ‘I measured over 150 feet that this causeway continues,’ LaCroix said. ‘Over 150 feet, and it leads into the darkness.’

He believes the feature may lead to more buildings belonging to an undiscovered city concealed beneath the water. 

'You have a civilization that had the capabilities to build unbelievable stonework and temples,' LaCroix added. 'This shows that this lost chapter of human history not only created highly advanced things that are far beyond the capabilities of iron and bronze cultures of our time, but that the dating of it puts it in a time.'

Adding to the mystery, Lake Van lies southwest of Mount Ararat and the Durupınar formation, which some believe marks the final resting place of Noah’s Ark.

Divers have uncovered a wall of interlocking stone blocks 75 feet below the surface of Lake Van

The massive wall connects to the enormous circular structure (above)

Lake Van is located in the far eastern part of Turkey within the Eastern Anatolia region, close to the border with Iran. It sits roughly 90 miles from Mount Ararat, which some believe is the final resting place of Noah's Ark.

The surface area of the lake is about 1,450 square miles, making it the largest in the country. 

Turkish underwater filmmaker Tahsin Ceylan discovered the first ruins in 2017, while studying Lake Van's microbiolite formations and pearl mullet.

He stumbled upon a stone fortress flanked by circular temples with precisely carved masonry.

There was also a capstone engraved with a six-spoked 'Flower of Life' symbol, a motif used by numerous cultures for thousands of years.

Salin later teamed up with LaCroix for a dive in 2025, but it was not until the footage was reviewed this year that the massive stone wall was spotted.

While archaeologists confirm the structures exist, many attribute them to the Urartian period around 3,000 years ago, or even to the medieval era. 

But they have admitted that the site has yet to be fully studied or definitively dated.

Researcher Matthew LaCroix, who is part of the diving team, told the Daily Mail: ‘What we know of the underwater ruins may just be a tiny piece of something much larger'

Lake Van is located in the far eastern part of Turkey within the Eastern Anatolia region, close to the border with Iran

LaCroix, however, said the geological evidence told a different story. 

Scientists have long known that Lake Van once drained westward through an outlet that was later blocked by a series of massive eruptions from Mount Nemrut during the Pleistocene.

LaCroix, who discussed the Lake Van discoveries on his podcast,  explained that the Pleistocene ended 11,700 years ago, but experts have suggested that the major eruptions may have occurred as far back as 40,000 years.

'That means the ruins were built before,' he added.

Exploring the site is difficult because Lake Van has no outlet, leaving dissolved sediment suspended throughout the water and sharply limiting visibility.

The wall features three steps leading to the circular structure and seven levels of stonework rising more than eight feet from the lakebed

LaCroix said divers can generally see clearly only between approximately 5am and 11am before conditions deteriorate.

‘You only have a tiny window to even explore,’ he said.

He also clarified that he did not descend to the wall 75 feet below the surface. 

Instead, he spent only eight minutes at the circular ruin in approximately 30 feet of water while other divers recorded the surrounding stonework.

‘It’s a perfect circle,’ LaCroix said. ‘When you dive down from above, it’s a perfect circle.’

The two formations are separated by a considerable distance but lie within an underwater area that LaCroix said has been mapped across approximately one square kilometer.

Scientists have long known that the lake once had an outlet and was much smaller than it is today. This has led some researchers to suggest that the ancient civilization built a stunning city overlooking the lake

The diving team has also found fortress-like ruins on the lakebed

The causeway was not noticed during the dive. LaCroix said it emerged months later, after videographer Brandon Barnes uploaded footage taken behind the circular structure.

‘I’m like, oh my God, because they found something,’ he recalled.

The video appeared to show three steps rising toward the circular monument, followed by seven courses of stonework and the lengthy structure extending away from it.

LaCroix argued that the amount of labor involved makes it unlikely that the feature was constructed in isolation.

‘It can’t just go to nothing,’ he said. ‘There would have to be a major urban area that this was a nodal point that it went to.’

He added: ‘I have never been able to see it. It leads somewhere. We just don’t know where it leads.’

However, no stone from the ruins has been independently dated, and no archaeological excavation has established that the structures form a city.

The proposed age of between 11,700 and 40,000 years is LaCroix’s interpretation of geological research into the volcanic eruptions and changing boundaries of Lake Van, rather than a direct date obtained from the masonry.

LaCroix believes the causeway (above) leads to a massive city that was destroyed in a flood tens of thousands of years ago

Other researchers have suggested that at least some of the walls may be medieval, possibly incorporating older blocks produced by the Urartians, who controlled the region approximately 3,000 years ago.

LaCroix nevertheless believes the still water may have protected whatever remains below, preserving structures that would have been damaged by currents elsewhere.

‘It’s like it’s just sitting there, preserved, like waiting for humanity to discover it,’ he said.

Further dives, detailed sonar mapping and analysis by underwater archaeologists would be needed to determine whether the causeway is human-made, establish where it leads and reveal whether more structures remain hidden in the darkness.

This Ancient City Was Found at the Bottom of the Black Sea... And It's Older Than Mesopotamia

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html )

Is a nearby advanced alien civilization out there waiting to pounce on Earth? Unlikely, says new study

by Northern Arizona University

Science fiction suggests that life on other planets, if it exists, is likely far more advanced than life on Earth. A recent study suggests otherwise.

This new study, led by Chris Doughty, a professor of ecoinformatics at Northern Arizona University, proposes that the extent to which life on potentially habitable exoplanets in Earth's stellar neighbors is advanced is likely related to plant energy, not just how much time has passed. That means that, although Earth is young compared to some of its stellar neighbors, which are older by several billion years, life on exoplanets with worse conditions for cumulative photosynthesis likely evolved more slowly over billions of years.

"Physicist Enrico Fermi famously asked, given the high likelihood of intelligent life in the galaxy, 'Where are they?'" Doughty said. "This paper suggests that our exoplanet stellar neighborhood may be quiet because most Earth-like planets near us are likely to be evolutionarily behind us and still at the microbial stage. Which means we can sleep well, because if life on those exoplanets evolved just like on Earth, most of those planets will just be filled with microbes and not advanced aliens."

The study was published Sept. 22 in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

What the study says

It doesn't say there isn't highly advanced extraterrestrial life that could lead to a real-life reenactment of "The Three-Body Problem." What the study says, according to the researchers, is that such a species nearby is unlikely, as cumulative photosynthesis on nearby potentially habitable exoplanets would be lower.

And here's why: If life ever evolved on a planet, its continued evolution wouldn't just automatically happen over time. Rather, it would be dependent on the cumulative plant energy of a planet, the study authors hypothesize. Looking at Earth, warm, wet places have more plant growth and species than cold, dry places. Scientists believe this is because there is more plant growth and ecological space for animals to exist. Thus, a young, warm, wet exoplanet may have more evolutionary development than an older, colder, drier exoplanet.

In their paper, Doughty and his co-authors explore the implications of this hypothesis for exoplanets. The planets most likely to have life orbit red dwarfs, the most common star type in our galaxy. These planets, which are often billions of years older than Earth, have dimmer light and are often tidally locked, meaning only one side of the planet faces its sun.

"If photosynthetic life evolved on these planets, that life has been photosynthesizing for potentially billions of years longer than on Earth," said co-author Michael Gowanlock, an associate professor of informatics at NAU. "However, the total annual photosynthesis is likely lower because there is less light and half the planetary surface area available for photosynthesis. Who is ahead? That is the mystery we are quantitatively trying to solve."

Recent work by co-author Denis Sergeev, a lecturer at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, has simulated possible climate patterns on exoplanets, producing maps of temperature, light and precipitation, which are the main variables needed to predict plant growth on Earth.

In the current paper, the authors used those maps to predict potential plant growth and evolutionary rates over their lifetimes for TRAPPIST-1e and 28 other nearby exoplanets that potentially have liquid water. ("Nearby" is relative; TRAPPIST-1e is 40 light-years from Earth.)

But TRAPPIST-1e isn't Earth. How do they compare?

Here's how it works on Earth. Roughly 2.4 x 10²⁵ grams of carbon were fixed during the 3.2 billion years before more efficient vascular plants evolved. Then 7 x 10²⁵ grams more carbon was fixed before humans evolved. The researchers estimated that TRAPPIST-1e has fixed only 21% of Earth's carbon despite being several billion years older than Earth.

"Since this is less than the Earth had fixed before the evolution of more efficient vascular plants, we estimated that TRAPPIST-1e may only be at the microbial stage of evolution," said co-author Cameron Hrabak, an NAU alumnus. "That's well behind Earth."

The researchers made similar calculations for the 29 exoplanets in Earth's stellar neighborhood that are most likely to have life and found only two planets whose life has potentially evolved ahead of Earth's: GJ 1061c and K2-3d. Both are bigger, hotter, brighter and older than most Earth-like planets in our solar neighborhood. Three other planets could be at the Mesozoic life stage, which is roughly equivalent to the age of dinosaurs on Earth.

These are estimates, not proof. The atmosphere around TRAPPIST-1e and other exoplanets would profoundly affect climate, photosynthesis and how life evolved; future work with the James Webb Space Telescope could provide additional data that will allow the researchers to hone their estimates.

What's next, and is it an alien invasion?

This technique can help predict the evolutionary constraints that shape life on those exoplanets that might surpass life on Earth, the researchers said. On Earth, plant growth can be limited by light, temperature or precipitation. For instance, deserts get plenty of light, but growth is inhibited by a lack of precipitation. These constraints also shape how life evolves differently—the life in tropical forests has little overlap with desert life. On exoplanets, the planets most likely to surpass Earth's total carbon fixed and evolutionary stage are mainly precipitation-limited.

Put simply, if there is an alien civilization in Earth's stellar neighborhood, the ecosystems shaping those intelligent creatures would be more like deserts or temperate ecosystems—much like humans on Earth, as we likely evolved in rain-limited savanna woodlands.

"To use two pop culture references, the ecological characteristics that shape advanced life on those exoplanets might be more 'Dune' than 'Avatar,'" Doughty said.

{ https://phys.org/ }

The Truth Is Out There: The Crop Circle Controversy

1994 was the height of the alien frenzy. There were bestseller books, magazines, and TV shows about crop circles, flying saucers and alien abductions. A 1990 Gallup believed we had alien visitors. The highly popular “X-Files” weekly show had a large viewership who tuned in every Sunday evening to watch Special Agents Scully and Mulder investigate paranormal phenomenon, focusing on alien abductions; their slogan was “the truth is out there.” Sensational alien stories swept the nation in these pre-social media days, as people relied on news media and best-seller books for their information. And there were plenty of books and TV specials to stoke your imagination.

A 1994 best seller, Abduction:  Human Encounters With Aliens, by Harvard psychiatrist John Mack, discussed interviews with people who claimed they were abducted by aliens; Oprah interviewed abductees. There were books about dead aliens from a flying saucer crash hidden by the government at the top-secret Area 51 in Nevada. And the first book about crop circles was Circular Evidence: a Detailed Investigation of the Flattened Swirled Crops Phenomenon jointly written by Colin Andrews, an electrical engineer from England, and Pat Delgado, a former NASA engineer. These authors inaugurated the new “science” of crop circles, or cereology. Other self-styled experts from around the world quickly came forward to examine the circles and advance their own theories. More books were written, and organization and institutes devoted to cereology sprang up like, well, crop circles.

Experts combed these circles, taking soil and plant samples, looking for signs of a space ship’s propulsion, such as remnants of a plasma vortex or of radiation. The origin of crop circles was hotly debated. It was generally assumed that they couldn’t be man-made because no one could produce works of this magnitude so quickly, in the dark of night, unnoticed, with such perfect symmetry! Instead, they were attributed to ball lightning, plasma vortexes, wind, and animals, but the most favored explanation was they were made by visitors from outer space landing a flying saucer. One expert, Joachim Koch, felt these “cerealoglyphs” were coded messages and actually wrote back to the aliens through a circle that he produced!

My husband is an electrical engineer with a degree in Space Sciences, and a PhD in plasma physics–better credentials and more experience than most cereologists. He just couldn’t make sense of their speculations, which didn’t seem to obey the laws of physics. Still, he thought there might be something to this phenomenon that could be explained scientifically. Because unlike reports of UFOs and abductions, crop circles were real, physical objects. You could see them, touch them, and feel them. He wanted to see for himself. Me? I thought it was a splendid idea for a vacation. I had just finished a sabbatical in London and longed to see more of England.

In August 1994, we booked our flights and lodging, and headed to England to see for ourselves. Landing in Heathrow, we drove our rental car about 90 miles west, heading toward a B&B in a farmstead, Wayside Farm, in the little town of Devises. Little did we know that our farm was only 35 miles away from Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey would be filmed in 2010.

We were enchanted by Wiltshire. It abounds in mysterious and unexplained landscape phenomena, some of which originate before recorded history. Many of these take the form of circles:  there is Stonehenge, and the lesser-known stone circles of Avebury, as well as some circular earthworks attributed to Roman occupation; there are the mysterious circular and oval-shaped earth mounds–the tors– such as Silbury Hill and Kennet Long Barrow, which have now been shown to be prehistoric burial sites.

The building of these ancient sites has been attributed to Neolithic people. Archaic humans lived in the region nearly one million years ago.  After the last ice age, continuous human settlement began around 13,000 to 11,700 years ago; the tors and stone hills of Wiltshire were built around 5,000 years ago. And who built these monuments? The people of England have always felt a connection to these ancient people, who laid the foundations of civilization, and may even have been travelers from outer space.

Aliens as Neolithic people building Stonehenge

Perhaps these aliens left after their work was done, but return periodically to check on their handiwork with a quick visit via a crop circle.

 Silbury Hill is a 4,500 year old man-made hill which is a frequent site of UFO’s, crop circles and mysterious lights . It is a frequent location for UFO sightings, mysterious lights, and crop circle activity.  A photograph of a UFO above Silbury Hill taken by a tourist was reported in the Telegraph Newspaper in August 2012. In October 19, 2009, a police officer contacted British UFO experts after seeing three aliens examining a freshly made crop circle near Avebury, Wiltshire

We stopped at the Westbrook Free house (no relation) for a quick pint on the way to our lodgings at Wayside Farm, which was rather difficult to find using paper maps in those pre-GPS days. We settled in for a quiet evening after walking to the nearby pub, and got up to an early and hearty breakfast at the farm table. The farmer was very helpful in directing us to new crop circles; word would get around when one appeared, and he’d give us the road intersections, which gave us our morning quest through the golden countryside. It’s striking to see these beautiful creations, carved into the crops and stretching across the field. Among the five that we found, one was close to the road and easily accessed through the tractor pathways. We began our analysis.

Local pub near our lodging

Crop circle near Avebury which was visited by aliens in 09.October2009 . We took our time driving the 90 miles from London, enjoying the Wiltshire countryside. We made the requisite stops at Stonehenge, but were more intrigued by the circle at Avebury,  which is not fenced like Stonehenge, so you can touch the stones and walk within the 1/5 mile diameter. We had lunch at the Red Lion pub, which lies at a crossroads in the center of the Avebury circle.

We were soon joined by a small tour group led by a German self-styled expert. He pointed out to us that the wheat stalks were “bent not broken,” which, he said, clearly indicated an unusual force pushing them down. (I found that if I stomped on the wheat in the field I would get the same result, but what do I know? I wasn’t a cereology expert like he was.)

crop circle in Wiltshire that we visited.

German expert

Our colleague was intrigued by Rick’s small portable Geiger counter, but sadly disappointed that it registered no radioactivity greater than background. In fact, there was no evidence of any unusual forces, no sign of burning by hot plasma or rocket fuel, nothing but tramped down wheat circles filled with a number of crop circle enthusiasts.

Rick examines the crop circle

Overall, this was a relaxing visit to a lovely part of the world, but we didn’t make any remarkable discoveries or find physical evidence of forces that may have created these splendid circles. There was nothing to suggest that they were anything but man-made. I looked at them as artistic expressions, and for some they were an expression of belief in and desire for alien contact, but man-made nonetheless.

What we didn’t learn until we returned to the US, was that crop circles had already been exposed as being man made: On Sept 11, 1991, two pint-loving English watercolor artists, Doug Bower and David Chorley, revealed to the British press that they created these circles, making their first one in 1978. Apparently, after a few drinks in a pub, they were inspired to create a “flying saucer nest,” which they did in the dead of night by walking in a field and using simple planks and ropes. AS the press got interested, many more followed. You can see Doug and Dave in action in this expose video from their 1991 TV broadcast.

What was remarkable to us is that this news never made a big splash in the US!   Mysterious crop circles were news; exposing them as a hoax was not. Truly, no one wanted to hear that crop circles were man-made!

The expert cereologists also refused to believe that the circles were all man-made. Dave and Doug’s were “fake” circles, because “real” crop circles had otherworldly origins. So many people believed these experts that they were not about to change their beliefs. Many of the crop circle experts have since back-pedaled and accept human creation for most–but not ALL–crop circles. The Journal of Cereology is still being published, and crop circles are still appearing in many sites around the world, the majority still being in Wiltshire, and mostly man made.Croppies continue to insist on their alien origin.

To me, the most interesting question about crop circles is why belief in their alien origin persists, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. The answer, I feel, is that these beliefs reveal a desire to believe in a higher power that transcends humanity. In these days of declining acceptance of organized religion, believing in superhuman aliens fills this need for many people. To them, connecting these mysterious apparitions to other presumed alien interventions gives substance to their beliefs. I am reminded of the poster displayed above Agent Mulder’s desk on the TV series “X-files.”  It depicted a flying saucer, with the caption, “I want to believe.”

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