In 1993, during my first visit to England, I met Shirley Gifford, who looked to be a typical English housewife, in a crop circle. She told me this story.

The day that formation, made up of two main circles, came in, she and a friend had visited it. She brought a new set of dowsing rods, but there were so many people in the formation that they left and went back early the next morning. When they discovered a third circle — which had a tuft of standing wheat in the center — had been added, they left to report this to some members of the Centre for Crop Circles Studies, who were visiting from America.

When Shirley and her friend returned, still early, she noted that six of the stalks of wheat in the center tuft had bent over, but she didn’t particularly think anything of it and remained in the circle with her back to the center, talking to her friend. A few more people came, and, when she heard them remarking on the fantastic cone shape in the center, she turned around and “there in the centre of the circle was a tightly formed cone. Every single stalk of corn [it was wheat but the English call all grains “corn”] had bent over, twisted and knotted itself into that shape. Yet no one had entered or left the circle at any time. It happened before our very eyes, yet we didn’t see or hear a thing.” Shirley had become kind of the mother of that circle, hanging out in it and telling people the story.

Here’s a picture of her making my drawing of what had happened to the standing tuft.

Here’s the drawing up close — notice Shirley has signed it.

And here’s Shirley and me. Gosh, almost 20 years ago!

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