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Wausau
1997 Crop Circle
Location:
Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin
Date:
August 13, 1997
A crop circle was
discovered two miles north of Wausau, Wisconsin on
Wednesday, August 13th 1997. It was reported in the
local paper, the Wausau Daily Herald, on
Friday, August 15th 1997. A second crop
circle was discovered nearby on August 14th.
Both formations were in oat fields. They were
dumb bell shaped consisting of complex patterns of
three circles connected by bars.
Date:
August 1997
Chad Lewis Reports:
On September 10 I
contacted Nancy Talbot of BLT
research about investigating the crop circles in
Wausau. She sent me a copy of the article that
appeared in the August 15th edition of the Wausau
newspaper.
On Thursday September
11th I drove to Wausau. The farm land was located at
Highway N and 41st Street. I arrived at 9:00 a.m. and
proceeded to talk with the owner of the land who made
it very clear that he wanted to remain anonymous. He
seemed very nervous and looked as though he just
wanted to return to his chores. he agreed to a few
questions. He had confirmed that no one else from any
other agency had contacted him. He told me that the
circles had appeared either late in the evening on
Wednesday the 13th of August or early morning Thursday
the 14th of August. When asked if he had seen any
unusual people or sights in the area around that time
he said "no." He then informed me that
the crop was cut about 7-10 days earlier. His house
sits on top of a hill about 200 feet east of the
circles. He then told me to do whatever I needed to do
for the investigation. He told me that he assumed that
young kids did this to his crop. When asked why he
felt like this he replied "who else would have
done this."
As we walked toward the
circles I noticed that on the other side of the hill
toward the west was a still very noticeable Crop
Circle that had not been reported in the newspaper. He
told me that this circle appeared on the Saturday
morning after the paper came out. That would make it
the 16th of August. I then proceeded to take pictures
and measurements of the Crop Circle which is listed as
(1), (2), (3) in the drawing and on the back of the
photographs. The new set of circles are labeled (4),
(5), (6). As previously mentioned the oat had already
been cut down, which made a good photo of the area
more difficult. I was not able to get soil samples
from the circles, but Nancy informed me that someone
else may go to the area to collect samples. At this
point I can't confirm this. As the drawing shows the
circles move SE with each circle getting smaller in
size. Being that nearly a month had passed it was
possible to see the outline of the circles due to the
deep green color that was contrasted to the brown
color directly around them. As I was taking
measurements of the circle a gentleman pulled up and
told me he lives a few miles east of this farm and he
saw these circles on Saturday afternoon on his way
home. He said that he once worked for an airline
company and he seemed to recognize these circles, yet
he was unable to recall from where or as to what it
meant.
Map of area
1st
circle details
2nd
circle details
The
second set of circles were directed from west to east
with the largest end facing east. These circles were
in wheat which had not been harvested. There was a
path way to the circles that may have been made by
somebody else investigating or looking at them. it was
now about 6:00 p.m. and I had just finished making
measurements of the "new" three that were
unexpected in the investigation. I then traveled back
to Eau Claire where I called in my report to Nancy. If
anyone has any new information or would like more info
on this report feel free to contact me at chadlewis44@hotmail.com.
Photos
courtesy Roger Durkee
Casey Holt reports:
I have some additional
information on the Wausau Crop Circle. Chad told me
that it was in a newspaper article so on Sunday I went
to the library in Wausau to find it. After a long
drive and some searching through the microfilm I found
an article on page 4A in the Wausau Daily Herald dated
Friday, August 15, 1997. It is a small article with a
picture and a 1 column of text. Apparently the paper
said the Crop Formation shown was made Wednesday or
early Thursday which I would interpret to be August
13, or August 14 which would be the 2nd week of
August.
It also gave the
location which and when I looked on a map was about 2
miles East of Wausau. I then drove to that site and
recognized the small shed shown in the picture and
could also still see a darker outline of part of the
Crop Formation. I could see where the cut stalks were
not sticking up and just grass was growing. The field
was cut but not plowed. It looked like it was on a
slight inclined hill and I could see one larger circle
to the North and a smaller one to the south, which in
the picture is more like a ring. This is also what
Chad said that there was some standing crop in the
second circle. It was getting dark and hard to see if
there was a third circle. The two circles could have
been connected by a narrow strip which would give it a
dumbell shape as it appears in the picture. The
picture also shows what looks like power lines in the
foreground and I remember seeing power lines along the
road.
This is what the
newspaper article says entitled, Crop circles:
Vandals stomped down
a crop circle in a field in the town of Wausau at
Highway N and 41st Street late Wednesday or early
Thursday. Since the mid-1970s, crop circles appeared
in different forms in farm fields throughout the
world, mostly England. At first, people believed
they had been formed by visiting UFOs, possibly as
some sort of message. Tibetan Buddhists believe the
circles are symbols of heavenly communication
connected to powerful figures of the past. According
to Internet information, most of the circles
appeared near Avebury, England -- an area associated
with King Arthur and with the first church of Jesus
Christ, built by Joseph of Aramathea. In 1991,
England residents Dave Chorely and Doug Bower
admitted they had created the crop circles as a
hoax. However, the idea for the hoax came from a
case in Queensland Australia where a UFO reportedly
flew out of a swirled patch of marsh grass.
Below the picture it
reads: Bob Radunz/Wausau Daily Herald
I did not see where the
other formation might have been as it was getting dark
at the time. Hopefully Chad's report should tell us
more information.
Thanks
Casey Holt
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