3.4 We were not alone
How many circles did D&D make? Their story includes an outright claim on everything up until the tail end of the
1987 season: “The first non Doug and Dave circle was beneath the White
Horse at Westbury in August 1987” (Marlborough meeting, etc). (This claim, typically, is contradictory - elsewhere they say they knew of copycat hoaxing in 1986, prompting them to scribe “Wearenotalone” in
the same field as one of the other fakes.) They also claim to have done everything at Cheesefoot Head, 1990
(Up-front debate), including the
first-ever pictogram, and between 20 and 30 more in 1991 (Clas Svahn
interview).
"We are not alone" in 1986 - except that they also say they were, until 1987!
In terms of counting, D&D have never given a total figure. When asked outright to put a number on it themselves, D&D invariably side-stepped the question, methodically replying in terms of a yearly average and keeping the reader/viewer from having a clear idea of scale.
Dutch TV appearance, 1991:
Interviewer: And how many circles and things you have made?
Bower: 25 to 30 every summer.
Dave Chorley on Canadian radio, 1991:
Interviewer: Over that 13 years, how many circles did you put down?
Chorley: How many circles... average 25 [thinks] anything from 20 to 25 to 30 a year.
Up-front debate, 1991:
Chorley: We’d like to get this straight from the start that we’re not claiming that every one that’s been mentioned we’ve done. We did 25-30 every summer in the Winchester, Warminster and Westbury area, as far down into Sussex, but that’s all we did.
Interview with Clas Svahn, 1992:
Svahn: How many are there?
Bower: Well, we were doing about 25-30 circles every summer, over a period of 13 years, so it runs into several hundred.
The issue lurking behind this is easily comprehended: there were many more circles known from 1978-1991 than D&D could possibly have been responsible for. They knew this of course, and said as much elsewhere (speaking of the copycat hoaxing which went on from 1987 onwards).
So is it possible for us to try and get a tally together of how many circles D&D claim to have made? If we look closely at their statements, it seems the frequency with which they made circles changed over time, as one might expect. Early on (1978-84) they would only have made perhaps a dozen each year: “Well, for the first years we just did one on a Friday night, and, er, the season I suppose would be about ten to twelve weeks, so you can reckon on about 12 circles for the first few years but, er, my wife didn’t know anything about this for seven years.” (Bower, speaking on Schofield’s Quest in 1994).
So let’s attribute a dozen formations to D&D every summer, 1978-84 (total 84).
We can further attribute somewhere between 25 and 30 each year from 1985 onwards - seven summers adding another 175-210 to the grand total. By now, we have counted around 250 circles, based on their figures, so I think it is reasonable to assert that D&D claim around 250-300 formations. In fact, when the original TODAY story broke, the journalist put his own figure down (although he presumably got his information through D&D): “... the 200 circles they claim to have created...”; “Since 1978, Douglas Bower and David Chorley have created no less than 200 corn circles”.
This figure presumably informed the presenter of the televised Up-front debate a few weeks after the story broke, and although Dave Chorley tries to avoid the question, he ends up having to agree to this original tally:
Presenter: And now you’re claiming that you’ve done how many in thirteen years?
Chorley: We’d like to get this straight from the start that we’re not claiming that every one that’s been mentioned we’ve done. We did 25-30 every summer in the Winchester, Warminster and Westbury area, as far down into Sussex, but that’s all we did.
Presenter: That’s about [how many]?
Chorley: You’re a better mathematician than me.
Presenter: A couple of hundred?
Chorley: [Yes] a couple of hundred.
Presenter: Whereas I gather there’s been about 2,000?
Chorley: That’s right.
Let's consider the implications of this for a moment. Let's not accept the presenter's figure of 2,000 without substantiation - it is probably inflated. The Andrews Catalogue contains a database of more than 600 formations between 1978 and 1991, the vast majority of which are in England, although this is doubtless only a fraction of the total numbers of circles to have existed, since neither Colin Andrews nor anyone else could be expected to have records of every single circle ever made, many of which would have lay in the fields undiscovered and never reported. (The catalogue, incidentally, counts events rather than individual circles. In other words, a quintuplet is counted as one, not five.)
Recall that D&D were originally claiming to have started the crop circles in this country rather than throughout the world. This implies they claim only to have brought an extant international phenomenon to the UK. And now look at these figures - they claim only about a third of the crop circles which were known at the time they came forward. This falls far short of a claim to everything and yet when they released their story in 1991, they were presented as the creators of virtually the whole phenomenon.
By their own details, they could realistically have had nothing to do with perhaps two thirds of the UK circles, and nothing at all with the rest of the formations appearing around the world - which hardly puts them in the central role which was promoted, and which their supporters hailed.
What is particularly interesting is that D&D's claimed circles - a fraction of the total known, generated a high proportion of the circles published in the books. At the London meeting in 1993, Ken Brown claims that D&D made the circles shown in 42 of the 61 colour photos in Circular Evidence - about 70 percent - and 27 from 52 in the sequel, The Latest Evidence (which covers the years 1989 and 1990) - just over 50 percent. These figures are far greater than they should be - at most 60 circles were made by by D&D, from a known count of more than 800 sites in 1989 and 1990 (using the figures published in Crop Circle Enigma, p25).
In other words, if the figures are correct, the photos in The Latest Evidence give D&D just over 50 per cent of the coverage, whereas they can only realistically claim to have made about 7.5 per cent of formations recorded in that period. (Using the Andrews catalogue for our tally, 1989-1990 totals around half the figure, but still only 15 percent could be attributed to D&D.)
It’s astonishing that every interesting new design, everywhere something of note happened, everywhere nice photos were captured for the books - it's more often than not that D&D claim the formation, again and again - despite the abundance of other circles being made by any number of people, all over the countryside. (Maybe D&D's formations were special; after all, Bower was the only one using a baseball cap sighting device!)
The history of crop circles in the 1980s includes several 'key' formations which are of particular note, which include:
1978: Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire
The first case study in Circular Evidence, seeming to be the first ever formation - This is claimed by D&D
1980: Westbury, Wiltshire
Single circles which attracted the attention of Terence Meaden - These are claimed by D&D
1981: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
The first circles seen by Pat Delgado, leading to his involvement - These are claimed by D&D
1983: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
Thought to be the first five-on-a-dice quintuplet - This is claimed by D&D
1984: Alfriston, East Sussex
Crop formation featured in the Daily Mail and nicknamed 'Healey's Comet' - This is claimed by D&D
1985: Goodworth Clatford, Hampshire
Quintuplet, which is spotted by Busty Taylor, drawing him to the subject - This is claimed by D&D
1986: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
Thought to be the first ringed circle to appear - This is claimed by D&D
1986: Childrey, Oxfordshire
Thought to be the first circle with a straight-line pathway as part of the design - This is claimed by D&D
1987: South Wonston, Hampshire
Thought to be the first circle in oilseed rape (canola) - This is claimed by D&D
1988: Goodworth Clatford, Hampshire
So-called “Celtic Cross” formation which featured on the cover of Circular Evidence - Originally claimed by D&D
1989: Cheesefoot Head
Ringed circle, made at the end of the surveillance exercise in June, Operation White Crow - This is claimed by D&D
1989: Winterbourne Stoke, Wiltshire
So-called “Swastika”, consisting of a circle with floor swept in different directions - This is claimed by D&D
1990: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
The first-ever "pictogram", with circles connected together by lines - This is claimed by D&D
The question is, can we really accept that no-one else was making any circles worth remembering, for all the the years up until 1986/7? And none of particular note thereafter (until mid-1990, anyway)? Eveything which mattered, every new design breakthrough, every formation which brought in the prominent researchers, was invariably conjoured up by D&D, and also consistently photographed and published in the books?
Below-left is a photo of the Alfriston quintuplet from 1984, which they claim to have made in secret, using a confidential flattening process. Next to it, I have placed a photo of what is considered to be someone else's work, from the Beckhampton area in 1988. (D&D deny making any of the circles in that area.) Can you see any differences which indicate that these were not made by the same people, using the same construction methods, or that the one on the right was made by novices compared to the one on the left?
Dutch TV appearance, 1991:
Interviewer: And how many circles and things you have made?
Bower: 25 to 30 every summer.
Dave Chorley on Canadian radio, 1991:
Interviewer: Over that 13 years, how many circles did you put down?
Chorley: How many circles... average 25 [thinks] anything from 20 to 25 to 30 a year.
Up-front debate, 1991:
Chorley: We’d like to get this straight from the start that we’re not claiming that every one that’s been mentioned we’ve done. We did 25-30 every summer in the Winchester, Warminster and Westbury area, as far down into Sussex, but that’s all we did.
Interview with Clas Svahn, 1992:
Svahn: How many are there?
Bower: Well, we were doing about 25-30 circles every summer, over a period of 13 years, so it runs into several hundred.
The issue lurking behind this is easily comprehended: there were many more circles known from 1978-1991 than D&D could possibly have been responsible for. They knew this of course, and said as much elsewhere (speaking of the copycat hoaxing which went on from 1987 onwards).
So is it possible for us to try and get a tally together of how many circles D&D claim to have made? If we look closely at their statements, it seems the frequency with which they made circles changed over time, as one might expect. Early on (1978-84) they would only have made perhaps a dozen each year: “Well, for the first years we just did one on a Friday night, and, er, the season I suppose would be about ten to twelve weeks, so you can reckon on about 12 circles for the first few years but, er, my wife didn’t know anything about this for seven years.” (Bower, speaking on Schofield’s Quest in 1994).
So let’s attribute a dozen formations to D&D every summer, 1978-84 (total 84).
We can further attribute somewhere between 25 and 30 each year from 1985 onwards - seven summers adding another 175-210 to the grand total. By now, we have counted around 250 circles, based on their figures, so I think it is reasonable to assert that D&D claim around 250-300 formations. In fact, when the original TODAY story broke, the journalist put his own figure down (although he presumably got his information through D&D): “... the 200 circles they claim to have created...”; “Since 1978, Douglas Bower and David Chorley have created no less than 200 corn circles”.
This figure presumably informed the presenter of the televised Up-front debate a few weeks after the story broke, and although Dave Chorley tries to avoid the question, he ends up having to agree to this original tally:
Presenter: And now you’re claiming that you’ve done how many in thirteen years?
Chorley: We’d like to get this straight from the start that we’re not claiming that every one that’s been mentioned we’ve done. We did 25-30 every summer in the Winchester, Warminster and Westbury area, as far down into Sussex, but that’s all we did.
Presenter: That’s about [how many]?
Chorley: You’re a better mathematician than me.
Presenter: A couple of hundred?
Chorley: [Yes] a couple of hundred.
Presenter: Whereas I gather there’s been about 2,000?
Chorley: That’s right.
Let's consider the implications of this for a moment. Let's not accept the presenter's figure of 2,000 without substantiation - it is probably inflated. The Andrews Catalogue contains a database of more than 600 formations between 1978 and 1991, the vast majority of which are in England, although this is doubtless only a fraction of the total numbers of circles to have existed, since neither Colin Andrews nor anyone else could be expected to have records of every single circle ever made, many of which would have lay in the fields undiscovered and never reported. (The catalogue, incidentally, counts events rather than individual circles. In other words, a quintuplet is counted as one, not five.)
Recall that D&D were originally claiming to have started the crop circles in this country rather than throughout the world. This implies they claim only to have brought an extant international phenomenon to the UK. And now look at these figures - they claim only about a third of the crop circles which were known at the time they came forward. This falls far short of a claim to everything and yet when they released their story in 1991, they were presented as the creators of virtually the whole phenomenon.
By their own details, they could realistically have had nothing to do with perhaps two thirds of the UK circles, and nothing at all with the rest of the formations appearing around the world - which hardly puts them in the central role which was promoted, and which their supporters hailed.
What is particularly interesting is that D&D's claimed circles - a fraction of the total known, generated a high proportion of the circles published in the books. At the London meeting in 1993, Ken Brown claims that D&D made the circles shown in 42 of the 61 colour photos in Circular Evidence - about 70 percent - and 27 from 52 in the sequel, The Latest Evidence (which covers the years 1989 and 1990) - just over 50 percent. These figures are far greater than they should be - at most 60 circles were made by by D&D, from a known count of more than 800 sites in 1989 and 1990 (using the figures published in Crop Circle Enigma, p25).
In other words, if the figures are correct, the photos in The Latest Evidence give D&D just over 50 per cent of the coverage, whereas they can only realistically claim to have made about 7.5 per cent of formations recorded in that period. (Using the Andrews catalogue for our tally, 1989-1990 totals around half the figure, but still only 15 percent could be attributed to D&D.)
It’s astonishing that every interesting new design, everywhere something of note happened, everywhere nice photos were captured for the books - it's more often than not that D&D claim the formation, again and again - despite the abundance of other circles being made by any number of people, all over the countryside. (Maybe D&D's formations were special; after all, Bower was the only one using a baseball cap sighting device!)
The history of crop circles in the 1980s includes several 'key' formations which are of particular note, which include:
1978: Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire
The first case study in Circular Evidence, seeming to be the first ever formation - This is claimed by D&D
1980: Westbury, Wiltshire
Single circles which attracted the attention of Terence Meaden - These are claimed by D&D
1981: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
The first circles seen by Pat Delgado, leading to his involvement - These are claimed by D&D
1983: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
Thought to be the first five-on-a-dice quintuplet - This is claimed by D&D
1984: Alfriston, East Sussex
Crop formation featured in the Daily Mail and nicknamed 'Healey's Comet' - This is claimed by D&D
1985: Goodworth Clatford, Hampshire
Quintuplet, which is spotted by Busty Taylor, drawing him to the subject - This is claimed by D&D
1986: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
Thought to be the first ringed circle to appear - This is claimed by D&D
1986: Childrey, Oxfordshire
Thought to be the first circle with a straight-line pathway as part of the design - This is claimed by D&D
1987: South Wonston, Hampshire
Thought to be the first circle in oilseed rape (canola) - This is claimed by D&D
1988: Goodworth Clatford, Hampshire
So-called “Celtic Cross” formation which featured on the cover of Circular Evidence - Originally claimed by D&D
1989: Cheesefoot Head
Ringed circle, made at the end of the surveillance exercise in June, Operation White Crow - This is claimed by D&D
1989: Winterbourne Stoke, Wiltshire
So-called “Swastika”, consisting of a circle with floor swept in different directions - This is claimed by D&D
1990: Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire
The first-ever "pictogram", with circles connected together by lines - This is claimed by D&D
The question is, can we really accept that no-one else was making any circles worth remembering, for all the the years up until 1986/7? And none of particular note thereafter (until mid-1990, anyway)? Eveything which mattered, every new design breakthrough, every formation which brought in the prominent researchers, was invariably conjoured up by D&D, and also consistently photographed and published in the books?
Below-left is a photo of the Alfriston quintuplet from 1984, which they claim to have made in secret, using a confidential flattening process. Next to it, I have placed a photo of what is considered to be someone else's work, from the Beckhampton area in 1988. (D&D deny making any of the circles in that area.) Can you see any differences which indicate that these were not made by the same people, using the same construction methods, or that the one on the right was made by novices compared to the one on the left?