Page Content (OCR)
Further evidence of this has been researched by Mark Haywood, following Bob Rickard's lead, and comes from a 1686 book by Robert plot, an Oxford professor. In The Natural History of Staffordshire he describes his investigations of 'rings in grass... which they commonly call fairy circles'. He examined one formation of 36 metres (40 yards) diameter and speculated that it might be the result of those by Arthur Shuttlewood, a journalist who lived in the town. Things seem to have begun on Christmas Day 1964, with a series of deafening noises, and various strange events continued into 1966. The area became a hotspot for UFO Sightings and it was during a 'sky watch’ in 1972 that Shuttlewood, apparently, observed the formation of a circle in a grass field. He described a high- pitched hum and a circle being inscribed like 'the opening of a lady's fan’. Circles were again found in this area of Wiltshire during the 1980s. In the years following the 1980 newspaper coverage, public interest in the subject grew, and more formalized research groups were established. Total numbers each year remained relatively small and a catalogue of basic types was observed. It seemed that the phenomenon showed ‘evolution’, with single circles graduating to doubles, triplets and quintuplets, with rings being added, first singly then in pairs. There has never been agreement regarding actual numbers of circles discovered in each year, due in part to differing methods of counting; some databases count 'events' or sites, others count component parts of multiple circle formations. However, overall numbers of circles do seem to have increased through the 1980s, with fewer than 10 sites per year up to 1987, 26 that year, and 50 plus Through the 1980s, the circles attracted periodic coverage in national newspapers in the United Kingdom. In 1981 Pat Delgado, a retired engineer, drew the attention of the national media to a set of three circles in the Punchbowl at Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire. In 1983 the Daily Express ran a story on the Quintuplet set, again found in the Punchbowl, headlined 'ET phone the Express - have you come back to earth?' This prompted another paper, the Daily Mirror to commission a hoax circle, with the apparent intention of discrediting the Daily Express. This was exposed by the same investigator, lan Mryzyglod, who had visited the 1980 circles. Two events towards the end of the decade had a profound influence on the development of interest in the circles. In 1988 sets of Quintuplets were found in the field adjacent to Silbury Hill, near Avebury in Wiltshire, switching the focus from Hampshire, and beginning a pattern, which has continued since, of circles appearing in profusion around the ancient monuments of the Avebury area (see cover illustration). The following year, Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado's Circular Evidence was published (see Further Reading). The pair had formed a partnership, an organization called Circles Phenomenon Research, and in collaboration with a small number of other researchers, had visited, recorded and photographed an impressive collection of events, which were detailed in the book. It became a best seller, prompting a lightning strike. The events around Warminster in the 1960s and 1970s have been the subject of several books, notably Escalation of Numbers and Interest the following year. many people to take an active interest in the circles.