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depression or crater eight feet in diameter and about four inches in depth. In the center of this depression there was found a three feet deep hole variously described as from five inches to one foot in diameter. Radiating from the central hole were four slot marks, four feet long and one foot wide. The object must have landed — if land it did — unseen, but Mr. Leonard Joliffe, a dairyman on the farm, reported he heard "a blast one morning at approximately 6 A.M." On July 23, the London Daily Express was to report that nearly two weeks earlier, on July 10, Police Constable Anthony Penny hed seen an orange object flash through the sky and vanish near the Manor Farm field. On the basis of this limited information, it would seem quite plausible to think that the Charlton crater was caused by a meteorite. Indeed, when a small piece of metal was recovered from the hole at the center of the crater, British astronomer Patrick Moore went to the British Broadcasting Corporation and stated categorically that the crater had been caused by a "shrimp-sized meteorite," crashing down and turning itself into a very effective explosive. This ended the mystery as far as the scientific public was concerned. But the actual facts of the matter, as they became known to a few scientists who pursued it, and to the Army engineers who were in charge of the investigation, were altogether different. Farmer Roy Blanchard sent for the police, who, in turn, summoned the Army. Captain John Rodgers, chief of the Army bomb disposal unit, conducted most of the field investigations. His preliminary report indicated no burn or scratch marks, no trace of an explosion. And while Captain Rodgers stated that he and his superiors were baffled, farmer Roy Blanchard made further disclosures: There isn't a trace of the potatoes and barley which were growing where the crater is now. No stalks, no roots, no leaves. The thing was heavy enough to crush rocks and stones to powder? Yet it came down gently. We heard no crash and whatever power it uses produces Then, on July 19, it was reported that Captain Rodgers had obtained permission to sink a shaft. The readings obtained were rather unusual. They indicated a metallic object of some size, deeply embedded. And it was further learned that "detectors behaved wildly," presumably because the we 4 -WI te eT en ee metallic piece in question was highly magnetic. At this stage, it should be pointed out, the investigation was still open and aboveboard, possibly because the Army, rather than the British Air Ministry, was involved. And the Army Southern Command public relations officer at Salisbury told Girvan that the object was recovered from the hole. It was sent to a British Museum expert and promptly identified as a piece of common ironstone, "which could be found buried all over Southern England." The British Museum suggested that it had been in the ground for some time, thus eliminating the idea of a hoax. And Dr. F. Claringbull, also of the Museum, destroyed the meteorite explanation and, according to the Yorkshire Post of July 27, stated: "There is more in this than meets the eye." The last word stayed with Southern Command, however, and it commented wisely: "The cause of the phenomena is still unexplained but it is no part of the Army's task to unravel such mysteries." If we try to summarize what we have learned from these incidents — the Tully nest, the Ohio ring, and the Charlton crater — we can state the following: (1) public rumor associates sighting of flying saucers with the discovery of circular depressions on the ground; (2) when vegetation is present at the site, it exhibits the action of a flattering force which produces either a stationary pattern ("spokes of a wheel") or a rotating pattern (clockwise or counterclockwise); (3) some of the vegetation is usually removed, sometimes with the roots, leaves, etc.; (4) the effect of a very strong vertical force is often noticed, as evidenced by earth and plants scattered around the site; (5) strong magnetic activity has been found in one instance, where common ironstone was buried close to the center of the depression; and (6) a deep hole, a few inches in diameter, is often present at the center. Do I need to remind the reader of that celebrated habit of the elves, to leave behind them strange no heat or noise.