The HUG POINT SandRings FORMATION
( with just a taste of the Russian SnowRings )
Time was when, after the Grand Finale Formation arrived, the CropCircle season was really over, and researchers could return home, mull over what they'd seen, heard, and experienced, write their stories up, and offer Presentations to the public during the ensuing long, cold winter, sharing their slides of the season's awesome CircleMakers' Gifts. The Winter of '94-'95 caught us out on both counts, however: neither was it long and cold, nor (at least here in the Great Northwest) were we able to begin our usual CirclesSeason follow-up at the expected time. In October, January, and March we were still busy visiting farmers whose Gifts remained in their fields, flying and photographing Formations, measuring, and sampling! The Adna I and Adna II Rings, although they'd arrived 1/2-mile apart apparently sometime during late August, weren't discovered until October and January.
Carol Pedersen (Oregon State Coördinator) and I didn't arrange to visit the SandRings, which had arrived on the beach at Hug Point, Oregon on September 13, until March 10 '95. The SandRings weren't reported to us until late October because David Jinks, who unexpectedly came upon the Rings with some friends while driving down the Oregon coast, didn't know whom to tell about them.
I finally received David's letter in October. When I contacted him, he sent me an affadavit signed by himself and one of his friends who'd visited the Formation with him, along with two photos of the SandRings taken by Paula Sommerville and Karen Svoboda which they shot from the hillside above.
In November, David sent me the few seconds of videotape they'd obtained. He told me that his entire roll of film from his35-millimetre camera that he'd taken inside the Rings had been 'lost' by Federal Express; the meagre documentation he'd shared with me was all that remained of their visit. From what I could see in the photos, I suspected that the SandRings, which appeared to be below the high-tide line, would probably already have been long gone, smoothed over by the action of the waves and tides - any physical trace of them had doubtless been obliterated within 48 hours after their arrival.
However, as I examined the two photos carefully I became very excited, for I'd seen an almost exact replica of this Formation once before - only the earlier one had appeared in snow - in the backyard of a Moscow apartment building, in December 1990! The graphic below of the SnowRings appeared on the cover of the Russian UFO magazine "HAO" in 1991.
A unique feature of the Snow Formation was the "grapeshot" which appears (in the xeroxed copy, the only documentation I have) to be perhaps 5 feet across, and is seen just inside the circumference of the Formation. (There is a Link below that will take you to the entire SnowRings story.)
In the photo of the Hug Point SandRings [above], the grapeshot lies outside of but sits directly upon the circumference; unfortunately, in these photos it is all but obscured. David recalled seeing the "signatures" that regularly appear in photos of the Formations in England, and the satellite cued him to consider that perhaps these SandRings were more than they had at first appeared to be.
In the SandRings photos, I counted approximately 33 Rings; in the Russian Snow Formation, about 22 Rings. David's group did not take any measurements, but he estimated that there were about 30 concentric Rings.
Hug Point, Oregon
Hug Point is a 175-foot-long promontory on the west coast of Oregon, ten miles south of the Cannon Beach tourist Mecca. In the southern wall of Hug Point is a natural cave. If you imagine a flat-bottomed ice cream cone, cut it lengthwise, then cut off about 1/3 its length from the open end, you have an idea of the shape of this cave. Both the beach and cave floor were flooded daily by the high-tide. The SandRings Formation arrived almost directly in front of and about fifty-three (paced) feet south-east of the cave.
A Transmission Hypothesis and The SoundBarrier
My theory regarding the generative Energies of the Circles is based upon the scenario that the CircleMakers utilise Sound (which I believe is the prime vibration transmitted) to create a "barrier" that energetically delineates and "holds" the perimeter of the Pattern. The Sound initiates the demarcation of "Formation" from "field" [or in this case, beach!]. (There are also SoundBarriers within all Formations, but for my dowsing purposes at Hug Point, the one at the perimeter was the important one.)
I believe that the SoundBarrier, in addition to holding the template form of a Pattern, also restricts the subsequently-but-almost-simultaneously-applied Heat and Wind quanta (or packets) to within it. The Sound penetrates deeply into the ground, altering the crop/snow/earth/sand/clay/etc beneath the Formation, and is what we are picking up when dowsing the Circles. This Energy also registers consistently on gauss meters, coloumb meters, electrostatic meters, and other gadgets that respond to magnetic fields. (I think core sampling would be a helpful adjunct to our research in this respect.) The dowsing rods respond to this SoundBarrier at the perimeter when we enter a Formation from any direction; this unique Energy is quite distinct from any ley lines (which are straight and do not run in circles, arcs, triangles, etc), and has no relationship to any residual energies which may remain in a CropCircle after people have visited or meditated within it. [For a more in-depth exposition of my hypothesis, click on the monograph's icon (An Hypothesis: The Transmission of a CropCircle) on my HomePage.]
From my previous experience, I expected that although the physical traces of the SandRings would be long gone, this residual SoundBarrier Energy would still be dowsable.
I've confirmed that the Energies in an area in which a Formation arrives remain for at least (a staggering) 2 years and 8 months!I've dowsed both of the '94 Chehalis Formations and the SandRings several times now during that time period, and will periodically continue to do so in my attempt to determine for how long these Energies are actually detectable.
Back At The Beach ...
In the parking lot above Hug Point Beach, Carol and I studied David's friend's SandRings photos. We oriented ourselves, then descended the footpath to the sandy beach. We'd timed our visit so we'd arrive during low tide. As soon as my feet hit the sand, I immediately and excitedly walked to the shoreline, my dowsing rods in hand. I'd been anticipating this moment for five months!
I took a deep breath, sensed Carol's eyes upon my rods, and began walking across the smooth, wet sand (W -> E), from the shore past the mouth of the cave on my left, and toward the base of the hill in front of me. After I'd taken seven or eight steps, I could barely contain my excitement as I said to Carol, "The 'heaviness' just came into the rods! The Energies are here!" The rods hadn't moved yet, but an Energy I "recognised" was suddenly present. I took 2 more steps forward, and the rods swung open. With some surprise, Carol noted aloud that I'd made my statement before the rods had ever moved. I marked a line in the wet sand with my toes at the point where the rods had opened, and continued to slowly walk forward. When the rods returned to the neutral (straight-ahead) position, I drew another line in the sand. I continued in this manner until I reached the base of the hill, toeing lines both where the rods began responding and where they indicated neutral. When I'd finished, I turned to study the furrows I'd drawn and discovered that I'd uncovered a 3-line-ley which ran directly into the cave. The middle ley line ran straight through the centre of it; at the back wall of the cave (perhaps 40 feet from the entrance), my rods crossed (i.e., at the "flat base" of the "ice cream cone"). The two outer ley lines roughly marked the areas where the front of the cave sat on the sand. Each ley line was 10 or 12 feet wide, with about the same distance between them.
Dowsing for The Rings
I then wanted to see if I could pick up the Energies of the Formation itself (the 3-line-ley was a complete surprise!). As I walked S -> N, the rods clearly responded to the Circle's perimeter (which placement we confirmed from the photographs). I toed an arc in the sand, and continued in a circular pattern, ending up with an ellipsoid shape, perhaps roughly 18 feet in diameter. Although three-quarters of the Rings' perimeter had been unveiled by the rods, I had not yet delineated its easternmost arc: I admit that the seal had me cowed.
The Seal
As we first approached the cave, I noted what I thought was a large piece of driftwood that had washed up on the sand within the area I was planning to dowse. Something about it caught my eye, and as I studied the unusually smooth brown shape, a peephole opened on my end of it, and blinked at me. The "log" turned out to be a very round and sleepy seal! (I subsequently learned that when the salmon are running, the seals chase them and gorge themselves until they are literally exhausted. As they're then too tired to swim, they're carried by the incoming tide and deposited onshore where they sleep off their gluttony, awaiting the next high tide to return them to the sea.)
This well-sated specimen was digesting her repast and not at all happy about being disturbed. However because she was exhausted, her only acknowledgement of our intrusion was an occasional open-mouthed "moan" (as Carol described it) in our direction when one of us approached too closely.
I know little about seals. One thing I don't know, for example, is how far they're willing and able to lunge on a full stomach. Through her moaning, she advised me that her comfort zone included the ten-foot region of sand in front of her nose; the north-eastern perimeter of our Circle, unfortunately, abutted her comfort zone. I unhesitatingly obliged her as I manoeuvred around the area, not wanting to further distress her. Hence it wasn't until the very end of our Hug Point excursion that I, with more than a little trepidation, finally braved the potential wrath of this Moaning Guardian of the Cave and SandRings (who, I noted with much interest, was sprawled exactly atop the eastern-most ley line).
Ever mindful of my back, I gathered my nerve to dowse for the remaining arc which would complete the Circle. I asked Carol to keep her eye on the seal and to please let me know if she seemed to be considering making a move toward me. I sidled up to the area, rods in position, and gingerly walked forward. Simultaneously, as I crossed the perimeter of the Ring: the rods opened, the seal loudly and persistently bellowed her warning to me, I ticked the sand with the toes of one foot, and quickly moved beyond (what I hoped was) her lunge-ability.
'Twas done! The Circle, its shape roughly outlined by my un-Sørensen-like arcs, lay rematerialized before us. That this Formation was a genuine Gift of the CircleMakers, I had no doubt.
Confirmation
I passed the rods to Carol, a neophyte dowser who, though she hadn't been able to read the Energies at the Sunset Formation (Aloha, Oregon Jun '94) with her home-made coathanger rods, had been able to with my rods. She walked to the shoreline, turned, and approached my first line in the sand, dowsing rods at the ready. To her delight, they opened exactly at the first line I'd inscribed; however, they continued to remain open for her until she'd crossed the last of the six lines I'd marked, at which point they finally returned to neutral. Then as she was checking out the Circle itself, the right rod began to slowly spin clockwise. I believe that Carol may have been picking up the satellite on the largest Ring's perimeter, from which I had obtained only an acknowledgement of the Energy. (The next time I return to the area, I intend to approach the satellite from all four directions to obtain a more precise determination of its location and size; that day, I'd dowsed it only from the West.)
We put the rods away and picked up our cameras. Under an overcast and quickly darkening sky, I shot each ley line and the perimeter of the SandRings from the South (looking North toward the cave), and documented our dowsing efforts until my film ran out. Carol took several more pictures, after which there remained but one more task: Since all I had thought about while preparing for this trip was to be sure to put my 'rods in the car, I'd neglected to bring the zip-loc baggies for the sand samples. We made a quick trip to a local store, returned to the beach with the baggies and a borrowed black marker pen, and collected our samples for Dr. S (a scientist who wishes anonymity).
Sample Collecting
Because of the tidal action, I figured that it wasn't very likely that the surface sand was the original sand involved in the Transmission, so I decided to also dig approximately 6-8 inches below the surface and scoop deeper samples from what I hoped were undisturbed, original areas of impact. Carol and I gathered controls as well from all four compass points, and added two extra samples from the very back of the cave. We bid our thanks and adieu to the disgruntled Guardian, congratulated each other on our enterprise, and triumphantly headed for home.
To the best of our knowledge, the Formation at Hug Point is the first Gift ever found in sand on a beach (an alleged Israeli Formation was located above the high-tide line and arrived in a reddish clay). Most surprising to me was our discovery that even after six months (relative to our initial visit) of being washed and agitated twice-a-day by the salt water, the CircleEnergies remained strong at Hug Point.
The Gifts of the CircleMakers are indeed wondrous . . . .
- ilyes
National Coordinator
CCCS / US Network
March 14, 1995
ADDENDUM
Three days ago (as I write this on May 3 '95), I called Dr S hoping that he'd found time to at least preliminarily go over our samples. He began by saying, "Y'know, ilyes, when I first received these sand samples, I can honestly say that I didn't expect to turn up anything." I admitted that I, too, would not have bet he'd be able to confirm the Energy residue in the sand my dowsing rods had acknowledged. I'd certainly hoped that the Energy could somehow still be held within the granules - or, I wondered alternatively, was it suspended perhaps between the grains of sand?
As he skimmed his notes, the scientist confirmed that the surface samples didn't show much. "I did see an increase in the anion level, but that was marginal, only 11.6%," he said. "[However] to my great surprise, the greatest difference occurred in the subsurface sand." I had never heard Dr S speak in terms of "great surprises" before. I listened intently to his next words as my heart began to pound. "Y'know," he confessed, "I was so convinced that I wouldn't see anything - That shows you something about preconceived ideas! But I was amazed!" I pressed the receiver closer to my ear for I was afraid that the sound of my heart banging against my rib cage would drown out his next sentence. "The difference there," he continued as I held my breath, "between the controls and the Formation, was 51.1%!" "WOW!!! No kidding!", I bubbled delightedly. "Well, I knew that the Energies were there, but I had no idea whether - or how - you'd be able to scientifically document them!" I was jubilant!
"There sure is something highly unusual going on," he responded heartily. "It's astounding that the Energies can be imprinted into the sand, and last that long! Something's putting those anions into the ground. Now, first I thought, 'C'mon, what energy can penetrate six inches?!' Then I decided, it doesn't have to. You see, if you produced a flood of these anions on the surface, the constant wash from the ocean would keep pushing them down deeper ... You're dealing with a high ion content in the ocean water . . . ."
Well, Dr. S and I have different thoughts regarding where these Energies come from and how they work. I'm always intrigued when he shares his hypotheses, and I often receive new pieces of information from him that I'm able to fit into the parts of The Puzzle that I'm working on. Sometimes, however, a theory he offers simply doesn't "feel right" to me. It doesn't, for example, "feel" like the anions were deposited upon the surface (by what?) and "pushed down" by the ocean. Rather, I believe that the vibration of the Sound during the original Transmission by the CircleMakers penetrated deeply into and altered the sand granules - much the way the Energies affect the crops (at the least!) on a cellular level. (Would that a geneticist investigated these alterations!) Almost certainly the media are affected to depths greater than six-to-eight inches. The Sound alterations somehow remain embedded, and are detectable through subsequent analysis . . .
Though none of us can yet "prove" our theories, we're each being tantalisingly stimulated and stretched - and I daresay we're all having a grand time in the process!
-ilyes
updated and re-edited
October 26, 1997
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