Kearns. 1999. Appearance on Tim Russert, CNBC, July 24.
Graham, Lloyd M. 1979. Deceptions and Myths of the Bible. New York: Bell, 157 – 63.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. 1991. Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience. New York: HarperCollins, 472 –74.
Irresponsible: The media should rethink the “Kennedy family curse.” 1999. Wichita Falls, Texas, Times Record News, July 20.
Keller, Werner. 1995. The Bible as History, 2nd revised ed. New York: Barnes & Noble, 124.
Kelly, Brian, and Kenneth T. Walsh. 1999. The curse. U.S. News & World Report, July 26, 17 –21.
Kennedy, Ted. 1969. Live TV broadcast, July 25, text given in James E.T. Lange and Katherine DeWitt, Jr. 1992. Chappaquiddick: The Real Story. New York: St. Martin’s, 171 –75.
Kusche, Lawrence David. 1975. The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved. Reprinted Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1986.
MacDougall, Curtis D. 1983. Superstition and the Press . Buffalo: Prometheus, 206 –09.
Mitchell –Hedges, F.A. 1954. Danger My Ally. London: Elek, 243.
Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 41,117.
———. 1989. The Magic Detectives. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 55 –56.
———. 1988. Secrets of the Supernatural, with John F. Fischer. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 29 –46.
Paulos,John Allen. 1999. Curse of the Kennedys? http://abcnews.go.com/sec –tions/science/WhosCounting/paulos990720.html , July 20.
Rather, Dan. 1999 CBS live broadcast, July 17.
Saffire, William. 1999. Appearance on Tim Russert, CNBC, July 24.
Salkin, Allen. 1999. Clan history is written in tears. New York Post, July 18, 12 – 13.
Sorensen, Theodore C. 1999. The Kennedy curse, and other myths. New York Times, July 23.
Thomas, Evan. 1998. The Camelot curse. Newsweek, Jan. 12,23 –29.
Chapter 10
Riddle of the Circles
For years a mysterious phenomenon has been plaguing southern English crop fields. Typically producing swirled, circular depressions in cereal crops, it has left in its wake beleaguered farmers and an astonished populace—not to mention befuddled scientists and would–be “investigators”—all struggling to keep apace with the proliferating occurrences and the equally proliferating claims made about them.
The Mystery and the Controversy
The circles range in diameter from as small as three meters (nearly ten feet) to some twenty–five meters (approximately eighty–two feet) or more. In addition to the simple circles that were first reported, there have appeared circles in formations; circles with rings, spurs, and other appurtenances; and yet more complex forms, including “pictographs” and even a crop triangle! While the common depression or “lay” pattern is spiral (either clockwise or counterclockwise), there are radial and even more complex lays (Delgado and Andrews 1989; Meaden 1989; “Field” 1990). In most cases, the circles’ matted pinwheel patterns readily distinguished them from fairy rings (rings of lush growth in lawns and meadows, caused by parasitic fungi) (Delgado and Andrews 1989). The possibility that they were due to the sweeping movements of snared or tethered animals, or rutting deer, seemed precluded by the absence of any tracks or trails of bent or broken stems. And the postulation of helicopters flying up–side–down was countered by the observation that such antics would produce not swirled circles, but crashed helicopters (“England” 1989; Grossman 1990).
A “scientific” explanation was soon attempted by George Terence Meaden, a onetime professor of physics who later took up meteorology as an avocation. In his book The Circles Effect and Its Mysteries , he claims, “Ultimately, it is going to be the theoretical atmospheric physicist who will successfully minister the full and correct answers.” Meaden’s notion is that the “circles effect” is produced by what he terms the “plasma vortex phenomenon.” He defines this as “a spinning
Graham, Lloyd M. 1979. Deceptions and Myths of the Bible. New York: Bell, 157 – 63.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. 1991. Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience. New York: HarperCollins, 472 –74.
Irresponsible: The media should rethink the “Kennedy family curse.” 1999. Wichita Falls, Texas, Times Record News, July 20.
Keller, Werner. 1995. The Bible as History, 2nd revised ed. New York: Barnes & Noble, 124.
Kelly, Brian, and Kenneth T. Walsh. 1999. The curse. U.S. News & World Report, July 26, 17 –21.
Kennedy, Ted. 1969. Live TV broadcast, July 25, text given in James E.T. Lange and Katherine DeWitt, Jr. 1992. Chappaquiddick: The Real Story. New York: St. Martin’s, 171 –75.
Kusche, Lawrence David. 1975. The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved. Reprinted Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1986.
MacDougall, Curtis D. 1983. Superstition and the Press . Buffalo: Prometheus, 206 –09.
Mitchell –Hedges, F.A. 1954. Danger My Ally. London: Elek, 243.
Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 41,117.
———. 1989. The Magic Detectives. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 55 –56.
———. 1988. Secrets of the Supernatural, with John F. Fischer. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 29 –46.
Paulos,John Allen. 1999. Curse of the Kennedys? http://abcnews.go.com/sec –tions/science/WhosCounting/paulos990720.html , July 20.
Rather, Dan. 1999 CBS live broadcast, July 17.
Saffire, William. 1999. Appearance on Tim Russert, CNBC, July 24.
Salkin, Allen. 1999. Clan history is written in tears. New York Post, July 18, 12 – 13.
Sorensen, Theodore C. 1999. The Kennedy curse, and other myths. New York Times, July 23.
Thomas, Evan. 1998. The Camelot curse. Newsweek, Jan. 12,23 –29.
Chapter 10
Riddle of the Circles
For years a mysterious phenomenon has been plaguing southern English crop fields. Typically producing swirled, circular depressions in cereal crops, it has left in its wake beleaguered farmers and an astonished populace—not to mention befuddled scientists and would–be “investigators”—all struggling to keep apace with the proliferating occurrences and the equally proliferating claims made about them.
The Mystery and the Controversy
The circles range in diameter from as small as three meters (nearly ten feet) to some twenty–five meters (approximately eighty–two feet) or more. In addition to the simple circles that were first reported, there have appeared circles in formations; circles with rings, spurs, and other appurtenances; and yet more complex forms, including “pictographs” and even a crop triangle! While the common depression or “lay” pattern is spiral (either clockwise or counterclockwise), there are radial and even more complex lays (Delgado and Andrews 1989; Meaden 1989; “Field” 1990). In most cases, the circles’ matted pinwheel patterns readily distinguished them from fairy rings (rings of lush growth in lawns and meadows, caused by parasitic fungi) (Delgado and Andrews 1989). The possibility that they were due to the sweeping movements of snared or tethered animals, or rutting deer, seemed precluded by the absence of any tracks or trails of bent or broken stems. And the postulation of helicopters flying up–side–down was countered by the observation that such antics would produce not swirled circles, but crashed helicopters (“England” 1989; Grossman 1990).
A “scientific” explanation was soon attempted by George Terence Meaden, a onetime professor of physics who later took up meteorology as an avocation. In his book The Circles Effect and Its Mysteries , he claims, “Ultimately, it is going to be the theoretical atmospheric physicist who will successfully minister the full and correct answers.” Meaden’s notion is that the “circles effect” is produced by what he terms the “plasma vortex phenomenon.” He defines this as “a spinning
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