This article was published in the regional daily newspaper "Le Républicain Lorrain," France, on July 12, 2002. See also the article of July 7 in the same newspaper.
Joke or unexpected visit the extraterrestrials? The flattened wheat in two perfect circles, in a field of Waldwisse, intrigues.
The extremely regular circles raise questions these days at Gongelfang.
Thionville. On the morning of July 2, Jean-Michel Streit, stockbreeder at Gongelfang (near Waldwisse), is informed by his grandfather of an odd phenomenon that appeared in a wheat field he owns. At the beginning he thought that it is simply a group of jokers which wanted to make an impression to the helicopters of the Tour de France passing a few kilometres from there on July 8. On about fifteen ares, the wheat were indeed partly crushed, and two perfectly drawn circles appeared, right in the center of the field. Perhaps the draft of a bicycle... But for a few days, on the spot, walkers, simple curious and UFOs specialists have followed one another and each one has its idea on the subject, as we reported in our Thionville edition. Mr. Mathis, member of the association Avenir [Future], specialized in energies, evokes a possible telluric phenomenon. "One should recall people that at this place, there is a terrestrial fault. On this zone the energy which comes from the ground is thus stronger than elsewhere." It is possible that electric fields created by external forces were propagated on the surface of the ground. Others see "Crops Circles" there similar to those which were discovered these last years in the south of England. On their side, the elders of the village do not understand the people who come to see "these silly things." For them, there is nothing supernatural: "It is sufficient to stick a stake in the field, to hang a cord there and to trace a circle, then you flatten the straw with a roller." The facts do not remain less disconcerting: if jokers there is, they are true geometricians for the circles are thoroughly traced, it is a true masterwork. Moreover, according to Jean-Michel Streit, this work occurred for six to seven hours at the moonlight, for no source of light is present near the fields. To be so precise in middle of the night is truly an exploit. Another astonishing fact, the morning of July 2, around the two circles, there was no traces in the field. For Gerard Grun, the Mayor of Waldwisse, the explanation is simple: the smart guys who made the hoax "borrowed the furrows dug by the wheels of the tractors." But for the moment, the mystery remains. An investigation was opened by the gendarmerie of Waldwisse.
