Movie Draws Attention to Crop
Circles
By CATHERINE LUCEY
.c The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Charles R. Mallet has spent nights camped out in fields
of grain in England, trying to see what makes the big, elaborate patterns
known as ``crop circles'' - which he believes are messages from some unearthly
place.
Now, he and others who investigate crop circles worry about ``Signs,'' the
latest movie by ``The Sixth Sense'' creator M. Night Shyamalan, in which
crop circles are an ominous element.
``Knowing this guy's movies, it's going to be a little more thoughtful than
'Independence Day,' but it's not going to have much to do with the real crop
circles,'' said Mallet, 32, of Cherhill, in England's Wiltshire
County.
Crop circles first drew widespread attention in the 1980s, when they appeared
in fields around the world, especially in England. Their allegedly supernatural
origins were quickly thrown into doubt when people began admitting to creating
them; in 1991, two men said they made circles in southern England at night
using boards.
But true believers, who number in the thousands, say people could not have
made most of the circles.
``Signs,'' which opens Friday and stars Mel Gibson as a Pennsylvania farmer
who finds the circles on his land, is a thriller. Circle followers, however,
say the circles aren't about fear.
Linda Howe, 58, a former documentary filmmaker, has written several books
on circles. Asked if one could be used in the film, she said no.
``It would have been a reference book that Mel Gibson would have been going
through,'' she said. ``They wanted to put an image there with murder or death
or danger, something to do with dark fear. I could not have my book tied
in with any wrong information with crop formations.''
``Signs'' producer Frank Marshall said the circles are merely a hook for
Shyamalan to tell a story of a man struggling with his beliefs.
``The movie isn't really about crop circles. It's just one of the stories
that exist within the movie,'' he said.
But he added that the crop circles in the movie, filmed in Bucks County,
Pa., are ``totally based on the research. The cornstalks are not broken,
they're bent. They're very geometric. They're very realistic. Our crop circles
are as authentic as the ones that are found around the world.''
Dutch researcher Eltjo Hasselhoff, 39, said he is happy to see crop circles
used as a theme.
``But I do believe there is a mystery about the crop circle phenomenon. The
information you find about crop circles is often completely wrong,'' he
said.
``The crop circle phenomenon is felt as a kind and gentle
phenomenon.''