Crop Circle Artist Matthew Williams

[Gene Steinberg]

Here is one of the people Colin Andrews was talking about during his appearance on The Paracast. From his bio:

"Former British Government Customs & Excise officer, Matthew Williams, had his first UFO experience in 1991. This led him to become a well known UK UFO investigator. After investigating the crop circle subject, he decided to try making some circles to test if researchers would know they were man made. The rest is history as eventually Matthew became the only person to ever be arrested for making a crop circle. However the story gets very strange when he tells us he found that man-made circles attract real and observable paranormal phenomena."

Hmmm. This is interesting. We'll be recording this episode on Tuesday, Nov. 19.

 

[Wade]

i never heard of this guy until trained had dropped his name but any guy that would go about doing this while suffering from hay fever is pretty ballsy in my book, talk about suffering for your art

and as gene mentioned above from a recent interview w/him Crop flops: Why are crop circles dying out? | Weird | News | Daily Express

"...Before his unfortunate encounter with hay fever took hold Williams claims to have experienced plenty of bizarre phenomena. "A lot of weird experiences have happened to me," he adds. "I don't know how they happen. They just happened.
"I've seen small balls of light which have entered the field and chased us out on one occasion. I've seen them passing overhead. On two occasions we've also seen black, shadowy figures. Not as clear as a person, a little more rounded but a human shape. There are so many things like that.
"When teams of people go out into the fields and make large talismanic magical symbols, somehow that does actually have some effect on physical reality and strange things happen.
"All of us are very different but strangely enough, whatever angle you come into crop circles from, all the teams have had paranormal experiences while making them."

my question to him: did not you feel any guilt from destroying a man's property and performing an act that is considered vandalism or consider that it would have a financial impact on the farmer for the sake of art ?

even if you were not personally responsible for doing so it most certainly would encourage others to do the same, what distinctions would you make between yourselves from the people who are responsible for cattle mutilations?

If you did secure permission and come to some agreement with the farmer do you know of any circle makers that did not go through such channels and created the circles illicitly and if so did you feel compelled to report them ?

I have heard some People claim that the farmers in some cases still "win" even with their crops damaged because they receive donations and/or charge fees from curious tourists. Do you know this to be true or to be s.o.p. for many farmers?

Do you think some farmers actually plan to grow their crops anticipating crop circle makers to approach them and between the two of them create the apparent mystery ?

In the cases where the circles may be the result of outright vandalism and not an agreement between farmer and cc makers, The circles must bring plenty of curious people that aren't terribly concerned about the concept of tresspassing, damaging untouched crops even furthur. I have to wonder if this thought also is taken nto consideration.

 

[TheJCBand]

I'd like to hear his take on on Robbert van den Broeke. Some of the statements referenced by Wade above sound similar to van den Broeke's claims.

 

[stonehart]

Not a question for the show as such but it would be interesting to know on average how many of these crop circles appear each season and at what times and rate over any given week.
Because if they appear at a high rate then it would seem improbable that they could all be man made... just an idea.

 

[Blabyboy]

Most of these are more 'sciencey' and less from an artistic or emotion based p.o.v.

How many circles / works have you created?

What does he define as paranormal experiences?

Are his works located in one specific area or all over the UK? Was the incidence of unusual activity higher is specific locations?

Has he worked with different types of 'crop'? Did that affect the amount of activity? Did / do different types of 'crop' generate different types of activity?

Has he thought about generating his works on common land (thus avoiding private property laws)? many artists talk of making their art accessible to the common person, this would be a way to do it.

Has he tried soliciting donations (money/land) where he could either purchase the crops from the landowner, or have a redundant field to try his works on? Perhaps a kickStarter project could do this? Some farmers are also open to the idea, more so with meadow grass than crops per se.

How can a ball of light chase you out of a field?
-- WHY would a ball of light chase you out of a field?
-- did you go back and enter the work area?

Do your works always contain talismanic symbols? Have you tried works without any of these connotations/ symbology?

Have you ever tried copying pre-existing circles or elements to see what has happened?

You claim to have been a ufo investigator previously. You know how to create crop circles for your art. You are para-phrased as saying that Crop circles are dying out as the 'croppies' die out or move onto other things. So do you think crop-circles as phenomenon will also die out? Or, do you think they will continue and the incidence of man-made to unexplained 'circles' will reverse such that the larger amount will be unexplained?

Have you ever seen a circle(s) that has made you think that is was high unlikely to have been created by humans?

 

[Wade]

Not a question for the show as such but it would be interesting to know on average how many of these crop circles appear each season and at what times and rate over any given week.
Because if they appear at a high rate then it would seem improbable that they could all be man made... just an idea.

Which is sort of the point behind my questions, it is not my intention of myself to come off as an ass, but I'd like to try to get a grasp...if it's even possible....on the extent of outright vandalism may be involved by sociopathic crop circle makers, what the farmers are doing to try to stop them, even they even try at all and how many creations are outright collaborations between the farmers and cc makers designed to separate gullible looky loos from their money.

That article turns the crop circle mystery upside down .that is to think that at least some crop circles aren't created by acts of high strangeness but are created by humans and draw acts of high strangeness to them. Is it that people see little balls of light at freshly made crop chiefly and jump to a (natural) conclusion that the crop circle was created by the anomalous ball when it turns out that the ball is just as curious about the circle as people are? Perhaps the balls of light are anthropologists from the future trying to figure out where we went wrong.

 

[trainedobserver]

I am so happy that you guys are finally getting Matthew Williams on the show.

Matthew, thank you for your highly entertaining and informative work throughout the years. You are one of the few people I have found that can speak with any authority whatsoever on the issue of complex crop circles.

Please discuss the differences between a "saucer nest" of indeterminate origin and a complex crop circle of human manufacture. What are the tell-tale signs of human construction so that listeners can find them in photographs of circles themselves?

Please comment on the myths of "perfect" and "instant or quickly formed" crop circles with some examples if possible.

Please tell the story of your encounter with Linda M. Howe and your attempts to illuminate her and how prevalent you think her attitude may be amongst crop circle "researchers" .

Do you think it is possible to legitimize crop circle making and maintain the level of public interest in them or do you see crop circles becoming less and less of an "attraction" as more people get hip to their human origins?

 

[Polterwurst]

Sorry I haven't heard about your story before. If I may ask, what charges were you arrested on? Do you know to what extent crop circles can damage a farmer financially?

Balls of light and humanlike shadows are frequently reported in haunting type cases. Did you see these things clearly and close enought to absolutely exclude natural explanations like shadows cast by trees, cloud movement etc., real people stalking you, or car headlights etc. for the light orbs? If so, have you thought about discarnate consciousness (i.e. ghosts) as being behind these phenomena, maybe behind the alleged "genuine" crop circles themselves?

 

[mike]

However the story gets very strange when he tells us he found that man-made circles attract real and observable paranormal phenomena."

Hmmm. This is interesting. We'll be recording this episode on Tuesday, Nov. 19.

Indeed it does

¤ c i r c l e m a k e r s ¤

 

[stonehart]

However the story gets very strange when he tells us he found that man-made circles attract real and observable paranormal phenomena."

I would like to know what documented evidence he has such as photos or video footage to back this claim up. You would assume if you have been seeing these sorts of things while making crop circles one would attempt to get some sort of evidence to back things up.

 

[Burnt State]

What the heck is "real" paranormal phenomenon? I sense many an anecdote to unfold in this episode that will go along nicely with Psychic Crystal Skulls and Robert the Doll. The "If you build it they will come" motif is an interesting web to weave.

 

[Wade]

I would like to know what documented evidence he has such as photos or video footage to back this claim up. You would assume if you have been seeing these sorts of things while making crop circles one would attempt to get some sort of evidence to back things up.

Vg point stoney

A. If While creating these formations at one point he experienced a paranormal event I'm sure it would have stuck in his craw to bring the appropriate equipment for next time "just in case"

B. I WOULD THINK ONE WOULD BRING SOME KIND OF APPROPRIATE RECORDING EQUIPMENT JUST THE SAME IF NOT ONLY TO TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR HANDIWORK OR FOR LOGISTICAL PurpoSES IN DESIGNING THE FORMATION.

 

[Wade]

I just noticed that part of the above post was done in all caps....sort of....this was not intentional. It's because of the custom font I'm using in my phone and its not apparent in tapatalk unless I pay close attention to the keyboard. I assume by the lack of criticism you guys are either giving me the benefit of doubt or you are just ignoring me.

 

[Burnt State]

i thought you were just yelling in disgust, and rightly so, to be heard over the volume of the combine mowing down the crop circle beside you.

 

[stonehart]

I just noticed that part of the above post was done in all caps....sort of....this was not intentional. It's because of the custom font I'm using in my phone and its not apparent in tapatalk unless I pay close attention to the keyboard. I assume by the lack of criticism you guys are either giving me the benefit of doubt or you are just ignoring me.

I liked it you should shout more often

 

[trainedobserver]

The "paranormal things occur around trampled down crops" is in my mind, another obvious grasping at straws to salvage this "cottage industry" for lack of a better term.

Do people experience strange things while commmitting crimes in the middle of the night in a darkened field in the English countryside? It does not surprise me. It is the people, not a picture created by stepping on plants that is responible IMHO.

 

[Constance]

Hi Gene. I have two questions to offer for your interview with Matt Williams.

1. Did you and fellow ccmakers make an attempt to present the details of your paranomal encounters while making crop circles to the public (in writing) and to crop circle researchers in Wiltshire (at a public meeting)?

2. What do you think accounts for the anomalous energy effects measured in a crop circle you claim to have made (The Basket) and cited by Simeon Hein in his paper “Electromagnetic Anomalies and Scale-Free Networks in British Crop Formations” (2000):

“The Bishop’s Cannings basket formation appeared in early August but was cut down the same day by the farmer in an attempt to keep people out of the field. Ironically, this provided us with a good opportunity to test for residual energies in the soil below a fresh formation, as the most of the wheat in the formation had been taken away. Curiously, when the area where the formation had been was tested the next day it showed large energy readings of more than one hundred volts greater than the surrounding wheat field. These energies were detected at every point within the 75 foot diameter formation. An mowed area going from the road to the formation that the farmer had also cut down to make a path to the circle also showed some energy changes but these were considerably smaller in magnitude, less than 50 volts, than was found in the main circle.”

The Basket crop circle - Google Search

 

[Ezechiel]

My one question would be: What caliber weapons do farmers use these days ?

... and do they have an impact on the number of crop circles made LOL

 

[Constance]

Conclusion of Hein's 2000 paper, provided as partial background on energy anomalies observed but not yet accounted for at the time {and still not accounted for}:

“A Possible Explanation of the Results

A recent article by Barabasi and Albert (1999) in Science magazine suggested that selforganizing systems like biological or computer networks may be the results of interactions that defy conventional linear systems. Specifically, the topology of nonlinear networks is described by scale-free distributions rather than typical metric distances. Scale-free systems follow fractal power-laws rather than linear growth patterns. If crop formations are thought of as selforganized networks, certainly just a hypothesis at this point, it is possible that their energy dynamics, in this case, electrostatic charges, are characterized by scale-free distributions rather than conventional ones. These non-linear energy fields, a natural out growth of the process of self-organization, may interfere with electronic components designed for linear environments and could also create new distributions of energy in a given setting such as wheat fields. Thus, the shapes of crop formations may, in fact, alter the given background energy distribution of a given area creating the results obtained by our Trek meter.

Conclusions

This research raises more questions than it answers. However, for the moment we can say that the energies present in some fresh formations defies the mechanics of electronic devices to the point where they sometimes fail. This suggests that temporarily stable, or unstable, as the case may be, electrostatic energy fields exist in certain crop formations. These energy fields may have the ability to weaken and destroy fresh batteries, and to a lesser degree give unexplainable readings on lab grade electrostatic detection equipment. The cause of these energy fields remains unknown at this time. However, it is clear from this research that some formations have high energy areas within them, that may last for several days or weeks, while others do not. The cause of these findings remains for future research to explain.”

Indeed, “the cause of these findings remains for future research to explain.” Scientific research into these phenomena would have been pursued after 2000, the date of SH’s paper, were it not for the daunting complexity of the energy anomalies found in cc by W. C. Levengood and the undesireability, for scientists, of engagement with the widely ridiculed subject of crop circles. This ridicule was fed to the popular press by individuals and organizations that can be identified and whose motivations can be recognized. That is work that remains to be done by historical researchers of the 45-year-old modern crop circle phenomenon and its manipulation over the last several decades, added to research concerning earlier crop circles as undertaken by Terry Wilson and Greg Jefferys. The accomplishment of that work will likely shorten the time before scientists take up the physical, biological, and biophysical research begun by Levengood and his colleagues. Some day there will be firm answers. There are none yet.[/quote]

 

[Constance]

Note to Gene Steinberg: I've edited my two questions for Matt Williams above.