Operation Blackbird
 Colin Andrews conferring with military personnel during Operation Blackbird |
In the summer of 1990 a group of researchers, who described themselves as 'cerealogists,' set out to solve the mystery once and for all. They camped out on a hillside in Wiltshire, the world-capital of crop circles, and waited with banks of recording equipment for something to happen.
'Operation Blackbird,' as it was called, was a high-tech affair sponsored by British and Japanese television networks and aided by the British army.
On July 25 the Operation seemed to meet with success. The lead researcher, Colin Andrews, excitedly announced to the waiting media that a circle had formed during the night in an adjacent field. Unfortunately he spoke too soon. When the researchers examined the circle more closely, they found the calling card of a hoaxer awaiting them. Someone had suggestively left a board game called Horoscope and a wooden crucifix in the middle of the swirled stalks.
The identity of the hoaxer has never been determined, but the event seriously undermined the efforts of the cerealogists to be taken seriously. Conspiracy theorists insisted that the army itself had perpetrated the hoax in an effort to undermine the credibility of the researchers.
References/Further Reading:
- Thomas, Andy. Vital Signs: A Complete Guide to the Crop Circle Mystery and Why It Is Not a Hoax (S.B. Publications, 1998): 35-36.
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