Updated: Mysterious Rings in Wheat Baffle Kansas Farmer

“Oh, my God. Here is a circle and rings in my wheat!’
In all my years of farming, I’ve never seen anything like it!”

– Merle Ecklund, Farmer

Lost Springs, Kansas, is a little south of Herington and about 90 miles northeast of Wichita. Unusual retarded and accelerated wheat growth was discovered on June 2, 2006, in the Lost Springs wheat field. To the southwest in Haysville, Viola and Conway Springs, other crop anomalies allegedly have occurred as well recently.
Lost Springs, Kansas, is a little south of Herington and about 90 miles northeast of Wichita. Unusual retarded and accelerated wheat growth was discovered on June 2, 2006, in the Lost Springs wheat field. To the southwest in Haysville, Viola and Conway Springs, other crop anomalies allegedly have occurred as well recently.
Front Page, The Herington Times, Thursday, June 8, 2006. Farm owner, Merle Ecklund, is standing to the right of the westernmost circle in his wheat field. The second eastern circle is behind. Both circles were estimated to be about 28-feet in diameter and both defined by three different heights in the nearly ripe wheat. Times photo by Larry.
Front Page, The Herington Times, Thursday, June 8, 2006. Farm owner, Merle Ecklund, is standing to the right of the westernmost circle in his wheat field. The second eastern circle is behind. Both circles were estimated to be about 28-feet in diameter and both defined by three different heights in the nearly ripe wheat. Times photo by Larry.

The Herington Times reported beneath its front page photograph:

“WHAT CAUSED THEM? Was there a UFO landing in this field a few months ago? [Mr. Ecklund discovered the two circles on June 2, 2006.] Or was some prankster chemist at work during the winter? Or is there some other rare, but logical and highly scientific explanation? Merle Ecklund of rural Herington would like to know. He found these two unexplainable cupped-out circles Friday afternoon [June 2, 2006] in a wheat field on land he farms just east of 2800 Road, 1 mile south of U. S. 56, in western Morris County. Ecklund said he had never witnessed such an oddity in more than four decades of farming. Both circles were about 19 to 20 feet in diameter.

[ Editor’s Note: On June 11, the Ecklunds measured the east circle at 28 feet in diameter and said the west circle was about the same diameter.]

The majority of wheat in the cupped out portions of the circles stands only about 19-inches-tall, but all of the plants have still headed out. Strangely, the wheat plants in the in the outer part of the circles stand about one foot taller than 30-inch tall normal-sized plants throughout the field. The two crop circles might rank as another unsolved mystery in the history of western Morris County.

“The last major mystery developed in December of 1983 just a few miles from the Ecklund farm field when Julia Stoddard vanished from her rural residence on the Herington Regional Airport. Although intensely investigated by authorities for a long period of time, the Stoddard disappearance remains unsolved 22 1/2 years later. According to information available on the internet, unexplainable crop circles have been experienced in many regions of the world. Conferences have even been organized in some locales to discuss the strange happenings. It is unknown if the newly-found Morris County crop circles might lead to any national or international attention.”

Updated: June 11, 2006  Lost Springs, Kansas   – On June 9, 2006, I first talked with Lost Springs, Kansas, farmers Merle and Diane Ecklund about the highly strange accelerated and decelerated growth of wheat in two circles laying next to each other on a west to east axis. Mr. Ecklund discovered the baffling wheat plants on Friday, June 2, about 2:30 p.m. while he was working along the perimeter of his wheat field.

Merle Ecklund, married to Diane, has grown cereal crops on his Lost Springs, Kansas, farm for forty years. Photo © 2006 by Diane Ecklund.
Merle Ecklund, married to Diane, has grown cereal crops on his Lost Springs, Kansas, farm for forty years. Photo © 2006 by Diane Ecklund.

Interview:

Merle Ecklund, Cereal Crop Farmer, Married to Diane Ecklund, 40 Years Farming in Lost Springs, Kansas:  “I was spraying trees along the tree line, the perimeter of the wheat field. All of a sudden I discovered wheat that was taller than the rest of it. And I thought to myself, ‘Why is this wheat taller than the rest of it?” I got off the 4-wheeler and looked. And I said, ‘Oh, my God. Here is a circle and rings in my wheat!’ In all my years of farming, I’ve never seen anything like it!” A second, nearly identical circle, was a few feet to the east of the first one Mr. Ecklund found.

Left is western circle; right is eastern circle. Each circle is about 28 feet in diameter defined by three different heights of wheat. Photograph © 2006 by Diane and Renee Ecklund.
Left is western circle; right is eastern circle. Each circle is about 28 feet in diameter defined by three different heights of wheat. Photograph © 2006 by Diane and Renee Ecklund.
KWCH-TV, which covers Herington, Kansas, broadcast a news report last week about the two odd circles in the Ecklund wheat field. Photograph © 2006 by Diane and Renee Ecklund.
KWCH-TV, which covers Herington, Kansas, broadcast a news report last week about the two odd circles in the Ecklund wheat field. Photograph © 2006 by Diane and Renee Ecklund.

“I didn’t say anything to anybody for a couple of days and I called a local newspaper (The Herington Times) to tell them what I had seen. They came out and looked and also said, ‘Oh, my God! There’s something wrong here.’

I think the inner circle was 19 inches high and the outer ring was 42 inches high. [The wheat growing straight up was shorter in the middle, compared to the normal field of 30-inch-tall wheat; the outer ring was a foot taller than the normal field wheat.]

There haven’t been any birds or insects in this place where the wheat has grown shorter in the center and longer on the outside. I took my water witching rods (dowsing rods) and they do cross as soon as you get to that area. I also took my dog out there. My dog will not enter the area. Animals know there is something wrong there.

IF YOU’RE STANDING ON ONE SIDE OF THE OUTSIDE RING OF WHEAT THAT STANDS 42-INCHES-HIGH, HOW FAR IS IT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RING?

28 feet in diameter [ as measured on Sunday, June 11, 2006.]. The inner circle is about 15 feet in diameter and grows 19 inches high. These were not flattened down plants. The center circle of growing, shorter wheat was 15 feet in diameter and the outer ring of taller wheat was 28 feet in diameter.”

On Sunday, June 11, 2006, after receiving photographs from Diane Ecklund and her daughter, Renee, I talked with the farm couple again about the two circles. They agree that the centers of both circles were about 15 feet in diameter of wheat only 19-inches-tall. Around that shorter wheat was some normal-sized wheat at about 30-inches-tall. Then around that, forming the outside of each of the two circles, was a ring of wheat standing 42-inches-tall, a full foot above the rest of the normal wheat.

“BIOPHYSICIST W. C. LEVENGOOD IN MICHIGAN HAS DONE LOTS OF WORK STUDYING ACCELERATED AND DECELERATED GROWTH IN CROP FORMATIONS. YOU’VE GOT EXAMPLES OF BOTH IN YOUR FIELD. IN YOUR CASE, SOMETHING HAS SLOWED THE WHEAT GROWTH DOWN IN THE CENTER (19- INCHES-TALL), THEN LEFT SOME WHEAT ALONE (30-INCHES-TALL), AND THEN THE OUTER RING HAS ACCELERATED GROWTH AT 42-INCHES-TALL).

Right, and some people from Kansas State University came out Thursday morning (June 8) to get some wheat samples to see if they can come up with an answer.”


More Information:

For further information about the global crop formation mystery, please see reports below in the Earthfiles Archives  and my book, Mysterious Lights and Crop Circles, in the Earthfiles Shop.

  • 04/07/2006 — First 2006 Grass Circles in Conondale, Queensland, Australia
  • 09/02/2005 — “Mayan Clock”? in August U. K. Crop Formations
  • 09/02/2005 — First 2005 Canadian Crop Circles Reported
  • 09/02/2005 — Part 2: Mysterious Lights At Coles County, Illinois, Corn Circles
  • 09/02/2005 — Part 1: New York and Ohio Corn Circles “Flattened 2 to 5 Feet Above Ground”
  • 08/09/2005 — Three Extraordinary U. K. Crop Formations Reported August 9, 2005
  • 08/07/2005 — Mysterious Light Photographed in Canadian Woods
  • 08/02/2005 — Part 2: Anomalies Confirmed in Pennsylvania and Arizona Randomly Downed Crops
  • 08/02/2005 — Part 1: Anomalies Confirmed in Pennsylvania and Arizona Randomly Downed Crops
  • 07/23/2005 — Mystery of Six Grass Circle Formations in North Carolina
  • 07/18/2005 — Garsington, Oxfordshire, U.K. Wheat Formation – Astronomical Orbit?
  • 07/01/2005 — U. K. Bicyclist Reports Mysterious, Low Hovering Objects Bending Wheat
  • 06/28/2005 — Crop Circles in Poland
  • 06/02/2005 — Part 2 – Highly Anomalous Pigment Formation in 2004 Hillsboro, Ohio, Crop Formation
  • 05/26/2005 — Phoenix Barley Mystery: Apparently Irrigation and Wind
  • 05/20/2005 — May 2005 Crop Formation Update in Six Countries
  • 05/09/2005 — Mysterious Lights and 2003 Serpent Mound Soybean Formation
  • 04/20/2005 — Outer Space Impact At Serpent Mound, Ohio, 256 Million Years Ago
  • 04/12/2005 — First 2005 Dutch Crop Circles Reported in Hoeven, Holland Grass
  • 10/17/2004 — American Crop Formations: 1880-2004
  • 09/22/2004 — Miamisburg and Serpent Mound, Ohio Crop Formations: Geometries Compared
  • 09/17/2004 — Part 1 – High Strangeness in Canadian Cattle Corn
  • 09/12/2004 — Part 2 – High Strangeness in Canadian Cattle Corn
  • 09/10/2004 — Update on Miamisburg, Ohio, Corn Pictogram – Balls of Light?
  • 09/05/2004 — Part 2 – Hillsboro, Ohio Corn Plant Anomalies
  • 09/04/2004 — Hillsboro, Ohio Corn Formation – High Strangeness in Soil and Plants
  • 09/02/2004 — Updated Photos: Big, Impressive New Corn Formation in Miamisburg, Ohio
  • 08/29/2004 — Another Pictogram in Poland
  • 08/28/2004 — Cow Mutilation and Loud, Unidentified Sound in Farnam, Nebraska
  • 08/12/2004 — Circles in Belgium and Holland
  • 08/10/2004 — Updated Aerial Photos of West Overton, Wiltshire “Serpent”
  • 08/09/2004 — Pictograms in Poland
  • 08/03/2004 — Crop Formations: Fifteen in Southern England Since July 20, 2004.
  • 07/26/2004 — Crop Circles in Tilden, Wisconsin Oats and 90-Degree Angles in Litchfield, Minnesota
  • 07/25/2004 — 2004 Canadian Crop Formations: Scorched Soybeans and “Dirt” Pattern in Barley
  • 07/24/2004 — Part 3 – Crop Formations and Mysterious Lights in Wiltshire, England, July 2004
  • 07/24/2004 — Part 2: Crop Formations and Mysterious Lights in Wiltshire, England, July 2004
  • 07/15/2004 — Updated: Part 1-Beyond Hillsboro, Ohio, More Corn Down in New Milford, Connecticut
  • 07/13/2004 — Updates on Spanish Fork, Utah Barley Formation
  • 07/07/2004 — Fourth 2004 Crop Formation in Poland Has Multiple Parts
  • 07/06/2004 — Mysteriously Downed Oat Plants in Eagle Grove, Iowa; Downed Corn in Hillsboro, Ohio
  • 07/06/2004 — Additions to Spanish Fork, Utah Formation and Mysterious Lights Seen
  • 07/04/2004 — Crop Formation in Spanish Fork, Utah
  • 06/17/2004 — More 2004 Holland and Poland Crop Formations
  • 06/16/2004 — England: 2004 Crop Formations and 2003 Research
  • 06/03/2004 — Updated – Second 2004 Pictogram Crop Formation in Poland
  • 06/02/2004 — 2004 Peach Orchard, Arkansas Crop Formation
  • 05/24/2004 — Biophysicist W. C. Levengood’s Crop Circle Reports Available for First Time On Internet
  • 05/22/2004 — 2004 Overview of Crop Formations in Six Countries
  • 05/17/2004 — Crop Formation Reported in Zabno, Poland
  • 05/11/2004 — An Extraordinary Photograph in A Dutch Home
  • 05/09/2004 — 2003 English Crop Formations on Documentary DVDs
  • 04/14/2004 — Light Anomalies in Photos of Conondale, Australia Grass Circles
  • 01/10/2004 — Strange Unidentified Aerial Objects in Indiana and Pennsylvania
  • 12/05/2003 — Diatonic Ratios and Seed Changes in 2003 California Wheat Circles Rule Out Hoax?
  • 11/07/2003 — British UFO Crash Retrievals
  • 11/01/2003 — Another Soybean Formation in Ohio
  • 10/17/2003 — 2003 “UFO Flap” in Ohio
  • 10/03/2003 — Part 2 – Military Interest in Serpent Mound and Seip Mound Formations?
  • 10/02/2003 — Part 1 – Another Soybean Formation Near Seip Mound in Ohio
  • 09/12/2003 — Second Soybean Crop Formation in Ohio – Special USAF Investigation Unit Involved?
  • 09/06/2003 — Part 2 – Unusual Soybean Formation Near Serpent Mound, Ohio
  • 09/05/2003 — Part 1 – Unusual Soybean Formation Near Serpent Mound, Ohio
  • 09/03/2003 — Helicopter “Attacks” Wiltshire, England, Residents At Knap Hill on August 26, 2003
  • 08/29/2003 — Part 2 – After August 10, No Crop Formations Except in Canada?
  • 08/29/2003 — Part 1 – Why Do Military Helicopters Focus On Crop Formations?
  • 08/23/2003 — Fourteen Crop Formations in Canada
  • 08/05/2003 — Field Notes from Morgan’s Hill Crop Circle
  • 08/01/2003 — Field Notes About English Animal Mutilations
  • 07/21/2003 — Strange Orange Lightning and A Sampling of Recent English Crop Formations
  • 07/19/2003 — Update – Defiance, Missouri T-Pattern Cut in Saplings
  • 07/17/2003 — Land Surveyor Comments About Ogbourne St. George, U.K. Crop Formation
  • 07/16/2003 — Unusual Details in Dutch Crop Formations
  • 07/11/2003 — Part 2 – Unusual Cylindar-Shaped Cloud Seen Night Before Dutch Crop Circles Discovered
  • 06/27/2003 — Part 2 – Mysterious Lights and Fourteen Crop Formations in Italy
  • 06/27/2003 — Part 1 – Mysterious Lights and Fourteen Crop Formations in Italy
  • 06/13/2003 — Updated: Fractal Crop Formation in Knobel, Arkansas
  • 05/26/2003 — East Sussex, England Has Third 2003 Crop Formation
  • 05/20/2003 — More 2003 Crop Formations in Germany
  • 05/10/2003 — Tree Formation in Defiance, Missouri
  • 05/02/2003 — First 2003 English Crop Formations
  • 04/29/2003 — Comparison Between First 2003 and 2002 U. K. Crop Formations
  • 04/26/2003 — First 2003 U.K. Crop Formation Near Petersfield, Hampshire
  • 12/07/2002 — Evolution of Crop Patterns Near Britain’s Chilbolton Radio Telescope, 1999 – 2002
  • 11/05/2002 — Canadian Crop Circles and Mysterious Lights in Saskatchewan
  • 10/19/2002 — Shifting Time Lines and Earth’s Destiny?
  • 10/03/2002 — Part 3 – 2002 Crop Formations In Canada
  • 10/01/2002 — Part 2 – September 2002 Maize Circles Update: Canada
  • 09/28/2002 — Part 1 – September 2002 Maize Circles Update: England
  • 09/02/2002 — Blue Lights and Helicopters in Wiltshire’s East Field
  • 08/31/2002 — One ET Experiencer’s Reaction to the Winchester Formation
  • 08/24/2002 — Crop Formation Update: Canada
  • 08/19/2002 — Winchester, Hampshire Circular Code Analysis – UPDATED
  • 08/18/2002 — Another Face and Code Appears in Hampshire, England – UPDATED
  • 07/25/2002 — Strange Stem Anomalies in New Dutch Crop Circles
  • 07/20/2002 — Mysterious Lights Seen Above Field Where Nautilus Formation Emerged
  • 07/13/2002 — More Crop Formations in Holland and Germany
  • 07/12/2002 — New Crop Formation in England
  • 07/06/2002 — Stonehenge 4th of July Formation Echoes Hackpen Hill 1999 4th of July Spiral
  • 06/26/2002 — New Crop Formations in England, Holland and Germany
  • 06/04/2002 — New 2002 Crop Formations in Wiltshire and Sussex, England
  • 05/23/2002 — Third 2002 Crop Formation in Germany Near Giant’s Stone
  • 05/18/2002 — A Bull Mutilation in Christmas Valley, Oregon
  • 05/11/2002 — First 2002 Crop Formation In Wiltshire, England
  • 05/09/2002 — More Orange Triangular Aircraft Over Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
  • 05/04/2002 — Two Crop Formations Near Kassel, Germany
  • 11/17/2001 — Mysterious Lights in Hessdalen, Norway Are Thermal Plasmas of Unknown Origin
  • 10/27/2001 — Another Orange Triangle Near Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
  • 10/10/2001 — Update On Unique British Crop Formations
  • 09/27/2001 — A Scientific Report About Milk Hill and Chilbolton “Face” and “Code”
  • 09/22/2001 — Huge Hexagram Crop Formation in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
  • 09/19/2001 — Part 2 – Gog Magog Hills, Cambridge, England – Two Unusual Crop Formations
  • 09/18/2001 — Part 1 – Gog Magog Hills, Cambridge, England – Two Unusual Crop Formations
  • 08/30/2001 — Chilbolton Observatory – What Does It Do?
  • 08/25/2001 — Are Crop Formations at Chilbolton Observatory A Response to 1974 Earth Transmission?
  • 08/22/2001 — Milk Hill 2001 – 409 Circles, Most For Any Crop Formation So Far
  • 08/09/2001 — Crop Formation in Holland Changes  with Researchers Present
  • 06/16/2001 — Beyond Stonehenge with Astronomer Gerald Hawkins
  • 06/06/2001 — New Crop Formations Reported in Serbia and U. K.
  • 05/31/2001 — More Crop Formations in England
  • 05/21/2001 — Part 2 – New Crop Formations in Holland, Germany and England
  • 05/19/2001 — Part 1 – New Crop Formations in Holland, Germany and England
  • 09/30/2000 — Unidentified Moving Spiral of Light Photographed in Crop Formation
  • 08/27/2000 — Crop Circle Reports from Whitefish, Montana – Updated Photos
  • 08/26/2000 — Pulsing, Jumping Light in West Stowell, England Field
  • 08/23/2000 — Intelligence Sensed In Mysterious Lights Associated With Crop Formations
  • 08/20/2000 — Crop Formations In North Dakota
  • 08/19/2000 — White Balls of Light and Helicopter Videotaped in Woodborough Hill Field
  • 08/17/2000 — Mysterious Light Near Woodborough Hill Night Before August 13, 2000 Formation
  • 07/16/2000 — Multiple Crop Formations Same Day in Wiltshire and Hampshire, U. K., July 16, 2000
  • 07/09/2000 — New Book about Ancient Sites of Wiltshire, England
  • 07/06/2000 — Extraordinary U. K. Crop Formations
  • 06/17/2000 — Army Helicopters Damage East Field, Wiltshire Crop
  • 06/11/2000 — Two New Crop Formations at Silbury Hill
  • 05/30/2000 — Crop Formations In Germany, May 2000
  • 01/16/2000 — Crop Circle Mysteries – A New Book
  • 11/30/1999 — A New Crop Formation In Marion, New York and Crop Research Updates
  • 11/18/1999 — Short Environmental Updates
  • 10/29/1999 — A New Book About Crop Circles
  • 09/29/1999 — Crop Formations Continue in Canada
  • 09/21/1999 — 1999 Summary of Crop Formations in Canada and Latest 9/21/99 Edmonton Circles
  • 08/15/1999 — More Mid-August 1999 Crop Formations in Wiltshire, England
  • 08/01/1999 — 1999 Crop Circle Update from Wiltshire, England
  • 07/22/1999 — Cherhill, England, New 1999 Crop Formation
  • 07/15/1999 — Brentwood, Tennessee Crop Formation and New U.K. Photos by Peter Sorensen
  • 06/27/1999 — New 1999 U. K. Crop Formations Photographed by Peter Sorensen
  • 06/07/1999 — 1999 U.K. Crop Circle Update with Photographer Peter Sorensen

Websites:

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com

http://www.cropcirclenews.com

http://www.lucypringle.co.uk

http://www.cccrn.ca/

http://www.dcca.nl

http://www.kornkreise-forschung.de

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~bwratten/ccc.html

http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk

http://www.cropcircleresearch.com

http://www.x-cosmos.it

http://www.bertjanssen.nl

http://www.swirlednews.com

http://www.heramagazine.net

http://www.CropCircleAnswers.com

http://www.ukcropcircles.co.uk/?page=home

 

 


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All Rights Reserved.