Odd figure crop circle
© Pierre BeakeThe mystery figure as shown on a slide.
Researchers in field
© Pierre BeakeNow you see it, now you don't.
AN EERIE figure was snapped seemingly watching a team that were investigating a crop circle. The tall, thin shape was said to be caught on camera by the group investigating a newly-formed crop circle near Avebury, in Wiltshire, which is near the historic Stonehenge monument.

Crop circles, allegedly made by landing UFOs according to believers, are widely considered a huge hoax. However, many people still believe they are a paranormal occurrence caused by aliens or other mysterious forces.

These include Pierre Beake, who travels from his native France to investigate each summer. He said: "We were at a crop circle near Avebury and there was what we thought was a person standing away in the field. The figure was still and did not move for 20 minutes."

He said the figure was recorded on video camera for the whole time, but the camera then panned to another part of the field, and when it returned the figure was gone.

He added: "The field was so big they could not have run away in time without still being seen in the field.

"Maybe they lay down in a tramline, but it would be strange. It is a strange case, and it was like it was watching the people inside the crop circle. I am not saying it was a ghost, but I think it was linked to the paranormal activity in Wiltshire."


Mr Beake has produced pictures showing the figure in shot and also of the same scene with it gone.

Crop circles were exposed as one of the world's biggest paranormal hoaxes in 1991, when Doug Bower and David Chorley were filmed showing how they made many of the reported corn field patterns discovered across the UK. The duo said they simply used wooden planks and rope to flatten corn in a circular fashion.

The pair started the tomfoolery in the 1970s to tease locals who believed in UFOs.

In the latter half of the 1990s more "circle makers", who tried to out do each other with the most complicated designs, emerged.

But despite the hoaxers outing themselves many years ago, there are now others, including Mr Beake, who refuse to believe they could make the "highly geometric" patterns and say there may be something much more paranormal behind them.

Mr Beake claimed that when you stand inside a crop circle: "You feel good."