“I Do Not Think We Are In A Position To Help Out”

I emailed the letter below to the head of Oxford’s Department of Plant Sciences. I am posting this letter, and the terse response to it that I quickly received in return, to let everyone know that Crop Circles Research Foundation is making attempts ( so far unsuccessfully) to gain the interest of the larger scientific community in the scientific study of the Crop Circle Phenomenon. This posting is not to be construed as a personal attack on Professor Jane Langdale, head of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford. Rather, it is an indictment of the social engineering, carried out primarily through our incompetent mainstream media, which has relegated the legitimate scientific study of important phenomena, including the Crop Circle, UFO, and animal dissection phenomena, to the status of fringe subjects allegedly attended to by only the “conspiracy theorists” and the most pathetic and gullible “believers” of our world. If we are to continue making the scientific progress that will be required to insure the continued survival of our civilization, these false assumptions and truly unscientific attitudes will need to be changed in the near future. The letter:

February 28, 2012
Dear Professor Langdale,

I am Richard K. O’Connor, M.D., residing and working as an anesthesiologist in Helena, Montana, USA. I established the nonprofit organization Crop Circles Research Foundation, Inc. (CCRF) in June 2010 with a hope of encouraging, primarily through funding grants made to legitimate researchers, the scientific study of the crop circles which routinely occur each and every growing season, for more than three decades, in and around the county of Wiltshire there in the U.K. It is my conviction that there is much that remains to be learned about the enigmatic crop circle phenomenon and which has not, to date, been addressed by the established scientific community. While “artistic vandals using ropes and boards” has been promoted by the press as the most obvious explanation for the creation of the crop circles, and while there is no doubt that this explains the method of creation of some, perhaps the majority, of the crop circles, it is my considered opinion that this mechanism cannot explain certain features and characteristics which those who have delved more deeply into the study of the crop circles have discovered. I will not take your time to specifically outline all of the features of certain crop circles which have led myself and many others to seriously question the “ropes and boards” explanation as the only possible explanation for their existence (there are many), but I do insist that these enigmatic features do exist and that they do merit a more methodical investigation employing accepted scientific standards and methods.

Specific, characteristic features of plants found within some (a minority) of crop circles which have previously been described by crop circle researchers (exploded growth nodes, elongated growth nodes, and/or “welded” insect parts) suggest that a study addressing the microbiological flora of plants harvested from within a crop circle’s boundary might demonstrate a significant alteration in specific microorganisms (bacteria and/or fungi) and/or their population densities, when compared to unaffected (control) plants harvested from the same crop field but slightly remote from the crop circle proper. Demonstrable differences in these populations of microbes might then serve as a distinctive microbiological marker, allowing crop circles to be categorized into those which manifest this change in the expected microbiologic flora and those which do not. Crop circle research which has been previously carried out by the BLT Research Team (http://bltresearch.com) suggests that some crop circle formations appear to result from an as yet unknown source of incident energy which super-heats the water in plant stems, resulting in expansion or explosion of stem nodes and, in some cases, “welding” of insect parts to plant stems or seed heads. If this is true (photos supporting these descriptions do exist), then the water within resident plant microorganisms, if also similarly super-heated by this incident energy, might result in internal steam formation and the resulting lysis of cell membranes of those microorganisms which would normally be found viable on those plants located within the confines of these certain crop circles. Perhaps due to varying cell water content, cell membrane thickness, or other species-specific variables among micro-organisms comprising the normal flora of various crop plants, susceptibility to cell membrane disruption (and resulting cell death) from internal steam formation may result in demonstrable differences in the relative populations of viable micro-organisms (or spore viability) between plants harvested from within and those from outside the boundary of these certain crop circle formations. That is my hypothesis.

Crop Circles Research Foundation is attempting to identify and fund, to the extent that it is able, a graduate student or other qualified plant scientist or microbiologist who would be interested in and capable of engaging in a study designed to demonstrate whether (or not) a reliable microbiological marker(s) can be identified which might serve to categorize crop circles into those in which such changes in resident populations of microbes are present and those in which they are not. This individual would need to have a working knowledge of techniques utilized in standard microbiological methods, standard practices of sterile technique, ready access to a nearby lab equipped with the tools utilized in basic microbiology, and in the culture and identification of bacterial and / or fungal microorganisms derived from the plant specimens. The individual would need to have transportation readily available in order to quickly arrive at the location of any newly discovered crop circle in order to minimize the possibility of microbiologic contamination of the crop circle site by weather or by “croppies”. A notification to local farmers in Wiltshire indicating that a graduate student from Oxford is engaged in a legitimate scientific study of the microbiology of crop circles would very likely be, I believe, most welcomed by farmers in the Wiltshire area who have been confounded for decades by the repeated, sudden appearances of crop circles within their fields and the resulting decrement in yield which must necessarily result from their creation. A crop circle “hot line” to this student, in collaboration with the local farming community, would be invaluable to the goal of obtaining plant specimens prior to contamination by wind, rain, or human activity. The logistics of this study would be formidable, but the results might prove quite interesting and in fact invaluable in helping to increase our understanding of the ongoing enigma of the crop circles. I myself would apply to Oxford specifically to help orchestrate this study in connection with a university of such renown, but I am rather entrenched here with my responsibilities to my community. I have visited Oxford and find the important work which has been accomplished there over the centuries, the scholastic atmosphere, and the historical ambiance to be unparalleled by any other university I have ever visited.

Any help you might provide in identifying such a special individual/research candidate will be most appreciated. If you believe that such a study would be better addressed by a dedicated microbiologist rather than a plant scientist, or that such a study should be addressed by individuals from both disciplines simultaneously, then please advise. The 2012 crop circle season is quickly approaching and there are many concerns that will need to be addressed in designing and funding an appropriate study protocol.

Best Wishes,
Richard O’Connor, M.D.
Executive Director, Crop Circles Research Foundation, Inc.

Professor Langdale’s reponse:
Dear Richard,
Thank you for your email. Interesting as it sounds, I do not think that we are in a position to help out. Best regards,
Jane Langdale

If we read between the lines, Professor Langdale is not telling me that the proposal outlined above is unworthy of scientific consideration and study. Rather, professor Langdale is telling me that the University of Oxford “is not in a position to help out” because our scientific community is socially constrained by a taboo surrounding their approach to Crop Circles and other, very likely related current mysteries such as the UFO and the animal dissection phenomena. This unfortunate situation places artificial constraints upon our scientific approach to important unknowns and reveals that we have made little progress in opening our minds to the myriad possibilities and unique surprises presented by an infinite universe. We have not yet grasped the true significance implied by the word “INFINITY”.