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Circles in the Grass, Terror at the Lake
by Stephen Adair
Most of us are familiar with the old ‘bait and switch’ routine. You know, drop by our store for this advertised special, when you arrive you learn that they are ‘out of stock’ on that item, but we have something even better over here. Well, your intrepid reporters at UFO*BC just experienced something similar in May 1998. Curious? Please read on.....
On the 20th of May, we responded to a call on our hotline (878-6511, write it down, folks) from a lady in Surrey, close to the Langley boundary, regarding 3 circles, or more accurately 1 large oval shape, accompanied by two smaller circles in the deep grass behind their residence. Apparently, she had come out to feed her goats in the back yard about 6 p.m. on May 13. Our caller noted that one of the goats was quite distressed, and would not eat, which we were told is quite unusual. It was at this point that she noticed the impressions in the very tall grass. Graham Conway and I arranged to meet the lady there about one week after these circles had appeared. Also in attendance was the well traveled and undisputed leading crop circle investigator in Canada, Chad Deetken. When we arrived we did indeed find a large oval impression in the grass, about 15 X 20 ft., and two small circles ‘attached’ to the larger one, about 8 to 10 feet in diameter. After a week, the grass was of course starting to ‘spring back’, or return to it’s original growth pattern, but the presence of these formations was evident none the less. Our caller also assured us that when she first came across the impressions, they were very well defined.
We proceeded to take photographs, (some from a precarious step ladder position) and Graham noted that the grass in the large impression, and one of the smaller ones, was flattened in an east to west direction, while the grass in the third circle laid in a SE to NW direction. We also noticed that the nodules on the stems were bent and swollen, but not broken.
The caller’s property sits on approximately one acre, in very lush grass, (about 4 feet high) surrounded by Aspen trees that are perhaps fifty feet in height. There was no evident damage to the branches or leaves.
Chad Deetken entered the large impression with a compass, and found that there was no unusual compass reaction. He then traversed the length of this circle, extending two dowsing rods, held loosely in his hands in a parallel position. After a few moments, he came to a spot where the dowsing rods reacted by crossing each other. This also occurred in another spot in the same impression. He also got the same results in each of the smaller circles, signifying some sort of ‘energy centres’. He explained to me that these ‘energy centres’ can be so strong in circles investigated in certain parts of the world, that the dowsing rods can actually ‘jump’ out of a person’s hands. He has personally witnessed this phenomenon. He offered the rods to the resident, explained the use of them, and she got the same results. At this point, we have no idea what could have formed these impressions. As well, there have been no reports of lights or unusual noises in the area. The ‘crop circle mystery’ continues.
What of this ‘bait and switch’ business you ask. Well, it seems that while we did indeed visit the caller regarding these formations in the grass, the really intriguing story was imparted to us around the kitchen table before we left. Hence the ‘terror at the lake’ story unfolds .......
Around September of 1992, our caller (J.C.), two of her daughters and a friend, felt compelled to take a drive out to the Gold Creek area of Alouette Lake, in the Haney area, to ‘celebrate the rising of the full moon’. J.C. tells us now that this was a "dumb reason" to drive to Alouette Lake at night, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea. Off they went. The first thing they noticed that seemed strange to them upon arriving in the area, was that there seemed to be absolutely no one around. "Usually you are falling over park rangers, there are so many" she told us. But not tonight. There was but one car in the parking lot, again, unusual.
It was peaceful and quiet about 8 p.m. while the four were waiting for the moon to rise. Suddenly, pebbles and small rocks began dropping from the sky all around them. Understandably this caused great confusion and upset. Thinking that they were the victims of someone’s idea of a practical joke, they responded accordingly, yelling in all directions to "knock it off!" It would seem that there were other expletives uttered, but we will leave that to your fertile imaginations! The rocks continued to fall. They fell for two hours. Amazingly, not one of the four were hit by any of the rocks, they just plunk, plunk, plunk fell for two hours, from the sky.
Then, just as suddenly, the rock assault ended, when a soft ‘whirring’ sound was heard. The group spun around, and coming over the trees was a "huge diamond shaped object" with a bright light at each point of the ‘diamond’. One of the daughters tells us this was about the size of a 747 aircraft. It came over top of them, and hovered directly over their heads for ‘about a minute’. Estimated height was about two hundred feet. They all stood and stared at this wondrous thing, then J.C. turned for ‘just a second’ to look at her daughter, looked up again, and the object was gone. The rocks then began to fall again! The area still seemed deserted, no park rangers, no campers, nobody! This is impossible! Watching the full moon rise, suddenly didn’t seem like a really good reason to hang around the area any longer. The four quickly formed a single file, and semi-running headed up the path to the parking lot, with J.C. in the lead. The rocks continued to fall. M .A. , one of her daughters was at the end of the line, and shouted to her mother that there is "someone behind us". J.C. turned around and shone her flashlight past her daughter, and they saw a very small figure, not more than two feet tall, blue and white in colour (!), dart behind a tree. The pace of their exit really picked up here. Making it to the parking lot, there was still only the one vehicle parked there. With a shower of gravel they took off down the road to the park gate where there is always a guard or ranger in the gatehouse. But not tonight.
The following day, J.C. returned to the area with a friend, and fully expected to find evidence of the pranksters that surely had been throwing the rocks the night before. Perhaps discarded pop or beer tins, food wrappers etc.. There was nothing. Just prior to leaving the park, a rock hurtled (horizontally) past her friends face, at eye level. J.C. has yet to return to this place! On two other occasions, both while driving on the Mike Lake Road, the interior of their car lit up with a blue flash (first time) and the second time, a white flash. To our knowledge, two of the family members have been experiencing vivid nightmares. One of the daughters was caught ‘sleepwalking’, with her eyes open and ‘glazed over’, and speaking in a voice other than her own. M.A. has woken up with cuts and bruises, having no idea how they got there. They have heard screaming, and mumbling sounds in the house, doors slam of their own free will, the fireplace has suddenly burst into flame, creating a roaring fire, when prior attempts to get the thing going have failed. Radio’s have suddenly turned on as though they had a mind of their own.
And so the puzzle continues. I would like to think that these people have had their final experiences, as they surely must be growing weary of it all by now. But I suspect that there is more to come, and more to this than we could possibly hope to understand. We can’t provide anything in the way of an answer to all this, we can sympathize, and speculate. And wonder who among us is next to be pelted with rocks, scratched from an unseen source (my own experience) and generally tormented by who or what? Is there a paranormal/UFO connection? It would almost seem to be so. More speculation. All we can do is continue to monitor the ‘Hotline’, and drive off into the puzzle with our cameras, notepads and tape recorders. And wish all of you the best.