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.

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.

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.

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