Golden Ball Hill
Wiltshire - England
Vale of Pewsey
May 1, 2005
All the photographs in this report were taken on May 2, 2005, by William Betts — one of the first visitors to this field after the formation was discovered.
The landowner was notoriously reluctant to let strangers, often disrespectful, set foot on his property and was known for firmly opposing any intrusion.
As a result, very little documentation exists online showing the actual condition of the stems and flowers in this crop circle. At the time, few people seemed interested in examining the details and subtle clues.
Today, we remain the only ones to present photographic evidence of this formation.
This crop circle raised an intriguing question: what really happens when, in a blooming field of oilseed rape, the plants, stems, and seed heads are pressed flat by a mechanical force — and a human walks over the laid stems?
We challenged the circlemakers’ community to reproduce this effect, with the landowner’s consent, of course.
View the CHALLENGE IN OILSEED RAPE — On the ARCHIVE site.
View “2005 — Mystery at Golden Ball Hill”.
View the file from the series “THE FIRST SIGNS OF THE MILLENNIUM,” related to this crop circle.
The landowner was notoriously reluctant to let strangers, often disrespectful, set foot on his property and was known for firmly opposing any intrusion.
As a result, very little documentation exists online showing the actual condition of the stems and flowers in this crop circle. At the time, few people seemed interested in examining the details and subtle clues.
Today, we remain the only ones to present photographic evidence of this formation.
This crop circle raised an intriguing question: what really happens when, in a blooming field of oilseed rape, the plants, stems, and seed heads are pressed flat by a mechanical force — and a human walks over the laid stems?
We challenged the circlemakers’ community to reproduce this effect, with the landowner’s consent, of course.
View the CHALLENGE IN OILSEED RAPE — On the ARCHIVE site.
View “2005 — Mystery at Golden Ball Hill”.
View the file from the series “THE FIRST SIGNS OF THE MILLENNIUM,” related to this crop circle.
1 - Have a look at ground shots of the latest crop circle which appeared under Golden Ball Hill, Wiltshire. They were taken a day after its arrival. It had already had one or two visitors. The photographs show a beautifully and delicately laid crop giving the feeling of a river of flowers, as if they had simply dropped down a step to create the shape. Amazing.
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3 - Notice the upright stem on the left and the bent stem on the right. If this had been done mechanically both would have ended up flattened to the ground.
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5 - The stem with the double bend seen in the foreground was uprooted and photographed a short time after. There appear to be what look like expulsion cavities on the underside.(See this photo link)
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11 -Here are more ground shots of the crop circle in oilseed rape which appeared under Golden Ball Hill, Wiltshire, taken a day after its arrival, on May Day 2005. The photographs show beautifully and delicately laid plants, you almost get the feeling of a river of flowers, as if they had simply dropped a step down to create the shape. It had had one or two visitors, but the vaste majority of the laid stems were undamaged.
12 - Most of the stems were bent at the base, but there were some broken ones as well where previous visitors may have walked.
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21 - View from Knap Hill.
22 - The uprooted stem below shows a double twist. This suggests it was bent AND TWISTED during the flattening process.
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25 - View taken from Golden Ball Hill by Lucy Pringle late in the season.
External link to the YouTube video
Golden Ball Hill 2005 — Updated page
Golden Ball Hill 2005 — Updated page
Botley 2006 — Updated page
Stonehenge 2010 — Updated page