Reported Crop Circles for the State of Minnesota -

Albany Township / Lake City / Rochester, Wabasha County (September, 1979)

Two circles in corn were discovered by the farmer, Curtis Olsen; he reported hearing the sounds of thunder and the flashes of lightning even though no storms were in the area. He went outside to investigate, and discovered a 50' diameter circle flattened from the center outward and the stalks at the center “missing” in 12’ high corn. He also reported “some charring”, and some of the ears were peeled back with the silks blown from the ears. He also reported two “paths between the circles”. The second circle was 20’ in diameter.

The same night before the circles were discovered, multiple witnesses reported seeing a BOL / UFO in the area, and a police officer chasing it drove his car into a ditch as a result.

The next day the local Wabasha County Extension agent examined the circles at the request of the local Sheriff’s Dept., and found that the damage was not the result of corn boers, root worms, or any disease. He also stated that the plants were still healthy and had good roots. He believed that the damage had been done up to a month earlier since the corn had started growing brace roots. He could not explain the burned corn, samples of which had been collected by the Sheriff’s Dept., nor could he explain the bare ground in the center of the large circle. He also found that the tops of some of the corn stalks had been “cut off”. He did not believe that the corn had been trampled down by people because that would have broken the stalks near the base, and there was no such damage to be found.

In April 1987, the Associated Press ran a story (which resurfaced in August 2002 on NPR), of a man named David Olsen (brother of Curtis the farmer) who made a hoax claim to the local press which received national attention. He claimed he had spent five hours hoaxing the two circles back in 1979 on the same night the BOL / UFO was spotted and the policeman crashed his car. This was before the Doug Bower / Dave Chorley claim, but both claims have very similar stories as to the tools used to make the circles. Some of Olsen's family, most notably his brother and nephew, who were witnesses to the circles either disbelieve him, or they hate him so much for hoaxing them and claiming credit, that they have stopping talking to him.

Eyewitness report only.

Crop type: soybeans

Source: “Ground Effects UFO Landing Traces”, UFO Report October 1980; UFO Update No. 7 Summer 1980; National Public Radio; Associated Press; Minneapolis Star-Tribune, August 10, 2002
 

  


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Page last updated on August 17, 2011

© 2008 ICCRA - Jeffrey & Delsey Wilson.