The Moscow Snow Rings!

( with just a taste of the HugPoint SandRings )

Many Circle Researchers are familiar with stories of large, perfectly formed Rings' having been discovered in ice too thin to support even a child's weight. I myself have seen photographs of such Rings. I've also seen a picture of 3 impressive in-line Rings situated at the base of a Turkish mountain. What follows, however, is unique even amid the many wondrous stories of the exquisite Crop Circle Phenomenon ...

It is the account of a Russian gentleman, K. Avdeyev, who witnessed a Ball of Light (BOL) as it apparently manifested an intricate set of concentric Rings in snow. Mr. Avdeyev lived in an apartment building, and the Moscow Snow Rings were an unique addition to his backyard.

A point of interest:

The apartment building was located on ... the 'Street of Freedom'!

The article was translated for me by Leslie Spotkov, Assistant Director of the North Olympic Library System in Port Angeles, WA. I am most grateful to Ms. Spotkov for her gracious assistance and expertise.

The following is the English translation of the cover of the Russian magazine which carried the Snow Rings story in 1991. I do not know if the periodical is still being published, nor, to my regret, do I have even an old address through which to contact them. (If anyone has an original copy of this article that they'd part with in exchange for Crop Circle photos or materials, I'd greatly appreciate their sending it to me for inclusion in our archives.) I share this information purely for educational purposes:

UFO NLO Reality

Tsinlo Informator (Slovo) Number 3, 1991

Contents: Circles in the Fields

The 13-year Riddle of the Boat-Lake

Classics

Here is Mr. Avdeyev's first-hand account as it appeared in the UFO publication in his native Russian; below is the translation. [Emphases are my own:]

"Moscow: The Street of Freedom

"This was the night of December 20th. I can't say the exact time, but it was during the middle of the program 'Television News Service'. My attention was attracted to some kind of unfamiliar light in the window. It seemed to me that the street looked like daytime, not night-time. I approached the window and a little to the right of me I glimpsed a fireball of white Light. Its diameter was about 2-3 meters (~ 6-9 feet). I strained my eyes to determine if this Light was coming from the street. I raised the curtain simply to convince myself that perhaps the curtain gave some kind of glare. But I only proved that I was really seeing a Ball of Fire, 2-3 meters in diameter, like I already said.

"I jumped into the hall to get my camera from the table. I grabbed the camera and went to the kitchen window. Here I saw the Ball even better, but this was not really a Ball, rather some kind of circle without a center. It was inclined.

"I cannot say what kind of object it was with 100% accuracy, any more than I can say what it was not. There was a strange sensation, [as though] one were on the road at night and a car came towards you and you were blinded by the high-beams. You could not see the car, only the light. That was how it felt to me ... I couldn't really see anything except the blinding Light.

"Several seconds passed, I don't know [how many]. I took out my camera, but my head was spinning. I tried to take snapshots, even though the film was not for night photos. I thought I could make exposures [but] the object began to move. It withdrew [away] from the house and disappeared in about 50-60 seconds. Practically a moment and I could no longer see it. How did it leave? I cannot say; either up, or around a 45-degree corner, that was it. I stayed up about 30 minutes longer, then went to bed.

"In the morning about 10 o'clock, I went to the kitchen to drink some tea. A neighbour called and said, 'Did you look out the window? There is something incomprehensible!'

"I looked out and I myself could not understand the sight below my own window ... it was astonishing!

"The approximate time I had been observing? About 40 seconds, a minute at the most. When could this have been made? As it was leaving, moving up, it seemed to me, [it was] followed behind by some kind of tail; how many, I don't know.

"There, if you please, is the whole thing. [Only the] photographs of the Circles remain. I took them from the window [and shot] what [the Light] had left below. For more, you must look for yourselves."

Photo Captions

And so concludes Mr. Avdeyev's straightforward report of his extraordinary experience. Along with his story, the publication also included several of his photos taken from the fifth and ninth floors of the apartment building. The caption for one picture reads: "The diameter of the Circles was 8 meters (~ 24 feet). The regular step of the Rings spaced 20 centimetres (~8 inches) apart. The height of each Snow Ring: 6-8 centimetres (~ 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches)."

Three days later on December 23, Mr. Avdeyev again photographed the Rings from the 9th floor. His caption reads: "Along the perimeter of the Rings it was sunken. Many footsteps within the Circle, but the structure was still apparent."

Indeed, there, if you please, is the whole thing, the story for which we are indebted to HAO Magazine and Mr. K Avdeyev. I would very much like to obtain copies of the original photos, and would be willing to swap Crop Circle aerials of US and/or UK Formations for these of the Snow Rings. If anyone has any information regarding either the address of the magazine or of Mr. Avdeyev, I'd greatly appreciate their contacting me.

A Collection of BoLs: Confirmation x3

This is now the third account we've pieced together from witnesses who have seen these Balls of Light. The best-documented is the videotape footage shot by John Wheyleigh on August 11 1996 of the Lights we actually see Transmitting the Oliver's Castle Formation. This past Summer, a group of Czech visitors watched transfixed as three sets of BoLs performed an aerial ballet over their heads during the hours of darkness. Though they reported seeing all three sets of Lights, as John did, they were unable to see the Formation manifesting below them. It wasn't until Dawn broke that one among them discovered the Gift of the Sky dance at the foot of Milk Hill: the second Koch Fractal Formation of the Season. In the Russian's story, which chronologically is actually the first of the three, the gentleman reports that he, too, as the Czechs, witnessed only the Light that left the Snow Rings behind - he was not aware of the Snow Rings being Transmitted beneath them.

The Striking Similarities Between All Three Stories:

Intense White Lights

• Both the Czechs and the Russian emphasise the brilliance of the Light. A Light shone so intensely on the Czech woman's face that it awakened her as she slept in her car; she describes how it becomes "whiter and whiter" as it increases in size, and smaller as its brightness fades. Mr. Avdeyev refers to what he saw as a "Ball of white Light ... a Ball of Fire". We can see for ourselves on the video that the BoLs are indeed bright if we consider their distance to John's camera. For a downloadable version of the Oliver's Castle Video, click here.

A MPEG Video of the Lights at Oliver`s Castle.

Duration

• John's footage (showing us one-and-a-half sets of BoLs) lasts approximately 18 seconds. The Czechs report that the total elapsed time for the second and third sets of BoLs* to complete their work was perhaps half-a-minute or less. Mr. Avdeyev estimates that he watched the single BOL for maybe 40 to 60 seconds.

(* The Czechs report that there was an interval between the first and second sets of Light ... see their interview for the story.

Czech Witnesses' Field Experience Supports BOL-generation of Formations

Rapid Extinguishing of the Light

• The Czech gentleman recounted that the BoLs "shined ... really intensively, then they just stopped shining ... they ... suddenly stopped shining"; his friend recalls that the single bright Light they initially saw faded and suddenly "was gone". Mr. Avdeyev relates that he watched the fire BOL for approximately 50 seconds, after which "practically a moment and I could no longer see it." In John's video footage, we see the Lights zip into the distance as they retrace their path, crossing through two hedgerows before we lose sight of them.

Three Startling "Coincidences" ...

• In each case, as Dawn breaks, a unique Formation is discovered immediately beneath the area the BoL(s) had passed over minutes to hours before.

... and a 'Maybe'

• Although the word-of-mouth report of a fourth incident comes from but a single source, I'll include it here for completeness: A young man told me that the night before the HugPoint SandRings were discovered by David Jinks and his friends, he and his own friends had been on the coast south of HugPoint and watched as a reddish-yellow BoL traveled rapidly above the surface of the Pacific Ocean from South to North. From his recollection which he shared with me in response to my SandRings story, we concluded that it was possible for that red-yellow Light to have passed west of the Hug Point area. Neither he nor his friends saw anything else. Although this BoL may or may not have had any connection with the SandRings, I think it's an interesting anecdote.

On The Other Hand ...

I've also been considering a few of the more striking differences between the first three reports:

Hail, hail, was the Gang all There?

• Of course, the main obvious difference between John Wheyleigh's/ the Czechs' account and the Russian's is that the former witness 3 sets of BoLs, while the latter's story features only a single, brilliant Light ... unless ...

At the end of his narrative, Mr. Avdeyev notes that "[the bright Light was] followed behind by some kind of tail ..." But then he curiously adds, "... how many, I don't know." Is it possible that there were other smaller BoLs ... 3 sets of them, to be precise! ... which he was unable to see due to the blinding brilliance of the large one upon which he focused? He himself noted, "I couldn't really see anything except the blinding Light." At this point, it's pure conjecture (though predicated upon other first-hand reports). I believe that this "some kind of tail" may have consisted of six smaller Balls of Light surging in the wake of the large one ...

BoLs: Spheres? or Toruses!

• The Russian describes the BoL as "not really a ball, rather some kind of circle without a centre ... It was inclined." On the video, most viewers concur that the BoLs appear to be spheres ... although video analyst Patrick Wilson enhanced a screen capture of a pair of them, and noted a distinct distortion on the upper surfaces of both LightSpheres. (I'm wondering if that 'distortion' doesn't disclose more than a square-pixel-glitch on a screen ...?) The Czech gentleman sees the BoLs as "just round circles ... round," while his friend illustrates their apparent size by cupping her hands toward each other and holding them roughly eight inches apart.

I sense that this year's Woodborough Hill Torus Formation was a major Gift, the study of which will reveal ever-larger chunks of this stimulating Mystery.

Neither Rain nor Sleet ...nor Time of Day nor Year ... Stay the CircleMakers' from Their Course

• Neither weather nor temperature seem to affect the capability of the BoLs, for though John taped the Transmission between periods of rain, the Czechs witnessed the BoLs from their vehicle, because of the rain. The Russian does not state whether or not there was precipitation falling (though of course there was snow on the ground). He notes, however, and his photos confirm, that it was cold enough for the Rings' structure to be "still apparent" three days later, even after "many [visitors'] footsteps" had walked over the Pattern.

• Both the '96 Oliver's Castle and '97 Milk Hill Formations arrived during Summer months; the Russian SnowRings were Transmitted into several inches of snow during the latter part of December.

• Two of the Formations apparently arrived during the hours of darkness, while one manifested synchronically with the Dawn's light.

The Sound

• While both the Englishman and the Czech woman report a Sound which they attribute to the first set of BoLs, the Russian's account does not mention one. Did Mr. Avdeyev's window remain closed against the cold throughout the rapidly unfolding Event? Did he have a heater or other electrical appliance running in the kitchen which might have precluded his hearing The Sound during the few seconds it might otherwise have been heard? Might he have been hearing-impaired? Was there, indeed, a Sound to be heard??

While we can only speculate as to why Mr. Avdeyev made no reference to the Circle-generating Sound, at this point I'm leaning even more heavily toward the probability that the 'Crop Circle Sound' occurs integrally at the beginning of every Transmission, coincident with the first - and only the first - set of BoLs.

So there you have them: three stories with several strong similarities as well as one possible major difference (3 sets of BoLs vs. a single, stationary FireBoL [whose great luminosity, nonetheless, might have eclipsed any smaller accompanying BoLs]); and more food-for-thought: a most interesting new prospect to consider regarding BoLs as Tori, rather than as spheres; and still more tantalising and unanswered questions regarding The Sound ...

It appears (to my surprise and delight!) that I am collecting BoL stories ( ! ) ... If any of you have, or know of someone who's had, a similar experience I'd very much appreciate your contacting me about it. I believe that The Circles are Arriving for each of us on the planet, and that only through openly sharing our stories and experiences will we gain a broader perspective regarding "what on Earth is going on".

If your interest is piqued by the story of the SnowRings and if you're primed for an additional related story with mind-boggling graphics, you may want to explore the following:

Oregon's SandRings!

The Pattern of Moscow's SnowRings is almost stunningly identical to that of the HugPoint SandRings Formation which arrived on wet sand on Oregon's coast in 1994.

To read the HugPoint SandRings article, click here.

Thank you for your interest ... and as always, your feedback is most welcome!

- ilyes

National Coordinator
Centre for Crop Circle Studies / US Network
October 28, 1997