In recent days The Croppie has spoken to an individual who claims to have been parked up close to East Field on the night the ‘Aum’ or ‘777’ formation was completed in 2007. This person’s words closely reflect those relaid by Andy Buckley after the event from a man with the pseudonym John. The Croppie assumes it is one and the same person.

If you need to, you can read more on the background to the case by clicking here.

The testimony is published here without comment. The views expressed are those of the author and not The Croppie:

The 777 monstrosity. Photograph by Steve Alexander

I left home on the 6th July 2007 having known for a few weeks before that I needed to be in Wiltshire. I spent the day of the 7th touring and visiting different crop circles. During the evening I went to The Barge Inn to meet up with my friend John Woolard. We spent a few hours there before John drove home. Before he went we arranged to meet up the next day. 

Around 10.00pm I decided to make the short drive to East Field as I felt it was the place I should be. After I parked up in the silage pit on the road towards Pewsey I started to make myself comfortable for the cropwatch. I made coffee and set up my portable DVD player. Sat on the back seat I began to watch a crop circle movie. 

Around 10.15pm a dark blue or black 4×4 turned into the silage pit with its headlights on full-beam. One of the passengers got out and walked towards my car, about fifteen feet away from me. He was wearing a long coat down to his knees. The collar was up and it partially covered the side of his face. The man looked straight at me so I asked him if I could help him. He never answered and went back to the 4×4. It sped off towards Huish. Looking back, I’m confident the man who came over to my car was Matthew Williams.

The 4×4 returned within fifteen minutes. By this time it was quite dark and the stars were visible. Four people got out of the vehicle and it left again in the direction of Huish. The people ignored me and began to run one after the other, jumping over the tall stinging nettles into East Field. Things went very quiet again. Not being able to see the people now, I listened very carefully to try to understand why the group had gone across the fields. Was it a shortcut home for them?

Within half an hour I began to hear faint voices and a swishing noise I believe was stomping. I didn’t see them carrying any boards, tape measures or anything like that. Later, when I saw the formation, I realised they had possibly left their gear in the tramlines sometime earlier.

At around 3.00am I heard a voice on what could have been a walkie talkie saying ‘Okay, all completed’. I then saw a flash on the hill, where I subsequently learned from [croppie] Charles Mallett that Gary King, his girlfriend and Winston Keech were watching the fields and filming. So this flash may have been from a camera. Everything went quiet around 3.30 to 4.00am. 

Around 8.30am  I met with Charles Mallett inside the crop circle. I spoke with him at length about the night’s events but he dismissed what I had to say and claimed the formation was genuine. I was totally stumped. It wasn’t until later in the day that I began to piece together what was going on: I drove to the Crop Circle Café at Cherhill, ordered breakfast and listened to what other customers and visitors were saying. It turned out that DVDs were going to be made of the crop circle. They were expecting tourists from Europe and Asia to visit and buy the DVDs.

After I had finished eating I went outside to talk with people who were turning up at the café. They’d already heard of the crop circle and were excited at the prospect of going to see it. I tried to explain what I had seen and heard, but most didn’t want to know what I had to say. Suddenly I was surrounded by people. One of them told me ‘You need to leave the area. Better still, if you know what is good for you, Wiltshire.’

I laughed and walked away. Just then, John Woolard arrived. He’d heard the rumours of the East Field circle too. He stood with me and we were subsequently joined by a croppie called Malcolm who knew more about the circle makers than I did!

Later in the day Andy Buckley got in touch. John had given him my number and Andy asked if I could provide him with a statement on what I saw and heard the previous night; he was going to present the evidence at the crop circle convention in Glastonbury but he decided not to use it.

I won’t go into too much detail but I was threatened by someone close to the events in East Field that night. I spoke with Matthew Williams who told me who was involved in the plot. I believe, on the basis of what I had overheard in the café, that the circle had been because it was in the interests of people who would profit from tourism and DVD sales.