Crab Wood: No, It Wasn’t Circlemakers.org

Here at The Croppie we have never shied away from our love-hate perspective on the legendary 2002 ‘pizza delivery alien’ formation that appeared at Crab Wood, close to Sparsholt on the outskirts of Winchester. Whilst we think it’s somewhat crass, it’s also an outstanding technical achievement. We have previously called it the pinnacle of circle making, or similar. However, nobody has publicly claimed responsibility for making this formation.

Then, in 2020, Colin Andrews stepped forward with the claim that the circle had been a commissioned piece made for Touchstone Pictures and the movie Signs. Andrews went as far as to name ‘Circlemakers … from London’ as the team responsible. We presumed he meant Circlemakers.org, as they’ve often been referred to as ‘the London team’ through the years. However, when we spoke to one of their members they denied any such conversation had taken place with Andrews.

Around this time, Andrew Pyrka’s (or was it ‘Mike Farrow”s) Crop Circle ‘Wisdom’ website also published its own piece on who it believed made Crab Wood. Out of respect for them we won’t name them here.

Once Crop Circle ‘Wisdom’ disappeared we thought the article may have been lost. We eventually tracked it down via Archive.org, but in late 2025, it reappeared in amended form on ‘Farrow”s Canvas of Gold website. We recently revisited this piece and noticed an interesting amendment:

‘Farrow’ claimed:

As the investigation deepened, speculation swirled around the names connected to the Crabwood Alien. Rumours blurred fact and fiction, and the line between assistants and masterminds grew dangerously thin. It was then that Wil Russell [a member of Circlemakers.org], a long‑standing figure within the circle‑making community, stepped forward to set the record straight.

We take issue with the suggestion that the screenshots posted by ‘Farrow’ show Wil Russell as ‘set[ting] the record straight’.

Whilst the top comment in the screencap does relate to Crab Wood, given it refers to the alleged meeting between Andrews and a member of Circlemakers.org, the other two comments do do not. (We like to think that ‘Farrow’ was mistaken in posting those screenshots as opposed to being disingenuous.)

How do we know this? We have spoken to Wil on 29 and 30 July 2026 to clarify the matter and he says those two screen shots have been published ‘out of context’. In addressing ‘Peter Palin’, Wil was referring to commercial work done at dates after the Crab Wood formation became known. (Certainly, this is not the first time Wil has told us that the September 2002 Richard and Judy crop circle was Circlemakers.org’s commission, on which they were helped by the Crab Wood formation’s alleged makers.) Going back fifteen years, one us now at The Croppie was told by another Circlemakers.org member that Crab Wood was ‘made by a young man of some genius’ who subsequently retired from illegal circle making. This individual was not a member of Circlemakers.org.

Finally, here’s something else to consider. Circlemakers.org have never been backwards in coming forwards about their commercial work, yet they make no claim to Crab Wood on their website. We find that particularly odd.

All in, we have seen no evidence to suggest that Crab Wood was a paid commission. ‘Farrow’ observes that the farmer was not particularly surprised or upset by the circle that had appeared in his field. However, again, this does not mean the formation was a paid for, commissioned piece made on behalf of Touchstone Pictures.

It is our opinion that the Crab Wood formation was made by the same group of circle makers that Crop Circle Wisdom originally named. This seems clearer in light of comments later left by their members on Instagram which seem sarcastic when referring to the Crab Wood formation as a ‘commission’. Notably, this group of circle makers have also not mentioned the Crab Wood circle within their own portfolio of paid-for work.