Appearance on Schofield's Quest, ITV, late-1994
Interviewer is Karon Keating
Keating: Hi, Doug. Now listen, this is an extraordinary thing to do as a sort of hobby. When did you start making crop circles?
Bower: Well, the late 70s, about 1978.
Keating: And why?
Bower: Well, I wanted people to think that a UFO had landed during the night. We had to create something that’s circular, and of course UFOs were known to be circular then, or believed to be circular, and I thought, if you make a circular mark in a cornfield, by the next morning the general public, er, would think that a UFO had landed during the night.
Keating: So it started off as one huge practical joke, really?
Bower: Well, it’s all a bit of fun, really, yes. I mean, after we’d had a pint of beer and a chat in the pub, and, er - we thought this up - and, er, we thought it would give them a bit of a mystery, something to look at, something to measure up, and, er, lo-and-behold, you know as well as me that, er, what happened after that.
Keating: Well, you certainly started something huge. How many do you reckon you’ve made over the years?
Bower: Well, for the first years we just did one on a Friday night, and, er, the season I suppose would be about ten to twelve weeks, so you can reckon on about 12 circles for the first few years but, er, my wife didn’t know anything about this for seven years, but it was rather a good thing when she did get to know because it enabled us to go out several evenings a week instead of one. [Keating laughs]. So therefore, the, er, the amount of crop circles increased as the years went by.
Keating: Now, you can’t possibly be responsible for all the crop circles that have been made, so how do you explain the others?
Bower: Well, about six years ago [1988] the hoaxers, as we call them, from Wiltshire, they started copying us, which made us very sad really, because we’d had it all to ourselves for quite a number of years. And, erm, they’re still continuing it to this day. Who they are, I don’t know.
Keating: Now, what do the experts have to say about you and your crop circles?
Bower: Erm, it’s got to be something genuine as far as they’re concerned, because it’s such a lucrative industry now. Er, but, if you want my opinion of it, it’s, er, it’s just a bit of fun and, I mean, it’s flattened corn! They say it’s aliens from outer space, a lot of these people [sic]. If they had the technology to come through hundreds or thousands of light years to visit this planet, what on earth are they doing trampling around in cornfields at night, doing these silly patterns? [Both laugh]. So, I mean it’s absolutely ridiculous.
Keating: At least you’ve had a good laugh over the years. Listen, you say you make them with this stick, and this hat, and extraordinary, sort of eye piece [the sighting device] here. Can you show me how to make one?
Bower: Yes, well this sight, you see, this enables us to make a straight line in the dark, or semi-darkness - it’s never really dark in the summer months - and if you line up, erm, a telegraph pole or a cottage window, a bedroom window that’s lit up, you can walk straight towards it and create a straight line in the corn. And then you can tread this down with the stick afterwards, and create the corridors, as they call them, er, before you do the circles.
Keating: And that’s all there is to it?
Bower: That’s all there is to it.
Keating: Well, let’s see you go and make one then.
Bower: Right.
Keating: [To camera] This should be interesting!
Bower goes into the field to make the circle, which is filmed from an elevated position, with the entire sequence played through at high speed until the circle is complete. Schofield afterwards said it took about 15 minutes to make.
Keating: Hi, Doug. Now listen, this is an extraordinary thing to do as a sort of hobby. When did you start making crop circles?
Bower: Well, the late 70s, about 1978.
Keating: And why?
Bower: Well, I wanted people to think that a UFO had landed during the night. We had to create something that’s circular, and of course UFOs were known to be circular then, or believed to be circular, and I thought, if you make a circular mark in a cornfield, by the next morning the general public, er, would think that a UFO had landed during the night.
Keating: So it started off as one huge practical joke, really?
Bower: Well, it’s all a bit of fun, really, yes. I mean, after we’d had a pint of beer and a chat in the pub, and, er - we thought this up - and, er, we thought it would give them a bit of a mystery, something to look at, something to measure up, and, er, lo-and-behold, you know as well as me that, er, what happened after that.
Keating: Well, you certainly started something huge. How many do you reckon you’ve made over the years?
Bower: Well, for the first years we just did one on a Friday night, and, er, the season I suppose would be about ten to twelve weeks, so you can reckon on about 12 circles for the first few years but, er, my wife didn’t know anything about this for seven years, but it was rather a good thing when she did get to know because it enabled us to go out several evenings a week instead of one. [Keating laughs]. So therefore, the, er, the amount of crop circles increased as the years went by.
Keating: Now, you can’t possibly be responsible for all the crop circles that have been made, so how do you explain the others?
Bower: Well, about six years ago [1988] the hoaxers, as we call them, from Wiltshire, they started copying us, which made us very sad really, because we’d had it all to ourselves for quite a number of years. And, erm, they’re still continuing it to this day. Who they are, I don’t know.
Keating: Now, what do the experts have to say about you and your crop circles?
Bower: Erm, it’s got to be something genuine as far as they’re concerned, because it’s such a lucrative industry now. Er, but, if you want my opinion of it, it’s, er, it’s just a bit of fun and, I mean, it’s flattened corn! They say it’s aliens from outer space, a lot of these people [sic]. If they had the technology to come through hundreds or thousands of light years to visit this planet, what on earth are they doing trampling around in cornfields at night, doing these silly patterns? [Both laugh]. So, I mean it’s absolutely ridiculous.
Keating: At least you’ve had a good laugh over the years. Listen, you say you make them with this stick, and this hat, and extraordinary, sort of eye piece [the sighting device] here. Can you show me how to make one?
Bower: Yes, well this sight, you see, this enables us to make a straight line in the dark, or semi-darkness - it’s never really dark in the summer months - and if you line up, erm, a telegraph pole or a cottage window, a bedroom window that’s lit up, you can walk straight towards it and create a straight line in the corn. And then you can tread this down with the stick afterwards, and create the corridors, as they call them, er, before you do the circles.
Keating: And that’s all there is to it?
Bower: That’s all there is to it.
Keating: Well, let’s see you go and make one then.
Bower: Right.
Keating: [To camera] This should be interesting!
Bower goes into the field to make the circle, which is filmed from an elevated position, with the entire sequence played through at high speed until the circle is complete. Schofield afterwards said it took about 15 minutes to make.