The

H-Glaze

Explained


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Addendum  (New)

Of all the evidence of preternatural activity associated with crop formations, the most intriguing was a deposit that became known as the H-Glaze.   In 1993, two crop circle researchers, Peter Sørensen and Busty Taylor, noticed a distinctive area in a recently harvested field.   It seemed to them that it could have been the site of a crop formation.  They noticed that there was a brown deposit on both the ground and on the flattened remains of the crop.  It was concentrated in three areas where the crop appeared to have been tightly swirled into circles of about 1 to 2 metres diameter. The deposit varied in thickness.   In places it did little more than stain the ground but there were also areas where, it was claimed, it was thick enough to have the appearance of having flowed over the ground. The researchers collected samples and it was quickly noticed that the deposit responded to a magnetic field - an observation that led to it being given the name H-glaze.  Some samples were sent to Levengood in America who later published a report¹.

This diagram (which is not to scale) was drawn by Peter Sørensen and depicts the lay of the crop visible even after harvesting. The two main components of the design were approximately 15 metres in diameter and 60 metres apart. The glaze was noticeable, coating the limestone soil and the flattened stems, leaves and seed-heads within the swirled regions indicated in red.

The location of the find was a field south of the Yatesbury turn-off on the A4 in Wiltshire, England. The fields in the area are strewn with chalk brought to the surface by ploughing. There are also a great many nodules of flint (flint is almost pure silica and occurs naturally in chalk).   The farmer stated that it had rained immediately prior to his noticing the damaged crop and, soon afterwards, he had harvested the field.  He only noticed the deposit during harvesting.  He had not seen anything like it before and could not offer an explanation for it.  There was nothing unusual about that particular area of the field.  There were no unusual mineral deposits nor rusting ironwork of any kind in the area.  He did all his own spraying and had not emptied out the contents of the tanks of his spraying equipment in the field (Some fertilizers precipitate elemental Iron when exposed to strong sun light).

I first became aware of this case in 1999 and, discovering that a few samples remained in the possession of its discoverers, requested that they should be made available for further scientific testing. Taylor supplied me with one small fragment but Sørensen kindly gave me all of the few remaining samples in his possession.   I examined these together with one that I borrowed from Nick Riley (the second sample).

At first, there seemed to be much that was inexplicable about the case.  There was clear evidence of heating, the deposit had infiltrated into narrow cracks in the chalk substrate and much of the glaze had a coating of fragments of silica and chalk.   However, over the intervening period, most, if not all, of this evidence has become untenable.   In the following pages, I shall go through this evidence and, hopefully, resolve this puzzling case.

As soon as I began investigating this case, I became aware that Rob Irving had claimed that he had created the formation and the deposit.   At the time, he was reported as saying that he had used 'Iron Filings'.   Even the most cursory microscopic examination of the Glaze proved that it was not composed of iron filings - that is to say, the finely reduced fragments of metal produced by passing a file over a piece of iron.  Such contorted remains are easily recognisable.   As a result, I didn't take his claims seriously until more recently when I was able to get a sample of the material he maintains that he had used.  The microscopic examination of this powder revealed its true source.  Follow this investigation on the next page.

1.      Levengood, W.C. and Burke, J.A. (1995)
         Semi-Molten Meteoric Iron Associated with a Crop Formation.
         Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 191-199.