Gilles Munsch, a French researcher, has kindly given me permission to upload his 78 page report on Crop Circles entitled "Rapport VECA" and provided me with a copy of that report in French. Gilles explained that this report relates to "the work and conclusions of the first French group to have travelled (from 1989 to 1992) to study the crop-circles phenomenon".
I have added that French copy of "Rapport VECA" to the section of the online archive relating to books from France (a section, like that in relation to books published in English, which is currently rather limited by the problems I have encountered when attempting to address permission and copyright issues in relation to books).
Since Gilles Munsch also mentioned to me this week that he would be delighted if someone could one day translate it into English, I have taken the liberty of also uploading an automated English translation of "Rapport VECA" as part of my current attempts to produce automated English translations of most foreign UFO/Fortean books and magazines/newsletters.
Once again, I realise that automated translations are far from perfect. However, personally I think that this translation help gain an insight into the work done and the conclusions reached (and at least can be used to identify passages of particular interest which can then, if necessary, be the subject of a better translation).
I include below some passages from the automated English translation:
[BEGIN EXTRACTS FROM AUTOMATED ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
The idea of unfinished work has
always the faculty to embitter me and to disappoint me. We spent a lot of money in total,
of time and energy during these four years and I would be remiss if I did not take stock of these
efforts. Also, whether the (provisional) conclusions which follow are correct or not is not
essential in my eyes. Anyway, the truth will come out sooner or later, no matter what
here or there....
Not having identified, during these two years, any serious element likely to support other
hypotheses, we were forced to admit that the hypothesis "human manufacture" remained the most
"economic" but also gradually became the most "plausible" (in our eyes of course!) . Moreover
and above all it was the only working hypothesis allowing us to glimpse concrete ways
investigation. It was probably a "chronic" lack of imagination, of course, but
why make "complicated" even before having tried "simpler"?
The idea of a "human fabrication" passed from the rank of "speculative" hypothesis to that of
of "working" hypothesis. ...
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL
Once this "working hypothesis" is accepted and on the basis of "details" observed here and there, we
were able to develop a "model" that I will formulate in the form of elementary "PRINCIPLES" which
seem coherent with a "human logic" on the one hand and the "physical contexts and
sociological " in which it is inscribed. These" principles are:
P1 - Principle of "visibility":
It seems logical a priori and observable a posteriori that the figures are produced with the aim of being
views and not simply and exclusively for the selfish pleasure of fabricating them, for the simple
love of art or for some other more subtle reason.
Findings:
- The figures appear mainly at the edge of roads or tourist sites and
therefore often both simultaneously.
- They are often carried out on the side of a hill or on the contrary below the point
observation, so as to attract the attention of potential observers.
Notes:
- The distribution of the sites concerned, spread over a map, clearly shows the preponderance in
along busy roads. (Ex: region of Devizes, Calne, Marlborough, Alton
Barnes).
- With media coverage helping and research by air becoming systematic, this principle
visibility is gradually becoming "secondary" because this visibility is now acquired
fact.
P2 - Principle of "economy" (or "least effort"):
The operation consisting in making a "crop circle" is:
- Risky because illegal and based on the need to preserve the secrecy of its origin, to
maintain the mystery.
- Tiring because very repetitive, requiring a real physical effort (at unusual times)
probably doubled with a certain stress, all this at night therefore without any usual mark
and with the need for rigorous coordination, probably resulting from an organization
prior.
For these various reasons, it seems desirable for the team:
- To act as quickly as possible.
- Not to leave "traces" of its passage (except the face!).
- To communicate as little as possible during operations.
- To have a well-developed working method that can therefore be transposed from one site to another.
- To plan in advance the reason to be carried out (for the most part at least) and the procedure to be followed
- To optimize travel as much as possible with a view to reducing them in number and length.
Accordingly, it is logical to expect to observe the following characteristics which naturally follow:
- The figures will mostly be at the edge of the field (or even in the corner).
- Access to the field will be possible for a motorized vehicle.
- A location (if possible discreet) to park the said vehicle will be available.
- The location will be chosen so as to offer easy entry into the field (gate, entrance
agricultural machinery ...) avoiding fences, ditches, hedges ...
- Access to the figures will then be easy thanks to the systematically present tramlines (especially
that on the edge there are always tramlines running along the entire field
around!)
- The pattern will be made in "continuity" (or in "row") , that is to say by avoiding going back and forth.
untimely returns. (time saving and less traces).
- The equipment used will be limited to the strict minimum (even rudimentary) to avoid overloading
and the risk of forgetting.
Work hypothesis :
The "Crop Circles" are the work of one or more teams, at least two people
each, which act in concert or independently, generally at night and with
reduced logistics
- The recurrence of places will be sought in order to re-invest in solutions that have proven
their validity. This increases the risk of being observed ("wild" surveillance) but in
counterpart brings spice and mystery.
- The wheat fields will be sought after because the tramlines are more marked there
but also because the patterns are better drawn.
[END EXTRACTS FROM AUTOMATED ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
