Wheat field damage — Crop circle or storm downburst?

Ironically, field is across from two manmade spaceships along Ohio 123.

Photos: Storms damage wheat field

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By Rick McCrabb, Columnist Updated 2:38 AM Saturday, May 16, 2009

CARLISLE — Maybe it was just a coincidence.

Or maybe not.

A large wheat field — located across the roadway from the two famous spaceships on Ohio 123 in Carlisle — appears to be a UFO landing zone.

Or maybe not.

Jim Gross, owner of Gross Lumber in Carlisle, said the wheat field he rents to a local farmer was severely damaged during strong storms overnight Wednesday, May 13. He noticed the next day that much of the wheat field — several circles and long strips — was knocked down.

“It has to be weather,” Gross said Friday while sitting in his office.

Then he smiled.

“You know, it is located near that spaceship. Maybe they were coming after ...”

Maybe not.

Leave it up to a meteorologist to rain on our imaginations. WHIO-TV Channel 7’s chief meteorologist Jamie Simpson, after seeing Journal pictures of the damage, said it possibly was caused by a “downburst,” which he described as rush of rain-cooled air that causes damage with a thunderstorm.

Simpson, though, admitted the damage was “perplexing” because there were long strips of laid-down wheat that is usually not associated with the weather phenomenon.

On Thursday, several motorists stopped along Ohio 123 and pointed at the field. One of those was Tim Humphries, Carlisle’s mayor.

When Humphries saw the downed wheat, he thought of a “crop circle,” and Mel Gibson’s movie “Signs.”

He called the damage “interesting” and wanted if he could see an aerial view so he could make a better assessment.

Ron Martz, who owns the two spaceships, said he wished the damage was a crop circle, but he figured that theory “wasn’t going to fly.”

Then he laughed. “You never know, do you?”

Or maybe not.

Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

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