Prior to the events described in this report, the 2007 crop circle season had begun early in Holland, with a 3-circle formation occurring in grass on March 13th near Hoeven. As has consistently occurred over the past 13-14 years a young Dutchman, Robbert van den Broeke, had experienced a "vision" at his home on the previous night in which he "saw" the circles actually forming— but on this occasion in a markedly different manner than in previous years. This time he described "seeing" a very large "space ship" hovering over the field--from which five small "metal-looking satellite" objects emerged and descended down to the field to actually form the circles. For details see:

This description of an apparently "hard-bodied" UFO being involved differs from most of Robbert's past observances (some visual, others perceived in "visions"), in which various light phenomena (not solid craft) were seen to be directly associated with new crop circles forming. But this aberration was to be only the first of many over the summer of 2007.

On June 19th Robbert told me on the telephone he was certain that a new crop circle would occur near Hoeven very soon. As has been the case with Robbert for many years, he experiences a build-up of a particular sort of "energy" or tension for several days prior to a new circle's appearance, and this time his angst was very strong.

The following night (June 20-21) Robbert experienced another "vision" in which he clearly saw a field in a nearby village (Bosschenhoofd) next to a small local airport; he also felt what he perceived as "UFO energy" (which he says was strong, but also "sweet and healing") over this field. And although the energy seemed definitely stronger than usual Robbert was certain it was a positive, healing energy. As in the earlier March 13th circle near Hoeven, he again saw "little satellites" actually flattening a new design into the field.

Before going to bed that night, Robbert drew a picture of the new crop circle and left it, along with a description of the location observed in his "vision," so that his father could find the field and look for a new crop formation the next morning. As you can see (below) he has added the words "ufo energie" to his drawing.

Robbert's drawing of the "celtic cross" crop circle seen in his vision, the night of June 20, 2007. Photo: Peter v/d Broeke.

Robbert almost never goes alone into the fields at night anymore, to avoid speculation that he, personally, has flattened the designs into the fields. Instead he either tells his parents or, if they have gone to bed, occasionally leaves a drawing or a note for his father (Peter), who then goes in the morning to whatever location Robbert has indicated to find and photograph any new circle before it has become trampled by visitors.

On the morning of June 21 Peter found Robbert's drawing and at 8 am went to the Bosschenhoofd field, but could not find the crop circle. Because he had a business meeting that morning he did not spend as much time looking as he would have, otherwise.

An hour or so later (9-9:30am) Robbert's mother and a friend, Ellen Gomez, went to the same field and they did find a crop circle—but it did not look exactly as Robbert had predicted. Instead of a 5-circle "Celtic Cross" formation (as drawn by Robbert the night before) they found only 4 circles: three small circles (1.5m, 1.5m and 2m-diameter) spaced around the perimeter of a larger, 6m-diameter center circle.

Robbert's drawings of crop formations he "sees" in his visions as occurring soon usually look very much like what is actually found in the fields subsequently. This time, the actual crop circle found in the field was missing one circle.

"Woodenhead" #1, June 21, 2007 (large center circle & 3 smaller circles). Diagram & Photo: Peter v/d Broeke.

The summer of 2007 included many more "atypical" events. The 5th circle in this formation did occur (eventually) and its' appearance, and multiple other events, occurred with several witnesses present.

At home later on the morning of June 21st , while Mrs. v/d Broeke was telling Robbert about having found the new formation, Robbert had another "vision" in which he saw Mary (the Virgin Mary) bathed in a bluish light standing above the formation with her hands wide open and "rainbows" falling from her hands to the ground. He also saw a "rippling" in the air around her, similar to the mirage effect one sees in the desert. He had a strong sense that there was an energy in the rainbows which was intended to help raise human consciousness—and that increased human awareness was becoming increasingly important.

Photos of the new formation taken that first and second day show a very typical anti-clockwise, swirled lay pattern, as well as a degree of node bending which is greater than that which control studies would attribute to photo- or gravitropism (natural plant recovery processes in which young, vigorously growing crop has been shown to require a minimum of 3-4 days to cause this degree of node bending).

Center (6m-diameter) circle of first "Woodenhead" crop formation showing typical spiral lay pattern. Photo: Peter v/d Broeke

Node-bending on June 22nd, about 38 hrs after formation occurred Photo: Peter Vanlearhoven

A few nights later, on June 25th, Robbert had a strong feeling he should return to the field and by 9:30 pm he and Ellen Gomez had arrived and were standing inside the existing 4-circle formation. Immediately he again sensed a strong "Mary" energy present in the field but, as it had begun to rain, Robbert and Ellen drove off to McDonald's for a late-night snack, returning again after the rain had stopped—about 11pm.

Entering the formation again they were amazed to find a new circle (1.5m-diam.) added to the formation--which now completed the 5-circle design originally seen by Robbert in his "vision" on June 20th. Both Robbert and Ellen are certain it was not present at about 10pm that night, when they left the field to go to McDonald's.

"Woodenhead" #1a w/5th circle added on morning of June 26, 2007. Diagram: Peter v/d Broeke Photo: Peter Vanlaerhoven

But events of that night were not yet over. Minutes after discovering the new 5th circle added to the first formation, Robbert visually observed a smoky "white mist" floating over another section of the field 80-100 away and again felt a very strong "Mary" energy was present. [Similar smoky mists have often been photographed in and near crop circles all over the world—when no actual fog was present and no one was smoking.]

White "fog" or "mist" photographed at "Woodenhead" field in August, 2007. No fog present, no one smoking. Photo: Robbert v/d Broeke

Leaving Ellen in the first formation, Robbert walked off toward the mist, and the strong "Mary" energy. Suddenly a loud electrostatic cracking noise ("like french-fries cooking in oil") occurred, startling Robbert and prompting him to return to Ellen immediately. He thought a new formation must have just occurred, but when he and Ellen searched for one, at first they found nothing.

A few minutes later Robbert and Ellen re-checked the field again and, this time, they did find a new, pristine, 4-circle "thought bubble" with circle-size descending from an 8m-diameter circle down to the smallest circle of 1.5m-diameter. As in the first formation the crop was flattened in a gentle anti-clockwise spiral in all four circles.

"Woodenhead" #2 – June 26th A 4-circle "Thought Bubble" Diagram: Peter v/d Broeke Photo: Peter Vanlaerhoven

Two nights later, on the evening of June 27th, Robbert was again experiencing the intense restlessness and anxiety that he has learned to recognize ususally preceeds the appearance of a new crop circle. He called Ellen Gomez again to see if she would accompany him back to the Bosschenhoofd field. According to Ms. Gomez, Robbert told her he thought there would be more "proof" of the phenomenon appearing in the field. He also specifically asked her if she would be "afraid if a light-ball should appear near her if he were not standing right next to her"—and whether she would be fearful if he should somehow "disappear" or be "transported?"

Robbert's mother, over-hearing this conversation and sensing that these questions might indicate a pre-knowledge of some sort on Robbert's part, became alarmed that Ellen might, in fact, become afraid if such events transpired and might therefore leave Robbert alone in the field. Although it is impossible to expect people who are not truly familiar with Robbert's situation to grasp the significance of Robbert's questions to Ellen, Mrs. v/d Broeke knew very well they were meaningful—and, not wanting to take the chance that Robbert might be left alone in the field, she decided to accompany Robbert and Ms. Gomez that night.

It is probably a good thing that she did so.

The two women and Robbert arrived at the field about 11:00 pm, going first to see the original "Celtic cross" crop circle and then to the second "thought bubble" pictogram, where they could see that the wheat was already beginning to recover. All three then returned to the "Celtic cross" crop circle where both Ellen and Mrs. v/d Broeke reported sensing an "unusual" energy, with Mrs. v/d Broeke stating she felt her "insides spinning" and feeling as if she "might lose her balance." They all are of the opinion that about an hour had elapsed at this point.

Robbert had become very restless and began to walk down a tram-line farther into the field, stopping about 50m away and to the right of the women. At this distance Mrs. v/d Broeke and Ellen could only see Robbert's silhouette but they both continued to watch him as he stood still in the field for another 5 minutes or so.

Then both women state that Robbert's silhouetted figure suddenly disappeared and that, simultaneously, a small red ball of light (BOL) appeared over the field at a location in front of them, approximately 50-75m to the left of where Robbert had been standing a second before. The red light-ball was about the size of a golf-ball and was swinging back and forth just above the crop surface. At first the women thought the red BOL might be the red lens on a flash-light, swinging back and forth in the hands of the farmer as he walked into the field. Both women called out to Robbert, but there was no answer.

The red ball of light, still in a position in front of the women, then began to rotate very slowly about 1meter above, and horizontal to, the crop surface. At first the slowly rotating ball of light looked like a series of red dashed lines in the shape of a circle in the air.

Red light ball moves across field to a position in front of the women; at first it moves slowly & looks like"dashes" in air.

Then it began to spin much faster and took on the appearance of a solid, thin, continuous ring of red light, still rotating horizontally to the crop surface. After a short period it then altered both its' speed and angle, now looking like a solid red ring rotating at about a 45 degree angle to the crop surface.

Light ball now moving faster, looking like a solid ring.

Red light ball now rotating very fast, and at a 45 degree angle to the field.

Suddenly the red line became a red ball of light again which began bouncing up and down, down into and then up above the crop in what appeared to be exactly the same location, 3 times--after which it just disappeared. Where it had just "gone out" Robbert was now standing, his dark silhouette clearly visible to both his mother and Mrs. Gomez.

Red ball of light bouncing up & down 3 times before disappearing.

(a) = Robbert's position relative to 2 witnesses before he disappeared. (b) = Robbert's position 50-75m to the left when he re-appeared seconds later. (c) = location of all red BOL activity, 50m in front of witnesses. All Graphics: Andreas Muller

The women called to him and he slowly walked toward them. As he reached them he said he had seen a tiny red light (like a "firefly") circling just above his head and heard a very brief "chuuuk" sound, but that then he must have "blacked out" because he couldn't remember anything else. He was a little dizzy and asked the women if they had been able to see him the whole time, apparently suspecting that he may have disappeared and that something strange had happened. Ellen estimated that Robbert was "missing" for no more than 30 seconds to 1 minute and both women believe the entire red ball of light incident lasted only about 5 minutes.

Although Robbert was a little disoriented it appeared that he was basically OK. The women told him what they had witnessed and all three then walked back to the area of the field where Robbert had originally been standing—and there they found a brand new, slightly elliptical, approximately 3m-diameter circle, with a large pile of white powder deposited in its center. Upon closer inspection the following morning it was clear that the bulk of this white powder was lying beneath the flattened plants.

Woodenhead #3 – June 28th 3m-diameter ellipse with white powder. Photo: Peter v/d Broeke

Woodenhead #3 – White powder @ 8am next day (Mr. v/d Broeke took only a small amount the previous night). Majority of powder is clearly lying underneath flattened plants. Photo: Peter v/d Broeke

Woodenhead #3 – Plant material lying on top of white powder had to be removed in order to gather rest of sample. Photo: Peter v/d Broeke

After finding the new ellipse Robbert and the two women decided to leave the field, reaching the v/d Broeke home at about 12:30 am. I happened to be on the phone with Robbert's father (we had been talking for perhaps 10 minutes) when the group returned and I could hear Mrs. v/d Broeke's agitated voice as she entered the house, telling her husband what had just happened. For several minutes Peter was translating for me as his wife described the night's events to her husband, and it was quite clear she was in an excited state - not typical of her demeanor generally.

While still on the phone with Mr. v/d Broeke I urged him to drive back to the field that night in order to get a sample of the white material before it could become contaminated in any way, which he did as quickly as he could gather up his sampling equipment. Because of the darkness he took only a small amount of the white powder that night (this was bagged separately), returning to the field again very early the next morning to gather up the rest of the material.

It appears that the entire time-period spent in the field by Robbert and the two women was not more than an hour and ten minutes (allowing 20 minutes travel-time to and back from the field). After going on trips with Robbert myself to the fields (on other occasions when he has had a strong feeling that something is going to happen) I know that he usually does not stay very long at any particular location - usually not more than an hour. And, further, that if something unusual is going to happen, it almost always does so fairly soon after his (our) arrival.

How Did Robbert Get From One Section of
the Field to the Other?

This is not the first time the question has arisen as to whether or not Robbert could have been physically transported from one place to another, but not under his own steam. Many years ago he repeatedly reported "watching" (in what he thought were "dreams" or "visions") new crop circles form from an aerial perspective, as if he had been hovering over the field at the time. In several other instances he had had "dreams" in which he was present at the field, standing on the dike running along its' side and watching as the circle formed. On more than one of these occasions he awoke abruptly in his bed within an hour or so of going to sleep—to find himself dressed in pants he had not worn to bed upon which mud was clearly visible.

In one instance in 2000 he had awakened in bed to find that, not only was he now wearing sweatpants he had not worn to bed, the pants were discovered to have a burned hole in the back of one leg (although the hair on his leg was not even singed) and mud around the bottoms of the legs.

Robbert's pants after awakening from a "dream" in 2000 in which he "saw" himself at a distant field, watching a new crop circle form. Photo: Peter v/d Broeke

In this particular case in 2000 a crop circle was found in the field Robbert had seen in his "dream" (and subsequently described to his parents). The fact that the field involved on this occasion was a considerable distance away from his home, in combination with the fact that Robbert does not drive a car and at this time used only a bicycle for transportation (bicycle was always locked securely in the garage every night)—and further that it is known for certain in this case that only about one hour had elapsed between Robbert's going to bed and his waking up to find himself in the burned and muddy pants—all preclude any possibility of Robbert having actually gone to the field in any "normal" manner. There simply was not enough time for him to get there and back--much less to flatten a crop circle.

During these years he also reported several instances in which he would go to bed as usual but would wake up out in the field behind his house—always lying in, or near, a new circle. As a result of such events Robbert would occasionally ask me, "Do I fly through the air?"

Another incident in 2003 (which I have discussed in some of my lectures) involved a large ball of light (BOL) which approached Robbert one evening while he was out riding his bicycle along a rural road. He remembers visually seeing the light-ball coming toward him, then his body being engulfed by the light ball and picked up into the air. His last conscious memory was of his bicycle falling away as he was lifted up. Later that night when he regained consciousness he found himself lying in the grass at the edge of a highway, some 17 km away from his home--with his bicycle, camera, leather jacket and sweater all missing.

Grassy area at end of hedge next to highway is spot where Robbert regained consciousness—a multi-circle crop formation was in the field nearby. Photo: N.Talbott

In this 2003 case, also, a new crop circle was present in the field just below the embankment upon which Robbert regained his senses. A "sparkling rainbow" moving around over the field alerted Robbert to the circle's presence and, when he went into it, he found his jacket and sweater lying inside the large center circle. Eventually he also found his bicycle along an access road not too far away--his expensive new camera was never recovered.

In spite of many such events over the years, there had been no eye-witnesses (other than Robbert) available to support these reports. But on the night of June 27-28, 2007 there were witnesses--two adult women who unequivocally state that Robbert simply "disappeared" in front of their eyes and then reappeared 30-60 seconds later in a different location—all in conjunction with the presence of a strange red ball of light and the appearance of a new crop circle with white powder lying in its' center.

What we are to make of this event is not clear. But evaluated in the context of other events during the summer of 2007 (two additional reports will be posted as soon as possible), and considering also the massive number of other phenomenal situations involving Robbert over many years, it is clear to those of us who know Robbert that something significant is taking place. See:

Continue to Part 2 >>