The Mowing Devil crop circle in Hertfordshire of 1678
Real X-File ID: 6757
Report Date: 05/17/2022
Country: United Kingdom
Place: Hertfordshire
Fingerprints: Other unexplained phenomenal occurence, crop circle
Existing Facts Sources: Internet article, Book
Summary Report:
In 1678 it was reported in an English chapbook called “The Mowing Devil” that in Hertfordshire people saw a fiery devil descend from heaven and cut out circles in an oat field. -Hence this famous woodcut was created as depicted in the attached picture. The story tells about the fact that the farmer and a worker did not agree on the price for which the worker should mow the field. The farmer said that he would rather pay the devil personally such a high amount of money than to the worker. That same night fiery lights were sighted, which left cut out circles in this field. This sounds after a crop circle in ancient times where no crop circle fakers were known yet to be faking crop circles. Colin Andrew, the first crop circle researcher writes in his book “Crop Circles – Signs of Contact” about this strange case.
Here is an other excerpt from oxfordreference.com about this story in more detail:
“The chapbook of this title, printed in 1678, sets out to prove the reality of the Devil by a cautionary tale of an amazing occurrence in Hertfordshire that August. A rich farmer, too mean to pay the wages which a labourer wanted for mowing his oats, angrily said ‘that the Devil himself should Mow his Oats before he the labourer should have anything to do with them’. But God punished his greed and heartlessness. That night, the oatfield seemed to be on fire, yet next morning, when the farmer went to look at his oats:he found the Crop was cut down ready to his hands; and as if the Devil had a mind to show his Skill in Husbandry, and scorned to mow them after the usual manner, he cut them in round circles, and plact every straw with that exactness that it would have taken up above an Age for any Man to perform what he did that one night: and the man that owns them is as yet afraid to remove them.
he found the Crop was cut down ready to his hands; and as if the Devil had a mind to show his Skill in Husbandry, and scorned to mow them after the usual manner, he cut them in round circles, and plact every straw with that exactness that it would have taken up above an Age for any Man to perform what he did that one night: and the man that owns them is as yet afraid to remove them.
The text is accompanied by a woodcut showing a small demon crouching over the oats, which lie in rings around him, the whole being surrounded by flames.
The chapbook was reprinted as a pamphlet by W. Gerish in 1913, and in his Hertfordshire Folklore (1970); it is mentioned in several books of local folklore (e.g. Jones-Baker 1977). In 1990 it was drawn into the controversy over crop circles.”
Here is an other excerpt from oxfordreference.com about this story in more detail:
“The chapbook of this title, printed in 1678, sets out to prove the reality of the Devil by a cautionary tale of an amazing occurrence in Hertfordshire that August. A rich farmer, too mean to pay the wages which a labourer wanted for mowing his oats, angrily said ‘that the Devil himself should Mow his Oats before he the labourer should have anything to do with them’. But God punished his greed and heartlessness. That night, the oatfield seemed to be on fire, yet next morning, when the farmer went to look at his oats:he found the Crop was cut down ready to his hands; and as if the Devil had a mind to show his Skill in Husbandry, and scorned to mow them after the usual manner, he cut them in round circles, and plact every straw with that exactness that it would have taken up above an Age for any Man to perform what he did that one night: and the man that owns them is as yet afraid to remove them.
he found the Crop was cut down ready to his hands; and as if the Devil had a mind to show his Skill in Husbandry, and scorned to mow them after the usual manner, he cut them in round circles, and plact every straw with that exactness that it would have taken up above an Age for any Man to perform what he did that one night: and the man that owns them is as yet afraid to remove them.
The text is accompanied by a woodcut showing a small demon crouching over the oats, which lie in rings around him, the whole being surrounded by flames.
Links: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810105434117
Facts Source Details:
Details of Internet Article: William Blyth Gerish,01/01/1913,https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810105434117
Details of Book: Crop Circles – Signs of Contact,Colin Andrews,Colin Andrews,New Page Books,01/01/2003
Other Facts Details:
Co Author of Crop Circles – Signs of Contact is Stephen J. Spignesi
Pictures:
