The Mowing-Devil
1678 · Hertfordshire · England
WHAT IT IS
A London news pamphlet whose woodcut shows the Devil scything a field of oats into rings overnight. Reproduced everywhere as the earliest crop circle.
THE ALIEN READING
Cereologists have cited it since around 1990 as proof the phenomenon is centuries older than any hoaxer, and some read the woodcut as showing stalks laid flat rather than cut.
WHAT THE RECORD SAYS
The text says the oats were mowed — cut — by the Devil after a farmer swore he would rather the Devil did it than pay a mower's price. Historian Jim Schnabel rejects it as a precedent because modern formations are bent, not cut; it reads as a moral tale.
WHERE IT STANDS
Explained. Made by people: its makers are known, or have shown how it was done.
STATUS IS OUR CURRENT ASSESSMENT, NOT A VERDICT · REVIEWED 5 OCT 2026
THE RECORD
- DATE
- 1678
- PLACE
- Hertfordshire · England
- MADE BY
- Anonymous pamphlet, licensed 22 August 1678
- TYPE
- Early circles
- TECHNICAL
- Printed pamphlet with woodcut · London, licensed 22 August 1678
