Crop Circle Parapsychology Experiment

In my status update on Paxo->Twitter, etc., I indicated that I had just begun a new parapsychology experiment. Well, today we put it in motion. Here's the buzz...

At the last Minnesota MUFON meeting, I learned from two friends of mine, Dean and Margaret DeHarpPorte, that they were planning to go on a tour of England, visiting crop circle sites, sacred sites, etc. The leader of the trip, Colin Andrews, apparently suggested that they put out to the Universe, a crop circle design - the intent being to see if that design manifests during the time they are there. From this, we decided to hatch an experiment to see if we could put out a pre-existing design.

The experiment is a blind trial; no one except the sender knows the actual design.
The experiment protocol is as follows:

• On 6/25/09, I created five designs on my computer, using PowerPoint and a liberal dose of shapes and pre-fab designs taken from the PowerPoint library. I printed these five designs and placed them in sealed envelopes.
• At the 7/11/09 Minnesota MUFON meeting, during brunch at Bakers Square before the meeting, I asked another friend of mine, Mike Harris, to draw one of the envelopes from the five. He did so, and I handed that envelope to Dean. I placed a seal (a small happy-face sticker) on the flap of the other four envelopes and gave them to Lorna Hunter (the MN MUFON Assistant State Director and Investigation Coordinator) for safe keeping.
• Dean indicated that he would give the sealed envelope to the trip leader, as he planned to put his own design out instead.
• During the trip, and for an indeterminate time afterwards, it is intended to monitor the possible formation of crop circles and note any new designs.
• At the September Minnesota MUFON meeting, we plan to determine if any possible new crop circle designs appeared, and if so, whether they corresponded to the design which Dean was given.

This is the first of any number of possible experiments to determine whether it is possible to put out to the Universe, the request for a particular design of crop circle. It is, what I consider to be a valiant first attempt.

Several disadvantages exist in the experiment - which is unfortunate, but unavoidable in this relatively quickly organized study:

1. When I announced at the meeting, it was pointed out that the experiment is not a fully blind study, as the sender would be aware of the design. However none of the other participants know of the design so in that sense it is fully blinded.
2. It was also noted that, since Dean would not be sending the design, but someone else whom I don't know may (or may not) be sending the design instead, there is an uncontrolled element to the experiment.
3. Since someone would know of the design, it might be possible for hoaxers to find the design and create a crop circle. However, hopefully, the design will not be sent until the trip has started, so hopefully the actual sender, whoever he/she is, will keep the design close to the vest until the actual sending time.

This is the first of any number (one or more) of crop circle parapsychology experiments. It will be interesting to see how this goes, and whether there is any result to it. While this protocol has some significant weaknesses, I believe it is a great first step in our investigation into the parapsychology of crop circles. Please feel free to wish us luck and send us metaphysical encouragement.