Original headline: Radio station claims it made crop circles
HOWELL TOWNSHIP (AP) -- A radio station on Tuesday claimed responsibility for three crop circles that mysteriously appeared in a Livingston County farmer's wheat field.
The farmer, Michael Esper, says he doesn't believe the station created the circles -- one of which is more than 50 feet in diameter -- but says he has consulted a lawyer and is weighing his legal options.
"They owe me some money because of the damage to the field, lost time and wages," said Esper. "I've been harassed ... for two weeks now with people, TV stations, newspapers calling me day and night all because of this prank."
In a statement, radio station WKQI said on July 14, at about 3:00 a.m. EDT, members of one the station's shows "created small crop circles in a cornfield" in Howell Township, about 50 miles northwest of Detroit.
Dom Theodore, the station's operations manager, apologized on air to listeners and to Esper. Telephone messages left Tuesday afternoon for Theodore were not returned.
The 55-year-old Esper first thought the circles were the work of pranksters, but then called a crop circle researcher to examine them.
Researcher Jeffrey Wilson studied the circles for three days.
He determined they weren't an act of man, were not a hoax and were the result of some unexplainable natural phenomenon. Wilson said he did not believe the station's claims.
"They have just come out and they've made the claim, they have no proof," he said.
During his investigation, Wilson found dozens of wheat stems with holes in the middle. He said the electricity associated with crop circles generates heat and that heat turns the moisture in the stems to steam. It expands and it blows out the holes.
The station said in its statement the pranksters used a device made from wood planks and rope that would be available upon request for viewing at its studios in Farmington Hills.
See also: Michigan Farmer Baffled By Appearance Of Crop Circles
