Several years later, some residents of Ozark are still scratching their heads over what they claim were crop circles near U.S. 65.

Overnight, in late July 2004, four circles between 30 and 50 feet in diameter had appeared in a field of corn in the low-lying area south of Missouri 14 on the east side of U.S. 65.

The circles were scattered across the field in a north-northeastern direction beginning with one of the two larger circles at the bottom of a steep hill in the southwest corner. A smaller one was about 50 yards north of the first and another approximately 100 yards to the northeast. The fourth was isolated about 500 yards on to the north.

Mark Kimmons of Ozark, now 25, who owns the land, recalled that the corn stalks were neatly laid flat in a circular clockwise pattern. Stalks within the circles were bent (not broken or cut) just above the ground with no damage to tassels, ears or leaves. Surrounding stalks were left standing erect and untouched. There was no evidence that pranksters had been in the field.

Thousands of motorists travel the route daily, but at first no one noticed the formations.

Around the first of August a few people started to comment about the strange spots in the otherwise healthy crop.

Patty McDaniel and her husband, Gary, of Ozark, noticed them on their way to church.

"We looked to the right and saw the circles," said Patty McDaniel. "We commented on them, not realizing what they were, thinking they were a big farm machine or something that they're using now."

About the same time Gary and Linda Whobrey of Rogersville noticed the strange round spots while on their way to Branson. Gary Whobrey wondered aloud if something in the soil might have caused damage to the crop.

Ozark police and the county 911 dispatcher report that no inquiries were received of the circles.

Christian County Sheriff's Department Deputy Susan Cole said no reports were received in their office either, but she saw them herself.

"When I came in and asked if anyone saw the crop circles in that field along 65, they asked, 'What crop circles?'"

In early August 2004, Jim Kissee, now 88, of Rogersville, was at the junction of Jackson Street and 65 just north of the field. His wife Mary noticed different colored places in the corn.

Kissee said the way the circles were laid out reminded him of a partial baseball diamond.

He recalled when he was a young boy he and his grandfather used to watch the Ozark town baseball team play on almost the same spot where the circles appeared. Rodeos and Fourth of July picnics were also held there.

"It was only a cow pasture ball diamond," reminisced Kissee. "Home plate was about where one of the circles was. You had to pass it (the field) to get to the power plant that used to be out west of town."

A pump station was located east of the ball field where the city used to get its water, he said.

The field's history fuels speculation as to what might have caused the circles. Paranormal or not, Kimmons and his friends have had a lot of fun with it.

Karen Eisman, who works at the MFA Town and Country, remembers that everyone was giving him a hard time about "aliens landing in his corn field."

An official from the National Weather Service in Springfield could find no official record of weather conditions that could have caused the phenomenon at the time the formations appeared in the Kimmons field.

"A small tornado or a strong circular air motion like a whirlwind is capable of causing circular damage to crops though," he said.

Scientific research confirms that even though the stalks in legitimate crop circles are bent and flattened, the plants are not injured and will continue to grow because their genetic make up is not altered.

Statistics show that most circles are located in low lying areas close to steep hills, similar to the topography of Kimmons' field in the Finley River bottom.

Apparently, this is one of the extremely rare reported incidences of crop circles in the Ozarks. No official investigation was made because the field was immediately prepared for the next crop.

Only two reports in the recent past can be located:

- The "Jonesboro Sun" reported on July 16, 2003, that 10 circles appeared in a wheat field near Knobel, Ark., before the crop was harvested. The field was disked before investigators arrived.

- On Sept. 15, 1991, "News-Leader" columnist Mike O'Brien wrote about circles reported in Laclede County. His headline read "Circle fuss is all wet locals say."

(Original headline: Mysterious crop circles in Ozark still unexplained )