*The Mowing-Devil* (1678), or the earliest known depiction of a crop circle — The Public Domain Review

At the height of the crop circle craze in the 1980s and 1990s, all kinds of explanations, both natural and unnatural, were put forward for the perfectly milled fields of wheat that appeared all over the English countryside and beyond. Were they left behind by alien visitors, flattened by bizarre weather conditions, or manipulated by Earth’s magnetic fields? Cereologists, dedicated crop circle researchers, looked into the archives to retrieve any historical evidence. In 1989, editors of the British Paranormal Magazine Fortean times a pamphlet has surfaced that appears to be the oldest known image of a crop circle. Dating from August 22, 1678, The Mowing-Devil: Or strange news from Hartford-shire opens with a mischievous woodcut. The small, plump figure of the devil bends down, scythe in hand. It finds itself halfway through a field of glowing oats and works its way in in concentric rings, leaving a trail of felled stalks in its wake. His mouth is open as if trying to catch his breath as he works, his little goat tail wagging.