My dad, the crop hoaxer
THE SON of the man who invented the crop circle has spoken for the first time and revealed how he discovered his secret when he found an ear of corn in the kitchen.
Jim Chorley, 48, grew up unaware that his father was one of the 20th century’s most infamous pranksters.
Dave Chorley and his friend Doug Bower hatched a plot to start drawing crop circles in the 1970s and 1980s that made headlines around the world. Their joke sparked debate about how the circles were formed and helped fuel UFO mania.
In 1991 Doug and Dave made the front pages of national newspapers when they unmasked themselves as the creators of the original circles.
They were hailed as “the men who fooled the world” having used only simple tools including a plank of wood, rope, and wire to help them walk in a straight line.
Bower and Chorley claimed to be responsible for all circles made prior to 1987, and for more than 200 crop circles between 1978 and 1991.
Doug’s son Jim has revealed how his father told him the truth in 1986 when he was a teenager.
He now says, looking back, it all made sense and recalled a single ear of corn appearing on the kitchen worktop on Saturday mornings, and wondering how they got there.
“The morning after Dad had been in the field with Doug, I’d wake up and find a single ear of corn on the kitchen table,” he says. “He might have been trying to leave me a clue about what he was up to.
“I have this vivid memory of Dad coming into my room one night, where we were talking about aliens and crop circles. I told him that I was sure that aliens were drawing the circles, and he smiled.
“Dad paused and then asked, ‘Do you really think aliens drew those circles?’
“The meaning of that wasn’t lost on me. And then he told me how he and my Uncle Doug had been drawing the circles since the late Seventies. He said they’d come up with the idea at Doug’s art gallery to have a bit of fun.
“At the time, in the Seventies and even early Eighties, aliens and UFOS were all over the media and in the movies. We really believed they had come down and drawn these circles.’’
Bower and Chorley used to drive half an hour on Friday evenings from Shirley, on the edge of Southampton, to the Percy Hobbs pub in Winchester, Hampshire, during the summer.
After a couple of pints, Dave and Doug would venture into the fields and draw the huge circles into the early hours of the morning.
Crop circles became a worldwide phenomenon, and Dave and Doug made a pact to keep their quirky project secret.that meant not telling even their families – including their wives.
They remained the anonymous creators of the mysterious crop circles for well over a decade, despite signing their work with two initials – both Ds.
The pair used to take their families to Cheesefoot Head outsidewinchester on Sundays with other sightseers and UFO enthusiasts to look at the circles.
On Fridays, Dave and Doug would chat with “experts” watching out for aliens thought to be drawing the circles near Winchester and ask if “tonight was the night”.
Jim said that his father and Doug would sneak into fields next to the UFO enthusiasts who were unaware that the tricksters were working close by under the cover of night.
Back home, the mischief-makers would chuckle to themselves as UFO enthusiasts cried, “How did we miss them?”
When Dave and Doug came clean in 1991, the two pranksters made headline news and around the world.
But folk musician Jim has revealed he knew his father co-created the circles as early as 1986 when he was sat down one night in a stormy June.
Jim, of Winchester, now travels the country singing songs about his dad, one of which is tellingly called Painting Circles In The Corn.
He says: “When Dad told me all about what they’d done, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.
“It was the coolest thing to find out, and it was my dad doing all this. Dad was just having a laugh, and wanted to see if they could get away with it.
“We were this family, in a council house, with this great secret. I wanted to tell everybody that my dad was drawing crop circles. It was such a hard secret to keep as a 15-year-old.
“Now, all I want is to celebrate what my dad and Doug did.”
‘It was the coolest thing to find out’