Some thoughts on the ‘sooty’ deposits found on crop in a recent Feedback entry…


If the black soot on the ears of wheat photographed by 'She Who Watches' are in fact of a dark purple colour rather than black, then it is likely the wheat is infected with fungal ergot, Claviceps Purpurea.

Consumption of bread infected with ergot alkaloids can cause necrosis, where body tissue becomes mummified; the flesh of arms and legs turning black, until eventually they fall off, bloodlessly. This terrifying fungal rot plague infected many in Medieval Europe, and the terrible burning sensation associated with the condition earned it the name of St. Anthony's Fire.

However, there are a dozen or more ergotine alkaloids, and some of them have, in our time, proved effective as medicines in the treatment of migraine headaches, and senile dementia.

DERRICK HUNT


Just a couple of points – what sort of seed was used to plant out the fields in which the phenomena occurred? Was it genetically modified?

Could it be that the Department of Agriculture is perhaps using sonar in pest control experiments and the crop circles are inadvertent advertisements of their secret tests?

JUDITH WESTWOOD