|
The Crabwood Alien crop circle appeared on August 15, 2002, near Winchester, Hampshire, England. It depicted a humanoid “alien” face alongside a spiral disc encoded with a binary message, making it one of the most famous and controversial crop formations ever recorded. Key Facts • Location & Date: Crabwood Farm House, near Winchester, Hampshire, discovered on August 15, 2002. • Design: A large alien-like face paired with a circular disc resembling a compact disc, filled with binary code. • Message: When decoded by Paul Vigay, the binary disc reportedly contained a warning: “Beware the bearers of false gifts and their broken promises. Much pain but still time. Believe there is good out there. We oppose deception.”. • Symbolism: Above the alien’s shoulder, three dots were interpreted by some researchers as Orion’s Belt (Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka). • Cultural Impact: It quickly became one of the most discussed crop circles, often cited as evidence of extraterrestrial communication. The Mission: Unmasking the Makers Behind the scenes, a trio of investigators — Andrew Pyrka, Hamish Jacobs, and circle maker Dene Hine — were convinced the Crabwood Alien was no cosmic transmission but a man‑made stunt. Yet the burning questions remained: Who created it? And why? Their first move was bold: approach veteran researcher Colin Andrews, long regarded as a keeper of hidden truths. After years of silence, Andrews finally cracked open the vault. Colin's Initial Statement was: " I was approached and contracted to Disney to provide data and a number of photographs of crop circles for the movie "Signs" and its publicity. Disney PR people, I was in regular contact with well ahead of the planning for the movie release, told me that the team were considering hiring some people to create some amazing crop circles which they hoped would hype the interest in crop circles and in turn the movie. Other dramatic plans were also being considered. I voiced my disapproval and had nothing to do with their idea. I agreed to provide my research data an a number of photographs to be used as backdrops for TV interviews with the actors and the Director, also at a number of pop festivals to promote it. The movie "Signs" was released on August 2 2002 in the USA and 13th September 2002 in the UK. The Crabwood ET face with disc crop circle was discovered 15th August 2002. After the crop circle was made and my own TV appearances had been completed - some with Mel Gibson and Night Shyamalan via satellite to advertise the film, I spoke with one of the 'circle makers' (Name on file) team based in London and asked if he would cooperate with me in confirming that they had been commissioned by Disney to produce the ET and disc crop circle, to eliminate my need to fly back to UK to carry out investigations on site? I was given sufficient information to confirm my personal anger at Disney. They had deliberately deceived the public, in favour of maximizing seats in the movie theatre "
The Clues in Plain Sight The trail seemed cold until Andrew Pyrka made a breakthrough. Scouring the digital backwaters of the internet, he stumbled upon Pinterest images of the Crabwood Alien and the earlier Arecibo crop circle, each signed with the cryptic name: “B1ackprojects.” This revelation was electrifying. At the time, B1ackprojects had never surfaced in crop circle forums or Facebook debates. Their sudden appearance suggested a hidden hand — a clandestine group operating outside the usual circle‑making chatter. The hunt was far from over, but the mystery had deepened. The Crabwood Alien was no longer just a crop circle — it was a cipher of deception, artistry, and corporate intrigue, a riddle that blurred the line between extraterrestrial myth and human manipulation.
It was no brainer — the path was already marked, you simply had to follow the signs. The trail led to a website, now it appears to have vanished into the ether, as if erased from history (possibly) Yet before it disappeared, it revealed something extraordinary: an image of two young men standing defiantly within a crop circle, guardians of a secret etched into the fields. The discovery felt less like chance and more like destiny — a fleeting glimpse into the hidden hands behind the mystery. However a much more refined website is still up and running - LINK  Matt Lawrence and Martin MacKinney . University graduates studying Product Design Once Colin Andrews confirmed the names and their direct involvement in the creation of the Crabwood Alien, Andrew and Hamish stepped forward with a declaration of their own — a statement that sought to pierce the veil of secrecy and bring the truth into the light. The original statement which is held on file, however it appears that it triggered other circle makers to react ! Crabwood - Arecibo - Chilbolton * Finally Solved * On Wednesday, June 19th, 2019, one of the most iconic crop circles ever laid down in a field, the Crabwood, Wiltshire, alien face and disc, of August 15th, 2002, possibly the only one which has ever held a direct, allegedly "prophetic" message, was revealed by Colin Andrews as being a commission by Disney Studios at that time. The commission was made as a publicity stunt, to generate interest in the movie, Signs, starring Mel Gibson, which was released in the UK, and the USA, on dates just either side of the crop circle itself being “discovered” in 2002. But, as revealing as Colin's statement was, there were still some pieces of information which were missing, and essential, to bring coherence, legitimacy, and observable parallels to any further expose. Colin told us what he could about the fact of Disney’s commissioning of the work, and he offered plenty of paperwork to back that statement up. But, understandably, he was much less forthcoming, and not at all clear as to who was responsible for the actual creation of the artwork in the field, on the ground, not wanting to break confidences. A different question altogether. All we had was that a “London team” of circle makers were known to have made the Crabwood Alien. That left things unresolved, but pointing to one known team in particular. Even though generic terms like “London team”, or “Circlemaker” (even with a cap, but no .org, in his comment, as misquoted elsewhere) could realistically apply to lots of people, the comments provoked a reaction, and the ire of well-known circle making outfit, circlemakers .org (there’s the .org), aka Team Satan. They questioned Colin’s statement and/or memory, having reasonably made the assumption that Colin was referring to them (it did seem that way), Team Satan, as a) being the team whom Colin had spoken to a member of in London, and b) implying that they had made the Crabwood alien. Unfortunately, the dialogue did not progress, but degenerated, as is often the way, and Colin was understandably not prepared to elaborate, or disclose anything further at that time. But, our curiosity was piqued, and we decided to investigate, as we didn't think Colin meant Team Satan - he had someone else in mind. And, it is fair to say, the result of that investigation has taken us completely by surprise. In fact, we are now aware, and can reveal, that there was/is a team of circle makers who were known only to a few within the crop circle community. A team with the extremely high end values, skills, and contacts, as well as access to the very best tech, necessary to create works on the level of Crabwood, the Chilbolton face, and the Arecibo message “response”. A team who’s professionalism, largely cryptic existence, and abstinence from all known CC haunts, have kept them hidden from view – until now. However, it would appear that these elusive, talented, artists have been hiding in plain sight all the time. They openly confess to collaborating extensively with circlemakers .org, Team Satan, as well as fine circle maker, and sand artist, Julian Richardson. We wish to make it absolutely clear that none of information discovered has been supplied by Colin Andrews, and we would like very much to thank all those who did contribute for their dedication, and for providing vital information, leading to a wealth of new revelations, and discoveries, for genuine researchers in this notoriously muddy field. Introducing, the men we believe to be the all but certain designers, and land artists, responsible for the Crabwood Alien, Chilbolton faces, Arecibo response, and many more, Matt Lawrence, and Martin McKinney, aka, b1ackprojects. From the b1ackprojects web site: “Matt Lawrence and Martin McKinney first crossed paths back in the early 90s at university, where they were both studying for a BA degree in Product Design. ‘What we both didn’t realise at the time was that, aside from a shared interest in design, we also had an interest in an “alien” art form that was all the rage in the UK at that time… crop circles! Over the following years, we teamed up and spent many nights stomping around in corn fields, creating land art that many thought, and still do to this day, was beyond the capabilities of mischievous creative humans. We’ve made many designs in everything from crops, to sand, and even painting on the landscape. This website details many of our past land art projects (well, the ones we can tell you about), encompassing both passion projects, and commissioned works.” Matt Lawrence is the Head of Design at Envy Advertising Agency, London. Having completed a master’s degree in film and TV design at Kingston he joined VFX house, Rushes, in 1998, working his way up to head of their in-house motion graphics department. In 2014 he left Rushes to join Envy. From the Envy website: “Inspired by paranormal crop circles (of Doug Bower and Dave Chorley) Matt Lawrence and Martin McKinney formed land art group, b1ackprojects. Alien to some, this art form is not too dissimilar from an architectural project: planning out measurements on a software (such as Illustrator), taking the dimensions and scaling up exponentially, then heading out to craft the image into the sand, where the work is then monitored using drones – an idea pioneered by b1ackprojects. The air of mystery behind the art work has led to collaborations with ‘The Circlemakers’ on commercial projects such as UKTV Gold’s sand portraits of comedy legends. Lawrence and McKinney are currently developing their methods of creating land art to have more of a shaded look.” From Shots, advertising industry magazine, July 15th, 2016: “Though many b1ackprojects creations have been for love, their collaboration with another group of land artists, The Circlemakers (aka Team Satan) led to notable commercial work, including in 2002, a collection of ‘cereal portraits’ promoting Orange Telecom’s picture messaging service and of daytime TV hosts, Richard and Judy, for Channel 4. The ‘Circlemakers’ wanted to use the imaging techniques we’d developed to create faces so they brought us on board.” Later on they collaborated on C4’s Big Brother giant eye idents and the UKTV Gold sand portraits of comedy legends. “To create the faces we used a combination of methods, but it’s essentially lasers. We plan out all the measurements first on software, such as Illustrator, take dimensions then scale it up. Then we go out with a drawing, like an architectural plan. Martin developed this electronic gadget that can swing out accurate angles with a laser. You walk along the laser with your board [or rake if working in sand] and you get a perfectly straight line.” A campaign in 2004 for tech company AMD saw b1ackprojects and The Circlemakers create five giant land art designs across America and the UK to promote a 64-bit processor. Commercially, Lawrence says land art goes on- and off-trend, but he and McKinney always have passion projects on the go. They collaborated with artist Julian Richardson on the world’s longest sand drawing, The Brean Mile in Somerset, and they’re always interested in developing new methods.” They also collaborated heavily with circlemakers .org, Team Satan, on the short film, The Mythologist, in 2004. IMDb link - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427578/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast An extensive array of links, images, and videos are provided to back up our conclusions. May we say, only the wilfully blind will not see, or deny, the obvious. But, it does appear to us that Matt and Martin never had any real intentions of keeping it all a secret forever anyway. They just wanted us to find the information through numerous clues, all of which were freely available online. All we had to do was put the missing pieces of the puzzle together. Every crop circle season new distractions and diversion come along - hence all the clues have been overlooked for so long. But, now, at last, the picture is complete. So, thank you, Matt and Martin, for many years of mystery and suspense, and the occasional argument, too, for sure. You had us all perplexed, and in awe, for a very long time. Outstanding. So, wrapping it up guys, we just have to ask… Is there still “time”? ;) The featured statements provoked a response from one of the former members of Team Satan. Team Satan name, once notorious in the crop circle underground, has since been abandoned — deemed too provocative and inappropriate. Today, they are known simply as the Circlemakers. Among them, Wil Russell stands out as a long‑time member of circlemakers.org, his involvement woven deeply into the group’s legacy.  Further in time, Wil confirms as seen below.
The famous 5 behind the Touchstone Pictures movie 'Signs' Disney's commissioned Crabwood Alien crop circle. Others may have been involved but its irrelevant now as the case has been solved. Comments are closed.
|
Host
Mike Farrow
Archives
May 2026
One of the few remaining archives of crop circles
Lucy Pringles Photo archive
Archive in diagram style
Andy Pyrka's OWN website. Released a fascinating book. A must read.
|
RSS Feed