Many copies have been broken about this winter analogue of "crop circles" - both convincing arguments in favor of the fact that all such formations are rallies, and diametrically opposed opinions about the authenticity of these formations were presented. And so, at the end of December last year, this phenomenon once again honored Penza with its presence.
On Sunday, December 22, 2014, a friend of our family, Nadezhda Nadkina, called me and told me that from the window of her apartment she was observing in the courtyard of the house, in the snow, two formations of a concentric ring structure: one small, approximately 8-10 meters or more. - not less than 30 meters. Since at that time I was at work in Moscow, I advised her to go out into the yard and take pictures from different distances.
In the evening of the same day, I called the coordinator of the ONIOO "Kosmopoisk" Vadim Chernobrov and detailed the information available by that time about the Penza circles. A recognized Russian geoglyph expert became interested in this phenomenon and asked at the place where the "circles" appeared, to take a few more macro photographs of the grooves that form rings, and also to look for witnesses of possible flares in the sky, on the night of the formation of formations in the snow. Unfortunately, the thaw that began by the morning of December 23, almost completely destroyed all snow formation and the expediency of the planned trip disappeared by itself.
What was it?
The first hypothesis can be called "fantastic", nevertheless, we will start with it. It is based on the reported observation of a "stepped cone-shaped beam" emanating from a hot metal object that flew over the area in 2012. Since I myself interviewed eyewitnesses, there is no doubt about their adequacy and veracity of their information.
An object with two domed superstructures that flew over the same area of Penza in 2012. Reconstruction by the author.
Promotional video:
If we assume the presence of a certain periodicity in UFO flights along this trajectory, then we can timidly express the thought that the effect of such rays could well leave a similar pattern on the snow. If we follow the same logic, then it may turn out that each "step of the ray" is a ring in profile. When the rays reached the snow, they could well evaporate or crush it (if the rays belonged to the category of "hard").
Here is the opinion of the pilot Lev Vyatkin about the possible nature of "solid rays": “One can make the assumption that this is not a ray of light, but a glowing gas, highly magnetized rod. By holding the gas in a "magnetic tube" or "rod", in principle, it is possible to create a "solid beam" effect with "pushing out" and "pulling in".
Ufological version of the formation of the Penza circles.
Indirect confirmation of this version is the reports from two eyewitnesses who noticed flashes in the sky on the eve of the formation of ring formations, as well as the fact that Nadezhda Nadkina's cat had a stroke on the night of the appearance of the “circles”. According to the veterinarian's diagnosis, most likely this could have happened from a strong fright, and given that the cat is not allowed out of the house, it is completely unclear why he could be so scared in the apartment, in his place of permanent residence.
Now let's consider, relatively speaking, the "teenage" version. Most of the "circles" in the snow are recorded either in playgrounds or in schoolyards, so the version of teenagers as possible authors of these creations is most likely dominant. This fact was confirmed in Belarus, when representatives of UfoKom traveled to the village of Kvasovka, where teenagers from the local school trampled down such circles using a fairly simple technology.
Still there are questions
In terms of composition, the Penza formations are closest to the "circles" that appeared in St. Petersburg (2007), where you can also see two similar snow rings in the photo. The studies carried out by the Petersburg-Cosmopoisk group show that the place of their appearance is in a kind of triangle formed by the fault lines of the earth's crust. From the point of view of geology, this place seems to be quite interesting.
Snow circles in St. Petersburg (2007).
By Wednesday, December 25, when I finally got to this place, all the tracks first melted, and then they were re-covered with snow, so all the parameters of the formations can be estimated only by photographs. Through the courtyard, where the "circles" were seen, there are routes for local residents to move to a public transport stop, so this place was soon completely trampled.
Then snow fell on top of these tracks and "circles" appeared, and with them new tracks, and some of the old tracks fell on the edge of the grooves and when the snow melted, they, as well as new ones, distorted the lines of the circles, giving them additional irregularities, which initially might not It was.
Trampled circles in Penza. Photo by the author
The photographs show that several furrows (to be precise, five), passed under the carpet beater, the grating of which is very low above the ground (no more than 50 cm), which makes making furrows a very difficult (but not unrealistic!). In this case, the knockout is an artificial obstacle and the question of motivation arises here.
The question is: why not finish trampling the "circles" if there is an obstacle ahead? Or, say, choose a place without any hindrances? The first thing that comes to mind: this was done to deceive gullible researchers, but in Penza this is the only case and most likely that one had to be sure that someone would certainly pay attention to these "suffering under the bars".
A similar incident took place in Yekaterinburg, where the authors of the “circles” on the playground almost perfectly fitted a swing and a horizontal bar into the overall pattern.
Circles in Yekaterinburg
Upon arrival from Moscow, I pasted a notice at the entrances of the nearest houses, in which I asked the tenants to inform me about unusual phenomena (flashes, glow, strange animal behavior, etc.) on the night of December 21-22.
After a couple of days, new “circles” appeared in the same place, apparently as a reaction of local teenagers to this announcement, but even a superficial examination it was clear that they were uneven (more precisely, just curves), with piles of snow on the sides of the grooves, left by “sneaking movements”and clear footprints, and climbing under benches and horizontal bars, teenagers apparently decided not to bother themselves.
New circles turned out to be "no ice"
So far there is no good reason to assert that the Penza circles were of an anomalous nature. Also, today there are practically no criteria that could help establish, with a reasonable degree of probability, a fake in front of us or a real "circle" (for example, arising from a rare natural phenomenon).
Upon careful investigation, it often turned out that there was no mystery in them, and the gravitation of these snow geoglyphs to large cities and playgrounds in itself prompts the appropriate conclusions. However, from the point of view of the author, in the event of the appearance of new similar formations, it is imperative that search engines go to check them, regardless of the researcher's personal opinion on this issue.
About the author: Vladimir Kukolnikov, member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, head of the Penza-Cosmopoisk group.