The Unofficial "Signs" Movie Site

Trailer talk
By John Lundberg

Trailer circles

The Signs teaser trailer gave me an opportunity to dig out my dog eared copy of "The Latest Evidence" by seminal crop circle enthusiasts Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews, which was first published back in 1990. All of the crop circles that appear in the teaser trailer date from the early 1990's and they all appeared here in the UK, not in the locations attributed to them in the trailer. I'd assumed that no crop circles had actually appeared at the stated locations, Ranfurly - New Zealand, Toyosato - Japan, Grasdorf - Germany, Port Safaga - Egypt and Kennewick - United States. But after a bit of book rummaging, googling and memory jogging, it turned out that two of the locations had indeed been visited by circlemakers. There was a formation in Grasdorf back in 1992, as stated above it's not the one depicted in the trailer, that formation appeared at the Longwood Estate in Hampshire, England in 1990. The 'real' Grasdorf formation consisted of ten separate elements and back in 1992 it was a pretty impressive sight. It quickly gained notoriety for being both Germany's most complex formation at the time and because several metal plates depicting the formation were discovered buried underneath it! Both formations are depicted above.

Trailer circles

It turns out that there was also a formation at Kennewick in the States back in 1993, but again it's not the formation depicted in the trailer. The depicted formation actually appeared at Telegraph Hill in Hampshire, England back in 1991 and is featured in Pat and Colin's book. Pat wrote about the formation finishing off with this confusingly cryptic statement about it "Position the picture so that the semi-rings are at the bottom of the pictogram and see what comes into your mind. Make a note of this. Now reverse the photograph so the semi-rings are at the top. what are your thoughts now?" Er, looking back it's amazing to think that their book was on the best sellers list! The Kennerick formation was typical of the crop circles that were appearing at the time, consisting of a circle surrounded by a ring with an two avenues and "f keys" coming off the circle, Both formation are depicted above.

So, either the research department for the movie deserve to be sacked or - more likely - Shyamalan has decided to weave a mixture of fact and fantasy into the fabric of the movie.

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