Subject: Cactus Flat: the horror, the horror... From: thomsona@netcom.com (Allen Thomson) Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 23:52:37 GMT Message-ID: Through means and at cost best left undescribed, I've come into possession of (whisper it) a USGS satellite image map of the Cactus Flat area * within the Nellis range. Not even my agents, skilled and courageous though they were, were able to obtain images of The Area which we all worship. Let us revere their memories. But that is OF NO MATTER. What the Cactus Flat picture shows has come close to blasting my sanity. My soul shrinks from the knowledge brought to it by the accursed satellite ** as it coursed above Nevada on that dread day *** so many years ago. My attention was first drawn to a substantial airfield to the southeast of Tonopah; the center coordinates are 116.7684W, 37.7980N. Its principal runway is oriented at approximately 330- 150 degrees, and is at least 3000 m long, possibly 3,500 m. As my as-yet unsuspecting gaze moved away from the airfield to the surrounding country, it beheld a bewildering network of roads and lineaments of obscurer purpose: chevrons with anomalously thick arms were there, and hints of vast, dim arcs crossed the desert floor. Even the roads, which at first seemed of ordinary appearance, on closer examination showed indications of abnormality, for they were marked along their length with short perpendicular stems and strange, amorphous widenings. And then, then -- Oh, gods, that that thrice-damned moment had never come -- I looked to the southwest quadrant of the picture and -- how hard this is to write -- saw IT! There, etched on the face of our fair planet was an enormous CROP CIRCLE ****! As they came to Nazca, as they have defiled the fields of England, so are they now here carrying out their foul designs, undoubtedly with the assistance of the unspeakable USGS. Horror built on horror for, even as my eyes recoiled from the first abomination, they fell on a SECOND, somewhat different in its blasphemous form, but still bearing the unmistakable aura of alien evil. What happened after that I cannot say, but when consciousness returned a day and a night and a day had passed. Duty compels me to chronicle the particulars of these awful formations, though I do you, my readers, no favor by doing so. Read, fear, and be warned: The first has its center at 116.8456W, 37.6291N. Its outer border is an equilateral triangle which has one side oriented east-west, with the opposite vertex to the north. Each side of the triangle measures 1250 meters. Inscribed in the triangle are five circles of decreasing radius, the outer tangent to the triangle's sides. The interior of the inner circle seems smudged. The second is at 116.2415W, 37.5122N, and is in the form of four concentric circles, the outer 1250 meters in diameter. Again, the interior of the inner circle has been vexed by occult influences, to purposes best left unknown. Spokes connect neighboring circles in a few places, and one radius runs from the center past the outer circle and connects to a *dry lake*, such as is found at Groom. What can these monstrosities be? Who would be foolish enough to venture a conjecture? Who could bear the answer? Let's hear it, folks. * Cactus Flat Nevada Satellite Image Map, File No. NV 2489, US$4.00 Available from USGS Map Distribution, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225 ** Landsat 5 using its Thematic Mapper *** 16:49 UT 24 March 1984 **** Not literally. There are precious few crops in this part of Nevada, which fittingly resembles Hell.