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...a CROP CIRCLE RESEARCH, EDUCATION and ACCESS resource.
With Paul Jacobs.
... bringing the Crop Circle phenomenon sensibly into the 21st century.
Monoliths 2023
'Monolith' reported on 9/8/23 on the clifftops near Chapel-le-Ferne, Folkestone, Kent. UK. The structure is being described as like a Totem Pole. It appeared unexpectedly and without planning permission most probably in the early hours of the 9/8/23. It was not witnessed by anyone locally nor has anyone come forward to claim ownership. Just like the so called monoliths of 2020/1 its origin and purpose remains a complete mystery. The structure is engraved with the word 'Perkūnas'. Perkūnas is the god of lightning and thunder and storms which is perhaps the best known Baltic god.
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The 'Totem Pole' is about 8ft high and appears to have be made out of a solid piece of tree trunk. The quality of wood workmanship is extremely high.
I thought it looked a little like the Easter Island statues.
When we went it looked like there had been little disturbance resulting from its placement when it was sunk into the ground. There was little or no evidence of excavation spoil which would have been considerable. The square section of wood used was about 9 x 9in and would have needed a foundation of around 3ft deep to stabilise a 8ft post. At around 11ft long in all, if made of hardwood would have been quite heavy and difficult to manage in this craggy terrain. We think the wood is oak, so very heavy. We now believe that the piece of wood used was utilised upside-down...IOWs, the top of the totem was made from nearer the base of a tree trunk. The part that goes into the ground was nearer the top of the tree. The base of the tree tends to be more stable and harder and better suited to carving the intricate design at top we see here.
As you can see, there is a metallic capping on the top, maybe anodised. This would serve both as weatherproof to the open grained end but also adds an aesthetic feel to the work. The actual material used is unknown but we can say it was finished at around 12mm thick. We estimate that this capping was machined out of one solid piece of metal at least 25mm thick and around 250mm square as the claws and surface appear to all be in one piece. Could have been cast of course. This is a highly engineered and costly to manufacture piece of work and not something one would simply place on a cliff to just be abandoned for no good reason.
It would appear that the capping has been fixed to the top surface by way of 8 'rivets' and 4 claws one to each corner. A central rod and washer appears to be positioned and sunk into the centre. This rod looks like it may be of a different material to the capping, possibly stainless steel.
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The weather on the day of visit (13/8/23) was very windy up there on the Cliff top so using the drone to best advantage was not possible. However, there was just one frame that shows the capping and the positioning of the fixings.
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Conclusion: It was quite clear to us that this item was neither a joke nor an advertisement. Whoever did this thought this through carefully and invested much time and effort into so doing. The site upon which it was placed was overlooked by a number of houses about 70m away, one of which had a balcony with a mounted telescope on view. Whoever or whatever placed this was quick, silent had plenty of money to spend and was very skilled in both metalwork and wood carving. My impression was that it could well fall into the MO of mysterious Monoliths that appeared around 2020/1. I will continue to take this seriously despite any stories the media may come up with.