People passing by discovered the symbol early Thursday morning. They wondered what it might represent and contacted the church office at Løten (Small community near the town of Hamar in central eastern Norway. Ed)

The symbol measures twenty five metres across. The centre is a five metre wide circle with eight corridors of laid crop radiating from it. All the grain in the circle is laid down flat into a delicate spiral shape. The agency that is responsible for creating the symbol has really put an effort into it's execution.

Any potencial human perpetrators would have probably found their way into the field from the parsonage’s garden. There is no one at the parsonage these days since the priest Solveig Fiske has a vacation. The imprint that is clearly visible from Highway 3 between Elverum (Larger community nearby. Ed.)) and Hamar, lies about thirty metres away from the parsonage.

We hope this is nothing else than a prank, but the situation is far from pleasant, says Odd Magnar Syversen, the leader of the parish counsel at Løten.

Farmer Svein Erik Oppsal manages the field where the symbol is located. When the media contacted him yesterday afternoon, he had still not seen the symbol.

- This is vandalism to other people’s property, but I have no idea what the symbol might mean. I’m used to children playing in the fields and damaging the crops, but this symbol is so complex that adults must have made it. I have no problem understanding that the parish finds this sinister as long as the symbol is placed on holy ground.

Dean Ole Elias Holck at the bishop’s office at Hamar, who has thorough knowledge of Christian as well as pagan symbolism, does not recognise the design at the parsonage field at Løten. Satanists normally leave behind symbols like converted crosses, devil’s horns or so-called pentagrams, says Holck.

A pentagram is a magical pattern the shape of a star with five arms. During the Middle Ages the pentagram was associated with the druids, Celtic priests who, according to old superstition, sacrificed humans as well as animals. In later years Satanists have often used the pentagram.

At first glance Odd Magnar Syversen feared that the symbol was a pentagram, but it turns out that it’s not.

Dean Ole Elias Holck feels that the two arms stretching out from the top of the circle in the centre (see the illustration) might symbol the Devil’s horns.

- It is difficult to say for sure, but we have to look into this. It is not hard to understand that the parish at Løten is upset after several encounters with Satanists dressed in black the recent years, but we’ll have to try to figure out the meaning of the symbol before we put too much into it, says Holck.

He does not exclude the possibility that, if Satanists or pagans are behind the vandalism, the church office will be notified.

Løten is the only place in the county of Hedmark where the Church has felt direct threats from atheists during the last year. Two years ago there was an episode where someone painted satanic symbols on the doors at Hamar Cathedral, but since then we’ve had no similar problems elsewhere, says Ole Elias Holck.

The newspaper contacted the local pagans at Løten yesterday, but the youngsters did not want to comment on the assertion that they could be behind the symbol at the parsonage field.