Watching Signs in a Cornfield

After visiting with friends over last weekend, I couldn't help but think I should share this story with everyone. This may possibly be the greatest adventure I ever had the privilege of being part of. For those of you who've heard this story before, I'm sure it's worth a repeat. This story takes place in Nauvoo, Illinois almost a decade ago. This is posted almost entirely from my journal the day after. 

Friends' names have been omitted to protect those involved.

Watching Signs in a Cornfield 

This was a very exciting night.  One of my friends came up with the ingenious idea of watching Signs in a cornfield.  So, after I worked in the haunted house (which was extremely fun, if a little slow that night) I came back just in time to see a different friend come running down the hall with a aluminum-foil hat on her head saying, “Go make your hat!”  In one scene in Signs, they put on aluminum-foil hats so the aliens can’t read their brains.  We all looked pretty funny.  We all packed our blankets, my laptop, chairs, and ourselves into our friend's little car and then we went to find a cornfield.  

Here's me with my awesome hat!

Our cramming into the car was not well done.  The heaviest person (me) was on top of everyone else, and it was extremely uncomfortable for all of us.  We went to the cornfield that they had picked out earlier that day, but someone had cut it down!  So we drove around for 15-20 minutes more looking for a cornfield.  Eventually we stopped up on a hill where our handcarts had stopped and a brave friend and I went to see if the corn on the other side of the open area was still there.  It was a really terrifying walk.  We were half-way across, when suddenly the bush next to us began to shake and move.  It was shaken by a rather large something, and it definitely was not the wind.  I took a picture of the bush, hoping maybe I could see what it was, but whatever it was had already left.  So, we continued across, more than a little frightened.  When we got to the corn, it was all cut down, and we couldn't see the other, more timid girls walking across that open grassy area.  So, we headed back.  Evidently the other girls had begun to get worried about us, but said when they all stopped and listened, they could here me talking.  We piled back in, in a more comfortable position for us all, and then we drove around until we came to another corn field. Half of it was plowed, but the rest was still standing. We parked the car and walked onto the corn that had already been plowed, set the laptop in front of the remaining standing corn on a chair, set down our hot-pink lawn chairs, put on our aluminum-foil hats, and began to watch Signs.  

In all honesty, the corn creeped me out much worse than the movie did.  The movie, especially the scene where he is out at night chasing the alien through the corn, only made me more aware of how much the corn was moving.   Certain times, I am fairly positive that it wasn't just the wind moving the corn.  My brave friend and I, who were on the edge, heard cracking noises as something walked through.  It was probably only a raccoon, or something small like that, but it added to the terror of the evening. 

If that wasn't enough, then we had the best part of the evening happen.  As we were sitting there, we suddenly became aware of lights shining on us.  We looked back and saw a police car, sitting on the edge of the road, shining a spotlight on us.  The visualization here is really funny.  We were in the middle of the demolished corn sitting in front of corn in a straight, unmoving row on hot pink lawn chairs with aluminum-foil hats.  All you could see from the road was our backs. We began to get a little nervous as he didn't leave, and someone said, “Maybe we should go talk to him.”  However, as someone began to get up, he drove away, and we thought, “That’s that.”

My friend took this picture later. This is what the police officer saw.

However, around 10 minutes later, he came back...with another police car in tow.  Now we were a lot more nervous.  We began to get up, but he drove right onto the field and hiding in his car shined a spotlight into our faces.  

“Hello,” we said, knowing how ridiculous we looked.  I removed my hat to look a little more sane.  

“So, what’s going on here?” he asked. 

I replied, "We're watching a movie. It's about aliens that land in corn fields."

He asked us who our ringleader was. We replied that we were all in it together.

The officer then asked where we were from.  There was an awkward pause, and then I said, “The JSA,” and someone else added, “The Joseph Smith Academy.”  We all kind of waited breathlessly until he said, “Not my JSA students?” (As a side note, the JSA is no longer in existence. We were one of the last groups who were able to live there for a semester.)

Instantly we all breathed a sigh of relief.  Then he said, "So, explain this again?”  Again we told him that we wanted to watch Signs in a cornfield. We asked him if he had seen it, and he said, "No." As the other officer walked up, the first one asked, "So, what's up the the hats?"

One of us replied, "That's to keep the aliens from reading our minds." After a long awkward pause, he then said, “Well, maybe I didn't need back-up, but put yourselves in my position!  I rather face a guy with a gun any day, than face a bunch of girls in aluminum foil hats.”  He was pretty funny.  I was really glad he laughed at us.  At one point, he did ask, “So, did all of you fit in that little car?”  Someone answered, “Yes,” but he didn't make a big deal about it.  

He then asked the other officer if there was anything else he needed to know.  The other officer laughingly shook his head.  We asked it we were doing something bad.  He said, “Well, it’s not good.”  He then asked us how long the movie would be.  We told him about an hour left.  He said okay. He told us not to start any fires, and then they left us.  For a while the two police cars sat there talking.  I wonder what they were saying.  The visual image of all of us sitting there facing the corn on our hotpink lawn chairs wearing tinfoil hats still gives me the giggles. I had them throughout the rest of the movie as I thought about him telling the other police officers about the crazy thing a bunch of girls were doing. 

I thought it was the funniest thing that had ever happened, but a few others were taking it more seriously. They figured we could have gotten in huge trouble for trespassing, but I figured the worst that would happen is he would ask us to leave.  I think the hats made us crazy enough that he just thought, “Oh, it’s just a bunch of harmless girls.”  He was a funny guy.  I’m glad we didn't get in trouble. 

The battery eventually died too early because of the long pause, and so we finished the movie in our usual hangout bedroom.  It was really funny.

One last past of the story.


I wrote and told my family about this fantastic story and sent them a picture of our view of the cornfield. The next day, my father sent me the picture back and said, "Look what I found in your cornfield." 

If you look really closely at the dark spot in the center of the picture, then you see this:

For a moment I was really freaked out, but then I realized it was photo-shopped. I enjoyed freaking the other girls out with it though.

And that's the Infamous Cornfield Story.

I hope you enjoyed it!