Robbert van den Broeke

Early Life & Abilities

Robbert van den Broeke was born May 7, 1980, in Hoeven, North Brabant, Netherlands. He claims to have perceived spirits and paranormal beings since age three, and from age thirteen formalized his studies in paranormal and spiritual disciplines under a psychologist's guidance. For thirteen years prior to 2020, he operated a private practice as a spiritual medium, paranormal advisor, and fortune teller.

Crop Circles & UFO Sightings

Beginning in February 1996, van den Broeke became known for discovering crop circles in fields near his family home, often before media or other investigators. He claims the remarkable ability to predict where circles will form and to witness them materializing in real time. According to his testimony, the formations are preceded by "heat-emitting balls of light descending and spinning" over the fields—phenomena he links to non-human intelligence. American cerealogist Nancy Talbott of BLT Research spent extended periods documenting his activities and claimed to independently witness crop circle formations in his presence, lending some credibility within UFO research circles.

Paranormal Photography

From 2004 onward, van den Broeke expanded his claims to include spirit photography—a practice wherein images of deceased persons, UFOs, and alleged extraterrestrial beings purportedly appear on photographs taken by him without being visible to the naked eye at the moment of capture. He has documented hundreds of such images, typically attributed to "energetic projections from another dimension." These photographs formed the basis of Dutch television appearances beginning in 2004, culminating in an RTL 4 television program series titled There is Much More (autumn 2005).

Skepticism & Fraud Allegations

Van den Broeke's claims have generated substantial skepticism both within and outside UFO research. Dutch UFO organization UFO Meldpunt Nederland publicly distanced itself from him. Critical analysis has exposed documented fraud: in 2005, he referenced a nonexistent term "gene burner" lifted directly from a genealogy website during a televised appearance. Investigators have identified source images for his spirit photographs, tracing them to YouTube videos and other public sources, with alleged crude digital editing using basic motion blur effects. Most damaging, he was caught presenting a photograph from Reader's Digest featuring a Papua New Guinea native as an alleged extraterrestrial being he had purportedly captured. The small, rough crop circles that appear near his residence remain suspicious, as they require minimal effort to create by hand. His arrest in 2016 on suspicion of death threats further complicated his public standing.

Current Status

Despite fraud allegations, van den Broeke maintains a social media following in the thousands across Facebook and YouTube, and continues producing content. He remains a contested figure in UFO research: dismissed as a hoaxer by skeptics and many cerealogists, while retained as credible by a smaller subset of researchers, including Talbott, who emphasize the handful of witnessed formation events.