In the comment section, Curious Fellow had this to say:

"I would guess one implication that could be drawn from the dialogue between the field owner and the laborer is that when the farmer turned down the worker’s offer of an even lower rate than usual for harvesting the crop, and being refused, with the owner saying he’d prefer the devil doing it instead, that the spurned laborer, in revenge, went out that night, and with some source of illumination to light his activity, and mowed down the crops in circles in order to spook and spite the farmer for having turned him down for the job he belatedly offered to do for less than the usual meager rate.

Much more likely than the devil or paranormal forces, but then that would have hardly been newsworthy by comparison, even in 1678. I’m sure that even in the 17th century, there were the equivalent of tabloids and yellow journalism, as the account above makes rather obvious."

I couldn't agree more.  A curious fellow indeed…

Now I am curious (or still curious…).  What are you taking from this article?  If the devil, then paranormal.  If you're going true crop circle theory with the typical ufologist revisionist spin on history, then we're talking aliens.  If neither, then we're talking about the possibly first documented case of a hoax.  What side do you lean towards?