Crop circle

File:CropCircleSwirl.jpeg

A crop circle pattern. See also: A crop circle on Google maps.

Crop circles are geometrical formations of flattened crops found in England and elsewhere. They have been found in wheat, barley, canola, rye, corn, linseed and soy.

The phenomenon itself was noticed in its current form after notable appearances in England in the late 1970s. Various explanations were offered for the phenomenon, which soon spread around the world. In 1991, two men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, revealed that they had been making crop circles in England since 1978 using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools. Circlemakers.org a UK-based arts collective founded by John Lundberg have been creating complex crop circles since the early 1990s. .

Despite the evidence that crop circles are of human origin, various paranormal theories continue to enjoy some currency, although these all violate Occam's Razor.

History of crop circles

The phenomenon of crop circles became widely known in the late 1980s, after the media started to report crop circles (later found to have been created by Doug Bower and Dave Chorley) in Hampshire and Wiltshire. Subsequently crop circle enthusiasts have tried finding examples of the phenomenon before this. The earliest recorded crop circle is depicted in a 17th century woodcut called the Mowing-Devil. The image depicts a strange creature creating a circular design in a field of corn. The pamphlet the image appeared in states that the farmer, disgusted at the wage his mower was demanding for his work, insisted that he would rather have "the devil himself" perform the task.

A more recent historical report of crop circles was published in the journal Nature in 1880 (reproduced in 1991). An amateur scientist named Brandon Meland describes a field containing a number of crop circles, along with the suggestion that they might have been caused by "some cyclonic wind action".[1]

Although the pixie circles created by Elves in Scandinavian folklore were most likely caused by fungus colonies, there was also a rarer kind, consisting of circular patches where the grass had been flattened:

On lake shores, where the forest met the lake, you could find elf circles. They were round places where the grass had been flattened like a floor. Elves had danced there. By Lake Tisaren, I have seen one of those. It could be dangerous and one could become ill if one had trodden over such a place or if one destroyed anything there (an account given in 1926, Hellström 1990:36).

Not long after WWII, the aerial surveys that were being made over large areas of Britain revealed some unexpected phenomena, undetectable from the ground. When the surveys photographed ripening crops or drought-stressed terrain they revealed what were soon termed "crop marks", the differential ripening of the crop that revealed differences in the subsoil. These patterns were found to be caused by the buried remnants of ancient buildings. Archaeological investigations were soon instigated, but, though many previously unsuspected archaeological sites were found, no crop circles were ever recorded. Skeptics argue that this would have pointed to circles as a modern phenomenon, even if the initial pranksters had not revealed themselves; believers reply different agendas may simply be at work in the modern day.

Crop circles shot into prominence in the late 1970s as many circles began appearing throughout the English countryside. To date, thousands of circles have appeared at sites across the world, from disparate locations such as the former Soviet Union, the UK and Japan, as well as the U.S. and Canada. Some skeptics note a strong inverse correlation between crop circles and the presence of fencing and/or anti-trespassing legislation, as well as a great increase in the number of crop circles after media coverage.

Creators of crop circles

In 1991, more than a decade after the phenomenon began, two men from Southampton, England announced that the phenomenon of crop circles was an idea thought up one evening in a pub near Winchester, Hampshire in 1978. World War II veteran Doug Bower and his friend Dave Chorley revealed that they made their crop circles using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools. Bower and Chorley stated to reporters that a small group of people can stomp down a sizable area of crop in a single night using simple tools.

The pair became slightly frustrated that their work had not received as much publicity as they had hoped. In 1981 they created a crop circle in Matterley Bowl, a natural amphitheatre just outside Winchester, Hampshire - an area surrounded by roads from which a clear view of the field is available to drivers passing by.

Bower's wife had become increasingly suspicious of him due to noticing high levels of mileage in their car. Eventually, fearing that his wife suspected him of adultery, Bower confessed to her and subsequently informed a British national newspaper.

Bower revealed on TV the method he used. With a four-foot-long plank attached to a rope, circles of eight feet in diameter could be easily created. He stated that a 40-foot circle could be created by two men in a quarter of an hour. The designs were at first simple circles. When newspapers claimed that the circles could easily be explained by natural phenomena, Bower and Chorley chose more complex patterns. A simple wire with a loop, hanging down from a cap - the loop positioned over one eye - could be used to focus on a landmark to aid in the creation of straight lines. Later designs of crop circles became increasingly complex.

Dave Chorley died in 1996, and Doug Bower has made the occasional crop circle as recently as 2004. Bower has said that, had it not been for his wife's suspicions, he would have taken the secret to his deathbed, never revealing that it was a hoax.

Circlemakers.org, perhaps the best-known group of contemporary crop circle makers, was founded by John Lundberg. They have demonstrated that making what self-appointed cereologist experts state are "unfakeable" crop circles is possible. One such cereologist, Terence Meaden, was filmed claiming that a crop circle was genuine when the humans making the circle had been filmed the night before. On the night of July 11-12, 1992, a crop-circle making competition, for a prize of several thousand UK pounds (partly funded by the Arthur Koestler Foundation), was held in Berkshire. The winning entry was produced by three helicopter engineers, using rope, PVC pipe, a trestle and a ladder. Another competitor used a small garden roller, a plank and some rope. Minimal equipment and preparation sufficed to produce even the most complex crop circle designs.

Scientific American published an article by Matt Ridley, who started making crop circles in northern England in 1991. He wrote about how easy it is to develop techniques using simple tools that can easily fool later observers. He reported on "expert" sources such as the Wall Street Journal who had been easily fooled, and mused about why people want to believe supernatural explanations for phenomena that are not yet explained. Methods to create a crop circle are now well-documented on the Internet.

The first people to be legally charged with creating a crop circle were Hungarian teenagers Gabor Takacs and Robert Dallos, both 17 and from the St. Stephen Agricultural Technicum, a high school in Hungary specializing in agriculture. On the night of June 8 1992 they created a 36-meter diameter crop circle in a wheat field near Székesfehérvár, 43 miles southwest of Budapest. On September 3rd, they appeared on a Hungarian TV show and exposed the circle as a hoax showing photos of the field before and after the circle was made. As a result, Aranykalasz Co., the owners of the land, sued the youngsters for Fts.630,000 (approximately $3000 USD) in damages. Presiding judge Alan Van Dyke eventually ruled that the boys were only responsible for the damage caused in the 36 meters diameter circle, amounting to about Fts.6,000 (approximately $30 USD). They concluded that 99% of the damage to the crops was caused by the thousands of visitors that flocked to Szekesfehervar following the media's promotion of the circle. The fine was eventually paid for by the TV show, as were the boys' legal fees.

Paranormal enthusiasts, including Gerald Hawkins, argue that some designs have a degree of complexity that humans would not be able to easily recreate on paper, let alone in a field at night. They argue that the shapes of these formations are far too complex, and display a tremendously high level of precision which make it extremely difficult for a team of humans to create using just simple hand tools. Circle makers respond by noting that the only tool necessary for perfect symmetry is a measured length of rope rotated around a central pivot point, and more complex asymmetrical shapes are created by using marked ropes as straight edges to position elements.

Many popular arguments hinge on some part of the crop being left intact after the hoaxing. While something of this nature is difficult to ascertain, skilled crop circle creators are adept at using tractor tramlines and landscape features to avoid leaving other marks in the field. On the other hand, crop circles in Canada have been found in crop having no tramlines, as fertilization is done by aircraft.

Crop circle designs

Early examples of this phenomenon were usually simple circular patterns of various sizes, which led some people to speculate that it was a natural phenomenon. But after some years, more and more elaborate and complex geometric patterns emerged. In general, the early formations (1970 - 2000) seemed to be based on the principles of sacred geometry. Later formations, those occurring after 2000, appear to be based on other principles, natural sciences and mathematics designs, including fractals. Many crop circles have fine intricate detail, regular symmetry and careful composition. Elements of three-dimensionality became more frequent, culminating in spectacular images of cube-shaped structures.

After the public admission of the original creators, crop circle activity skyrocketed. Each new design sought to be more complex than earlier designs. Today crop circle designs have increased in complexity to the point where they have become an art form in and of themselves.

Crop circle maker John Lundberg, in an interview with Mark Pilkington, spoke about this change in crop circle designs, "I am rather envious of circlemakers in other countries. Expectations about the size and complexity of formations that appear in the UK are now very high, whereas the rather shabby looking Russian formation made the national news. Even Vasily Belchenko, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, was on site gushing about its origin: "There is no doubt that it was not man-made... an unknown object definitely landed there. If the same formation appeared in the UK it would undoubtedly be virtually ignored by researchers and the media alike."

The Stonehenge Julia Set was first reported on 7 July, 1996. It measured 900 by 500 feet, with 151 circles. The Triple Julia Set, widely felt to be the pinnacle of the crop circle formations in that year, was found on Windmill Hill near Yatesbury, Wiltshire in July 1996.

Alternate origin theories

There are many beliefs contending that crop circles are not created by people. As many circles occur in the Avebury area of southern England, near ancient sites such as earth barrows or mounds, white horses carved in the chalk hills, and stone circles, it has been conjectured that this supports the conclusion that crop circles are of paranormal origin. Other ideas on the formation of crop circles have included tornadoes, freak wind patterns, ball lightning, and "plasma vortices".

A number of witnesses say they have observed circles being created, saying that it takes only a few seconds and the corn falls flat like a fan being opened – though these accounts have never been supported by any evidence beyond the claimants' assertions.

There have been cases in which believers declared crop circles to be "the real thing", only to be confronted soon after with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud (see above).

Investigators endorsing a non-human origin for some crop circles

Colin Andrews has published a book entitled Crop Circles, Signs of Contact, claiming that "based in our research, I concluded that approximately 80 percent of all the crop circles we investigated in England from 1999 through the year 2000 were manmade. This was one of the most important research findings to date because it cut to the core of what is truly important: the remaining 20 percent of the crop circles showed no sign of human hands." This claim has been contested by the CSICOP, which notes that some of the alleged 20% 'genuine' crop circles have been documented as man-made and there is no reliable criterion for distinguishing between 'genuine' crop circles and those that are man-made. [2]

Another investigator, Freddy Silva, published Secrets in the Fields.(2002) He paraphrases Gerald Hawkin's summary "If crop circles are made by hoaxers, then they should stop doing it, because they are breaking the law and damaging the food supply. If they are made by UFO aliens, they shouldn't give us back the dates of our trips to Mars and the names of the men from the Titanic era - famous, clever, but now forgotten. If some are transcendental, the power behind it should realize that our culture is not now willing to accept transcendental happenings. But if they are indeed transcendental, then society will have to make a big adjustment in the years ahead."(p299)

Similar phenomena

• Lawn Cross of Eisenberg an der Raab
• Unusual Ground Markings
• In an unrelated phenomenon, fungal circles formed by a spreading mycelium. Older, larger fungal circles are not recognized when they have broken into arcs or patches. In Scandinavia and in Britain, the phenomenon of mushrooms or puffballs forming circles in a patch of meadow or pasture was referred to in folklore as älvringar, pixie circles or elf circles, and was attributed by countryfolk to mystical forces. This phenomenon is commonplace and is recognized as the natural growth of fungus colonies.

Advertising

The UK based artists Circlemakers.org have been asked to create numerous crop circles since the mid 1990s for movies, TV shows, music videos, adverts and PR stunts. Clients to date have included Greenpeace, Microsoft, Nike, Shredded Wheat, AMD, Hello Kitty, Pepsi, Weetabix, BBC, The Sun, Mitsubishi, O2, Big Brother,National Geographic , NBC-TV, Orange Mobile, History Channel and the Discovery Channel.

New Age author Dan Joy in 1991 humorously suggested that crop circles are an advertising campaign displaying the logos of galaxy-wide corporations, preparing Earth for its forth coming admission to the Galactic Federation of planets.

In popular culture

• In the TV mini-series Taken by Steven Spielberg crop circles are featured briefly, but although the series is about alien abduction, the crop circles are discovered to be a hoax.
• In the TV show Monster Garage episode 45 featured a crew including abductee Travis Walton and crop circle maker John Lundberg turning an old tractor into a crop circle making machine.
• In the TV show Pimp my Ride, the first show of season 5 features a Chevrolet Malibu that is decorated inside and out with crop circle designs.
• In the film Chicken Little (2005), crop circles are created by aliens as they chase the main characters in a corn field.
• In the film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Harold and Kumar hang glide over a field with a crop circle pattern in the shape of male genitalia.
• In the film Scary Movie 3 (2003), a spoof of Signs, Cindy has to investigate crop circles and prevent an alien invasion.
• In the film A Place To Stay (2002), crop circles of Wiltshire are the background for a supernatural love story.
• In the film Signs (2002), crop circles are attributed to the sinister motives of extraterrestrials.
• In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a book written by J. K. Rowling for the charity Comic Relief, a creature called a mooncalf occasionally performs strange dances flattening crops in fields "to the confusion of many muggles".
• The film Mifune (1999) apparently featured the first appearance of a crop circle in a fiction film.
• In Justice League Unlimited, Huntress is seen reading one of Question's theories about Girl Scouts being responsible for the phenomenon.
• Crop Circle is a track on Monster Magnet's Powertrip.
• On the cover of Led Zeppelin Remasters.
• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game booster set, Power of the Duelist, there is a card called "Crop Circle" with the circle in the Egyptian Eye logo for Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• In the Invader Zim episode "Career Day", Dib and his mentor, a gullible paranormal investigator, approach a crop circle in a field. While the investigator concludes it is the work of aliens, Dib points out a cow rolling around the field, flattening the crops.

Further reading

• The Field Guide: The Art, History and Philosophy of Crop Circle Making by Rob Irving and John Lundberg, edited by Mark Pilkington (Strange Attractor 2006) ISBN 0-9548054-2-9
• Round in Circles: Physicists, Poltergeists, Pranksters, and the Secret History of the Cropwatchers, by Jim Schnabel (Penguin 1993). ISBN 0-14-017952-6.
• Circular Evidence: Bloomsbury, London by Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado, 1989, ISBN 0-7475-0635-3.
• The Hypnotic Power of Crop Circles, by Bert Janssen, 2004. ISBN 1-931882-34-7
• The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends, by Eltjo H. Haselhoff, ISBN 0-285-63625-1.
• Opening Minds by Dr. Simeon Hein, ISBN 0-9715863-0-6.
• Hellström. 1990. En Krönika om Åsbro. ISBN 91-7194-726-4
• Crop Circles by Lucy Pringle, 2004, Pitkin (an imprint of Jarrold Publishing) (largely in favour of the supernatural explanation of Crop Circles), ISBN 1-84165-138-9.
• Carl Sagan, 1996. The Demon-Haunted world: Science as a Candle in the Dark; "Aliens" pp 73ff.

External links

Skeptical and scientific analysis:

• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0801_020801_cropcircles.html This is an excellent introduction to crop circles, with a special emphasis on their value as art.
• http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-09/crop-circles.html The Center for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal looks at "crop circles" and is not impressed.
• http://www.siue.edu/GEOGRAPHY/ONLINE/Northcote06.pdf A geographical study that asks if the location of crop circles near major roads and population centres is just a coincidence?
• Brief summary of scientific literature on causes of crop circles

Circle creators, and information on making your own crop circles:

• http://www.circlemakers.org/ The most famous group of crop circle makers, founded by Doug Bower, Dave Chorley and John Lundberg.
• http://www.amtsgym-sdbg.dk/as/crop/ufofake.HTM An entertaining report on how an elaborate crop circle made by astronomy students at Amtsgymnasiet in Sonderborg, Denmark fooled crop circle "researchers".
• http://science.howstuffworks.com/crop-circle.htm How stuff Works explains how crop circles are made and how to make your own, with step by step pictures and complex circle patterns.

Pro paranormal explanation websites:

• http://www.cropcircle-archive.com A complete crop circle database site with a search engine and flash animations of crop circle constructions using the "ruler and compass" rule.
• http://www.cropcircles.org
• http://www.cropcircleresearch.com A page devoted to researching the phenomenon of Crop Circles - concentrating more on scientific research.
• http://www.lucypringle.co.uk This site is the de facto standard for comprehensive aerial photographs of the UK's crop circles.