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File:CropCircleSwirl.jpeg
A crop circle pattern. See also: A crop circle on google maps.

This page is about the phenomena of crop circles. For information about the music band, please see Crop Circles.

Crop circles are areas of cereal or similar crops that have been systematically flattened, sometimes at a height many inches above the ground-level, to form various geometric patterns. The crops appear to scientists to be flattened using an unknown technique involving microwaves, magnetism, and electricity. The creation of the pattern also produces a number of bizarre effects in the cells of the plants, their seeds and the soil of the affected area . Although it is a global phenomenon apparently spanning centuries, the phenomenon itself only entered the public imagination in its current form after the notable appearances in England every crop season since the late 1970s. Various scientific and pseudo-scientific explanations have been put forward to explain the phenomenon. In 1991, more than a decade after the current popular awareness of the phenomenon began, two men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, claimed that they had been making crop circles in England since 1978 using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools. Their claims were reported in corporate news channels around the world and many people took their claims as actual fact. Numerous other people began to get in on the act, claiming that they, too, were making crop circles, notably Circlemakers.org, although these creations never include the many anomolous properties that intrigue the scientists who investigate the real phenomenon. Although the officially reinforced view today is that crop circles are a man-made phenomenon, other explanations, including even UFO-related theories, have quite a lot of evidence to support them.

Some people who seriously study crop circle phenomena are called "cereologists", after the usually known name for the science that studies crop circles: cereology. Cereologists call these designs agriglyphs.

History of crop circles

The strange phenomenon of crop circles has been a feature of the fields for apparently centuries, although it became popularly known only in the 1970s, and especially upon the advent of the media-hoaxes perpetrated using the claims of Bower and Chorley. The earliest thus far reported physical documentary evidence of the phenomenon is a depiction in a 17th Century woodcut called the Mowing-Devil. The image is of a strange creature creating a circular design in a field of corn. The legend tells that the farmer discovered the plants laid down flat in the circular shape such a way that no human could possibly have made it so. The farmer’s conclusion: the devil must have done it! The woodcut illustrates his theory. Further evidence supporting the reality of this event are the numerous reports by generations of farmers about mysterious flattened circles of all sizes in their crops. The farmers would downplay the existance of these circles for fear that the mystery of their existence would affect the saleability of their crop. The thinking was the perhaps it was evidence of a plant disease or some other undesirable property. So the farmers would usually not talk much about it publicly.

Superficially related to the Crop Circle phenomenon are the so-called pixie circles said to be created by Elves in Scandinavian folklore may have been 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)

The notion that one could be made ill by entering an elf circle resonates with the fact that many people visiting crop circles have reported that they experienced their electronic equipment failing, or peculiar sensations on their skin, or internal bodily effects such as nausea, experienced only while within the boundary of the pattern.

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. Believers in the theory that all crop circles are made by pranksters argue that this would have pointed to circles as a modern phenomenon, even if the initial pranksters had not revealed themselves; Proponants of unusual-origin-theories reply that 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, perplexing scientists whose curiosity demanded an explanation. 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.

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 have emerged.

There have been many recurring themes over the years. In general, many of the early formations (1970 - 2000) seemed to be based on the principles of Sacred Geometry. Later formations, those occurring after 2000, appear to include other principles as well, natural sciences and mathematics designs, including fractals. Many crop circles have fine intricate detail, regular symmetry and careful composition.

With the rise of the Doug and Dave media hoax, corporate-sponsored simulations began to appear, including automotive logos and cartoon characters. Crop circle-simulation teams have been paid handsomely to create advertising gimmicks for Weetabix, Mountain Dew and Mitsubishi to name a few. These simulations add to the public confusion around this subject.

Contending beliefs

The scientific establishment claims to be convinced that crop circles are sniggles or hoaxes engineered by humans, and indeed more and more of the formations have people claiming to have made them. This explanation, supported by the documentation produced by some crop-circle simulationists, has the advantage of not requiring the existence of flying saucers or other as-yet-unexplained phenomena, and so is favored by the establishment information officers. However, there are many contending hypotheses which do take into account the scientific facts of the real crop circles, that the majority of crop circles cannot possibly be the products of mundane hoaxers. Even so, the "mainstream" scientific establishment and news channels prefer to promote the man-made-jokester theory and ridicule scientists studying the hard data.

One oft-heard belief, is that crop circles are created by flying saucers landing in fields and flattening a neat circle in the crop. However, the increasing complexity of formations from the 1980s on, eye-witness and video evidence, and the fact that plants are often deformed in the pattern well above the ground, show that the vast majority of the real formations are not caused by the force of a physical object. Another oft-heard refutation of the UFO related origin is that it is implausible that extraterrestrial beings would travel to Earth for the sole apparent reason of flattening crops. This is as rediculous as saying that it is implausible that Earthmen would travel to the moon for the sole reason of putting a footprint in the soil!

Cereology
Claims
  • UFO's have been observed in the proximity of some anomalous crop circle formations. Formations are made by the use of an unknown energy, probably a beam technology.
Related scientific disciplines
Year proposed
  • c. 1975
Original proponents
Subsequent proponents
  • unknown
(Overview of pseudoscientific concepts)

Some researchers suggest that an alternate explanation might be cymatics, the visualisation of vibration or sound. According to this hypothesis, the complex patterns are two-dimensional geometric or visual representations of sound frequencies, with higher sound frequencies producing more complex shapes similar to both mandalas and crop circle designs.

Another hypothesis is that a man-made satellite in Earth orbit is using some kind of beam (e.g., microwaves) to create the designs. Heating stems of wheat with a short intense burst of microwave energy can produce wilting similar to that in a crop circle. Flattened stems often have the bend just below a stem-node, and also may feature blackened burn holes indicative of intense heating. Microwave heating has been shown to be capable of producing these effects. It is postulated by researchers that the U.S. Pentagon's "Star Wars" program has a satellite capable of delivering such a microwave beam. The fact that there seems to be an unknown energy field surrounding many of the the formations which apparently causes electronic instruments to fail when brought within the formations seems to add weight to the microwave-beam-hypothesis. Plants that were bent in laboratories using the microwave technique showed all signs of various radiations and moisture differences. Compared to normal crops, the original crops in the crop circle showed stem and seed abnormalities, as well as being mysteriously bent. The conjecture that the formations are related to secret corporate-military projects seems highly unlikely due to the symbolic content of the formations. What does seem likely is that there are multiple methods for generating the formations, and multiple agencies, with multiple agendas. As with all anomalous phenomenon, until more is known about it, we simply cannot distinguish "the wheat from the chaff".

Often pointed to as evidence for an origin of crop circles that relates to the ancient past is the observation that many circles in the Avebury area of southern England occur near ancient sites such as earth barrows or mounds, white horses carved in the chalk hills, and stone circles. Other, since disproved, ideas on their formation have been proposed include tornadoes, freak wind patterns, ball lightning, and something called "plasma vortices".

A number of witnesses claim to have observed circles being created, saying that it takes a few seconds and the grain bends down like a fan being opened – other than a very few contoversial videos, these accounts are anecdotal, and unsupported by sufficient evidence to sway believers in the man-made-jokester theory. Crop circle researchers who do have scientific credentials claim that there are other features of crop circles that undercut the man-made-jokester theory. They say that bends in the grain in many circles occur just below a joint, and the cells of the plant are elongated on one side, while the flattening of the corn by jokesters always produces a crack at any point in the stem, and scientific studies on apical nodes bear them out. Also they say that flattened crop often lies in groomed layers, each layer flowing in a different direction, even elaborate weavings, rather than random crushings. While there was at least one case, a pre-arranged media event, in which 2 researchers declared a crop circle to be 'the real thing', only to be confronted soon after with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud, the bending issue is one of many issues that cannot be related to any known man-made crop-bending technique. True believers of the jokester-theory prefer to not seriously address these facts.

Simulations of crop circles

In 1991, more than a decade after the phenomena began, two men claimed that the phenomenon of crop circles was an idea thought up one evening in a pub in Southampton, England in 1978. World War II veteran Doug Bower and his friend Dave Chorley claimed that they made the 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 sizeable area of crop in a single night. "Stomp" does not mean using the feet: simple tools to make crop circles have been demonstrated. .

The pair claimed that they became slightly frustrated that their work had not recieved as much publicity as they had hoped. In 1981 a crop circle appeared in a highly visible area called the Winchester Punchbowl - an area surrounded by roads from which a clear view of the field is available to drivers passing by - and the pair claimed that they had created this formation.

Bower said that his wife had become increasingly suspicious of him due to noticing particularly high levels of road mileage in their car. Eventually, he said, fearing that his wife suspected him of something else, Bower confessed to her what he had been doing and subsequently informed a British national newspaper.

Bower revealed on TV the method he claimed they used, which was that of a four foot long plank with rope attached and 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 simple at first, just being circles. Bower said that when he and Chorley had read newspaper reports theorizing that the circles could eaily be explained by natural phenomena, they decided to up the stakes. 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 created of straight lines. Many people believed this story, even though it was easily demonstrated to be absurd. Many of the patterns appearing in the fields would be flat-out impossible with only such simple tools, let alone the fact that Bower and Chorley were utterly ignorant of the geometrical theorems being modeled in the glyphs.

Circlemakers.org, the most infamous and well-paid group of crop circle simulators started by John Lundberg have demonstrated that making elaborate simulations of the superficial visual aspect of crop circles is possible with careful planning, teamwork and technology. The group has fooled many people with their activities, including one cerealogist, G. Terence Meaden, who was filmed claiming that he believed a certain crop circle was genuine when the night before the making of that crop circle by humans was filmed. On the night of July 11-12, 1992, a crop-circle making competition, for a prize of several thousand pounds (partly funded by the Arthur Koestler Foundation), was held in Berkshire to see how closely people could simulate the superficial visual appearance of a crop cirlce. 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. The size and complexity of the designs produced demonstrated the minimal equipment and preparation required to produce the visual appearance of a crop design, lending more force to the mis-impression that the real crop circles are simply flattened plants.

Scientific American published an article by Matt Ridley (August 2002, p. 25), who started making simulations of crop circles in Texas in 1991. He wrote about how easy it is to develop techniques using simple tools that can easily fool (later) unscientific observers. He reported on "expert" sources such as the Wall Street Journal who, through their ignorance about the details of the phenomenon, had been easily fooled, and mused about "why people want to believe supernatural explanations for phenomena that are not yet explained", using ridicule to manipulate the gullibility of uninformed laypersons, causing them to become believers in the all-jokester-theory.

One of the many counter argument to the jokester-theory is that where circles appear in crops mature enough that they carry seeds (as they do so often) seed-pods are unbroken, whereas trampling causes seed-pod breakage. Crop circle hoaxers claim that it is easy to leave dry seed pods unbroken during stomping and also leave no trace of entrance and egress trampling when the plants and ground are both dry and some care is taken while walking. Several crop circles later to have been claimed to be hoaxes, were at first certified as being 'genuine' by cerealogists due to the lack of seed pod breakage. Entry to a field without leaving traces is easy as long as you stay on one of the several tracks made by the machines used to spray insecticides on the crop that people can use. Once you go off the track, however, your most careful movement can be easily recognized as subtle distortions in the crop, especially when viewed from the air. So the patterns of the jokesters must overlap the tracks, or otherwise provide flattened pathways, if they are to appear possibly genuine to the experienced crop circle observer.

Some think that the circles still have merit as a social phenomenon regardless of their legitimacy. New Age experts have researched the shapes and symbols depicted, with very intriguing results. Many of the symbols appearing in the fields connect with ancient historical thought-systems; celtic, egyptian, kaballistic, oriental and more.


Further reading

  • Vital Signs: A Complete Guide to the Crop Circle Mystery and Why it is NOT a Hoax, by Andy Thomas, S B Publications (Frog Ltd in USA) 1998, revised 2002, 192pp Described by many as the definitive guide to the crop circle mystery.
  • The Secret History of Crop Circles, by Terry Wilson, CCCS 1998, 155pp

A long-overdue documentation of the many pre-1980 crop circle reports, dating back perhaps as far as 1590.

  • Secrets in the Fields, by Freddy Silva, Hampton Roads 2002, 334pp

Subtitled The Science and Mysticism of Crop Circles, this is a weighty tome which explores the phenomenon in intense detail, with particular emphasis on the geometrical and spiritual implications behind the circles.

  • The Hypnotic Power of Crop Circles, by Bert Janssen, 2004. ISBN 1931882347
  • Circular Evidence: Bloomsbury, London by Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado, 1989, ISBN 0747506353.
  • The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends, by Eltjo H. Haselhoff, ISBN 0285636251.
  • Opening Minds by Dr. Simeon Hein, ISBN 0971586306.
  • 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 1841651389.
  • DVD Documentaries Contact and Crop Circles - The Research crop circle documentaries
  • William Gazecki's Documentary "Crop Circles: Quest for Truth"


External links


Simulations in Advertising

In July 2005 Swedish Railways AB launched an advertising campaign where the company leases space on crop fields to display adverts created by mowing crops. The campaign is aimed at air travellers since the company competes with domestic airlines for customers. Consequently the adverts are placed near the approach paths of major Swedish airports. ( in swedish, with links to images)


Similar phenomena

  • Ice Circles
  • Tree Circles and Ice Circles
  • Lawn Cross of Eisenberg an der Raab
  • Unusual Ground Markings
  • In an unrelated phenomenon, fungal circles formed by a spreading mycelium are familiar, though on a much smaller scale. 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 both commonplace and much smaller in scale, however, and is recognized as the natural growth of fungus colonies.

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