One even appeared in May in the shape of a coronavirus, leading to feverish speculation that crop circles are trying to give us clues about immunology and Covid Among those who discount the alien hypothesis, a common theory is that human circle makers "tap into" some kind of collective consciousness, perhaps explaining the prevalence in crop circles of universal mathematical patterns that also occur in nature — the fractal branching of snowflakes and blood vessels and the spiralling shells of molluscs, for example.
The community of seekers who devote their time to researching the paranormal possibilities of crop circles are known as "croppies".
This tiny hamlet has become an unlikely hub for paranormal research; in addition to Klinkenbergh's exhibition centre, it is home to the Barge Inn , where croppies gather to swap reports of new crop circles and speculate on their origins.
Klinkenbergh's life changed in when she saw a picture of an ornate geometric crop circle. Credible people were witnessing incredible things. Reports of cameras suddenly breaking and car engines turning themselves on in the vicinity of crop circles are common. According to locals, these lights and strange objects have been witnessed for centuries. Then there are the sceptics. As long ago as the 19th Century, scientist John Rand Capron described basic flattened circles in crops and suggested they could be caused by "cyclonic wind", a theory later echoed by Stephen Hawking , but this does not explain the complex formations more common today.
Foremost among the hoaxers are Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, who in claimed to have created hundreds of circles using ropes to measure the formations and wooden planks to flatten the crops. They demonstrated this technique for waiting television crews — but not everyone is convinced by their evidence. How would you know the other person's doing the same thing you are?
Carson is more qualified than most to comment, having seen hundreds of crop circles appear in his fields — ravaging thousands of pounds worth of crops in the process.
It all began in , when a famous formation known as the Eastfield Pictogram appeared overnight in one of Carson's fields. The answer of who or what is creating these crop formations is not an easy one to answer. Some people claim they are the work of UFOs. Others say they are a natural phenomenon. Still others say they are elaborate hoaxes perpetrated by teams of circlemakers.
Possibly the most controversial theory is that crop circles are the work of visitors from other planets -- sort of like alien calling cards. People who agree with this theory say that the circles are either the imprint left by landing spacecraft or messages brought from afar for us earthlings.
Some eyewitnesses claim to have seen UFO-like lights and strange noises emanating from crop circle sites. Probably the most scientific theory says that crop circles are created by small currents of swirling winds called vortices similar to "dust devils".
The spinning columns force a burst of air down to the ground, which flattens the crops. Vortices are common in hilly areas such as parts of southern England. When dust particles get caught up in the spinning, charged air, they can appear to glow, which may explain the UFO-like glowing lights many witnesses have seen near crop circles.
But the question remains -- how can a few seconds worth of spinning air create such intricate and perfectly defined crop circles? A few researchers have theorized that small airplanes or helicopters stir up downdrafts that push the crops down into patterns. Recreation attempts so far have not been able to produce the types of downdrafts necessary to make the perfectly round edges seen in most crop circles.
Some researchers believe that the earth creates its own energy, which forms the circles. One possible form of earth energy is electromagnetic radiation. In fact, scientists have measured strong magnetic fields inside crop circles, and visitors have sometimes reported feeling a tingling sensation in their body while in or near the circles.
In the early s, American biophysicist Dr. William Levengood discovered that crops in circles were damaged much in the same way as plants heated in a microwave oven.
He proposed the idea that the crops were being rapidly heated from the inside by some kind of microwave energy. Other researchers say that the energy comes from under the ground or in the soil. Either the energy is natural, such as a fungus that attacks the crops and causes their stems to bend over, or it is a byproduct of something man-made, such as bombs that exploded during World War II.
The easiest explanation for crop circles is that they are man-made hoaxes , created either for fun or to stump the scientists. To prove that they were responsible, they filmed themselves for the BBC making a circle with a rope-and-plank contraption in a Wiltshire field see the next section for information on making a crop circle.
Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal CSICOP says that crop circles have all the hallmarks of hoaxes : They are concentrated primarily in southern England; they've become more elaborate over the years indicating that hoaxers are getting better at their craft ; and their creators never allow themselves to be seen.
But even with crop circlemakers claiming responsibility for hundreds of designs, hoaxes can't account for all of the thousands of crop circles created. Colin Andrews, cereologist and author of the book, Circular Evidence, admits that about 80 percent of crop circles are probably man-made, but says that the other 20 percent are probably the work of some "higher force.
People close to the sites of crop circles have had some strange physical and emotional reactions. Some have reported feeling dizzy, disoriented, peaceful or nervous. Others have said they heard a buzzing noise or felt a tingling sensation. After visiting the Julia Set formation near Stonehenge in , a group of women reported changes in their normal menstrual cycles. Most startling was a small group of post-menopausal women who suddenly began menstruating again after visiting the site.
Crop circles appear to be very intricate formations, with many geometric shapes linked in sophisticated patterns. But the basics of crop-circle creation and the tools involved are actually fairly simple. In August , National Geographic contacted a team including circlemakers John Lundberg, Rod Dickinson and Wil Russell and requested a daylight demonstration in Wiltshire in support of a crop-circle documentary.
These are the plans they worked from:. Circlemakers avoid getting caught by working under cover of night and by hiding their tracks in existing tractor-tire ruts. Some of these are surely caused by wind or rain, careless hoaxers or the trampling feet of crop circle buffs.
But let's set those aside and look only at those that are genuine and undisturbed. What appear at first to be iregularities or errors, may only be perfection of a higher and subtler kind, that we do not as yet understand. Crop circles made by aliens? Why should supposedly intelligent aliens travel huge cosmic distances across the galaxy just to doodle in our grain fields? What an absurd idea! Usually there aren't even any ufo sightings associated with the circles, except for those reported after the fact by people with overactive imaginations.
Surely intelligent aliens have better things to do. The true origin of crop circle designs may be nearer to home. The whole thing begins to make sense once we realize that the earth is flat. We live on the backside of a huge flat blackboard whiteboard, scratch paper, or whatever used by aliens in their schools and universities. There are many of these in the universe.
The flat disk of the earth is thin enough that student doodles made in alien art and math classes "bleed through" to our side. This happens because their writing instruments emit mitogenetic radiation M-rays that are well known to affect some living plants, especially wheat, barley, oats and corn.
So the crop circles in grain fields are nothing more than the reverse pattern of alien students' diagrams made in geometry class. Look carefully at photos of crop circles in books and on the internet, and a striking fact emerges. Those circle-makers who are prepared to comment on this semantic reversal do so with some amusement. In keeping with New Age thought, it is by dissociating with scientific tradition that the circle-makers return art to a more unified function, where images and objects are imbued with special powers.
This art is intended to be a provocative, collective and ritual enterprise. And as such, it is often inherently ambiguous and open to interpretation. To the circle-maker, the greater the range of interpretations inspired in the audience the better. Both makers and interpreters have an interest in the circles being perceived as magical, and this entails their tacit agreement to avoid questions of authorship. Doug Bower now tells friends that he wishes he had kept quiet and continued his nocturnal jaunts in secret.
Both circle-makers and croppies are really engaged in a kind of game, whose whole purpose is to keep the game going, to prolong the mystery.
After all, who would travel thousands of miles and trek through a muddy field to see flattened wheat if it were not imbued with otherworldly mystique?
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