The Crop Circle Phenomenon
Crop circles are geometric patterns formed by the flattening of a huge plain of crops in a systematic manner. The phenomenon emerged in the late 1970s, and made its first prominent appearance in England.
Early records suggested the first ever crop circle event to be sparked by a 17th century woodcut known as the mowing devil. It was an image of a strangecreature forming a circle in a field of corn. Legend and English folklore narrated a story of an impatient
farmer losing his nerve over his slow mower and would rather have the devil doing it for him. These tales naturally formed when unknown entities were speculated
to be the cause of the phenomenon. Usually they turned out to be pixie circles caused by fungus colonies; however, others were also discovered to be unique
patterns of flattened grass on the fields that was unachievable via fungus colonies.
After WWII, aerial surveys were conducted over several areas in Britain, exposing much of the strange phenomena. Examination stated that crop marks could be
a cause. A differential ripening of the crop, crop marks are a showcase of differences in the subsoil caused by buried remains of ancient buildings. This sparked archaeological investigations which amounted to nothing, as it was noted that several archaeological sites had no traces of crop circles ever. This could be a sign that crop circles are a
modern phenomenon that occurs in our present day setting. With all these guesses, skeptics could only continue to speculate.
The hype of crop circles grew immensely in the late 1970s as more and more circles appeared in the English countryside. Currently, with a thousand over circles
recorded, their locations span from the former Soviet Union, to UK, Japan and even the United States and Canada.
Crop circles are often a display of geometric patterns. Of late, they have been a demonstration of fine details, regular symmetry and careful composition. The complexities do not seem limited and has been progressing over the years.
The assumptions will never end. Arguably the most popular belief among the public, crop circles are thought to be created by flying saucers, UFOs landing
on the crop fields and in turn, flattening the crops. While this rationale is growing stale, critical observers have tried to justify the crop circles creation done via hoaxes engineered by humans.
More scientific explanations range from the patterns being produced by the theory of cymatics the visualization of vibration or sound, to a man-made satellite in Earth orbit creating these designs using some sort of beam. It is said that microwave heating
is able to produce the effects.
Others often turned back to mystics of ancient sites, or simply tornadoes, freak wind patterns, ball lightning and plasma vortices. However, scientists strongly disagreed and insisted that crop circles are the results of human pranks and have thus refused any
notion of the existence of extraterrestrial life in our universe.
Witnesses have come forth and depicted their observations of circles being created. However, there had been no evidence submitted so far to support their observation. Amidst all the commotion, crop circle enthusiasts are constantly seeking ways to refute the theory. Often conflicting and sometimes beaten by people who admitted to creating the crop circle, these enthusiasts have only given skeptics more reason to search for more possible causes out there. Photo editing is another one of those tools used for the
various false reports.
A decade after the 1970s, two men came clean and admitted many crop circles were a result of their doing. Doug Bower and Dave Chorley confessed to these
creations done ever since 1978 using planks, rope, hats and wire. However, their statements caused much controversy when they claim that certain crop circles
were not their doing. Faced with questions regarding geometric relationships, they claim they were not responsible for the circle. This led to rumors that Doug and Dave were merely trying to push for crop circles to become further investigated with regards to mystics.
Since then, claimed crop circle makers have made the issue a common open topic to share with the public. Sharing their ideas of creating crop circles, with
regards to the tools and preparation involved, this further strengthened the motion of crop circles being the complete works of human hands. Various methods to
create crop circles have popped up all over the Internet and are currently being published as well.
No matter what, the reasons never cease to stop coming. Crop circle believers still remain stubbornly loyal to their explanation of the unknown phenomena around crop circles, offering all sorts of reasoning such as waist high thistle fields that are not
accessible and easy for any hoaxer to handle.
Nowadays, people distinguished real and fake crop circles through the complexity of the patterns. Simple patterns are rumoured to be natural crop circles while
complicated patterned circles are a result of human work. They are also said to give you a sense of enchantment and may even have the power to heal.
Clefa Bice
