Crop Circles

[Paddy Goose]

What are they?

[sdreid]

I think some of the simpler ones could be some sort of natural phenomenon but I voted for hoax.

[Mort Belfry]

The answer is: many hoaxes.

[Suzi]

I think some of the simpler ones could be some sort of natural phenomenon but I voted for hoax.

Me too Suz x

[Sam Flynn]

Answer: Neither. It's actually cereal murder.

[Suzi]

He he or there's always http://www.cropcircleconnector.com Suz xx
.......and people accuse Ripperologists of losing their grip on reality!!!

The reason for them??...It's Oatso simple really- 5 hrs in the pub on the cider then round to 'Erbert's barn for the planks etc etc and orf we go........(Allegedly!)

[Celesta]

Why the hell would extraterrestrials need to stomp down peoples' crop to communicate? If they have the technology to get here, they have the technology to communicate with us.

Silly.

I agree that some of the smaller, non-elaborate ones, might be caused by some natural process.

[Mike Covell]

Other...

I have not voted as there is no opetion for "Other".

Many years ago, Doug and Dave, were allegedly the actual hoaxers of many of the southern circles in the UK, this made no sense as many circles appeared further north of their area, and weirder still abroad! To lay their claims to rest, ITV commissioned an open documentary and had Doug and Dave make a simple circle, no mandlebrock set, and certainly no double helix. The end result was a rather shoddy looking thing with most of the stalks on the corn looking nothing like those in the formations mentioned in bold above. Even worse for Doug and Dave, who by this point had made their beer money, it took them hours to make just one circle!

Next there was a group of University students in the USA, who not only made a wonderful circle, bent the ears of the corn perfectly and even managed to create a fluctutation in the centre of the circle to move the needle of a compass. The who test was filmed and broadcast, but again, the circle took ages to make.

Among the many theories put forth is that of Earth energies, similar to earth lights caused by rising gas, but in this case it creates a circle as the energy is spread once it reaches the atmosphere. Several witnesses in the UK stated recently that they were walking past a field when they witnesses a whirlwind with what looked like lightning, then the feeling of being pushed, afterwards they saw the formation in the fields.

Other theories include, hedgehogs mating (thats my fave ), ley lines, aliens, and marketing firms.

That said, I still dont understand some of the more bizarre circles that have appeared over the years. I have a large collection of crop circle related material, but it is upstairs and the children have just retired for the night. I will dig it out and post some of the books names, magazine articles and links to photo's on this thread.

[Graham]

I work for a company in Wiltshire (or at least I will until I retire next year) and over the years a number of local people have owned up to making crop-circles. For the life of me I can't accept that they're supernatural or whatever, but what I'd like to know is how the hell they can be produced so quickly - like overnight.

Am I correct in saying that no 'new' crop-circles have been seen for a couple of years now?

If it's hedgehogs, then the little buggers have been pretty idle in my back garden - I'd like to see them trim my lawn for a start...I know they're there...

Cheers,

Graham

[Supe]

I heard the explanation once in a documentary that crop circles were a result of "extraterrestial communication" and it seemed perfectly sensible to me. You know, you have a trans-galactic civilization so advanced that it can span the universe so it is perfectly natural they would communicate with us via designs in a wheat field.And sometime in the future, when we too have achieved that same pinnacle of technological progress I am sure we will eschew speech, telegraph, radio, television, hologram and whatever other gadgetry awaits for the sophisticated communications medium of crop circles. Of course it occurs that an awful lot of wheat would have to be sacrified for a single copy of War and Peace.

Don.

[Sam Flynn]

There are security advantages that crop-circles have compared to computer media: it's much easier to shred wheat

[Mike Covell]

Am I correct in saying that no 'new' crop-circles have been seen for a couple of years now?

Graham

Hi Graham, circles appear all year round, all over the world and you can purchase yearly reviews, and many of the best formations appear yearly in Fortean Times. I buy a large book, which is like an annual for circle enthusiasts, and it features the formations from the previous year, explainations of the pattern, locations, maps, all the way down to the type of vegetation that it features in!!

The hedgehog mating theory was laughed at when announced, just the same as the swamp gas theory for ufo's decades earlier!

All the best

Mike

(I found a large book today on Bigfoot sightings, so I am off to pour over that!)

[Sam Flynn]

I found a large book today on Bigfoot sightings, so I am off to pour over that!

...I think you'd better pore over it, Mike - unless you intend to do it a mischief with a mug of cocoa

[Celesta]

I heard the explanation once in a documentary that crop circles were a result of "extraterrestial communication" and it seemed perfectly sensible to me. You know, you have a trans-galactic civilization so advanced that it can span the universe so it is perfectly natural they would communicate with us via designs in a wheat field.And sometime in the future, when we too have achieved that same pinnacle of technological progress I am sure we will eschew speech, telegraph, radio, television, hologram and whatever other gadgetry awaits for the sophisticated communications medium of crop circles. Of course it occurs that an awful lot of wheat would have to be sacrified for a single copy of War and Peace.

Don.

They used to try communicating by stacking rocks into pyramids, towers, and circles. Maybe wheat was cheaper and less labor intensive. Of course it makes for a less permanent impression.

[Sara]

I find it slightly worrying that we have three posters who believe they are the work of extra-terrestrials

Establishment and Government conspiracies I can believe in - cover-ups are part of the body politic. But extra-terrestrials cavorting in cornfields does stretch my credulity