What Is a Crop Circle?
Crop circles are patterns have been created in wheat, barley, canola, trees, ice, rice paddies and linseed. There has been a lot of speculation regarding how crop circles are created. Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claimed to have hoaxed their first crop circle in 1978 after leaving a local pub. Many scientists have studied the phenomena and concluded that while some crop circles have been hoaxes, others are far too complex and contain electromagnetic and physical anomalies which cannot be hoaxed.
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History
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Researcher Colin Andrew first used the term "crop circle" to describe the simple circles he was researching. As patterns of great complexity have appeared in recent years, the term "circle" has stuck as a generic term for these phenomena. The first crop circle appeared in the 1600s and the circles have increased over the years until they began to attract more attention in the 1980s. About 90 percent of all crop circles have appeared in England, but crop circles have also appeared in Africa and as far away as the United States. Since the 1980s crop circles have grown dramatically in complexity and have pictorially displayed such concepts as fourth-dimensional quantum physics processes and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) strands.
Size
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Crop circles are typically about 100 to 150 feet in diameter. However, in June 2009, a huge crop circle depicting a hummingbird measuring about 300 feet appeared (see resources). Then, just a few weeks later a crop circle representing a jellyfish appeared. This crop circle stretched over two football fields in length, or 600 feet (see references).
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Witnesses
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Crop circles typically appear overnight; witnesses say the fields looked normal the afternoon before, with the crop circles appearing the next morning. Skeptics say crop circles can be made with planks of wood, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipe and string. However, many researchers claim that the intricacy and size of the patterns could only be accomplished using much more complex methods and would be impossible to make in the darkness without trampling the fields. Additionally, people have claimed to witness crop circles being made by "balls of light."
Balls of Light
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More than 80 people have claimed to witness small balls of light making crop circles in less than 15 seconds. They claim these balls of light move over the field in an orderly fashion and the crop circle appears under the ball of light. While there have been many eyewitnesses to this phenomena, documentary filmmakers have also captured these balls of light on camera (see resources for video).
The True Cause
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People tend to be on both sides of this issue, citing supernatural phenomena or two guys in a field with some wood, pipe and string. However, as the size and complexity of the circles have grown over the years, the latter explanation has become harder for most people to accept. Most researchers agree that a portion of crop circles are hoaxed; however, they have been unable to explain the cause of many newer crop circles. While there are numerous crop circle detractors, believers claim government agencies have launched comprehensive disinformation campaigns to confuse the issue. Whatever the truth, you can follow the formation of new crop circles in online British newspapers, which regularly report on them.
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References
Resources
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Comments
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Xavienne
Oct 14, 2009
Whatever or whomever created it, that Jellyfish is a gorgeous piece of art.
