Crop circle
Unusual ground marking
A crop circle consisting of multiple circles
Details
Unusual ground marking:	Crop circle
Definition:	A Geometric or abstract pattern formed by the flattening of crops
Signature:	1) Crops broken at the base and matted in a distinct pattern 2) Crops bent at node points and matted in a distinct pattern.[1][2][3][4][5]
Misc
Coined by:	The term was invented by researcher Colin Andrews in the early 80s and entered the Oxford Dictionary in 1997.
Related Term	Cerealogy: The Study of Crop circles
See Also:	Unusual ground marking

Crop circles is a term used to describe patterns created by the flattening of crops such as wheat, barley, rapeseed (also called "canola"), rye, corn, linseed and soy. The term was first used by researcher Colin Andrews to describe simple circles he was researching. Since 1990 the circles evolved into complex geometries, but by then the term had stuck. Examples can be found worldwide. Various hypotheses have been offered to explain their formation, ranging from the naturalistic to the paranormal. Naturalistic explanations include man-made hoaxes or geological anomalies, while paranormal explanations include formation by UFOs. Many circles are known to be man-made,^[6][7][8] such as those created by Doug Bower, Dave Chorley, and John Lundberg,^[9] and a 2000 study into circle hoaxing concluded that 80 percent of UK circles were definitely man-made.^[6] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Unusual Ground Markings or UGMs are named ground features that appear to be hard to explain. ... For other uses, see crop (disambiguation). ... Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum T. timopheevii References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat Wheat For the indie rock group, see Wheat (band). ... For other uses, see Barley (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Brassica napus L. Rapeseed (Brassica napus), also known as Rape, Oilseed Rape, Rapa, Rapaseed and (one particular cultivar) Canola, is a bright yellow flowering member (related to mustard) of the family Brassicaceae. ... Binomial name Secale cereale M.Bieb. ... This article is about the maize plant. ... Binomial name Linum usitatissimum L. Linnaeus, 17?? Common flax (also known as linseed) is a member of the Linaceae family, which includes about 150 plant species widely distributed around the world. ... Binomial name Glycine max Soybeans (US) or soya beans (UK) (Glycine max) are a high-protein legume (Family Fabaceae) grown as food for both humans and livestock. ... Methodological naturalism (MN) or Scientific Naturalism is a philosophical tenet that states that life exists in a single natural universe, as supported by science. ... Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena. ... UFO can mean: Unidentified flying object United Future Organization, a Japanese-Brazilian electronic jazz band UFO, the rock band that previously featured Michael Schenker UFO, the Gerry Anderson TV series United Farmers of Ontario, a political party that formed the government in Ontario from 1919 to 1923 U.F.O... John Lundberg John Lundberg (born December 5, 1968) is an English artist and documentary filmmaker. ...

Bower and Chorley were awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 1992 for their crop circle hoaxing. Flying frog. ...

History of modern crop circles

The earliest recorded image claimed to be a crop circle^[who?] is depicted in a 17th century English woodcut called the Mowing-Devil. The image depicts the Devil with a scythe mowing (cutting)^[10] a circular design in a field of oats. The pamphlet containing the image states that the farmer, disgusted at the wage his mower was demanding for his work, insisted that he would rather have "the devil himself" perform the task. Four horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer Ukiyo-e woodcut, Ishiyama Moon by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1889) Woodcut is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface... The Mowing Devil Pamphlette The Mowing Devil of Hartfordshire is the title of an English woodcut pamphlette published in 1678. ... A Western depiction of Death as a skeleton carrying a scythe. ... A traditional wooden scythe A scythe (IPA: , most likely from Old English siðe, sigði) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing and reaping grass or crops. ... Polish soldiers reading a German leaflet during the Warsaw Uprising A pamphlet is an unbound booklet (that is, without a hard cover or binding). ...

1678 pamphlet on the Mowing-Devil.

A more recent historical report of crop circles was republished (from Nature, volume 22, pp 290-291, 29 July 1880) in the January 2000 issue of the Journal of Meteorology.^[11] It describes the 1880 investigations by amateur scientist John Rand Capron: Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

"The storms about this part of Surrey have been lately local and violent, and the effects produced in some instances curious. Visiting a neighbour's farm on Wednesday evening (21st), we found a field of standing wheat considerably knocked about, not as an entirety, but in patches forming, as viewed from a distance, circular spots....I could not trace locally any circumstances accounting for the peculiar forms of the patches in the field, nor indicating whether it was wind or rain, or both combined, which had caused them, beyond the general evidence everywhere of heavy rainfall. They were suggestive to me of some cyclonic wind action,..."^[12]

In 1966 one of the most famous accounts of UFO traces happened in the small town of Tully, Queensland, Australia. A sugar cane farmer said he witnessed a saucer-shaped craft rise 30 or 40 feet up from a swamp and then fly away, and when he went to investigate the location where he thought the saucer had landed, he found the reeds intricately weaved in a clockwise fashion on top of the water. The woven reeds could hold the weight of 10 men. Tully is a small town in Queensland, Australia, adjacent to the Bruce Highway and by road approximately 140km south of Cairns and 210km north of Townsville. ...

There are also many other anecdotal accounts of crop circles in Ufology literature that predate the modern crop circle phenomena, though some cases involve crops which were cut or burnt, rather than flattened.^[13][14] Artistic representation of UFOs Ufology is the study of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings, alleged physical evidence, and other related phenomena. ...

Crop circles shot into prominence in the late 1970s as many circles began appearing throughout the English countryside. The phenomenon of crop circles became widely known in the late 1980s, after the media started to report crop circles in Hampshire and Wiltshire. To date, approximately 12,000 crop circles have been discovered in sites across the world, from locations such as the former Soviet Union, the UK and Japan, as well as the U.S. and Canada. Skeptics note a correlation between crop circles, recent media coverage, and the absence of fencing and/or anti-trespassing legislation.^[15] For other uses, see Hampshire (disambiguation). ... Not to be confused with Wilshire. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American...

Although farmers have expressed concern at the damage caused to their crops, local response to the appearance of a crop circles can often be enthusiastic, with locals taking advantage of the tourist potential of circles. Past responses have included bus or helicopter tours of circle sites, walking tours, t-shirts and book sales. Potential markets include curious tourists, scientists and crop circle researchers, and individuals seeking a spiritual experience by praying to and communing with spirits.^[16]

In 1996 a circle appeared near Stonehenge, and the farmer set up a booth and charged a fee. He collected £30,000 in four weeks. The value of the crop had it been harvested was probably about £150.^[16]

Crop circle designs

Wheat pattern about 150 feet in diameter with crop laid down in counterclockwise circles discovered on May 14, 2007, by Monroe County, Tennessee Sheriff's Department Patrol Captain Bryan Graves while flying. First aerial photographs on Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Early examples of crop circles were usually simple circular patterns of various sizes. After some years, more complex geometric patterns emerged. In general, the early formations (1970–2000) seemed to be based on the principles of sacred geometry. Later formations, those occurring after 2000, appear to be based on other principles, natural sciences and mathematics designs, including fractals. Many crop circles now have fine intricate detail, regular symmetry and careful composition. Elements of three-dimensionality became more frequent, culminating in spectacular images of cube-shaped structures. The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ... The boundary of the Mandelbrot set is a famous example of a fractal. ...

After the public admission by some of the creators, crop circle activity skyrocketed. Each new design sought to be more complex than earlier ones. Today, crop circle designs have increased in complexity to the point where they have become an art form in and of themselves.

Crop circle maker John Lundberg, in an interview with Mark Pilkington, spoke about this change in crop circle designs, "I am rather envious of circlemakers in other countries. Expectations about the size and complexity of formations that appear in the UK are now very high, whereas the rather shabby looking Russian formation made the national news. Even Vasily Belchenko, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, was on site gushing about its origin: 'There is no doubt that it was not man made... an unknown object definitely landed there.' If the same formation appeared in the UK it would undoubtedly be virtually ignored by researchers and the media alike."^[17]

A triple Julia set, widely considered at the time to be the pinnacle of the crop circle formations, was found on Windmill Hill near Yatesbury, Wiltshire on 7 July 1996. It measured 900 by 500 feet (150 m), with 151 circles. In complex dynamics, the Julia set of a holomorphic function informally consists of those points whose long-time behavior under repeated iteration of can change drastically under arbitrarily small perturbations. ... Yatesbury - village adjacent to Cherhill on the A4 road between Calne and Marlborough in Wiltshire, England RAF Yatesbury is a former RAF airfield well known to many airmen who served in the second world war. ... Not to be confused with Wilshire. ...

Creators of crop circles

In 1991, two men from Southampton, England announced that they had conceived the idea as a prank at a pub near Winchester, Hampshire during an evening in 1976. Inspired by the 1966 Tully Saucer Nests,^[18] Doug Bower and Dave Chorley made their crop circles using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools: using a four-foot-long plank attached to a rope, they easily created circles eight feet in diameter. The two men were able to make a 40-foot (12 m) circle in 15 minutes. For other uses, see Southampton (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Pub redirects here. ... Winchester is a historic city in southern England, with a population of around 40,000 within a 3 mile radius of its centre. ...

The pair became frustrated when their work did not receive significant publicity, so in 1981 they created a circle in Matterley Bowl, a natural amphitheatre just outside Winchester, Hampshire - an area surrounded by roads from which a clear view of the field is available to drivers passing by. Their designs were at first simple circles. When newspapers claimed that the circles could easily be explained by natural phenomena, Bower and Chorley made more complex patterns. 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 creation of straight lines. Later designs of crop circles became increasingly complicated. Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up publicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Colosseum in Rome, Italy. ... Winchester is a historic city in southern England, with a population of around 40,000 within a 3 mile radius of its centre. ... Complexity in general usage is the opposite of simplicity. ...

Bower's wife had become suspicious of him, noticing high levels of mileage in their car. Eventually, fearing that his wife suspected him of adultery, Bower confessed to her and subsequently he and Chorley informed a British national newspaper. Chorley died in 1996, and Doug Bower has made crop circles as recently as 2004. Bower has said that, had it not been for his wife's suspicions, he would have taken the secret to his deathbed, never revealing that it was a hoax.^[19] A Frequent Flyer Program is a service offered by many airlines to reward customer loyalty. ... This article is about the act of adultery. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ...

Circlemakers.org, a group of crop circle makers founded by John Lundberg, have demonstrated that making what self-appointed cereologist experts state are "unfakeable" crop circles is possible. On more than one occasion such cereologists have claimed that a crop circle was genuine when the people making the circle had previously been filmed making the circle.^[20] John Lundberg John Lundberg (born December 5, 1968) is an English artist and documentary filmmaker. ...

Scientific American published an article by Matt Ridley,^[21] who started making crop circles in northern England in 1991. He wrote about how easy it is to develop techniques using simple tools that can easily fool later observers. He reported on "expert" sources such as the Wall Street Journal who had been easily fooled, and mused about why people want to believe supernatural explanations for phenomena that are not yet explained. Methods to create a crop circle are now well-documented on the Internet.^[17] Matthew (Matt) Ridley (born February 7, 1958 at Newcastle upon Tyne) (not to be confused with Mark Ridley) is an English science writer. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ... For other uses, see Supernatural (disambiguation). ...

On the night of July 11-12, 1992, a crop-circle making competition, for a prize of several thousand UK pounds (partly funded by the Arthur Koestler Foundation), was held in Berkshire. 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. GBP redirects here. ... Arthur Koestler (September 5, 1905, Budapest – March 3, 1983, London) was a Hungarian polymath who became a naturalized British subject. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... PVC redirects here. ...

Gábor Takács and Róbert Dallos, both then 17, were the first people to be legally charged with creating a crop circle. Takács and Dallos, of the St. Stephen Agricultural Technicum, a high school in Hungary specializing in agriculture, created a 36-meter diameter crop circle in a wheat field near Székesfehérvár, 43 miles (69 km) southwest of Budapest, on June 8 1992. On September 3rd, they appeared on a Hungarian TV show and exposed the circle as a hoax showing photos of the field before and after the circle was made. As a result, Aranykalász Co., the owners of the land, sued the youngsters for 630,000 HUF (approximately $3000 USD) in damages. The presiding judge ruled that the students were only responsible for the damage caused in the 36 meters diameter circle, amounting to about 6,000 HUF (approximately $30 USD) and that 99% of the damage to the crops was caused by the thousands of visitors that flocked to Szekesfehervar following the media's promotion of the circle. The fine was eventually paid by the TV show, as were the students' legal fees. Székesfehérvár (German: Stuhlweißenburg, Latin: Alba Regia, colloquial Hungarian: Fehérvár, Croatian: Stolni Biograd) is a city in central Hungary, located around 65 km southwest of Budapest. ... For other uses, see Budapest (disambiguation). ... ISO 4217 Code HUF User(s) Hungary Inflation 8. ... In law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a claimant (as it is known in the UK) or plaintiff (in the US) following their successful claim in a civil action. ...

Not everybody accepts that circles are man-made, believing instead that many designs are too perfect and that they lack signs of human interaction. Among these critics was British born astronomer Gerald Hawkins who, prior to his death, argued that some circles displayed a level of complexity and accuracy that would be difficult to recreate on paper, let alone in a field after dark.^[17] In response, circle creating groups and proponents of the man-made hypothesis state that it is possible to create a complex design by marking radii and angles with rope, and to enter and to move about a field using landscape features and tractor trails in order to avoid leaving other marks.^[22] Gerald Stanley Hawkins (1928–2003) was an astronomer and author most famous for his work in the field of archaeoastronomy. ...

Paranormal and fringe beliefs

Since appearing in the media in the 1970s, crop circles have become the subject of various paranormal and fringe beliefs, ranging from the hypothesis that they are created by freak meteorological phenomena to the belief that they represent messages from extra terrestrials.^{[23][24][25][26]}

According to material published by the BLT institute, anomalies found at some circle sites in England and the US are consistent with them having been created when localized columns of ionized air (dubbed plasma vortices/vortexes) form over standing crops.^[26] Other hypotheses attribute them to atmospheric phenomena such as freak tornadoes or ball lightning.^[27] This article is about the weather phenomenon. ... For other uses, see Ball lightning (disambiguation). ...

The location of many crop circles near ancient sites such as Stonehenge, barrows, and chalk horses has led to many New Age belief-systems incorporating crop circles; Including the beliefs that they are formed in relation to ley lines and that they give off energy that can be detected through dowsing.^[28][4][26] New Age followers sometimes gather at crop circle sites in order to meditate, or because they believe that they can use the circle in order to contact spirits.^[16] For other uses, see Stonehenge (disambiguation). ... A tumulus (plural tumuli, from the Latin word for mound or small hill, from the root to bulge, swell also found in ) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. ... Numerous chalk figures have been carved into hillsides in the United Kingdom, including :- Alton Barnes white horse, Wiltshire (1812) Broad Town white horse, Wiltshire (1864) Cerne Abbas giant, Dorset (popularly believed to be ancient, but recently dated to c. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... Ley lines are alignments of a number of places of geographical interest, such as ancient megaliths. ... For the English iconoclast, see William Dowsing. ...

UFOs and other lights in the sky have been reported in connection with many crop circle sites, leading to them becoming associated with UFOs and aliens. Some people claim to have seen images of UFOs forming crop circles or overflying them, though photographs have been dismissed by skeptics as being indistinct or clear hoaxes.^{[27][4][24][26][29]}

Analysis

The main criticism of non-human creation of crop circles is that evidence of these origins, besides eyewitness testimonies, is scant. Crop circles are usually easily explicable as the result of human pranksters. There have also been cases in which researchers declared crop circles to be "the real thing," only to be confronted soon after with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud (see above).^[30] Many others have demonstrated how complex crop circles are created.^[7][17]

In his 1997 book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Carl Sagan discussed alien-based theories of crop circle formation. Sagan concluded that no empirical evidence existed to link UFOs with crop circles. Specifically, that there were no credible cases of UFOs being observed creating a circle, yet there were many cases when it was known that human agents, such as Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, were responsible.^[31] Circle creators Doug Bower and Dave Chorley concur. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is a 1997 book by Carl Sagan. ...

In 1999 researcher Colin Andrews received funding from Laurence Rockefeller to conduct a two year investigation into crop circle hoaxing. Andrews put together a team which studied crop circles that had been commissioned by various media outlets and infiltrated several groups known to be creating man-made circles. Using these man-made circles as a base, Andrews went on to study data from circles found in England in 1999 and 2000. Andrews concluded that 80% of all circles studied showed "unassailable" signs of having been man-made: Including post holes used to demarcate circle layouts or evidence of human tracks underlying the circle sites, but could not account for the remaining 20%, for which he was unable to find signs of human interaction.^[6] Andrews's figures have been disputed by CSICOP, who argue that Andrews's criteria for distinguishing between man-made circles and non man-made circles were insufficient as no official standard exist for determining the nature of a crop circle.^[32] Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (May 26, 1910 - July 11, 2004) was a financier, philanthropist, and conservationist. ... The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP, is an organization formed to encourage open minded, critical investigation of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims from a responsible, scientific point of view. ...

In 2002, Freddy Silva published Secrets in the Fields (2002).^[33] He paraphrases Gerald Hawkins' summary "If crop circles are made by hoaxers, then they should stop doing it, because they are breaking the law and damaging the food supply. If they are made by UFO aliens, they shouldn't give us back the dates of our trips to Mars and the names of the men from the Titanic era - famous, clever, but now forgotten. If some are transcendental, the power behind it should realize that our culture is not now willing to accept transcendental happenings. But if they are indeed transcendental, then society will have to make a big adjustment in the years ahead."(p299)

Critics have cited what they refer to as the 'shyness factor'. This alludes to the fact that no crop circle makers have been caught in the act. This assertion is not true however, and there are cases of circle makers being apprehended, including one high-profile case in 1998 when a circle was made for the media and the makers interrupted when seen in the act. In most cases, it appears that the creation of crop circles is a nocturnal activity. Usually nothing is reported, and during one attempt to observe the creation of a crop circle, numerous individuals witnessed nothing out of the ordinary, yet were astounded to see a crop circle in the field 500 yards (500 m) away from the one they had been watching the next morning.^[27] This article is about the time of day. ...

Scientific analysis

In 2002, Discovery Channel commissioned 5 aeronautics and astronautics students from MIT to create crop circles of their own. Discovery's production team consulted with crop circle researcher Nancy Talbott, who provided them with three attributes which she believed set "real" crop circles apart from known man-made circles such as those created by Doug and Dave.^[34] These criteria were: Discovery Channel is a cable and satellite TV channel founded by John Hendricks which is distributed by Discovery Communications. ... Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT, MapúaTech or simply Mapúa) is a private, non-sectarian, Filipino tertiary institute located in Intramuros, Manila. ...

1. Elongated apical plant stem nodes
2. Expulsion cavities in the plant stems
3. The presence of 10-50 micrometer diameter magnetized iron spheres in the soils, distributed linearly

Over the course of a single night the team were able to create a stereotypical "man-made" circle which they then attempted to enhance using the three criteria. The team used lengths of rope to plot their design and trampled the wheat down in a spiral pattern using lengths of wooden board attached to loops of rope. To meet criterion 2, they constructed a portable microwave emitter; using it to superheat the moisture inside the corn stalks until it burst out as steam. To meet criterion 3 they built a device - dubbed the "Flammschmeisser" - which sprayed iron particles through a heated ring. However, the device proved to be too time consuming to use and they were forced to finish the task using a pyrotechnic charge to distribute the iron around the circle. The circle was later analyzed by graduate students from MIT, who declared it to be "on a par with any of the documented cases". Their conclusion was later questioned by Talbott, noting that the team had only been able to recreate 2 of the 3 criteria. Talbott also expressed concerns that the iron particles were not distributed laterally. Furthermore, she felt that the team's use of night vision headsets and other technologically advanced items would be out of reach for the average hoaxer.^[34]

The creation of the circle was recorded and used in the Discovery channel documentary "Crop Circles: Mysteries in the Fields".^[34]

Similar phenomena

• Lawn Cross of Eisenberg an der Raab
• Unusual Ground Markings
• Nazca lines
• Fairy rings: An unrelated phenomenon where fungal circles are formed by a spreading mycelium. 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, heksering, pixie circles or elf circles, and was attributed by countryfolk to mystical forces. This phenomenon is commonplace and is recognized^[35] as the natural growth of fungus colonies.
• 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. Sceptics argue that this would have pointed to circles as a modern phenomenon, even if the initial pranksters had not revealed themselves; believers reply different agendas may simply be at work in the modern day.

Eisenberg an der Raab is a small village in Burgenland, Austria south of St. ... Unusual Ground Markings or UGMs are named ground features that appear to be hard to explain. ... The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches 53 miles or more than 80 kilometers between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. ... One of Arthur Rackhams illustrations to William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream. ... Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. ... For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Mushroom (disambiguation). ... For the 2007 motion picture, see Puffball (film). ... A fairy ring or fairy circle, also known as a pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. ... Mysticism (ancient Greek mysticon = secret) is meditation, prayer, or theology focused on the direct experience of union with divinity, God, or Ultimate Reality, or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. ... For the fictional character, see Fungus the Bogeyman. ... Cropmarks or Crop marks are a form of archaeological feature visible from the air. ... Óģ Ķ ķ Ļ ļ Ņ ņ Ŗ ŗ Ş ş Ţ ţ Ć ć Ĺ ĺ Ń ń Ŕ ŕ Ś ś Ý ý Ź ź Đ đ Ů ů Č č Ď ď Ľ ľ Ň ň Ř ř Š š Ť ť Ž ž Ǎ ǎ Ě ě Ǐ ǐ Ǒ ǒ Ǔ ǔ Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū ǖ ǘ ǚ ǜ Ĉ ĉ Ĝ ĝ Ĥ ĥ Ĵ ĵ Ŝ ŝ Ŵ ŵ Ŷ ŷ Ă ă Ğ ğ Ŭ ŭ Ċ ċ Ė ė Ġ ġ İ ı Ż ż Ą ą Ę ę Į į Ų ų Ł ł Ő ő Ű ű Ŀ ŀ Ħ ħ Ð ð Þ þ Œ œ Æ æ Ø ø Å å Ə ə – — … [] [[]] {{}} ~ | ° § → ≈ ± − × ¹ ² ³ ‘ “ ’ ” £ € Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ ς Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω ... For referencing in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Citing sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An office cubicle with all the contents covered in aluminum foil. ...

Advertising

Advertisement for Swedish Railways. Photo by Malcolm Hanes

The UK based artists Circlemakers.org have been asked to create numerous crop circles since the mid 1990s for movies, TV shows, music videos, adverts and PR stunts. Clients to date have included BP, Royal Bank of Scotland, Red Bull, Greenpeace, Microsoft, Nike, Shredded Wheat, AMD, Hello Kitty, Pepsi, Weetabix, BBC, The Sun, Mitsubishi, O2, Big Brother, National Geographic, NBC-TV, Orange Mobile, History Channel and the Discovery Channel. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article is about the energy corporation. ... The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (Scottish Gaelic: [1]) is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, which together with NatWest, provides branch banking facilities in the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Red Bull (disambiguation). ... Greenpeace protest against Esso / Exxon Mobil. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Nike, Inc. ... Post Cereals shredded wheat Shredded Wheat is a breakfast cereal made from whole wheat. ... Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ... Hello Kitty ) is the best-known of many fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. ... Pepsi Cola is a non-alcoholic carbonated beverage produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. ... Weetabix is a wheat-based breakfast cereal produced by Weetabix Limited. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... This article is about a British tabloid. ... For information on Mitsubishi brand computer monitors, see NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America Inc. ... O2 or O-2 may be: Oceanic Airlines (Guinea) IATA airline designator Oxygen O2 plc, a telecommunications company. ... Big Brother a reality television show. ... The National Geographic Society was founded in the USA on January 27, 1888, by 33 men interested in organizing a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... It has been suggested that Wanadoo be merged into this article or section. ... The History Channel is a cable television channel, dedicated to the presentation of historical events and persons, often with frequent observations and explanations by noted historians as well as reenactors and witnesses to events, if possible. ... Discovery Channel is a cable and satellite TV channel founded by John Hendricks which is distributed by Discovery Communications. ...

New Age author Dan Joy in 1991 humorously suggested that crop circles are an advertising campaign displaying the logos of galaxy-wide corporations, preparing Earth for its forthcoming admission to the Galactic Federation of planets. An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). ... For other uses, see Logo (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Galaxy (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Corporation (disambiguation). ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ...

In popular culture

• In an episode of "Seinfeld" Jerry tries to pick up a woman in an elevator by claiming that he is responsible for crop circles.
• In the TV mini-series Taken by Steven Spielberg crop circles are featured briefly, but although the series is about alien abduction, the crop circles are discovered to be a hoax.
• In the TV show Monster Garage episode 45 featured a crew including abductee Travis Walton and crop circle maker John Lundberg turning an old tractor into a crop circle making machine.
• In the film Chicken Little (2005), crop circles are created by aliens as they chase the main characters in a corn field.
• In the film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Harold and Kumar hang glide over a field with a crop circle pattern in the shape of male genitalia.
• In the film A Place To Stay (2002), crop circles of Wiltshire are the background for a supernatural love story.
• In the film Signs (2002), crop circles are attributed to the sinister motives of extraterrestrials.
• In the film Scary Movie 3 (2003), a spoof of Signs, Cindy has to investigate crop circles and prevent an alien invasion.
• In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a book written by J. K. Rowling for the charity Comic Relief, a creature called a mooncalf occasionally performs strange dances flattening crops in fields "to the confusion of many muggles".
• The film Mifune's Last Song (1999) apparently featured the first appearance of a crop circle in a fiction film.
• In the Spongebob Squarepants episode "Sandy's Rocket", Spongebob makes a crop circle with his feet.
• In Justice League Unlimited, Huntress is seen reading one of Question's conspiracy theories about Girl Scouts being responsible for the crop circle phenomenon.
• "Crop Circle" is a track on Monster Magnet's Powertrip.
• On the cover of Led Zeppelin Remasters there is a photo of a crop circle
• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game booster set, Power of the Duelist, there is a card called "Crop Circle" with the circle in the Egyptian Eye logo for Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• In the Invader Zim episode "Career Day", Dib and his mentor, a gullible paranormal investigator, approach a crop circle in a field. While the investigator concludes it is the work of aliens, Dib points out a cow rolling around the field, flattening the crops. To this the investigator replies, "The cow is obviously being controlled by aliens."
• In the third level of The Simpsons Hit and Run video game, Bart's head is a crop circle.
• In the South Park episode 'Cartman gets an Anal Probe', a crop circle of Eric Cartman is seen on TV in Cartman's house. Cartman remarks that the image looks, "...just like Tom Selleck."
• On the cover of Insane Clown Posse's "The Calm" is a crop circle as the group's logo. Track 4 on the album is called "Crop Circles".
• The Futurama episode "That's Lobstertainment!" opening subtitle reads "Deciphered From Crop Circles"
• In the film Phase IV (1974), the ants make 'pictogram' crop circle patterns in the desert.
• In the final cut scene from the game Area 51 features giant crop circles carved on the ground.
• In the video game MLB 07: The Show, one of the minor league parks is called "Crop Circle Field."
• In the television show The X-Files episode "all things", Mulder goes to England to investigate crop circles

For other uses, see Seinfeld (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Taken (disambiguation). ... Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. ... Monster Garage (2002–2006) was a popular television show for the Discovery Channel hosted by Jesse G. James. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... John Lundberg John Lundberg (born December 5, 1968) is an English artist and documentary filmmaker. ... Chicken Little (2005) is a computer-generated imagery (CGI) animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 4, 2005. ... Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (released in some countries as Harold and Kumar get the Munchies or American High, due to few international White Castle locations) is a comedy movie released in 2004. ... Signs is a 2002 science fiction thriller film directed by M. Night Shyamalan starring Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin. ... Extraterrestrial life refers to forms of life that may exist and originate outside of the planet Earth. ... Scary Movie 3 (2003) is an American comedy film directed by David Zucker and is the third film of the Scary Movie franchise. ... Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them is a 2001 book written by English author J. K. Rowling to benefit the British charity Comic Relief. ... Joanne Jo Murray, née Rowling OBE[1] (born 31 July 1965),[2] who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling,[3] is a British writer and author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. ... For the origin of the term, see comic relief. ... Muggle is the only word used in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling to refer to a normal person who lacks any sort of magical ability. ... Mifunes Last Song (Danish: Mifunes sidste sang Swedish: Mifune), 1999, is the third film to be made according to the Dogme 95 rules. ... This article is about the series. ... Production Order Sandys Rocket is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season one. ... Justice League Unlimited (or JLU) was the name of an American animated television series that was produced by and aired on Cartoon Network. ... The Huntress is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ... The Question is an American comic book superhero. ... A conspiracy theory is a theory that defies common historical or current understanding of events, under the claim that those events are the result of manipulations by two or more individuals or various secretive powers or conspiracies. ... The Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. ... Monster Magnet is an American rock band. ... Powertrip is a studio album by Monster Magnet, released on June 16, 1998. ... Led Zeppelin Remasters is a box set of remastered material by Led Zeppelin. ... The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based on Duel Monsters, which is the main plot device in the popular Japanese manga Yu-Gi-Oh!, as well as the two anime series by Toei and NAS. For information on the anime, see the articles Yu... Power of the Duelist (POTD) is the 23rd booster set of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, which was released in Japan on May 18, 2006. ... Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump Shonen Jump BANZAI! Shonen Jump Comics House Original run 1996 – March 2004 Volumes 38 volumes, with 343 total chapters TV anime: Yu-Gi-Oh! Director Various Studio Toei Animation Network TV Asahi Original run April 4, 1998 – October 10, 1998 Episodes 27 TV anime: Yu... Invader Zim, trademarked as Invader ZIM, is an award-winning[1] American animated television series that aired on and was produced by Nickelodeon. ... The Simpsons Hit & Run is a video game based on The Simpsons franchise. ... This article is about the TV series. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Cartman Gets an Anal Probe Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, the first episode of Comedy Centrals animated series South Park, originally aired on August 13, 1997. ... Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his family name, Cartman, is one of the four main characters in the animated series South Park (the others being Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick). ... Thomas William Selleck (born January 29, 1945, in Detroit, Michigan) is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning American actor, screenwriter and film producer, best known for his starring role on the long-running television show Magnum P.I. He is recognizable by his 6 4 height and trademark moustache. ... Insane Clown Posse (commonly known as ICP) is an American rap duo originally from Wayne, Michigan but formed in the neighborhood of Delray. ... This article is about the television series. ... Thats Lobstertainment! is the 8th episode in season 3 of Futurama. ... Phase IV is an American science fiction film, made in 1974. ... Area 51 is a first-person shooter developed in tandem for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, and is loosely based on the 1996 light gun video game Area 51. ... For the organization which many minor leagues belong to, see Minor League Baseball Part of the History of baseball series. ... The X-Files is an American Peabody, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning science fiction television series created by Chris Carter, which first aired on 10 September 1993, and ended on 19 May 2002. ...

References

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Further reading

• The Field Guide: The Art, History and Philosophy of Crop Circle Making by Rob Irving and John Lundberg, edited by Mark Pilkington (Strange Attractor 2006) ISBN 0-9548054-2-9
• Round in Circles: Physicists, Poltergeists, Pranksters, and the Secret History of the Cropwatchers, by Jim Schnabel (Penguin 1993). ISBN 0-14-017952-6.
• Circular Evidence: Bloomsbury, London by Colin Andrews and Pat Delgado, 1989, ISBN 0-7475-0635-3.
• "Crop Circles - Signs of Contact" by Colin Andrews and Stephen Spignesi. ISBN 1-56414-674-X
• The Hypnotic Power of Crop Circles, by Bert Janssen, 2004. ISBN 1-931882-34-7
• The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends, by Eltjo H. Haselhoff, ISBN 0-285-63625-1.
• Opening Minds by Dr. Simeon Hein, ISBN 0-9715863-0-6.
• 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 1-84165-138-9.
• Secrets in the Fields: The Science and Mysticism of Crop Circles by Freddy Silva, 2002, ISBN 1-57174-322-7
• Vital Signs: A Complete Guide to the Crop Circle Mystery and Why It is Not a Hoax by Andy Thomas and Mike Leigh, 2002, ISBN 1-58394-069-3
• Sagan, Carl 1996. The Demon-Haunted world: Science as a Candle in the Dark; "Aliens" pp 73ff.
• Noyes, Ralph (editor) The Crop Circle Enigma: Grounding the Phenomenon in Science, Culture and Metaphysics The Hollows, Wellow, Bath U.K.:1990 Gateway Books, ISBN 0-946551-66-9
• Alexander Steve & Karen "Crop Circle Year Books 1999 - 2007" Temporary Temple Press, Gosport UK
• Alexander, Steve & Karen " Crop Circles: Signs, Wonder & Mysteries" Arcturus Books, UK (art, geometry & symbolism, liberally illustrated) - ISBN 978-1841934013

See also

• Maze

For other uses, see Maze (disambiguation). ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Crop circles

Sceptical and scientific analysis:

• National Geographic News This is an excellent introduction to crop circles, with a special emphasis on their value as art.
• The Center for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, a sceptical look at crop circles
• A geographical study that asks if the location of crop circles near major roads and population centres is just a coincidence?
• Brief summary of scientific literature on causes of crop circles
• CROP CIRCLES: BASIC POSTULATES : Latvian research by Nataliya Anatolievna Solodovnik

Collection of Crop Circles on Google Earth:

• http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=175202

Circle creators, and information on making your own crop circles:

• The Circle Makers: The most famous group of crop circle makers, founded by Doug Bower, Dave Chorley and John Lundberg.
• http://www.amtsgym-sdbg.dk/as/crop/ufofake.HTM An entertaining report on how an elaborate crop circle made by astronomy students at Amtsgymnasiet in Sønderborg, Denmark fooled crop circle "researchers".
• How Stuff Works: Explains how crop circles are made and how to make your own, with step by step pictures and complex circle patterns.

Pro paranormal explanation websites: John Lundberg John Lundberg (born December 5, 1968) is an English artist and documentary filmmaker. ... Map of the future municipality Sønderborg coat-of-arms Sønderborg (German: Sonderburg), is a municipality (Danish, kommune) in South Jutland County partially on the Jutland peninsula and partially on the island of Als in south Denmark. ...

• [2] Colin Andrews home page.
• Crop Circles and More Uses Google Maps. Mainly focussing on crop circle geometry and shapes, the relationship between crop circles and their connection to the landscape.
• Crop Circle Connector Up to date information on new crop circles as they appear throughout the season.
• Crop Circle Archive A complete crop circle database site with a search engine and Flash animations of crop circle constructions using the "ruler and compass" rule.
• Crop Circles
• Crop Circle Research Devoted to researching the phenomenon of crop circles, concentrating more on scientific research.
• Lucy Pringle The de facto standard for comprehensive aerial photographs (from Lucy Pringle and others) of the UK's crop circles.
• [3] Home of renowned crop circle photographer Steve Alexander, comprehensive image library for professionals & enthusiasts.