11. CEREOLOGY
• Crop-circle enthusiasts call
themselves cereologists -- after
Ceres, the Roman goddess of
agriculture. Most cereologists (or
"croppies," as they are
sometimes called) believe that
crop circles are the work of
either extraterrestrials or plasma
vortices.
12. HOW MANY APPEAR?
AROUND 250 CROP DESIGNS AROUND THE
WORLD APPEAR EACH YEAR ON AVERAGE.
SEVERAL THOUSAND HAVE BEEN
DOCUMENTED SINCE RECORDS BEGAN.
13. WHERE DO THEY APPEAR?
CROP CIRCLES ARE A GLOBAL PHENOMENON,
BUT PREDOMINANTLY APPEAR IN THE
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WITH SOUTHERN
ENGLAND AS THE MAIN CENTRE OF ACTIVITY,
PARTICULARLY WILTSHIRE.
14. WHEN DO THEY ARRIVE?
OFF-SEASON FORMATIONS
HAVE OCCURRED, BUT MOST
APPEAR DURING THE THREE
MAIN SUMMER MONTHS OF
ANY GIVEN COUNT
15. WHAT CROPS DO THEY
APPEAR IN?
CROP CIRCLES HAVE MOST APPEARED IN WHEAT, BARLEY
AND OILSEED RAPE AS THESE MAIN CROPS GROWN IN
ENGLAND, BUT THEY HAVE ALSO BEEN REPORTED IN RYE,
OATS, FLAX, PEAS, POTATOES, SWEET CORN MAIZE AND
MANY OTHER MEDIUMS, INCLUDING RICE PADDY FIELDS IN
JAPAN AND WILD GRASS
16. Crop circles is a term used to
describe patterns created by
the flattening of crops such
as wheat, barley, canola (also
called "rapeseed"), rye, corn,
linseed and soy.
52. Watchfield Wind Farm near
Shrivenham, Oxfordshire.
Reported on the 1st of August,
2008.
Kanton, Zurich, Switzerland.
Reported on the 15th of June,
2008.
Westwoods, near
Lockeridge, Wiltshire. Reported on
the 17th of July, 2008.
53. Wayland Smithy, near Ashbury,
Oxfordshire. Reported on the
27th of July, 2008
North Down, near Beckhampton,
Wiltshire. Reported on the 10th of
June, 2008.
Martinsell Hill, near Oare,
Wiltshire. Reported on the 27th
of July, 2008
54. Pontecurone (Alessandria), Italy.
Reported 22nd June, 2008.
Sudheim, Niedersachsen (Lower
Saxony), Germany. Reported on the
7th of July, 2008.
Furze Knoll, near Beckhampton, Wiltshire.
Reported on the 20th of June, 2008.
58. According to Dr Colin Andrews, who has studied crop circles
for 17 years, about 20% are caused by eddie currents in the
earth's magnetic field - a mysterious shift in the electro-
magnetic field creates a current that flattens the crops in its
path.
That could probably explain the numerous reports of
electronic equipment failing in crop circles and compasses
spinning out of control in and over the crop circles (even when
flying over in aircraft).
The Electro-magnetic FieldTheory
59. Crop circle formation is similar to alleged UFO landing site reports where a
circular swirling pattern is formed in grass, the grass remains unharmed, and
is in inaccessible locations for vehicles.
Channelers and ufologists pretend that crop circles are not symbols
intended as a 'message to man.' These deliberately created pictographs are
signposts, or reference marks produced by aliens moving in space and time
(back and forth/in and out), who are monitoring the course of event
trajectories. The pictographs serve primarily as reference markings and for
'event line' orientation and are deliberately embedded in a short-lived,
perishable medium so that man's attention would not be attracted to
specific locations.
The UFO Theory
60. The official government explanation
is that whirlwinds, created by heat
thermals, are the true cause of the
crop circle anomaly. But whirlwinds
or Mini-tornadoes are not static,
they travel around and it is very
unlikely that they would create such
intricate and symmetrical patterns.
The Whirlwind Theory
61. Hawkins observed that the circle patterns embodied geometric
theorems that expressed specific relationships among the areas
of the various circles, triangles, and other shapes. These
patterns displayed "exact numerical relationships" (i.e., diatonic
ratios) similar to those found in a scale of musical notes. For
example, if a circle within a formation is 90 degrees and another
is 80 degrees, the ratio is 9/8 which is the same ratio between
the notes C and D, C being the eighth note of the diatonic scale
and D being the ninth. These are the same ratios that are found
in popular music, or in playing the white notes on the piano.
According to Stephen J. Smith, a paranormal investigator and
amateur composer, these ratios are not the result of chance
Natural Music
62. "because the numbers have to be very precise in order to
be a diatonic ratio. This is why music sounds like music
instead of noise, because it is built on precise ratios."
To derive music from the crop circles, Smith used a fractal
music-generating computer program. He entered photographs
of the formations into the computer, which read the
photographs and generated music from the photos, using the
crop circle scales to play it back.
Curiously, not all crop circles embody diatonic rations in their
formations. Hence, some do not have musical qualities.
Possibly, Smith says, the real circles have diatonic ratios, and
the faked ones do not. Further, diatonic ratios may be only a
part of the overall geometry of the formations.
63. CROP CIRCLES IN THE MODERN
WORLD
Since the early 1990s the UK arts collective founded by artist
John Lundberg, named the Circlemakers, have been creating
some crop circles in the UK and around the world both as
part of their art practice and for commercial clients.
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
Westland Helicopters engineers, using rope, PVC pipe, a
trestle and a ladder. Another competitor used a small
garden roller, a plank and some rope.
65. HOWTO MAKECROP CIRCLES?
ANYBODY CAN MAKE A CROP CIRCLE WITH SIMPLE
TOOLS. THE ONLY TOOLS YOU NEED ARE ROPE, BOARDS
OR METAL PIPES AND A WILLING CREW. HERE IS A
COMMON WAY OF MAKING CROP CIRCLES.
1. A STAKE IS HAMMERED INTO THE FIELD AT THE CENTER
OF THE AREA WHERE THE CIRCLE WILL BE CREATED.
2. A ROPE IS TIED TO THE STAKE AND STRETCHED TO THE
EDGE OF THE CIRCLE.
3. A CREW MEMBER AT THE END OF THE ROPE MAKES A
PERIMETER BY WALKING IN A CIRCLE AROUND THE
STAKE.
4. BOARDS OR HEAVY PIPES ARE THEN DRAGGED OVER
THE CROP TO FLATTEN PLANTS WITHIN THE SPACE.
5. OUTSIDE THE NEW CIRCLE, RINGS CAN BE MADE BY
LEAVING SECTIONS OF THE CROP UNDAMAGED.
66. Facts
•Crop circles have been created in several different types of crops including wheat,
barley, rye, corn, and other crops.
•Crop circles could be seen as early as the 17th century when an English pamphlet
called the “Mowing-Devil” produced an image, which depicts the devil with a scythe
plowing a circular design in a field of oats.
•In 1996, a crop circle appeared near Stonehenge. The farmer made people pay to
see the evidence; he collected about $47,000 in four weeks. The actual value of the
crop had it been harvested would have been only about $235.
•Every year, the fields of southern England become home to hundreds of formations
that appear.
•Some interesting shapes have appeared in crops including the first ten digits of Pi in
2008 and a jellyfish in 2009.
•Mysterious phenomena similar to crop circles, ice circles have been found in frozen
lakes.
•Some believe that this similar formation may be caused by the upwelling of warmer
water in the lake, and the darker colour of the circles represents thinning ice.
68. 1
• Possibly the most controversial theory is that crop circles are the work of visitors
from other planets
• 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.
UFOs and Aliens
69. 2
• A scientific theory says that crop circles are created by small
currents of swirling winds called vortices. 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.
Winds
70. 2
• Dr. Terence Meaden of the TORRO in Wiltshire, England, says the
vortices that create crop circles are charged with energy (this is
called the Plasma Vortex Theory). 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.
Winds
71. 3
• 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.
Aircrafts
72. 4
• Some researchers believe that the earth creates
its own energy, which forms the circles. One
possible form of earth energy
is electromagnetic radiation.
• scientists have measured strong magnetic fields
inside crop circles.
Earth Energy
73. 4
• In the early 1990s 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.
Earth Energy
74. 4
• 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.
Earth Energy
75. 5
• The easiest explanation for crop circles is that they are man-made hoaxes,
created either for fun or to stump the scientists.
• Among the most famous hoaxers are the British team of Doug Bower and
Dave Chorley, known as "Doug and Dave." In 1991, the duo came out and
announced that they had made hundreds of crop circles since 1978.
Humans
76. 5
• Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow of the CSICOP says that crop circles
have all the hallmarks of hoaxes:
1. They are concentrated primarily in southern England
2. they've become more elaborate over the years (indicating that hoaxers are
getting better at their craft)
3. and their creators never allow themselves to be seen
Humans