Crop Circles – Man Made or Supernatural?

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BACKGROUND:

By definition, a crop circle is a “pattern created by flattening a crop.” These circles are believed to be created over a single night, although there are speculations that some appear in the middle of the day.

Stories of crop circles date back to as early as 1678 when images were depicted in news pamphlets. It wasn’t until the early 1970s or 80s that the term “crop circle” was coined. This was by Colin Andrews, who studied crop circles and believed most were man-made. He thought any others were created by the Earth’s magnetic field.

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CASES:

1686. Naturalist Robert Plot reported rings of mushrooms.

1880. Scientist John Rand Capron described several circles of flattened field crops.

1932. Archaeologist E.C. Curwin witnessed dark rings in a field.

1963. Patrick Moore spoke of a crater in a potato field.

From the 1960s on, stories and reports of crop circles have greatly increased.

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HOAXES:

In 1991, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley admitted to being the pranksters behind many crop circles found throughout England. Interestingly, before their revelation, an investigator stated that there was no way one particular circle could have been man-made. When in actuality, it was. To prove they were behind the hoaxes, they created a circle in front of journalists. They claimed they were to blame for more than 200 crop circles between 1978 and 1991. Of course, that leaves more than 1,000 crop circles with unknown origins.

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THEORIES:

There are many theories that are more believable. Like Colin Andrew’s theory of magnetism. Or perhaps it’s weather oriented, like from tornadoes or ball lightning. In 2009, someone from Tasmania blamed wallabies for creating the phenomena in their fields of opium poppies.

Of course, we have the popular theory that crop circles are caused by paranormal or extraterrestrial activity. Many believe the patterns are too intricate for any person or machine to create. It must be created by something not of this world.

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INTERESTING FACTS:

Some scientists found differences between crops inside and outside the circles.

One would think farmers would be concerned that their crops would fall victim to the supernatural happenings, but quite the opposite occurred. Many people, farmers included, were excited and took advantage of the situation, encouraging tourists and scientists to visit their properties. Bus and helicopter tours became a thing for people to take part in.

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SOURCES:

Wikipedia
The Smithsonian Magazine