Crop circles can be considered the elephant in that scary room of suspended disbelief that so many of us choose to ignore when it comes to confronting the unknown. But what do they really mean? Are they indicators of some mysterious, nocturnal alien intervention or are they the work of hoaxers who need to change their focus to getting a life of their own? Read on for some answers but perhaps even more questions.

The modern history of crop circles.

Crop circles began to appear on the media horizon in the mid 1970s. Reports concerning their numbers escalated drastically between the years 1981-1987, coinciding perhaps not by accident with the increased media attention given to this strange and intriguing phenomenon. The first real crop circles were simple in design and appeared along the English countryside, but their numbers and complexity have greatly increased extending into the 1990s.

Movies such as Signs, starring Mel Gibson, brought increased attention to crop circles as well as a number of well-written books on the subject. Crop circle enthusiasts developed their own moniker and became known as cereologists (after Ceres, the Roman goddess of vegetation.)

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How are crop circles made?

Unlike other unexplained phenomena, evidence abounds cementing the existence of crop circles. The real issue surrounding these swirling, circular designs pressed into isolated crop fields is who or what created them. Some estimates claim that these strange circles appear every week somewhere around the world.

They can be very diverse in both design and complexity, ranging from small circles only a few feet in diameter to elaborate pictograms as large as a few hundred feet across. They are, however, always circular even though some designs do include straight or curved lines.

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Are crops circles hoaxes or evidence of alien presence and intervention?

The jury is still out as to the answer to this most intriguing question. Even ardent cereologists concede that there are many ways to ”make a hoaxed crop circle” and that the vast majority of claims are bogus. They also claim that there are a few crop circles that cannot be explained away either because of the complexity of their design or their inclusion of properties (stalks, organic material, etc) that contain unusual characteristics.

At the crux of the matter is the fact that at least for now, there is no reliable scientific way to distinguish “real” crop circles from man-made ones. Countless theories about their creation abound. They include: aliens harnessing invisible energy beams from space; mysterious vortices; wind patterns and global psychic power that manifests itself in wheat and other crops. The most powerful theory involves humans with nothing else to do on a Saturday night but make some crop circles when all the bars are closed and everyone else is asleep.

Conclusion

There can be no distinct answer as to the origins of these enigmatic crop circles. Even with the assumption that 95% of all claims may be attributed to human intelligence (or stupidity, depending on your point of view) one enduring and unsettling fact remains. There’s no denying that other unexplainable 5%, which cannot help but send a cold shiver up the spine of the most ardent disbeliever.

Check out these videos about crop circles

Have you ever seen a crop circle? Do you believe they are made by aliens?

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