Crop circle: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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~~{{Redirect|Crop Circles|the album by Dean Brody|Crop Circles (album)}}~~

{{For|the irrigation method that produces circular fields of crops|center pivot irrigation}}

[[File:~~Aerial View of the Crop Circle in Diessenhofen 15.07.2008 16-44-41~~CropCircleW.~~JPG~~jpg|thumb|~~right~~upright=1.2|Aerial ~~View~~view of a crop ~~circle~~circles in ~~[[Diessenhofen]]~~Switzerland]]

A '''crop circle''' or '''crop formation''' is a pattern created by flattening a [[crop]],<ref>http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/crop-circle?q=crop+circle</ref> usually a [[cereal]]. A commentary in ''The Guardian'' noted that "[i]t is still open to dispute whether some are caused by natural phenomena or all created by human hand,"<ref name="Guardian-EveryCircle">{{cite news | url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/sep/15/crop-circles-england-2009-data | title=Every crop circle in England in 2009 - with co-ordinates | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=September 15, 2009 | accessdate=August 8, 2015}}</ref> but crop circles, as [[Taner Edis]], professor of physics at [[Truman State University]] puts it, "all fall within the range of the sort of thing done in [[hoax]]es."<ref>Edis, T. ''Science and Nonbelief''. Prometheus Books. 2008, p. 138. ISBN 1-59102-561-3 "Skeptics begin by pointing out that many paranormal claims are the result of fraud or hoaxes. Crop circles — elaborate patterns that appear on fields overnight — appear to be of this sort. Many crop circle makers have come forth or have been exposed. We know a great deal about their various techniques. So we do not need to find the perpetrator of every crop circle to figure out that probably they all are human made. Many true believers remain who continue to think there is something paranormal — perhaps alien — about crop circles. But the circles we know all fall within the range of the sort of thing done in hoaxes. Nothing stands out as extraordinary."</ref> Although obscure natural causes or alien origins of crop circles are suggested by [[Fringe theory|fringe theorists]],<ref name="parker2000human">{{cite journal|

~~title=Human science as conspiracy theory|~~

~~author=Parker, Martin|~~

~~journal=The Sociological Review|~~

~~volume=48|~~

~~number=S2|~~

~~pages=191--207|~~

~~year=2000|~~

~~publisher=Wiley Online Library~~

}}</ref> there is no scientific evidence for such explanations, and human causes are consistent for all crop circles.<ref>Hines. T. ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books, 2003. pp. 295-296. ISBN 1-57392-979-4</ref><ref>Soto, J. ''Crop Cirles''. In Michael Shermer (Ed). ''The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 67-70. ISBN 1-57607-653-9</ref><ref>Radford, B. [http://www.livescience.com/26540-crop-circles.html "Crop Circles Explained"]. LiveScience.</ref>

A '''crop circle''', '''crop formation''', or '''corn circle''' is a pattern created by flattening a [[crop]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/crop-circle?q=crop+circle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206022628/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/crop-circle?q=crop+circle|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 February 2015|title=crop circle - Definition of crop circle in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries - English}}</ref> usually a [[cereal]]. The term was first coined in the early 1980s.<ref>Colin Andrews, Pat Delgado ''Circular Evidence: A Detailed Investigation of the Flattened Swirled Crops''. Phanes Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-7475-0635-3}}</ref> Crop circles have been described as all falling "within the range of the sort of thing done in [[hoax]]es" by [[Taner Edis]], professor of physics at [[Truman State University]].<ref>Edis, Taner. ''[[iarchive:sciencenonbelief0000edis f7z7/page/138/mode/2up|Science and Nonbelief]]''. Prometheus Books. 2008, p. 138. {{ISBN|1-59102-561-3}} "Skeptics begin by pointing out that many paranormal claims are the result of fraud or hoaxes. Crop circles—elaborate patterns that appear on fields overnight—appear to be of this sort. Many crop circle makers have come forth or have been exposed. We know a great deal about their various techniques. So we do not need to find the perpetrator of every crop circle to figure out that probably they all are human made. Many true believers remain who continue to think there is something paranormal—perhaps alien—about crop circles. But the circles we know all fall within the range of the sort of thing done in hoaxes. Nothing stands out as extraordinary."</ref>

The number of crop circles has substantially increased from the 1970s to current times. There has been almost no serious scientific study of them. Circles in the [[United Kingdom]] are not spread randomly across the landscape but appear near roads, areas of medium to dense population, and cultural heritage monuments, such as [[Stonehenge]] or [[Avebury]], and always in areas of easy access.<ref name="northcote">{{cite web |author= Jeremy Northcote |url= http://www.siue.edu/GEOGRAPHY/ONLINE/Northcote06.pdf |title= Spatial distribution of England's crop circles |journal= Geography Online (online journal, without ISSN) |publisher= [[Southern Illinois University]]}}</ref> In 1991, two hoaxers, Bower and Chorley, made disputed claims to have created many circles throughout [[England]] after one of their circles was publicly certified by a notable circle investigator, as impossible to be made by human hand.<ref name="nyt1991"/>

Although obscure natural causes or [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] origins of crop circles are suggested by [[Fringe theory|fringe theorists]],<ref name="parker2000human">{{Cite journal |title=Human science as conspiracy theory |author=Parker, Martin |journal=The Sociological Review |volume=48 |number=S2 |pages=191–207 |year=2000 |publisher=Wiley Online Library |doi=10.1111/j.1467-954x.2000.tb03527.x |s2cid=145482575}}</ref> there is no scientific evidence for such explanations, and all crop circles are consistent with human causation.<ref>Hines. T. ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books, 2003. pp. 295–96. {{ISBN|1-57392-979-4}}</ref><ref>Soto, J. ''Crop Cirles''. In Michael Shermer (ed.). ''The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 67–70. {{ISBN|1-57607-653-9}}</ref><ref>Radford, B. [http://www.livescience.com/26540-crop-circles.html "Crop Circles Explained"]. LiveScience.</ref> In 1991, two hoaxers, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, took credit for having created over 200 crop circles throughout England,<ref name="nyt1991" /> in widely-reported interviews. The number of reports of crop circles increased substantially after interviews with them. In the United Kingdom, reported circles are not distributed randomly across the landscape, but appear near roads, areas of medium to dense population, and cultural heritage monuments, such as [[Stonehenge]] or [[Avebury]].<ref name="northcote">{{cite web|last=Northcote |first=Jeremy |url=https://www.siue.edu/GEOGRAPHY/ONLINE/Northcote06.pdf |title= Spatial distribution of England's crop circles |website=[[Southern Illinois University Edwardsville|siue.edu]] |access-date=1 February 2011}}</ref> They usually appear overnight.<ref name="Taylor2011">{{cite journal |author=Richard Taylor |date=August 2011 |title=Coming soon to a field near you |url=https://blogs.uoregon.edu/richardtaylor/files/2015/12/CropCirclesphysicsworld-1o814jx.pdf |department=Feature: Crop circles |journal=Physics World |volume=24 |issue=8 |page=26 |doi=10.1088/2058-7058/24/08/35 |bibcode=2011PhyW...24h..26T |ref={{harvid|Taylor|2011}}}}</ref>{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=140–142}} Nearly half of all crop circles found in the UK in 2003 were located within a {{convert|15|km|mi|abbr=on}} radius of the [[Avebury]] stone circles.<ref name="northcote" />

Formations are usually created overnight,<ref name="Taylor2011"/> although some are reported to have appeared during the day.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages= 140-2}} In contrast to crop circles or crop formations, archeological remains can cause [[cropmark]]s in the fields in the shapes of circles and squares, but they do not appear overnight, and they are always in the same places every year.

In contrast to crop circles or crop formations, archaeological remains can cause [[cropmark]]s in the fields in the shapes of circles and squares, but these do not appear overnight, and are always in the same places every year.

== History ==

=== Before the 20th century ===

The concept of "crop circles" began with the original late-1970s hoaxes by Doug Bower and Dave Chorley (see [[#Bower and Chorley|Bower and Chorley]], below).<ref name=dutch /><ref name=skepticssa/><ref>{{cite book |title= [[The Demon-Haunted World]] |author= Carl Sagan |authorlink= Carl Sagan |year= 1997 |pages= 72–6|isbn= 0747251568 |publisher= [[Headline Publishing Group]] |ref= {{harvid|Sagan|1997}}}}</ref><ref name="NGEO"/><ref name="smithsonian">{{cite web |author1= Rob Irving |author2= Peter Brookesmith |url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Crop-Circles-The-Art-of-the-Hoax.html |title= Crop Circles: The Art of the Hoax |work= Smithsonian.com |date= December 15, 2009}}</ref> They said that they were inspired by the [[Tully, Queensland|Tully]] "saucer nest" case in Australia, where a farmer found a flattened circle of swamp reeds after observing a UFO.<ref name=skepticssa/>

A 1678 news pamphlet ''[[Mowing-Devil|The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News Out of Hartfordshire]]'' describes a crop whose stalks were cut rather than bent.<ref name=dutch /> (see [[#Folklore|folklore section]]).

~~=== Early reports of circular formations ===~~

In 1686, an English [[naturalist]], [[Robert Plot]], reported on rings or arcs of mushrooms (see [[fairy ring]]s) in ''The Natural History of Stafford-Shire'', proposing air flows from the sky as a cause.<ref name=NatHist>{{cite book |author= John Aubrey |url= http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04/nhwil10.txt |title= The Natural History of Stafford-Shire |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070402233131/http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04/nhwil10.txt |archive-date= 2 April 2007 |df= dmy-all }} at [[Project Gutenberg]]</ref><ref name=PhiloTrans>{{cite journal |title= ''The Natural History of Staffordshire'' by Robert Plott; ''Sciotericum Telescopicum or a new Contrivance of adapting a Telescope to a Horizontall Diall, for observing the moment of time by day or night'' by Will Molineux |journal= Philosophical Transactions |volume= 16 |issue= 1686–1692 |jstor= 101866 |pages= 207–16 |department= Accounts of Books|year= 1686 }}</ref> In 1991, meteorologist Terence Meaden linked this report with modern crop circles, a claim that has been compared with those made by [[Erich von Däniken]].{{refn|group=n|Keving Greene wrote, <blockquote>The difficulties that exist in communicating the results of archaeology have undoubtedly contributed to the flourishing of writers, such as Erich von Däniken, who take a particular delight in deriding the inability of 'experts' to find explanations that seize the imagination of the public. (...) Few archaeologists have sold as many paperbacks as von Däniken; more recently, a meteorologist who linked crop circles to prehistoric ring-ditches or round barrows generated a reaction that no orthodox student of these monuments has ever achieved (Meaden 1991) [in reference to {{cite book |author= T. Meaden |year= 1991 |title= The Goddess of the Stones: The Language of the Megaliths |location= London |publisher= Souvenir Press}}]<ref>{{cite book |title= Archaeology: An Introduction: The History, Principles and Methods of Modern Archaeology |author= Kevin Greene |edition= 3, fully revised |publisher= Routledge |year= 1995 |isbn= 0203447204 |url= http://mey.homelinux.org/companions/Kevin%20Greene/Archaeology_%20An%20Introduction,%20The%20Histor%20(401)/Archaeology_%20An%20Introduction,%20The%20Histor%20-%20Kevin%20Greene.pdf |ref= {{harvid|Greene|1995}} }}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref></blockquote>}}

A 1678 news pamphlet "Strange News Out of Hartfordshire", now more commonly known as "The [[Mowing-Devil|Mowing Devil]]", is claimed by cereologists to be the first depiction of a crop circle.<ref name=dutch /> However, it is not a historical precedent because the stalks are cut, not bent.<ref name=dutch /> (see folklore section)

An 1880 letter to the editor of ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' by amateur scientist [[John Rand Capron]] describes how several circles of flattened crops in a field were formed under suspicious circumstances and possibly caused by "cyclonic wind action", stating "as viewed from a distance, circular spots (...) they all presented much the same character, viz, a few standing stalks as a centre, some prostrate stalks with their heads arranged pretty evenly in a direction forming a circle round the centre, and outside there a circular wall of stalks which had not suffered".{{refn|name="Capron1880"|group=n|John Rand Capron wrote, <blockquote>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 (...) they all presented much the same character, viz, a few standing stalks as a centre, some prostrate stalks with their heads arranged pretty evenly in a direction forming a circle round the centre, and outside there a circular wall of stalks which had not suffered. (...) 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, and may perhaps have been noticed elsewhere by some of your readers.<ref>{{cite journal |doi= 10.1038/022290d0 |bibcode= 1880Natur..22..290C |title= Storm Effects |url= http://www.iccra.org/Historical%20Research/Storm%20Effects_Nature_1880_J_Rand_Capron.pdf |year= 1880 |author= John Rand Capron |journal= Nature |volume= 22 |issue= 561 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=CJlFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA290 290]|s2cid= 4078005 }} Retrieved from {{cite web |title= Nature archive for the decade 1880–1889 |url= http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/currentdecade.html?decade=1880&year=1880 |work= nature.com |publisher= Nature |access-date= 23 August 2011}} Republished in {{cite journal |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BGIdAQAAIAAJ |title= A case of genuine crop circles dating from July 1880 – as published in Nature in the year 1880 |journal= Journal of Meteorology |volume= 25 |pages= 20–21 |date=January 2000}}</ref></blockquote>}}

In 1686, British [[naturalist]] [[Robert Plot]] reported on rings or arcs of mushrooms (see [[fairy ring]]s) in ''The Natural History of Stafford-Shire'' and proposed air flows from the sky as a cause.<ref name=NatHist>{{cite book |author= John Aubrey |url= http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04/nhwil10.txt |title= The Natural History of Stafford-Shire}} at [[Project Gutenberg]]</ref><ref name=PhiloTrans>{{cite journal |title= ''The Natural History of Staffordshire'' by Robert Plott; ''Sciotericum Telescopicum or a new Contrivance of adapting a Telescope to a Horizontall Diall, for observing the moment of time by day or night'' by Will Molineux |journal= Philosophical Transactions (1683–1775) |volume= 16 (1686-1692) |jstor= 101866 |pages= 207–16 |department= Accounts of Books}}</ref> In 1991 meteorologist Terence Meaden linked this report with modern crop circles, a claim that has been compared with those made by [[Erich von Däniken]].{{refn|group=n|Keving Greene wrote, <blockquote>The difficulties that exist in communicating the results of archaeology have undoubtedly contributed to the flourishing of writers, such as Erich von Däniken, who take a particular delight in deriding the inability of 'experts' to find explanations that seize the imagination of the public. (...) Few archaeologists have sold as many paperbacks as von Däniken; more recently, a meteorologist who linked crop circles to prehistoric ring-ditches or round barrows generated a reaction that no orthodox student of these monuments has ever achieved (Meaden 1991) [in reference to {{cite book |author= T. Meaden |year= 1991 |title= The Goddess of the Stones: The Language of the Megaliths |location= London |publisher= Souvenir Press}}]<ref>{{cite book |title= Archaeology: An Introduction: The History, Principles and Methods of Modern Archaeology |author= Kevin Greene |edition= 3, fully revised |publisher= Routledge |year= 1995 |isbn= 0203447204 |url= http://mey.homelinux.org/companions/Kevin%20Greene/Archaeology_%20An%20Introduction,%20The%20Histor%20(401)/Archaeology_%20An%20Introduction,%20The%20Histor%20-%20Kevin%20Greene.pdf |ref= {{harvid|Greene|1995}}}}</ref></blockquote>}}

=== 20th century ===

An 1880 letter to the editor of ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' by amateur scientist [[John Rand Capron]] describes how a recent storm had created several circles of flattened crops in a field.{{refn|name="Capron1880"|group=n|John Rand Capron wrote, <blockquote>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 (...) they all presented much the same character, viz, a few standing stalks as a centre, some postrate stalks with their heads arranged pretty evenly in a direction forming a circle round the centre, and outside there a circular wall of stalks which had not suffered. (...) 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, and may perhaps have been noticed elsewhere by some of your readers.<ref>{{cite journal |doi= 10.1038/022290d0 |bibcode= 1880Natur..22..290C |title= Storm Effects |url= http://www.iccra.org/Historical%20Research/Storm%20Effects_Nature_1880_J_Rand_Capron.pdf |year= 1880 |author= John Rand Capron |journal= Nature |volume= 22 |issue= 561 |page= [http://books.google.com/books?id=CJlFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA290 290]}} Retrieved from {{cite web |title= Nature archive for the decade 1880–1889 |url= http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/currentdecade.html?decade=1880&year=1880 |work= nature.com |publisher= Nature |accessdate= 23 August 2011}} Republished in {{cite journal |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=BGIdAQAAIAAJ |title= A case of genuine crop circles dating from July 1880 – as published in Nature in the year 1880 |journal= Journal of Meteorology |volume= 25 |pages= 20–1 |date=January 2000}}</ref></blockquote>}}

In 1932, archaeologist E. C. Curwen observed four dark rings in a field at Stoughton Down near Chichester, but could examine only one: "a circle in which the barley was [[Lodging (agriculture)|'lodged']] or beaten down, while the interior area was very slightly mounded up."<ref>Sussex Notes and Queries, 1937 Eliot Cecil Curwen pp. 139–40</ref>

In ''[[Fortean Times]],'' David Wood reported that in 1940 he made crop circles near [[Gloucestershire]] using ropes.<ref>{{harvnb|Eddie|2004}} citing: {{cite journal |author=D. Wood |year=2000 |title=Pioneer pranksters? |journal=[[Fortean Times]] |volume=131 |issue=52}}</ref>

~~===Modern times===~~

In 1932, archaeologist E C Curwen, observed four dark rings in a field at Stoughton Down near Chichester, he could examine only one: "a circle in which the barley was 'lodged' or beaten down, while the interior are was very slightly mounded up."<ref>Sussex Notes and Queries, 1937 Eliot Cecil Curwen p.139-140</ref>

In 1963 ~~amateur astronomer Sir~~, [[Patrick Moore]] described a crater in a potato field in Wiltshire, that he considered was probably caused by an unknown meteoric body. In nearby wheat fields, there were several circular and elliptical areas where the wheat had been flattened. There was evidence of "spiral flattening". He thought they could be caused by air currents from the impact, since they led towards the crater.<ref>Moore P. ~~‘That~~'That Wiltshire ~~Crater’~~Crater' Letter to the editor ''New Scientist'' ~~8th~~8 August 1963

{{blockquote|1=In the adjoining wheatfields were other features, taking the form of circular or elliptical areas in which the wheat had been flattened. I saw these myself; they had not been much visited, and were certainly peculiar One, very well-defined, was an oval 15 yards long by 41 broad. There was evidence of "spiral flattening", and in one case there was a circular area in the centre in which the wheat had not been flattened. In no case was there any evidence of an actual depression in the ground.

(...) [The crater] could have been caused by natural subsidence, but it did not give that impression, and in any case there are the areas of flattened wheat to be taken into account; it would be remarkable coincidence if these areas were not associated with the crater. Since the areas of flattened wheat "led" to the crater, it looks very much as though they, and the crater, were caused by something which came from the sky. In this case, the wheat would have been flattened by violent air-currents produced by the falling body.}}

</ref> Astronomer [[Hugh Ernest Butler]] observed similar craters and said they were likely caused by ~~lighting~~lightning strikes.<ref>Hugh Ernest Butler 'That Wiltshire Crater', ''New Scientist'' issue 352, 15 August 1963 Letters to the editor</ref>

InDuring the 1960s~~, in [[Tully, Queensland]], Australia, and in Canada~~, there were many reports of UFO sightings and circular formations in swamp reeds and ~~sugar~~sugarcane ~~cane~~fields ~~fields~~in [[Tully, Queensland]], Australia, and in Canada.<ref name=skepticssa/> For example, on 8 August 1967, three circles were found in a field in [[Duhamel, Alberta]], Canada~~, and the~~; [[Department of National Defence (Canada)|Department of National Defence]] ~~sent two~~ investigators~~, who~~ concluded that it was ~~artificially made~~artificial but couldn't ~~make definite conclusions on~~say who made them or how.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ufo/002029-1200-e.html |title= Canada's Unidentified Flying Objects: The Search for the Unknown: Duhamel, Alberta: August 1967 |date= 14 December 2007 |~~origyear~~orig-year= 2005}} At Library and Archives Canada. ([http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ovni/002029-1200.01-f.html Original] in French).</ref> The most famous case is the 1966 Tully "saucer nest", when a farmer said he witnessed a saucer-shaped craft rise ~~30 or~~ {{convert|30 or 40|ft|m|0|abbr=on|order=flip}} up from a swamp and then fly away. ~~When~~On ~~he went to investigate the location where he thought the saucer had landed,~~investigating he found a nearly circular area {{convert|32 ~~feet~~|ft|m|0|abbr=on|order=flip}} long by {{convert|25 ~~feet~~|ft|m|0|abbr=on|order=flip}} wide where the grass was flattened in clockwise curves to water level within the circle, and the reeds had been uprooted from the mud.<ref name=skepticssa>{{cite web |author= Laurie Eddie |date= 4 November 2004 |url= http://www.skepticssa.org.au/html/cropcircles.html |title= The Skeptics SA Guide to: Crop circles |work= Skepticssa.org.au. |publisher= Skeptics SA |~~accessdate~~access-date= 2012-01-01 |ref= {{harvid|Eddie|2004}} |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110823020100/http://www.skepticssa.org.au/html/cropcircles.html |archive-date= 23 August 2011 |url-status= dead }}</ref> The local police officer, the [[Royal Australian Air Force]], and the [[University of Queensland]] concluded that it was most probably caused by natural causes, like a down draught, a [[willy-willy]] (dust devil), or a [[waterspout]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} In 1973, G.J. Odgers, Director of Public Relations, Department of Defence (Air Office), wrote to a journalist that the "saucer" was probably debris lifted by ~~the causing~~a willy-willy. Hoaxers Bower and Chorley said they were inspired by this case to start making the modern crop circles that appear today.<ref>{{cite web |title= The flattened crops society |work= [[The Scotsman]] |date= September 7, 2002 | author= Jim Gilchrist |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12991491.html }} (registration required)</ref>

~~Since~~After the 1960s, there ~~had been~~was a surge of UFOlogists in [[Wiltshire]], and there were rumours of "saucer nests" appearing in the area, but they were never photographed.<ref name="smithsonian" /> There are other pre-1970s reports of circular formations, especially in Australia and Canada, but they were always simple circles, which could have been caused by whirlwinds.<ref name="skepticssa/> In ''[[Fortean Times]]'' David Wood reported that in 1940 he had already made crop circles near [[Gloucestershire]] using ropes.<ref>{{harvnb|Eddie|2004}} citing: {{cite journal |author= D. Wood |year= 2000 |title= Pioneer pranksters? |journal= [[Fortean Times]] |volume= 131 |issue= 52}}</ref> In 1997, the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' recorded the earliest usage of the term "~~crop~~ ~~circles" in a 1988 issue of ''[[Journal of Meteorology]]'', referring to a BBC film.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', "Crop: Draft additions 1997", in '' Jrnl. Meteorol''. 13 290.<~~/~~ref~~> The coining of the term "crop circle" is attributed to [[Colin Andrews]] in the late 1970s or early 1980s.<ref>{{cite book |author= Brian Regal |title= Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia |publisher= Greenwood Press |year= 2009 |isbn= 9780313355073 |page= [http://books.google.co.uk/books?ei=2aNnUpPmK-LT0QWBxIGIDw&id=14AbAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22crop+circles%22++colin+andrews+coined&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=coined 47]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5452330/Crop-circle-picture-gallery-shows-more-complex-forms.html |title= Crop circle picture gallery shows more complex forms |newspaper= The Telegraph |date= 5 June 2009 |accessdate= 23 October 2013}}</ref>

British pranksters Doug Bower and Dave Chorley reported they started creating crop circles in British cornfields in 1978, inspired by the Tully "saucer nest" case.<ref name="dutch" /><ref name="skepticssa" /><ref>{{cite book |title= The Demon-Haunted World |author= Carl Sagan |author-link= Carl Sagan |year= 1997 |pages= 72–76|isbn= 0747251568 |publisher= [[Headline Publishing Group]] |ref= {{harvid|Sagan|1997}}|title-link= The Demon-Haunted World }}</ref><ref name="NGEO" /><ref name="smithsonian">{{cite web |author1= Rob Irving |author2= Peter Brookesmith |url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Crop-Circles-The-Art-of-the-Hoax.html |title= Crop Circles: The Art of the Hoax |work= Smithsonian.com |date= December 15, 2009 |access-date= 20 December 2012 |archive-date= 12 November 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131112171948/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Crop-Circles-The-Art-of-the-Hoax.html |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= The flattened crops society |work= [[The Scotsman]] |date= September 7, 2002 | author= Jim Gilchrist |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12991491.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140611120139/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12991491.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 11, 2014 }}</ref>

~~=== Recent boom ===~~

The majority of reports of crop circles have appeared in and spread since the late 1970s<ref name=dutch>{{cite book |title= Reframing Dutch Culture: Between Otherness and Authenticity |series= Progress in European Ethnology |author1= Peter Jan Margry |author2= Herman Roodenburg |edition= illustrated |publisher= [[Ashgate Publishing]] |year= 2007 |pages= 150–1 |isbn= 9780754647058 |ref= {{harvid|Margry & Roodenburg|2007}}}}</ref> as many circles began appearing throughout the English countryside. This phenomenon became widely known in the late 1980s, after the [[mass media|media]] started to report crop circles in [[Hampshire]] and [[Wiltshire]]. After Bower's and Chorley's 1991 statement that they were responsible for many of them, circles started appearing all over the world.<ref name="Taylor2011" /> To date, approximately 10,000 crop circles have been reported internationally, from locations such as the former [[Soviet Union]], the [[United Kingdom|UK]], [[Japan]], the [[United States|U.S.]], and [[Canada]]. Sceptics note a correlation between crop circles, recent media coverage, and the absence of fencing and/or anti-trespassing legislation.<ref>{{cite news | title = Disease brings poor crop of circles | newspaper = BBC News | date = 2001-08-17 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1496296.stm | accessdate = 2007-02-08}}</ref>

The first film to depict a geometric crop circle, in this case created by super-intelligent ants, was the 1974 science-fiction film ''[[Phase IV (1974 film)|Phase IV]]''. The film has been cited as a possible inspiration or influence on the pranksters who started this phenomenon.<ref>Pilkington, Mark (2010) "History, the Hive Mind, and Agrarian Art". In ''The Anomalist'', Vol. 14. http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/4106/</ref>

Although farmers have expressed concern at the damage caused to their crops, local response to the appearance of crop circles can be enthusiastic, with locals taking advantage of the increase of tourism and visits from scientists, crop circle researchers, and individuals seeking spiritual experiences.<ref name=NGEO>{{cite news |author= Hillary Mayell |url= http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0801_020801_cropcircles.html |title= Crop circles: Artwork or alien signs |page= [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0801_020801_cropcircles_2.html 2] |magazine= National Geographic |date= 2 August 2002 |accessdate= 28 October 2010}}</ref> The market for crop-circle interest has consequently generated bus or helicopter tours of circle sites, walking tours, T-shirts, and book sales.

The majority of reports of crop circles have appeared and spread since the late 1970s<ref name=dutch>{{cite book |title= Reframing Dutch Culture: Between Otherness and Authenticity |series= Progress in European Ethnology |author1= Peter Jan Margry |author2= Herman Roodenburg |edition= illustrated |publisher= [[Ashgate Publishing]] |year= 2007 |pages= 150–151 |isbn= 978-0-7546-4705-8 |ref= {{harvid|Margry & Roodenburg|2007}}}}</ref> as many circles began appearing throughout the English countryside. This phenomenon became widely known in the late 1980s, after the media started to report crop circles in [[Hampshire]] and Wiltshire. After Bower and Chorley gave interviews in 1991 about how they had made crop circles, circles started appearing all over the world.<ref name="Taylor2011" /> By 2001, approximately 10,000 crop circles have been reported internationally, from locations such as the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, the U.S., and Canada. Researchers have noted a correlation between crop circles, recent media coverage, and the absence of fencing and/or anti-trespassing legislation.<ref>{{cite news | title = Disease brings poor crop of circles | newspaper = BBC News | date = 2001-08-17 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1496296.stm | access-date = 2007-02-08}}</ref>

Since 2000, crop formations have increased in size and complexity of form, some featuring as many as 2000 different shapes,<ref name="Taylor2011" /> and some incorporating complex mathematical and scientific characteristics.<ref>{{cite web |author= Benjamin Radford |url= http://www.livescience.com/6546-beautiful-math-equation-crop-circle.html |title= 'Beautiful Math Equation' Found in Crop Circle |work= [[LiveScience]] |date= 8 June 2010 |accessdate= 2012-01-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Marc West |date= 2008-06-30 |url= http://plus.maths.org/content/pi-appears-crop-circle |title= Pi appears in crop circle |work= plus.maths.org. |accessdate= 2012-01-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/crop-circle-season-arrives-with-a-mathematical-message-1982647.html |title= Crop circle season arrives with a mathematical message |department= This Britain |newspaper= The Independent |date= 2010-05-26 |accessdate= 2012-01-01}}</ref>

Although farmers expressed concern at the damage caused to their crops, local response to the appearance of crop circles was often enthusiastic, with locals taking advantage of the increase of tourism and visits from scientists, crop circle researchers, and individuals seeking spiritual experiences.<ref name="NGEO">{{cite news |author=Hillary Mayell |date=2 August 2002 |title=Crop circles: Artwork or alien signs |page=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051116211153/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0801_020801_cropcircles_2.html 2] |magazine=National Geographic |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0801_020801_cropcircles.html |url-status=dead |access-date=28 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115211610/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0801_020801_cropcircles.html |archive-date=15 November 2011}}</ref> The market for crop circle interest consequently generated bus or helicopter tours of circle sites, walking tours, T-shirts, and book sales.

A researcher found that crop circles in the UK are not spread randomly across the landscape. They tend to appear near roads, areas of medium to dense population, and cultural heritage monuments, such as [[Stonehenge]] or [[Avebury]]. They always appear in areas that are easy to access. This suggests strongly that circles are more likely to be caused by intentional human action than by paranormal activity. Another strong indication is that inhabitants of the zone with the most circles have a historical tendency for making big formations, including stone circles such as Stonehenge, burial mounds such as [[Silbury Hill]], long barrows such as [[West Kennet Long Barrow]], and [[:Category:White horses in England|White horses in chalk hills]].<ref name="northcote"/>

=== 21st century ===

A video sequence used in connection with the opening of the Olympic Games in London in 2012 shows two crop circle areas shaped as the Olympic Rings. Another Olympic crop circle area was visible for those landing at Heathrow Airport, London, UK before and during the Olympic Games.<ref name=olympic>{{cite web|last=Clarke|first=John|url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnclarke/2012/07/09/mystery-crop-circles-revealed-as-olympic-publicity-stunt/|title=Mystery Crop Circles Revealed As Olympic Publicity Stunt|publisher=''[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]''|date=July 9, 2012|accessdate=July 29, 2015}}</ref>

Since the start of the 21st century, crop formations have increased in size and complexity, with some featuring as many as 2,000 different shapes<ref name="Taylor2011" /> and some incorporating complex mathematical and scientific characteristics.<ref>{{cite news |author= Benjamin Radford |url= http://www.livescience.com/6546-beautiful-math-equation-crop-circle.html |title= 'Beautiful Math Equation' Found in Crop Circle |work= [[LiveScience]] |date= 8 June 2010 |access-date= 2012-01-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Marc West |date= 2008-06-30 |url= http://plus.maths.org/content/pi-appears-crop-circle |title= Pi appears in crop circle |work= plus.maths.org. |access-date= 2012-01-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/crop-circle-season-arrives-with-a-mathematical-message-1982647.html |title= Crop circle season arrives with a mathematical message |department= This Britain |newspaper= The Independent |date= 2010-05-26 |access-date= 2012-01-01}}</ref>

The researcher Jeremy Northcote found that crop circles in the UK in 2002 were not spread randomly across the landscape. They tended to appear near roads, areas of medium-to-dense population, and cultural heritage monuments such as [[Stonehenge]] or [[Avebury]]. He found that they always appeared in areas that were easy to access. This suggests strongly that these crop circles were more likely to be caused by intentional human action than by paranormal activity. Another strong indication of that theory was that inhabitants of the zone with the most circles had a historical tendency for making large-scale formations, including stone circles such as Stonehenge, earthen mounds such as [[Silbury Hill]], long barrows such as [[West Kennet Long Barrow]], and [[:Category:White horses in England|white horses in chalk hills]].<ref name="northcote"/>

~~==== Bower and Chorley ====~~

In 1991, self-professed [[practical joke|pranksters]] Doug Bower and Dave Chorley made headlines claiming it was they who started the phenomenon in 1978 with the use of simple tools consisting of a plank of wood, rope, and a baseball cap fitted with a loop of wire to help them walk in a straight line.<ref name="today91">{{cite news |author= Graham Brough |year= 1991 |title= Men who conned the world |newspaper= Today (defunct) |location= UK}}</ref> To prove their case they made a circle in front of journalists; a "cereologist" (advocate of paranormal explanations of crop circles), Pat Delgado, examined the circle and declared it authentic before it was revealed that it was a hoax.<ref name="nyt1991">{{cite news |title= 2 'Jovial Con Men' Demystify Those Crop Circles in Britain |newspaper= New York Times |author= William E. Schmidt |date= 10 September 1991 |url= http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/10/world/2-jovial-con-men-demystify-those-crop-circles-in-britain.html}}</ref><ref name="today91"/><ref>{{cite news |title= Two British artists admit playing `circles' hoax for the past 13 years |agency= Houston Chronicle News Services |date= 10 September 1991 |newspaper= Houston Chronicle |page= A2 |edition= Star |url= http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1991_808420/two-british-artists-admit-playing-circles-hoax-for.html}}</ref> Inspired by Australian crop circle accounts from 1966, Bower and Chorley claimed to be responsible for all circles made prior to 1987, and for more than 200 crop circles in 1978–1991 (with 1000 other circles not being made by them).<ref name="Taylor2011"/><ref name="Ridley"/> After their announcement, the two men demonstrated making a crop circle. According to Professor Richard Taylor, "the pictographs they created inspired a second wave of crop artists. Far from fizzling out, crop circles have evolved into an international phenomenon, with hundreds of sophisticated pictographs now appearing annually around the globe."<ref name="Taylor2011"/>

== Bower and Chorley ==

~~Smithsonian Magazine wrote:~~

In 1991, two self-professed [[practical joke|pranksters]], Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, made headlines by saying they had started the crop circle phenomenon in 1978, using simple tools consisting of a plank of wood, rope, and a baseball cap fitted with a loop of wire to help them walk in straight lines.<ref name="today91">{{cite news |author= Graham Brough |year= 1991 |title= Men who conned the world |url= https://menwhoconnedtheworld.weebly.com/new-11-today-september-9-1991.html |newspaper= Today (defunct) |location= UK}}</ref> To prove their case they made a circle in front of journalists; a "cereologist" (advocate of paranormal explanations of crop circles), Pat Delgado, examined the circle and declared it authentic before it was revealed that it was a hoax.<ref name="nyt1991">{{cite news |title= 2 'Jovial Con Men' Demystify Those Crop Circles in Britain |newspaper=The New York Times |author= William E. Schmidt |date= 10 September 1991 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/10/world/2-jovial-con-men-demystify-those-crop-circles-in-britain.html}}</ref><ref name="today91"/><ref>{{cite news |title= Two British artists admit playing 'circles' hoax for the past 13 years |agency= Houston Chronicle News Services |date= 10 September 1991 |newspaper= Houston Chronicle |page= A2 |edition= Star |url= http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1991_808420/two-british-artists-admit-playing-circles-hoax-for.html}}</ref>

Inspired by Australian crop circle accounts from 1966, Bower and Chorley claimed to be responsible for all circles made prior to 1987, and for more than 200 crop circles in 1978–1991 (with 1,000 other circles not being made by them).<ref name="Taylor2011" /><ref name="Ridley" /> Writing in ''[[Physics World]]'', Richard Taylor of the [[University of Oregon]] said that "the pictographs they created inspired a second wave of crop artists. Far from fizzling out, crop circles have evolved into an international phenomenon, with hundreds of sophisticated pictographs now appearing annually around the globe."<ref name="Taylor2011" />

:Since Bower and Chorley’s circles appeared, the geometric designs have escalated in scale and complexity, as each year teams of anonymous circle-makers lay honey traps for New Age tourists [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crop-circles-the-art-of-the-hoax-2524283/]

==== Art and business ====

~~[[File:Sthlm gtb top.jpg|thumb|A crop circle with the logo of [[Swedish Railways]].]]~~

After reports of simple circles in the 1970s, increasingly complex geometric designs have been created by anonymous artists, in some cases to attract tourists to an area.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crop-circles-the-art-of-the-hoax-2524283/ |title=Crop Circles: The Art of the Hoax |newspaper=Smithsonian |first1=Rob |last1=Irving |first2=Peter |last2=Brookesmith |date=15 December 2009 |access-date=23 April 2018}}</ref>

Since the early 1990s, the UK arts collective named Circlemakers founded by artists [[Rod Dickinson]] and [[John Lundberg]] (and subsequently including artists Wil Russell and Rob Irving) have been creating crop circles in the UK and around the world both as part of their art practice and for commercial clients.<ref>{{cite book |author= Henry Hemming |year= 2009 |title= In Search of the English Eccentric |publisher= John Murray |isbn= 0719522129}}</ref>

Since the early 1990s, the UK arts collective Circlemakers, founded by [[Rod Dickinson]] and [[John Lundberg]], and subsequently including Wil Russell and Rob Irving, has been creating crop circles in the UK and around the world as part of its art practice and also for commercial clients.<ref>{{cite book |author= Henry Hemming |year= 2009 |title= In Search of the English Eccentric |publisher= John Murray |isbn= 978-0719522123}}</ref>

On the night of 11–12 July 1992 a crop-circle making competition, for a prize of [[Pound sterling|£]]3,000<ref>{{cite book |author= Andrea Pelleschi |title= Crop Circles |year= 2012 |publisher= Essential Library/ABDO |page= 73}}</ref> (partly funded by the [[Arthur Koestler]] Foundation), was held in [[Berkshire]]. The winning entry was produced by three [[Westland Helicopters]] engineers, using rope, [[Polyvinyl chloride|PVC]] pipe, a plank, string, a telescopic device and two stepladders.<ref>{{cite news |author= David Jenkins |title= Crop circle conundrum |url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/7955868/Crop-circle-conundrum.html |accessdate= 10 August 2012 |newspaper= [[The Daily Telegraph]] |date= 25 August 2010}}</ref> According to Rupert Sheldrake the competition was organised by him and [[John Michell]] and "co-sponsored by The Guardian and The Cerealogist". The prize money came from ''PM'', a German magazine. Sheldrake wrote that "The experiment was conclusive. Humans could indeed make all the features of state-of-the-art crop formations at that time. Eleven of the twelve teams

made more or less impressive formations that followed the set design<ref>{{cite web|author= Rupert Sheldrake |title= The Crop Circle Making Competition |url= http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Papers/articles/pdf/Cropcircles_Michellany.pdf |publisher= Rupert Sheldrake |accessdate= 10 August 2012}}</ref>

The [[Led Zeppelin Boxed Set]] that was released on 7 September 1990, along with the [[Led Zeppelin Remasters|remasters of the first boxed set]], as well as the [[Led Zeppelin Boxed Set 2|second boxed set]], all feature an image of a crop circle that appeared in East Field in [[Alton Barnes]], [[Wiltshire]].

[[File:Aerial View of the Crop Circle in Diessenhofen 15.07.2008 16-44-41.JPG|thumb|right|Aerial view of a crop circle in [[Diessenhofen]]]]

On the night of 11–12 July 1992, a crop-circle-making competition with a prize of [[Pound sterling|£]]3,000<ref>{{cite book|title=Crop Circles|author=Andrea Pelleschi|publisher=Essential Library/ABDO|year=2012|page=73}}</ref> (funded in part by the [[Arthur Koestler]] Foundation) was held in [[Berkshire]]. The winning entry was produced by three [[Westland Helicopters]] engineers, using rope, [[Polyvinyl chloride|PVC]] pipe, a plank, string, a telescopic device and two stepladders.<ref>{{cite news |author= David Jenkins |title= Crop circle conundrum |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/7955868/Crop-circle-conundrum.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100826234201/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/7955868/Crop-circle-conundrum.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 26 August 2010 |access-date= 10 August 2012 |newspaper= [[The Daily Telegraph]] |date= 25 August 2010}}</ref> According to Rupert Sheldrake, the competition was organised by him and John Michell and "co-sponsored by The Guardian and The Cerealogist". The prize money came from ''PM'', a German magazine. Sheldrake wrote that "The experiment was conclusive. Humans could indeed make all the features of state-of-the-art crop formations at that time. Eleven of the twelve teams made more or less impressive formations that followed the set design."<ref>{{cite web |author= Rupert Sheldrake |title= The Crop Circle Making Competition |url= http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Papers/articles/pdf/Cropcircles_Michellany.pdf |publisher= Rupert Sheldrake |access-date= 10 August 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121207041147/http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles%26Papers/articles/pdf/Cropcircles_Michellany.pdf |archive-date= 7 December 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2002, [[Discovery Channel]] commissioned five aeronautics and astronautics graduate students from [[MIT]] to create crop circles of their own, aiming to duplicate some of the features claimed to distinguish "real" crop circles from the known fakes such as those created by Bower and Chorley. The creation of the circle was recorded and used in the Discovery Channel documentary ''Crop Circles: Mysteries in the Fields''.<ref name=discovery1>{{cite AV media |title= Crop Circles: Mysteries in the Fields |publisher= Discovery Channel |date= 2002-10-10}}</ref>

In 2009, ''The Guardian'' reported that crop circle activity had been waning around Wiltshire, ~~one~~in ofpart ~~the reasons being that~~because makers preferred ~~making~~creating promotional crop circles for companies that ~~pay~~paid well for their efforts.<ref name="vidal guardian"/>

A video sequence used in connection with the opening of the [[2012 Summer Olympics]] in London showed two crop circles in the shape of the [[Olympic symbols|Olympic rings]]. Another Olympic crop circle was visible to passengers landing at nearby [[Heathrow Airport]] before and during the Games.<ref name="olympic">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnclarke/2012/07/09/mystery-crop-circles-revealed-as-olympic-publicity-stunt/|title=Mystery Crop Circles Revealed As Olympic Publicity Stunt|last=Clarke|first=John|date=July 9, 2012|magazine=[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]|access-date=July 29, 2015}}</ref>

The [[Led Zeppelin]] [[Led Zeppelin Boxed Set|boxed set]], [[Led Zeppelin Remasters|the remasters of the first boxed set]], [[Led Zeppelin Boxed Set 2|and the second boxed set]] all feature a crop circle that appeared in East Field in [[Alton Barnes]], [[Wiltshire]].

A {{convert|3|ha|acre|0|abbr=on}} crop circle depicting the emblem of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Rebel Alliance]] was created in California in December 2017 by a father and his 11-year-old son as a [[spaceport]] for [[X-wing fighter]]s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://abc7news.com/entertainment/bay-area-father-son-turn-field-into-star-wars-tribute/2778451/|title=Bay Area father, son turn field into 'Star Wars' tribute|date=13 December 2017|work=KGO-TV|access-date=4 January 2018|publisher=ABC7 News}}</ref>

~~==== Legal implications ====~~

In 1992, Hungarian youths Gábor Takács and Róbert Dallos, both then 17, were the first people to face legal action after creating a crop circle. Takács and Dallos, of the St. Stephen Agricultural Technicum, a high school in Hungary specializing in [[agriculture]], created a {{convert|36|m|sing=on}} diameter crop circle in a wheat field near [[Székesfehérvár]], {{convert|43|mi|km|0}} southwest of [[Budapest]], on June 8, 1992. On September 3, the pair appeared on Hungarian TV 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 [[Hungarian forint|Ft]] (~$3,000 USD) in [[damages]]. The presiding judge ruled that the students were only responsible for the damage caused in the circle itself, amounting to about 6,000 Ft (~$30 USD), and that 99% of the damage to the crops was caused by the thousands of visitors who flocked to Székesfehérvár following the media's promotion of the circle. The fine was eventually paid by the TV show, as were the students' legal fees.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

== Legal implications ==

In 2000, Matthew Williams became the first man in the UK to be arrested for causing criminal damage after making a crop circle near [[Devizes]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/police-unravel-mystery-of-the-crop-circle-621923.html |location= London |newspaper= The Independent |title= Police unravel mystery of the crop circle |author= Cahal Milmo |date= November 4, 2000}}</ref> In November 2000, he was fined £100 and £40 in costs.<ref>{{cite news |title= Man fined £100 for making crop circle |newspaper= thisiswiltshire.co.uk |location= Weybridge |date= 7 November 2000 |url= http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/archive/2000/11/07/7393897.Man_fined___100_for_making_crop_circle/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Secrets of crop circles |newspaper= thisiswiltshire.co.uk |location= Weybridge |date= 2 May 2002 |url= http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/archive/2002/05/02/7351329.Secrets_of_crop_circles/}}</ref> {{As of|2008}}, no one else has been successfully prosecuted in the UK for criminal damage caused by creating crop circles.{{refn|group=n|name= "Cohen2008"|In a newspaper article Lewis Cohen wrote, "Williams is probably best known as the only person in the UK to be successfully prosecuted for making crop circles. He has since made a name for himself creating crop circles for TV companies and commercial firms..."<ref>{{cite news |title= Mystery surrounds emergency landing |newspaper= thisiswiltshire.co.uk |location= Weybridge |author= Lewis Cohen |date= 25 February 2008 |url= http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/headlines/2070463.Mystery_surrounds_emergency_landing/}}</ref>}}

In 1992, Gábor Takács and Róbert Dallos, both then aged 17, were the first people to face legal action after creating a crop circle. Takács and Dallos, of the St. Stephen Agricultural Technicum, a high school in Hungary specializing in [[agriculture]], created a {{convert|36|m|ft|abbr=on|adj=on}} diameter crop circle in a wheat field near [[Székesfehérvár]], {{convert|69|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} southwest of [[Budapest]], on 8 June 1992. In September, the pair appeared on Hungarian TV and exposed the circle as a hoax, showing photos of the field before and after the circle was made.<ref name="randi-1995">{{Cite book |last=Randi |first=James |title=[[An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural|An encyclopedia of claims, frauds, and hoaxes of the occult and supernatural: decidedly sceptical definitions of alternative realities]] |date=1995 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |isbn=978-0-312-15119-5 |location=New York, NY|author-link=James Randi}}</ref> As a result, Aranykalász Co., the owners of the land, sued the teens for 630,000 [[Hungarian forint|Ft]] (~$3,000 USD) in [[damages]]. The presiding judge ruled that the students were only responsible for the damage caused in the circle itself,<ref name="randi-1995" /> amounting to about 6,000 Ft (~$30 USD), and that 99% of the damage to the crops was caused by the thousands of visitors who flocked to Székesfehérvár following the media's promotion of the circle. The fine was eventually paid by the TV show, as were the students' legal fees.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

In 2000, Matthew Williams became the first man in the UK to be arrested for causing criminal damage after making a crop circle near [[Devizes]].<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/police-unravel-mystery-of-the-crop-circle-621923.html |location= London |newspaper= The Independent |title= Police unravel mystery of the crop circle |author= Cahal Milmo |date= November 4, 2000 |access-date= 26 August 2017 |archive-date= 25 September 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150925032257/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/police-unravel-mystery-of-the-crop-circle-621923.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> In November 2000, he was fined £100 plus £40 in costs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Man fined £100 for making crop circle |newspaper=thisiswiltshire.co.uk |location=Weybridge |date=7 November 2000 |url=http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/archive/2000/11/07/7393897.Man_fined___100_for_making_crop_circle/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515090322/http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/archive/2000/11/07/7393897.Man_fined___100_for_making_crop_circle/ |archive-date=15 May 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Secrets of crop circles |newspaper=thisiswiltshire.co.uk |location=Weybridge |date=2 May 2002 |url=http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/archive/2002/05/02/7351329.Secrets_of_crop_circles/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123193451/http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/archive/2002/05/02/7351329.Secrets_of_crop_circles/ |archive-date=23 January 2015 }}</ref> {{As of|2008}}, no one else has been successfully prosecuted in the UK for criminal damage caused by creating crop circles.{{refn|group=n|name= "Cohen2008"|In a newspaper article Lewis Cohen wrote, "Williams is probably best known as the only person in the UK to be successfully prosecuted for making crop circles. He has since made a name for himself creating crop circles for TV companies and commercial firms..."<ref>{{cite news |title= Mystery surrounds emergency landing |newspaper= thisiswiltshire.co.uk |location= Weybridge |author= Lewis Cohen |date= 25 February 2008 |url= http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/headlines/2070463.Mystery_surrounds_emergency_landing/}}</ref>}}

~~== How they are made ==~~

The scientific consensus on crop circles is that they are constructed by human beings as hoaxes.<ref name="bbc"/> The most widely known method for a person or group to construct a crop formation is to tie one end of a rope to an anchor point and the other end to a board which is used to crush the plants. Sceptics of the paranormal point out that all characteristics of crop circles are fully compatible with them being made by hoaxers.<ref name="csicop"/>

== Creation ==

Bower and Chorley confessed in 1991 to making the first crop circles in South England.<ref name="Taylor2011"/> When some people refused to believe them, they deliberately added straight lines and squares to show that they could not have natural causes.<ref name="Taylor2011"/> In a [[copycat effect]], increasingly complex circles started appearing in many countries around the world, including fractal figures.<ref name="Taylor2011"/> Physicists have suggested that the most complex formations might be made with the help of GPS and lasers.<ref name="Taylor2011"/> In 2009, a circle formation was made over the course of three consecutive nights and was apparently left unfinished, with some half-made circles.<ref name="Taylor2011"/>

[[File:Swiss crop circle detail.jpg|thumb|Detail of a crop circle in a field in Switzerland]]

=== Human origin ===

The main criticism of alleged non-human creation of crop circles is that while evidence of these origins, besides eyewitness testimonies, is essentially absent, some are definitely known to be the work of human pranksters, and others can be adequately explained as such. There have been cases in which researchers declared crop circles to be "the real thing", only to be confronted with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud,<ref>{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |authorlink= Joe Nickell |title= Crop-circle mania: An investigative update |journal= Skeptical Inquirer}} Cited as reference 6 in {{harvnb|Nickell|1996}}</ref> like Bower and Chorley and tabloid ''Today'' hoaxing Pat Delgado,<ref name="today91"/><ref name="economist91"/> the Wessex Sceptics and [[Channel 4]]'s ''Equinox'' hoaxing Terence Meaden,<ref name="Ridley"/><ref name="economist91">{{cite news |title= Flattened. (crop circles hoax) |magazine= [[The Economist]] |location= US |date= 14 September 1991 |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11247968.html |subscription= yes |via= Highbeam}}</ref> or a friend of a Canadian farmer hoaxing a field researcher of the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network.<ref>{{cite news |title= Farmer embarrassed by crop circle hoax |agency= [[Canwest News Service]] |date= 2 October 2007 |work= canada.com |url= http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c363e5a1-ce48-488b-bd21-9f3943e2d952&k=60192}}</ref> In his 1997 book ''[[The Demon Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]'', [[Carl Sagan]] concludes that crop circles were created by Bower and Chorley and their copycats, and speculates that UFOlogists willingly ignore the evidence for hoaxing so they can keep believing in an extraterrestrial origin of the circles.{{sfn|Sagan|1997}} Many others have demonstrated how complex crop circles can be created.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/2R89.html |title= Faking UFOs |author= Roel Van der Meulen |publisher= Roel Van der Meulen |year= 1994}}</ref> ''[[Scientific American]]'' published an article by [[Matt Ridley]],<ref name="Ridley">{{cite journal |author= Hola Ridley |authorlink= Matt Ridley |title= Crop circle confession |journal= [[Scientific American]] |date= 15 July 2002 | url = http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=crop-circle-confession | accessdate = 2007-08-16}}</ref> 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 of creating a crop circle are now well documented on the [[Internet]].

The scientific consensus on crop circles is that they are constructed by human beings as hoaxes, [[advertising]], or [[Crop art#Crop circles|art]].<ref name="bbc">{{cite web |date=9 August 2000 |title=Magnetic 'solution' to crop circle puzzle |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/872142.stm |access-date=30 September 2015 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The most widely known method for a person or group to construct a crop formation is to tie one end of a rope to an anchor point and the other end to a board which is used to crush the plants. It is also possible to bend grass without breaking it, if it has recently rained—a method that was used to create crop circles in Hungary in 1992.<ref name="randi-1995" /> Skeptics of the paranormal point out that all characteristics of crop circles are fully compatible with their being made by hoaxers.<ref name="csicop">{{cite journal |author=Joe Nickell |date=September–October 2002 |title=Circular Reasoning: The 'Mystery' of Crop Circles and Their 'Orbs' of Light |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/circular_reasoning_the_mystery_of_crop_circles_and_their_orbs_of_light/ |url-status=live |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=26 |issue=5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206012813/http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-09/crop-circles.html |archive-date=2006-12-06 |ref={{harvid|Nickell|2002}}}}</ref><ref name="randi-1995" />

Bower and Chorley confessed in 1991 to making the first crop circles in southern England.<ref name="Taylor2011"/> When some people refused to believe them, they deliberately added straight lines and squares to show that they could not have natural causes. In a copycat effect, increasingly complex circles started appearing in many countries around the world, including [[fractal]] figures. Physicists have suggested that the most complex formations might be made with the help of GPS and lasers. In 2009, a circle formation was made over the course of three consecutive nights and was apparently left unfinished, with some half-made circles.<ref name="Taylor2011"/>

Some crop formations are paid for by companies who use them as advertising.<ref name="vidal guardian"/>{{refn|group=n|name= "Cohen2008"}} Many crop circles show human symbols, like the heart and arrow symbol of love, stereotyped alien faces,{{refn|group=n|The website Crop Circle Research.com described one formation stating, "It looks reminiscent of a fake dummy constructed by 'Balok' in a Star Trek episode called '[[The Corbomite Maneuver|Corbomite Manourvre]]'{{sic}} (series 1)' or the logo of local soccer club [[Feyenoord]]".{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages= 143-5}}}}

The main criticism of alleged non-human creation of crop circles is that while evidence of these origins, besides eyewitness testimonies, is absent, many are definitely known to be the work of human pranksters, and others can be adequately explained as such. There have been cases in which researchers declared crop circles to be "the real thing", only to be confronted with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud,<ref>{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |author-link= Joe Nickell |title= Crop-circle mania: An investigative update |journal= Skeptical Inquirer}} Cited as reference 6 in {{harvnb|Nickell|1996}}</ref> like Bower and Chorley and tabloid ''Today'' hoaxing Pat Delgado,<ref name="today91"/><ref name="economist91"/> the Wessex Sceptics and [[Channel 4]]'s ''Equinox'' hoaxing Terence Meaden,<ref name="Ridley"/><ref name="economist91">{{cite news |title= Flattened. (crop circles hoax) |magazine= [[The Economist]] |location= US |date= 14 September 1991 |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11247968.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130515213014/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11247968.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 15 May 2013 |url-access=}}</ref> or a friend of a [[Canadians|Canadian]] farmer hoaxing a field researcher of the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network.<ref>{{cite news|title=Farmer embarrassed by crop circle hoax |agency=[[Canwest News Service]] |date=2 October 2007 |work=canada.com |url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c363e5a1-ce48-488b-bd21-9f3943e2d952&k=60192 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018061250/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c363e5a1-ce48-488b-bd21-9f3943e2d952&k=60192 |archive-date=18 October 2013 }}</ref> In his 1995 book ''[[The Demon Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]'', [[Carl Sagan]] concludes that crop circles were created by Bower and Chorley and their copycats, and speculates that [[UFOlogists]] willingly ignore the evidence for hoaxing so they can keep believing in an extraterrestrial origin of the circles.{{sfn|Sagan|1997}} Many others have demonstrated how complex crop circles can be created.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/2R89.html |title=Faking UFOs |author=Roel Van der Meulen |publisher=Roel Van der Meulen |year=1994 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123033522/http://galactic-guide.com/articles/2R89.html |archive-date=23 November 2011 }}</ref> ''[[Scientific American]]'' published an article by [[Matt Ridley]],<ref name="Ridley">{{cite journal |first= Matt |last=Ridley |author-link= Matt Ridley |title= Crop circle confession |journal= [[Scientific American]] |date= 15 July 2002 |volume=287 |issue=2 |page=25 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0802-25 |bibcode=2002SciAm.287b..25R | url = http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=crop-circle-confession | access-date = 2007-08-16}}</ref> 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 of creating a crop circle are now well documented on the [[Internet]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=How to Make a Crop Circle: 15 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow Life |url=https://www.wikihow.life/Make-a-Crop-Circle |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=www.wikihow.life}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-05-13 |title=Author Benjamin Myers on the crop circle makers who 'blew people's minds' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61332202 |access-date=2023-10-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |title=Crop Circles: The Art of the Hoax |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crop-circles-the-art-of-the-hoax-2524283/ |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

Hoaxers have been caught in the process of making new circles, for example, in 2004 in the Netherlands.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages= 143-5}} (See more cases in the "legal implications" section)

Some crop formations are paid for by companies who use them as advertising.<ref name="vidal guardian"/>{{refn|group=n|name= "Cohen2008"}} Many crop circles show human symbols, like the heart and arrow symbol of love, and stereotyped alien faces.{{refn|group=n|The website Crop Circle Research.com described one formation stating, "It looks reminiscent of a fake dummy constructed by 'Balok' in a Star Trek episode called '[[The Corbomite Maneuver|Corbomite Manourvre]]'{{sic}} (series 1)' or the logo of local soccer club [[Feyenoord]]".{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=143–145}}}}

Advocates of non-human causes discount on-site evidence of human involvement as attempts to discredit the phenomena.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages= 143-5}} Some even argue a [[conspiracy theory]], with governments planting evidence of hoaxing to muddle the origins of the circles.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages= 143-5}}<ref>[http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/607074/Former-RAF-engineer-MI5-paid-people-to-fake-crop-circles-to-discredit-UFO-research Former RAF engineer: MI5 'paid people to fake crop circles' to discredit UFO research - Jon Austin - Express.co.uk - Tue, Sep 22, 2015]</ref> When popular science writer [[Matt Ridley]] wrote negative articles in newspapers, he was accused of spreading "government disinformation" and of working for the UK military intelligence service [[MI5]].<ref name="Ridley"/> Ridley responded by noting that many cereologists make good livings from selling books and providing high-priced personal tours through crop fields, and he claimed that they have vested interests in rejecting what is by far the most likely explanation for the circles.<ref name="Ridley"/><ref name="Ridley WSJ">{{cite news |title= Houdini, crop circles and the need to believe |author= Matt Ridley |newspaper= [[Wall Street Journal]] |date= 4 June 2011 |url= http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357462969207014.html}}</ref>

Hoaxers have been caught in the process of making new circles, such as in 2004 in the Netherlands{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=143–145}}

~~==Alternate explanations==~~

=== ~~Weather~~Natural origins ===

It has been suggested that crop circles may be the result of extraordinary meteorological phenomena ranging from freak [[tornado]]es to [[ball lightning]], but there is no evidence of any crop circle being created by any of these causes.<ref name="Taylor2011"/><ref name="csicop">{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |url= http://www.csicop.org/si/show/circular_reasoning_the_mystery_of_crop_circles_and_their_orbs_of_light/ |title= Circular Reasoning: The 'Mystery' of Crop Circles and Their 'Orbs' of Light |journal= Skeptical Inquirer |volume= 26.5 |date=September–October 2002 |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20061206012813/http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-09/crop-circles.html |archivedate= 2006-12-06 |deadurl= no |ref= {{harvid|Nickell|2002}}}}</ref>

==== Weather ====

In 1880, an amateur scientist, John Rand Capron, wrote a letter to the editor of journal ''Nature'' about some circles in crops and blamed them on a recent storm, saying their shape was "suggestive of some cyclonic wind action".{{refn|group=n|name= "Capron1880"}}

In 1980, Terence Meaden, a meteorologist and physicist, proposed that the circles were caused by whirlwinds whose course was affected by southern England hills.<ref name="Taylor2011" /> As circles became more complex, Terence had to create increasingly complex theories, blaming an electromagneto-hydrodynamic "plasma ~~vortexes~~vortex".<ref name="Taylor2011" /> The meteorological theory became popular, and it was even referenced in 1991 by physicist [[Stephen Hawking]] who said that, "Corn circles are either hoaxes or formed by vortex movement of air".<ref name= "Taylor2011"~~>{{cite~~ ~~journal |department= Feature: Crop circles |title= Coming soon to a field near you |journal= Physics World |author= Richard Taylor |date=August 2011 |url= http:~~/~~/pages.uoregon.edu/msiuo/taylor/human_response/CropCircles(physicsworld).pdf |ref= {{harvid|Taylor|2011}}}}</ref~~> The weather theory suffered a serious blow in 1991, but Hawking's point about hoaxes was supported when Bower and Chorley stated that they had been responsible for making all those circles.{{refn|group=n|name="Taylor2011_note"|In a ''Physics World'' article Richard Taylor wrote, "Today, with the benefit of hindsight, such explanations sound rather contrived. At the height of the debate, though, no less a physicist than Stephen Hawking was prepared to accept some version of Meaden's theory. When a spate of circles appeared in the countryside near his Cambridge home in 1991, Hawking told a local newspaper that "crop circles are either hoaxes or formed by vortex movement of air"<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2011}}</ref>}} By the end of 1991 Meaden conceded that those circles that had complex designs were made by hoaxers.<ref>{{cite book |author1= Simon Hoggart |~~author2~~url= ~~Mike Hutchinson |year= 1995~~https://archive.org/details/bizarrebeliefs0000hogg |title= Bizarre Beliefs |~~location~~author2=Mike ~~London~~Hutchinson |publisher= Richard Cohen Books |year=1995 |isbn=9781573921565 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/bizarrebeliefs0000hogg/page/59 59] |~~isbn~~url-access= ~~9781573921565~~registration}} Cited in {{harvnb|Nickell|2002}}</ref>

==== ~~Paranormal~~Animal activity ====

In 2009, the attorney general for the island state of [[Tasmania]] stated that Australian [[Wallaby|wallabies]] had been found creating crop circles in fields of [[opium poppy|opium poppies]], which are grown legally for medicinal use, after consuming some of the opiate-laden poppies and running in circles.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 June 2009 |title=Stoned wallabies make crop circles |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8118257.stm |access-date=31 May 2011 |newspaper=BBC News}}</ref>

~~[[File:Colour sketch of a spaceship creating crop circles.jpg|thumb|Sketch of a "spaceship" creating crop circles, sent to UK [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] circa 1998.]]~~

=== Alternative explanations ===

Since becoming the focus of widespread media attention in the 1980s, crop circles have become the subject of speculation by various [[paranormal]], [[ufology|ufological]], and [[forteana|anomalistic]] investigators ranging from proposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial beings]].<ref name="csicop"/><ref name=Skepdic>{{cite book |title= [[The Skeptic's Dictionary]] |author= Robert Todd Carroll |authorlink= Robert Todd Carroll |chapter= crop "circle" |date= 19 December 2011 |chapter-url= http://www.skepdic.com/cropcirc.html | accessdate = 2012-06-15}}</ref><ref name=Haselhoff1>{{cite book |author= Eltjo Haselhoff |year= 2001 |title= The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research & Urban Legends |publisher= Frog Ltd |isbn= 1583940464}}</ref><ref name=clark1>{{cite book |author1= Jerome Clark |author2= Nancy Pear |year= 1995 |title= Strange and Unexplained Happenings: When Nature Breaks the Rules of Science |publisher= [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |volume= 3 |isbn= 0810397803}}</ref> Many crop circles have been found near ancient sites such as [[Stonehenge]], a prehistoric monument located in the English county of [[Wiltshire]]. They have also been found near mounds of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, also known as tumuli [[tumulus|barrow]]s, or barrows and [[Chalk figures in the United Kingdom|chalk horses]], or trenches dug and filled with rubble made from brighter material than the natural bedrock, often chalk. There has also been speculation that crop circles have a relation to [[ley line]]s.<ref name=Haselhoff1/>{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages= 138-9}}<ref name=faussett1>{{cite book |author= Charles Godfrey-Faussett |year= 2004 |title= England |series= Footprint Travel Guides |isbn= 1903471915}}</ref> Many [[New Age]] groups incorporate crop circles into their belief systems.

In science magazines from the 1980s and 1990s, for example ''[[Science Illustrated]]'', one could read reports suggesting that the plants were bent by something that could be microwave radiation, rather than broken by physical impact. The magazines also contained serious reports of the absence of human influence and measurement of unusual radiation. Today, this is considered to be pseudoscience, while at the time it was subject of serious research. At that time, it was also more likely that an unknown factor was behind the incidents, not least seen in light of the fact that GPS was not available to the public.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 July 2016 |title=Crop circle research held back by UFO conspiracy links |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2016-07-26/scientific-crop-circle-research-held-back-by-ufo-links/7660712 |newspaper=ABC News}}</ref>

==== Paranormal ====

Some paranormal advocates think that crop circles are caused by ball lighting and that the patterns are so complex that they have to be controlled by some entity.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page= 138}} Some proposed entities are: [[Gaia hypothesis|Gaia]] asking to stop [[global warming]] and human [[pollution]], God, supernatural beings (for example Indian [[Deva (Hinduism)|devas]]), the collective minds of humanity through a proposed "quantum field", or extraterrestrial beings.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page= 138}}

[[File:Colour sketch of a spaceship creating crop circles.jpg|thumb|Sketch of a "spaceship" creating crop circles, sent to UK [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] circa 1998]]

Since becoming the focus of widespread media attention in the 1980s, crop circles have been the subject of speculation by various [[paranormal]], [[ufological]], and [[Anomalistics|anomalistic]] investigators, ranging from proposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from [[extraterrestrial beings]].<ref name="csicop" /><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5777580/Mayan-apocalypse-crop-circle-appears-at-Silbury-Hill.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5777580/Mayan-apocalypse-crop-circle-appears-at-Silbury-Hill.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title= Mayan 'apocalypse' crop circle appears at Silbury Hill |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date= 8 July 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Haselhoff1">{{cite book |author= Eltjo Haselhoff |year= 2001 |title= The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research & Urban Legends |publisher= Frog Ltd |isbn= 1583940464}}</ref><ref name="clark1">{{cite book |author1= Jerome Clark |author2= Nancy Pear |year= 1995 |title= Strange and Unexplained Happenings: When Nature Breaks the Rules of Science |publisher= [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |volume= 3 |isbn= 0810397803 |url= https://archive.org/details/strangeunexplain0000unse }}</ref> There has also been speculation that crop circles have a relation to [[ley line]]s.<ref name="Haselhoff1" />{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=138–139}}<ref name="faussett1">{{cite book |author= Charles Godfrey-Faussett |year= 2004 |title= England |series= Footprint Travel Guides |isbn= 1903471915 |url= https://archive.org/details/footprintengland00godf }}</ref>

Responding to local beliefs that "extraterrestrial beings" in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing, the Indonesian [[National Institute of Aeronautics and Space]] (LAPAN) described crop circles as "man-made". Thomas Djamaluddin, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LAPAN stated, "We have come to agree that this 'thing' cannot be scientifically proven." Among others, [[paranormal]] enthusiasts, [[ufologist]]s, and [[anomalistics|anomalistic]] investigators have offered hypothetical explanations that have been criticized as [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] by [[scientific skepticism|sceptical]] groups and scientists, including the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]].<ref name="vidal guardian">{{cite news |author= John Vidal |url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/05/ruralaffairs |title= The bizarre revival of crop circles – and advice on how to make your own |newspaper= The Guardian |date= 5 June 2009}}</ref><ref name=nickell1996>{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |authorlink= Joe Nickell |journal= [[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=June 1996 |volume= 6.2 |url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research |title=Levengood’s crop-circle plant research |ref= {{harvid|Nickell|1996}}}}</ref><ref name=levengood1994>{{cite journal|author= W.C. Levengood |year= 1994 |url= http://icircle.home.xs4all.nl/dcircles/Levengood_Physiologia.htm |title= Anatomical anomalies in crop formation plants |journal= [[Physiologia Plantarum]] |volume= 92 |pages= 356–63 |issn= 0031-9317|doi= 10.1111/j.1399-3054.1994.tb05348.x |issue= 2 }}</ref><ref name=Krismantari>{{cite news |author= Ika Krismantari |url= http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/6/focus/7978671&sec=focus |title= Crop circles provide food for thought |newspaper= [[The Star (Malaysia)|The Star]] |date= 6 February 2011}}</ref> No credible evidence of extraterrestrial origin has been presented.

Some paranormal advocates think that crop circles are caused by [[ball lightning]] and that the patterns are so complex that they have to be controlled by some entity.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page=138}} Some proposed entities are: [[Gaia hypothesis|Gaia]] asking to stop [[global warming]] and human [[pollution]]; [[God]]; supernatural beings (for example Indian [[Deva (Hinduism)|devas]]); the collective minds of humanity through a proposed "quantum field"; and extraterrestrial beings.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page=138}}

~~=== Animal activity ===~~

In 2009, the attorney general for the island state of [[Tasmania]] stated that Australian [[Wallaby|wallabies]] had been found creating crop circles in fields of [[opium poppy|opium poppies]], which are grown legally for medicinal use, after consuming some of the opiate-laden poppies and running in circles.<ref>{{Cite news | newspaper= BBC News | date= 25 June 2009|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8118257.stm|title=Stoned wallabies make crop circles|accessdate=31 May 2011}}</ref>

Responding to local beliefs that "extraterrestrial beings" in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing, the Indonesian [[National Institute of Aeronautics and Space]] (LAPAN) described crop circles as "man-made". {{ill|Thomas Djamaluddin|id}}, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LAPAN stated, "We have come to agree that this 'thing' cannot be scientifically proven." Among others, paranormal enthusiasts, ufologists, and anomalistic investigators have offered hypothetical explanations that have been criticised as [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] by [[scientific skepticism|sceptical]] groups and scientists, including the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]].<ref name="vidal guardian">{{cite news |author= John Vidal |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jun/05/ruralaffairs |title= The bizarre revival of crop circles – and advice on how to make your own |newspaper= The Guardian |date= 5 June 2009}}</ref><ref name="nickell1996">{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |author-link= Joe Nickell |journal= [[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date= June 1996 |volume= 6 |issue= 2 |url= http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research |title= Levengood's crop-circle plant research |ref= {{harvid|Nickell|1996}} |access-date= 31 March 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100309051544/http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research/ |archive-date= 9 March 2010 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name="levengood1994">{{cite journal|author=W.C. Levengood |year=1994 |url=http://icircle.home.xs4all.nl/dcircles/Levengood_Physiologia.htm |title=Anatomical anomalies in crop formation plants |journal=[[Physiologia Plantarum]] |volume=92 |pages=356–63 |issn=0031-9317 |doi=10.1111/j.1399-3054.1994.tb05348.x |issue=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128201931/http://icircle.home.xs4all.nl/dcircles/Levengood_Physiologia.htm |archive-date=28 January 2012 }}</ref><ref name="Krismantari">{{cite news|author=Ika Krismantari |url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/6/focus/7978671&sec=focus |title=Crop circles provide food for thought |newspaper=[[The Star (Malaysia)|The Star]] |date=6 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030122405/http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F2%2F6%2Ffocus%2F7978671&sec=focus |archive-date=30 October 2012 }}</ref> No credible evidence of extraterrestrial origin has been presented.

~~=== Changes to crops ===~~

A small number of scientists (physicist Eltjo Haselhoff, the late biophysicist William Levengood) have found differences between the crops inside the circles and outside them, even though there is a consensus among scientists that the circles are man-made.<ref name="Taylor2011"/><ref name=csicop/>

==== Changes to crops ====

Levengood published papers in journal ''[[Physiologia Plantarum]]'' in 1994<ref name=levengood1994 /> and 1999.<ref name=levengood1999>{{cite journal |author1= W.C. Levengood |author2= Nancy P. Talbott |year= 1999 |title= Dispersion of energies in worldwide crop formations |journal= Physiologia Plantarum |volume= 105 |pages= 615–24 |doi=10.1034/j.1399-3054.1999.105404.x}}</ref> In his 1994 paper he found that certain deformities in the grain inside the circles were correlated to the position of the grain inside the circle.<ref name=csicop/> In 1996 sceptic Joe Nickell objected that [[correlation is not causation]],<ref name=csicop/> raised several objections to the Levengood's methods and assumptions,<ref name=nickell1996/> and said "Until his work is independently replicated by qualified scientists doing 'double-blind' studies and otherwise following stringent scientific protocols, there seems no need to take seriously the many dubious claims that Levengood makes, including his similar ones involving plants at alleged 'cattle mutilation' sites." (in reference to [[cattle mutilation]]).<ref name=nickell1996/>

A small number of scientists (physicist Eltjo Haselhoff, the late biophysicist William Levengood) have claimed to observe differences between the crops inside the circles and outside them, citing this as evidence they were not man made.<ref name="Taylor2011" /><ref name="csicop" /> Levengood published papers in journal ''[[Physiologia Plantarum]]'' in 1994<ref name="levengood1994" /> and 1999.<ref name="levengood1999">{{cite journal |author1= W.C. Levengood |author2= Nancy P. Talbott |s2cid= 67753725 |year= 1999 |title= Dispersion of energies in worldwide crop formations |journal= Physiologia Plantarum |volume= 105 |issue= 4 |pages= 615–24 |doi=10.1034/j.1399-3054.1999.105404.x}}</ref> In his 1994 paper he found that certain deformities in the grain inside the circles were correlated to the position of the grain inside the circle.<ref name="csicop" />

In 1996, [[Joe Nickell]] objected that [[correlation is not causation]],<ref name="csicop" /> raising several objections to Levengood's methods and assumptions,<ref name="nickell1996" /> and said, "Until his work is independently replicated by qualified scientists doing 'double-blind' studies and otherwise following stringent scientific protocols, there seems no need to take seriously the many dubious claims that Levengood makes, including his similar ones involving plants at alleged '[[cattle mutilation]]' sites." Nickell also criticised Levengood for using circular logic, stating: "There is, in fact, no satisfactory evidence that a single “genuine” (i.e., vortex-produced) crop-circle exists, so Levengood’s reasoning is circular: Although there are no guaranteed genuine formations on which to conduct research, the research supposedly proves the genuineness of the formations."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309051544/http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research/ | archive-date=9 March 2010 | title=Levengood's Crop-Circle Plant Research | Skeptical Inquirer | date=June 1996 }}</ref>

A study by Eltjo Haselhoff reported that the [[pulvini]] of wheat in 95% of the crop circles investigated were elongated in a pattern falling off with distance from the centre and that seeds from the bent-over plants grew much more slowly under controlled conditions. Furthermore, traces of crop circle patterns are sometimes found in the crop the following year, "suggesting long-term damage to the crop field consistent with Levengood's observations of stunted seed growth." These current investigations seem to imply that at least in some crop circles, there is more at work than the effects of mechanical crushing of plants.

Advocates of non-human causes discount on-site evidence of human involvement as attempts to discredit the phenomena.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=143–145}} When Ridley wrote negative articles in newspapers, he was accused of spreading "government disinformation" and of working for the UK military intelligence service [[MI5]].<ref name="Ridley" /> Ridley responded by noting that many "cereologists" make good livings from selling books and providing high-priced personal tours through crop fields, and he claimed that they have vested interests in rejecting what is by far the most likely explanation for the circles.<ref name="Ridley" /><ref name="Ridley WSJ">{{cite news |last=Ridley |first=Matt |date=4 June 2011 |title=Houdini, crop circles and the need to believe |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303657404576357462969207014 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref>

~~=== Magnetism ===~~

In 2000, Colin Andrews, who had researched crop circles for 17 years, stated that while he believed 80% were man-made, he thought the remaining circles, with less elaborate designs, could be explained by a three-degree shift in the [[Earth's magnetic field]], that creates a current that "electrocutes" the crops, causing them to flatten and form the circle.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/872142.stm | title=Magnetic 'solution' to crop circle puzzle | work=BBC News | date=9 August 2000 | accessdate=30 September 2015}}</ref>

== Related art ==

Patterns similar to crop circles can also be made in snow, by using skis, snow shoes or just walking with ordinary shoes.<ref>[https://geekologie.com/2013/12/snow-circles-one-mans-winter-crop-circle.php "Snow Circles: One Man's Winter Crop Circles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318183137/https://geekologie.com/2013/12/snow-circles-one-mans-winter-crop-circle.php|date=18 March 2021}}, Geekologie, 11 December 2013</ref>

Patterns similar to crop circles can also be made in sand.<ref>[https://www.colinandrews.net/Crop-Circles-2014_Colin-Andrews.html "2014 Crop Circles plus other interesting designs"], Colin Andrews</ref>

Images can be made in forests by cutting trees, especially in areas with snow. Celebrating the Olympic Games in [[Lillehammer]], Norway in 1994, a {{Convert|360|m|yd|abbr=on}} tall stylised image of an Olympic torch runner was made in a forest close to one of the arenas.<ref>[https://www.hafjellresort.no/en/book/to-do/1566244/olympic-torch-man/showdetails "Olympic torch man"], Hafjell Resort</ref>

== Folklore ==

[[File:Diablefaucheur.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|1678 pamphlet on the "[[Mowing-Devil]]"]]

Researchers of crop circles have linked modern crop circles to old [[Folklore|folkloric]] tales to support the claim that they are not artificially produced.<ref name=dutch /> Circle crops are culture-dependent: they appear mostly in developed and secularized Western countries where people are receptive to New Age beliefs, including Japan, but they don't appear at all in other zones, such as Muslim countries.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page= 152}}

Researchers of crop circles have linked modern crop circles to old [[folkloric]] tales to support the claim that they are not artificially produced.<ref name=dutch /> Crop circles are culture dependent: they appear mostly in developed and secularised Western countries where people are receptive to [[New Age]] beliefs, including Japan, but they do not appear at all in other zones, such as Muslim countries.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page=152}}

Fungi can cause circular areas of crop to die, probably the origin of tales of "[[Fairy ring|fairie rings]]".<ref name=dutch /> Tales also mention [[Will-o'-the-wisp|balls of light]] many times but never in relation to crop circles.<ref name=dutch />

A 17th-century English [[woodcut]] called the ''[[Mowing-Devil]]'' depicts the [[devil]] with a [[scythe]] mowing (cutting) a circular design in a field of oats. The [[pamphlet]] containing the image states that the farmer, disgusted at the wage demanded by his mower for his work, insisted that he would rather have "the devil himself" perform the task. Crop circle researcher Jim Schnabel does not consider this to be a historical precedent for crop circles because the stalks were cut down, not bent.<ref name=dutch /> The circular form indicated to the farmer that it had been caused by the devil.<ref name=dutch />

~~[[File:Diablefaucheur.jpg|thumb|upright|1678 pamphlet on the "[[Mowing-Devil]]".]]~~

In the 1948 German story ''Die zwölf Schwäne'' (''The Twelve Swans''), a farmer every morning finds a circular ring of flattened grain in his field. After several attempts, his son sees twelve [[swan maiden|princesses disguised as swans]], who take off their disguises and dance in the field. Crop rings produced by fungi may have inspired such tales, since folklore considers that these rings are created by dancing wolves or fairies.<ref name=dutch />

A 17th-century English [[woodcut]] called the ''[[Mowing-Devil]]'' depicts the [[devil]] with a [[scythe]] mowing (cutting) 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. This is, however, not a historical precedent of crop circles because the stalks were cut down, not bent.<ref name=dutch /> The circular form indicated to the farmer that it had been caused by the devil.<ref name=dutch />

In the 1948 German story ''Die zwölf Schwäne'' (''The Twelve Swans''), a farmer every morning found a circular ring of flattened grain on his field. After several attempts, his son saw twelve princesses disguised as swans, who took off their disguises and danced in the field. Crop rings produced by fungi may have inspired such tales since folklore holds these rings are created by dancing wolves or fairies.<ref name=dutch />

== See also ==

* [[Center pivot irrigation]]

* [[Arecibo message#Arecibo Answer crop circle|Arecibo crop circle]]

* [[Benjamin Creme]]

* [[Geoglyph]]

* [[~~Gerald Hawkins~~Kosmopoisk]]

* [[Hoax]]

* [[Land art]]

* [[List of hoaxes]]

* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience]]

* [[Nazca Lines]]

* [[Pseudoscience]]

* [[Rice paddy art]]

* [[Ufology]]

* [[Viking ring fortress]]

== ~~Notes~~Explanatory notes ==

== References ==

== Further reading ==

* {{~~cite~~Cite book |author= ~~Jim~~Delgado, ~~Schnabel~~Pat ~~|title=~~& ~~Round in Circles: Physicists~~Andrews, ~~Poltergeists,~~Colin ~~Pranksters,~~|title= ~~and~~Circular ~~the Secret History of the Cropwatchers~~Evidence |location= ~~Harmondsworth~~London |publisher= ~~Penguin~~Guild |year= ~~1993~~1989 |isbn= ~~0140179526~~978-0-933999-95-4}}

* {{Skeptoid|id=4062|number=62 |title= Crop Circle Jerks|date=August 22, 2007}}

* {{cite book |editor= Ralph Noyes |title= The Crop Circle Enigma: Grounding the Phenomenon in Science, Culture and Metaphysics |location= Bath |publisher= Gateway Books |year= 1990 |isbn= 0946551669}}

* {{~~cite~~Cite book |author1= ~~Michael~~ Glickman, Michael |title= Crop Circles: The Bones of God |publisher= Frog Books |year= 2009 |isbn= ~~978158394~~978-1-58394-228-~~2284~~4}}

* {{~~citation~~Cite book |~~author~~editor= ~~Suzanne~~Noyes, ~~Taylor~~Ralph |title= ~~What~~The OnCrop ~~Earth?~~Circle ~~Inside~~Enigma: Grounding the ~~Crop~~Phenomenon ~~Circle~~in ~~Mystery~~Science, ~~|year=~~Culture and ~~2011~~Metaphysics |~~format~~location= ~~DVD 81-minute feature~~Bath |publisher= ~~UBC~~Gateway Books |~~page~~year= ~~Prod #724101746123~~1990 |~~nopp~~isbn=y 0-946551-66-9}}.

* {{Cite book |author= Schnabel, Jim |title= Round in Circles: Physicists, Poltergeists, Pranksters, and the Secret History of the Cropwatchers |location= Harmondsworth |publisher= Penguin |year= 1993 |isbn= 0-14-017952-6}}

* {{cite journal |doi= 10.1038/465693a |title =The crop circle evolves |year= 2010 |author= Richard Taylor |journal= Nature |volume= 465 |issue= 7299 |page= 693 |bibcode= 2010Natur.465..693T}}

* {{Cite journal |author= Taylor, Richard |year= 2010 |title =The crop circle evolves |journal= Nature |volume= 465 |issue= 7299 |page= 693 |bibcode= 2010Natur.465..693T |doi= 10.1038/465693a |doi-access= free }}

* {{cite episode |url= http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4062 |date= 21 August 2007 |number= 62 |title= Crop Circle Jerks |authorlink= Brian Dunning (author) |author= Brian Dunning |series= Skeptoid}}

* {{Cite AV media|author= Taylor, Suzanne |title= What On Earth? Inside the Crop Circle Mystery |year= 2011 |type= DVD 81-minute feature |publisher= UBC |asin =B00468JOFE }}

== External links ==

* {{Commons category ~~inline~~|Crop circles}}

* [{{Cite book| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvbNzAnQpnA ''| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/GvbNzAnQpnA| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Crop Circles''] for large orchestra'' (|date=2012)|author= byRobin, [[Jean-Baptiste|author-link=Jean-Baptiste Robin]] }}{{cbignore}}

* {{Cite web|url=http://temporarytemples.co.uk/ |publisher =temporarytemples.co.uk|title=Temporary Temples}} Website with pictures, since 1994, of crop circles in the UK.

* {{Cite book|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZd7EkJEBA8| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/HZd7EkJEBA8| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=The Beautiful World of Crop Circles| date=16 January 2015| publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

[[Category:1990s fads and trends]]

~~{{DEFAULTSORT:Crop Circle}}~~

[[Category:~~Earth~~Alleged ~~mysteries~~extraterrestrial visitation]]

[[Category:Circles]]

[[Category:Crops]]

[[Category:Forteana]]

[[Category:Land art]]

~~[[Category:Paranormal hoaxes]]~~

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]

[[Category:UFO conspiracy theories]]

[[Category:UFO hoaxes]]

[[Category:UFO-related phenomena]]