A couple of years ago, I wrote an article about crop circles and received an overwhelming response from readers of our member newsletter Ancient Mysteries.
When I started the report, I was truly ready to show what the aliens were trying to tell us.
Unfortunately, the hard facts revealed that most crop circles are manmade.
But, let's take another look at this interesting topic.
The number of circles reported varies from approximately 2,000 (according to the International Crop Circle Database) to an estimated 10,000 sightings worldwide.
The first patterns were simple circles and rings in wheat and barley fields.
Recent patterns are elaborate geometrical designs, including some fractals! Patterns range in size from just a few yards across to huge designs that can only be seen fully from the air.
Theories on how these are made vary.
Some propose that whirlwinds or plasma vortexes cause them, others suggest earth energies and magnetic fields, and some say microwave transient heating causes these circles.
But, the most popular belief is that extraterrestrial forces create crop circles.
As I reported in the first article, initially, the circles were thought to be landing impressions left by alien spacecraft, but now it is believed that the patterns are messages from aliens to us.
In 1991, two elderly, retired Englishmen, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, confessed to creating hundreds of crop circles, beginning in the early 1970s.
This led most media sources to proclaim that all crop circles were hoaxes.
Some crop circle supporters pointed out that these two men couldn't possibly have created all the circles, particularly those outside of the U.
K.
Yet, some crop circle artists, such as Circlemakers, suggested that Doug and Dave started a trend that was picked up by others worldwide.
These artists consider crop circles a creative challenge and continue to make new and more elaborate patterns.
We can even learn how to make our own at their Web site.
Interestingly, in 1991 Doug and Dave stated that they would make no more circles.
But English researcher John Macnish claims that a year after they said this, he filmed them making the famous East Meon crop circle of 1992.
Gene Pool, a crop circle Web site, gives the following story as an example of the present state of mind surrounding crop circles: "When a large crop circle showed up Hungary, it created a great deal of attention.
Two crop circle experts were called in to solemnly declare that it was a genuine construction by extraterrestrials, and could absolutely, positively not be the work of humans.
A few months later, two seventeen-year-old students from Budapest introduced themselves in front of a T.
V.
audience and announced that they had created the circle themselves.
Furthermore, they had extensive proof in the form of photographs and videotapes, including before and after shots.
" Pool points out that several newspapers sent reporters out with a few crop circle makers to make new circles in secret.
In each case, a day or so later, the reporter-assisted circles were hailed as genuine by all of the "experts.
" This experiment was repeated several times by several journalists.
One well-documented, manmade design even ended up on the cover of a book on crop circles.
On the other hand, conspiracy theorists claim that Doug and Dave's confession was staged by the British Ministry of Defense in collusion with the CIA to keep the secret of alien contact hidden from the public.
Most crop circle fans concede that some circles are manmade but believe that others aren't.
The following evidence is presented to support the position that some crop circles are not manmade: huge and intricate designs appear quickly, stalks are bent above ground level (this is very difficult to do by a man), and electromagnetic anomalies are found within some circles.
Those who believe that all crop circles are manmade put forth these points to support their case: wet crops bend easily without breaking, and it would take only a few minutes of math, a tape measure and a compass to make a design that would look complicated.
Some humans understand fractals so well that they could easily make them using simple tools.
Finally, it didn't take long before schoolchildren across the U.
K.
began drawing complex circles in contests.
If schoolchildren can do these, why do we so quickly attribute the circles to aliens? Despite all of this, many people find crop circles to be a fascinating and uplifting phenomenon.
Whether they are made by humans or aliens, they have a magic to them that cannot be overlooked.
They lift human imagination up from everyday earth life to artistic, heavenly feelings and thoughts.
Alien or domestic, crop circles are having a profound effect upon humanity.
When I started the report, I was truly ready to show what the aliens were trying to tell us.
Unfortunately, the hard facts revealed that most crop circles are manmade.
But, let's take another look at this interesting topic.
The number of circles reported varies from approximately 2,000 (according to the International Crop Circle Database) to an estimated 10,000 sightings worldwide.
The first patterns were simple circles and rings in wheat and barley fields.
Recent patterns are elaborate geometrical designs, including some fractals! Patterns range in size from just a few yards across to huge designs that can only be seen fully from the air.
Theories on how these are made vary.
Some propose that whirlwinds or plasma vortexes cause them, others suggest earth energies and magnetic fields, and some say microwave transient heating causes these circles.
But, the most popular belief is that extraterrestrial forces create crop circles.
As I reported in the first article, initially, the circles were thought to be landing impressions left by alien spacecraft, but now it is believed that the patterns are messages from aliens to us.
In 1991, two elderly, retired Englishmen, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, confessed to creating hundreds of crop circles, beginning in the early 1970s.
This led most media sources to proclaim that all crop circles were hoaxes.
Some crop circle supporters pointed out that these two men couldn't possibly have created all the circles, particularly those outside of the U.
K.
Yet, some crop circle artists, such as Circlemakers, suggested that Doug and Dave started a trend that was picked up by others worldwide.
These artists consider crop circles a creative challenge and continue to make new and more elaborate patterns.
We can even learn how to make our own at their Web site.
Interestingly, in 1991 Doug and Dave stated that they would make no more circles.
But English researcher John Macnish claims that a year after they said this, he filmed them making the famous East Meon crop circle of 1992.
Gene Pool, a crop circle Web site, gives the following story as an example of the present state of mind surrounding crop circles: "When a large crop circle showed up Hungary, it created a great deal of attention.
Two crop circle experts were called in to solemnly declare that it was a genuine construction by extraterrestrials, and could absolutely, positively not be the work of humans.
A few months later, two seventeen-year-old students from Budapest introduced themselves in front of a T.
V.
audience and announced that they had created the circle themselves.
Furthermore, they had extensive proof in the form of photographs and videotapes, including before and after shots.
" Pool points out that several newspapers sent reporters out with a few crop circle makers to make new circles in secret.
In each case, a day or so later, the reporter-assisted circles were hailed as genuine by all of the "experts.
" This experiment was repeated several times by several journalists.
One well-documented, manmade design even ended up on the cover of a book on crop circles.
On the other hand, conspiracy theorists claim that Doug and Dave's confession was staged by the British Ministry of Defense in collusion with the CIA to keep the secret of alien contact hidden from the public.
Most crop circle fans concede that some circles are manmade but believe that others aren't.
The following evidence is presented to support the position that some crop circles are not manmade: huge and intricate designs appear quickly, stalks are bent above ground level (this is very difficult to do by a man), and electromagnetic anomalies are found within some circles.
Those who believe that all crop circles are manmade put forth these points to support their case: wet crops bend easily without breaking, and it would take only a few minutes of math, a tape measure and a compass to make a design that would look complicated.
Some humans understand fractals so well that they could easily make them using simple tools.
Finally, it didn't take long before schoolchildren across the U.
K.
began drawing complex circles in contests.
If schoolchildren can do these, why do we so quickly attribute the circles to aliens? Despite all of this, many people find crop circles to be a fascinating and uplifting phenomenon.
Whether they are made by humans or aliens, they have a magic to them that cannot be overlooked.
They lift human imagination up from everyday earth life to artistic, heavenly feelings and thoughts.
Alien or domestic, crop circles are having a profound effect upon humanity.
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