Crop Circles

Crop circles are patterns that appear in fields. The pattern is created when certain areas of the crops are tamped down, but others are left intact.

What are Crop Circles?

Crop-circle enthusiasts call themselves cereologists -- after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Most cereologists (or "croppies," as they are sometimes called) believe that crop circles are the work of either extraterrestrials or plasma vortices.

CEREOLOGY

Around 250 crop designs around the world appear each year on average. Several thousand

have been documented since records began.

How many appear?

Crop circles are a global phenomenon, but predominantly appear in the Northern

Hemisphere with Southern England as the main centre of activity, particularly Wiltshire.

Where do they appear?

Off-season formations have occurred, but most appear during the three main summer months of

any given count

When do they arrive?

crop circles have most appeared in wheat, barley and oilseed rape as these main crops grown in England, but they

have also been reported in rye, oats, flax, peas, potatoes, sweet corn maize and many other mediums, including rice paddy fields in Japan and wild grass

What crops do they appear in?

the Hackpen formation of 1999

A crop circle near Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, England, that resembles an Aztec Sun Stone

Triskell

Formation at Avebury Trusloe in Wiltshire

This formation was discovered in Eastfield, England, in June 2004.

Click icon to add picture

A 780 ft (240 m) crop circle in the form of a double (six-sided) triskelion composed of 409 circles. Milk Hill, England, 2001.

Click icon to add picture

" 

STONEHENGE JULIA SET

-Mandelbrot set crop formation

Crop circle discovered at Alton Barnes in England in June 2004.

An 600-foot long crop circle in the shape of a jellyfish with width of 197 feet.( June 3, 2009)

The following are just some of the crop circles

formed in 2008

Watchfield Wind Farm near Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. Reported on the 1st of August, 2008.

Kanton, Zurich, Switzerland. Reported on the 15th of June, 2008.

Westwoods, near Lockeridge, Wiltshire. Reported on the 17th of July, 2008.

Wayland Smithy, near Ashbury, Oxfordshire. Reported on the 27th of July, 2008

North Down, near Beckhampton, Wiltshire. Reported on the 10th of June, 2008.

Martinsell Hill, near Oare, Wiltshire. Reported on the 27th of July, 2008

Pontecurone (Alessandria), Italy. Reported 22nd June, 2008.

Sudheim, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Germany. Reported on the 7th of July, 2008.

Furze Knoll, near Beckhampton, Wiltshire. Reported on the 20th of June, 2008.

26th August 2012Latest so far………

Hackpen hill, Wiltshire, 26th August 2012

Hackpen hill, Wiltshire, 26th August 2012

THEORIES

UFOs and Aliens

1

Winds2

Aircraft3

Earth Energy

4

Humans5

Who makes Crop Circles?

1

Possibly the most controversial theory is that crop circles are the work of visitors from other planets

People who agree with this theory say that the circles are either the imprint left by landing spacecraft or messages brought from afar for us earthlings. Some eyewitnesses claim to have seen UFO-like lights and strange noises emanating from crop circle sites.

UFOs and Aliens

2

A scientific theory says that crop circles are created by small currents of swirling winds called vortices. The spinning columns force a burst of air down to the ground, which flattens the crops. Vortices are common in hilly areas such as parts of southern England.

Winds

2

Dr. Terence Meaden of the TORRO in Wiltshire, England, says the vortices that create crop circles are charged with energy (this is called the Plasma Vortex Theory). When dust particles get caught up in the spinning, charged air, they can appear to glow, which may explain the UFO-like glowing lights many witnesses have seen near crop circles.

Winds

3

A few researchers have theorized that small airplanes or helicopters stir up downdrafts that push the crops down into patterns.

Recreation attempts so far have not been able to produce the types of downdrafts necessary to make the perfectly round edges seen in most crop circles.

Aircrafts

4

Some researchers believe that the earth creates its own energy, which forms the circles. One possible form of earth energy is electromagnetic radiation.

scientists have measured strong magnetic fields inside crop circles.

Earth Energy

4

In the early 1990s Dr. William Levengood discovered that crops in circles were damaged much in the same way as plants heated in a microwave oven. He proposed the idea that the crops were being rapidly heated from the inside by some kind of microwave energy.

Earth Energy

4

Other researchers say that the energy comes from under the ground or in the soil. Either the energy is natural, such as a fungus that attacks the crops and causes their stems to bend over, or it is a byproduct of something man-made, such as bombs that exploded during World War II.

Earth Energy

5

The easiest explanation for crop circles is that they are  man-made hoaxes, created either for fun or to stump the scientists.

Among the most famous hoaxers are the British team of Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, known as "Doug and Dave." In 1991, the duo came out and announced that they had made hundreds of crop circles since 1978.

Humans

5

Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow of the CSICOP says that crop circles have all the hallmarks of hoaxes:

1. They are concentrated primarily in southern England

2. they've become more elaborate over the years (indicating that hoaxers are getting better at their craft)

3. and their creators never allow themselves to be seen

Humans

Informational Resource by Ankita Haldar

Editing by Bhageshri Sainath Narration by Pooja Tiwari PowerPoint Presentation by

Siddhi Kulkarni