A number of interesting phenomena have been reported in the vicinity of the crop circles. Evidently they play havoc with the electronics in cameras, recorders, even in the instruments in aircraft flying directly overhead. The formations can also disrupt service to cell phones, but oddly enough they seem to resume working just fine if they are held outside the circle.
There have been reports of spontaneous healings due to special frequencies found within circles (however, that's based on anecdotal evidence and I would like to see some solid research before forming an opinion). More immediately believable to me are the reports of circles forming in response to human thoughts. For example, it was reported that the morning after a group of Japanese visitors lead by Masao Maki meditated on a shape that they would find recognizable, an origami-type pattern appeared in the field.
As to their origin, Michael Glickman says his best guess is that "...crop circles are being manifested by a federation...of intelligent civilizations." And Suzanne Taylor asks, "Are we being prepared for contact?" She follows this with a brief montage of images involving statements by retired military people, releases of government documents and media reports of UFO sightings around the world.
Taylor also includes a segment on hoaxers, highlighting the infamous Doug and Dave, two old geezers who claimed to have created some formations by stomping around in fields with ropes and boards. But even they admitted publicly that they had never made a formation in Wiltshire, the location of most formations, and later Doug appeared to have recanted altogether. Then there is the group of British hoaxers, originally calling themselves Team Satan, who evidently claimed credit for formations that they could not have made.
While no one would contest the fact that some formations are created by mischievous humans, it's very hard to imagine that they have all been created by just plain folks. Not when you consider that as many as 35 formations can appear in a single morning and it is estimated that as many as 10,000 have been documented worldwide!
And hoaxing to what end? Think of the hours of preparation, the sleepless nights, the physical hardship, the financial costs -- all for what? No one has ever claimed credit for the vast majority of known formations, so they don't even get bragging rights.
So although the National Geographic has shown how pretty decent crop circles could be done by capable and motivated individuals (see the picture of a man-made formation above), researchers can point to numerous aspects of the phenomenon which defy explanation by conventional means. These include magnetic anomalies, unexplainable changes in plant stem structure, the presence of semi-molten meteoric iron, 3D effects that can only be seen from above, complex shadow patterns cast by the sun, and intricate weaving patterns with as many as four layers, among other things.
Of special interest is the the sophisticated mathematics inherent in many of the designs. Gerald Hawkins, the former Chair of Astronomy at Boston University has made a study of the formations and he derived a Euclidean theorem from them that even Euclid didn't include. According to Freddy Silva,
In the February 1992 edition of Science News, Prof. Gerald Hawkins used the principles of Euclidean geometry to prove that four theorems can be derived from the relationships of elements in crop circles. More significantly, he discovered a fifth theorem from which he could derive the other four.
Despite an open challenge, over half a million subscribers have been unable to create such a theorem, which Euclid himself only hinted at twenty-three centuries earlier.... So it came as a slight surprise when its equilateral version materialized...at Litchfield, Hampshire, in 1995.
Clearly something is going on here. The question is, what? According to Andy Thomas,
You cannot take crop circles in isolation. They're the tip of a multi-tipped iceberg that connects...with UFO's [and] psychic phenomena...it's...bringing everyone to the same point, which is that there is some change immanent....something around the corner which we are being called to prepare ourselves for.
The video (which can be ordered here) concludes with a very apt sentiment from Suzanne Taylor who extends
a very special thanks to the circle makers -- whomever, wherever, or whatever they may be.
Note: For an almost endless supply of awe-inspiring crop circle pictures be sure to check out Lucy Pringle's site.
And for more information on Suzanne Taylor's work you can visit her web site, The Conversation.
