Last week, Ken and Linda Mann found two mysterious circles in the wheat on their farm, about 75 kilometres south of Saskatoon. Three kilometres to the west, Hutterites from the Brethren of Dinsmore colony found five more.
As crop circles go, these were relatively mundane. The most complex designs appear in England, like the one found on July 7, 1996, near Stonehenge, comprising 149 separate circles arrayed in a huge spiral, 152 metres wide and 288 metres long. (Less than a month later an even larger, more complex formation turned up.).
The media was in a tizzy. T-shirts were sold. “Cerealogists” proclaimed that here was proof of extraterrestrial intelligence (or magic, or angels, depending on their particular brand of belief).
Alas, no. The vast designs were in fact created by the most mysterious life form of all: humans. And so, likely, were the ones near Saskatoon.
In England, the “circlemakers” have come forward. They’ve explained how they do it, and they’ve even created a crop circle for the TV cameras, a circle later proclaimed to be “genuine” (i.e., of mysterious origin) by crop-circle “experts.”
It all began in 1978. Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, after a few pints, took a walk and began talking about UFOs. Bower recalled a case in Australia in which a UFO was seen ascending from a swirled nest of marsh grass. “What do you think would happen if we put a nest over there?” Bower joked, pointing to a nearby field. “People would think a flying saucer had landed,” Chorley replied. They tried it. Sure enough, people did.
Over the years, crop circles became increasingly elaborate, and spread around the world, from the rice fields of Japan to the wheat fields of Saskatchewan. Bower and Chorley told their story, but the “true believers” refuse to accept that their beloved crop circles are likely all hoaxes.
At their Web site (www.head-space.com/circlemakers) the circlemakers explain how to make a crop circle using a 30-metre surveyor’s tape measure (or string, in a pinch), a stake, a board one to two metres long with a rope attached to each end to form a loop (known technically as a “stalk-stomper”) and/or a plastic garden roller.
First, choose a location. Wait for darkness. Secretly drive out to the field and unload the roller and stalk-stomper, then park your vehicle somewhere where it won’t arouse suspicion and walk back to the circle site.
Move to the spot where you want to start the circle, being careful not to disturb the crop. Make the center of the circle by turning on one foot while dragging the crop down with the other. Once the circle is about a metre across, expand it by placing the stake near the centre and attaching the measuring tape to it. Walk out along the tape to your chosen radius and circle the stake, dragging your foot as you go to make a thin line through the crop. Use the garden roller or the stomper to flatten all the crop within the circle.
Crop-circle enthusiasts talk about the mysterious way in which the crops are layered and oriented within the circle. Circlemakers say that’s just what happens when you stomp down a crop with a board. Other claims–crop circles are radioactive, or there are mysterious cellular changes in plants inside circles–have no scientific validity. If you see a complex pattern of circles in your crop, they’re man-made–simple as that.
It is just barely possible that some simple circle-like marks in crops are caused by meteorological forces. There are two theories that might account for such natural circles (if they exist): “atmospheric vortices” (whirlwinds) and atmospheric vortices with an added electrical effect.
Some scientists believe a crop circle could be created by a “breakdown vortex,” a conventional whirlwind that devolves into a turbulent descending ring of air. Others believe electricity must also be involved. Terence Meaden, a former lecturer in physics at Oxford, thinks electrically charged atmospheric vortices might hold together better, producing more clearly defined circles. Yoshihiko Ohtsuki, professor of physics at Waseda University in Tokyo, thinks that ball lightning could combine with vortices to create a crop circle. He’s found patterns similar to crop circles in the dust of old subway tunnels in Tokyo, close to the electrical rails.
Even if true, these theories can’t explain the majority of crop circles. For most, the simplest, likeliest explanation is a string, a stick, a board–and someone with too much time on their hands.
