| Revision as of 09:14, 14 June 2002 editEd Poor (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers59,217 edits copyedit← Previous edit | Revision as of 02:05, 23 July 2002 edit undoMav (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users77,874 edits Oh great, a new movie about this rubbish is going to be in theatres soon -- I've expanded this entry for this reasonNext edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| '''Crop circles''' began appearing in England |
'''Crop circles''' are areas of a grain or similar crop that have been trampled to form various geometric patterns that began appearing in ] in the late ]. Many beleive that crop circles are created by ]s landing in a farmer's field and destroying a neat circle of the crop. Others state that these formations are nothing more than hoaxes engineered by humans. Whatever the explanation this phenomenon is viewed as vandalism by farmers. People who study crop circle phenomenon call themselves "cerealogists". | ||
| Early examples of this phenomenon were usually simple circular patterns of various sizes, which led some people to speculate that it was a natural phenomenon, but in recent years complex geometric patterns have emerged. |
Early examples of this phenomenon were usually simple circular patterns of various sizes, which led some people to speculate that it was a natural phenomenon, but in recent years complex geometric patterns have emerged. Chief among the explanations is the belief that they are either formed by ] ] landings themselves or by spaceships hovering over the field to form complex patterns that contain codified messages. Other ideas on their formation have been proposed include; ]es, freak wind patterns, ], and something called "plasma vortices". | ||
| Scientists, however, are highly skeptical of all the above ideas and prefer to follow the precept of ] which would favor a mundane explanation; namely human activity. | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | In fact, a decade after the phenomena began, two men stepped forward and announced that the crop circles were a hoax of their doing. | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| Doug Bower and Dave Chorley admitted to making crop circles since ] using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools. They stated to reporters that a small group of people can trample a sizeable area of crops in a single night. Many subsequent crop circle makers have claimed that making what self-appointed "cerealogists" state are "unfakable" crop circles is easy. In fact one such cerealogist, G. Terence Meaden, was filmed claiming that a crop circle was genuine and unhoaxable when the night before the making of that crop circle by humans was filmed. | |||
| These skeptics assert that when such a circle appears in crops mature-enough that they carry seeds, seed-pods are unbroken, whereas trampling causes seed-pod breakage. demand an explanation for the anomaly | |||
| ⚫ | Even though the methods of crop circle makers have been well documented many people continue to refuse to accept the hoax explanation on the grounds that the hoaxers have not disclosed their methods sufficiently. | ||
| ⚫ | ], the author and director of ] |
||
| These people assert that when such a circle appears in crops mature-enough that they carry ]s, seed-pods are unbroken, whereas trampling causes seed-pod breakage. Crop circle makers counter that it is easy to leave seed pods unbroken and also leave no trace of entrance and egress trampling when the wheat and ground are both dry and some care is taken while walking and stomping. Several crop circles that were later to have been determined to be hoaxes were at first certified as being genuine by cerealogists due the lack of seed pod breakage. | |||
| ⚫ | In the summer of 2002 a ] about crop circles by ], the author and director of ] was released named '']'' and is reputed to lean toward a supernatural explanation. | ||
Revision as of 02:05, 23 July 2002
Crop circles are areas of a grain or similar crop that have been trampled to form various geometric patterns that began appearing in England in the late 1970s. Many beleive that crop circles are created by flying saucers landing in a farmer's field and destroying a neat circle of the crop. Others state that these formations are nothing more than hoaxes engineered by humans. Whatever the explanation this phenomenon is viewed as vandalism by farmers. People who study crop circle phenomenon call themselves "cerealogists".
Early examples of this phenomenon were usually simple circular patterns of various sizes, which led some people to speculate that it was a natural phenomenon, but in recent years complex geometric patterns have emerged. Chief among the explanations is the belief that they are either formed by extraterrestrial spaceship landings themselves or by spaceships hovering over the field to form complex patterns that contain codified messages. Other ideas on their formation have been proposed include; tornadoes, freak wind patterns, ball lighting, and something called "plasma vortices".
Scientists, however, are highly skeptical of all the above ideas and prefer to follow the precept of Occam's Razor which would favor a mundane explanation; namely human activity.
In fact, a decade after the phenomena began, two men stepped forward and announced that the crop circles were a hoax of their doing. Doug Bower and Dave Chorley admitted to making crop circles since 1978 using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools. They stated to reporters that a small group of people can trample a sizeable area of crops in a single night. Many subsequent crop circle makers have claimed that making what self-appointed "cerealogists" state are "unfakable" crop circles is easy. In fact one such cerealogist, G. Terence Meaden, was filmed claiming that a crop circle was genuine and unhoaxable when the night before the making of that crop circle by humans was filmed.
Even though the methods of crop circle makers have been well documented many people continue to refuse to accept the hoax explanation on the grounds that the hoaxers have not disclosed their methods sufficiently. These people assert that when such a circle appears in crops mature-enough that they carry seeds, seed-pods are unbroken, whereas trampling causes seed-pod breakage. Crop circle makers counter that it is easy to leave seed pods unbroken and also leave no trace of entrance and egress trampling when the wheat and ground are both dry and some care is taken while walking and stomping. Several crop circles that were later to have been determined to be hoaxes were at first certified as being genuine by cerealogists due the lack of seed pod breakage.
In the summer of 2002 a movie about crop circles by M. Night Shyamalan, the author and director of Sixth Sense was released named Signs and is reputed to lean toward a supernatural explanation.