A crop circle, crop formation, or corn circle is a pattern made by flattening a crop, usually a grain like wheat or corn. The term was first used in the early 1980s. Some people, including Taner Edis, a physics professor at Truman State University, say that all crop circles fall within the range of things that are usually done as hoaxes.

Although some people suggest that natural causes or aliens might be responsible for crop circles, there is no scientific proof to support these ideas. All crop circles are made by people. In 1991, two men named Doug Bower and Dave Chorley said they created over 200 crop circles in England during interviews that were widely reported. After these interviews, the number of reported crop circles increased greatly.

In the United Kingdom, crop circles are not found randomly. They often appear near roads, areas with medium or high populations, and places with cultural heritage, such as Stonehenge or Avebury. They usually appear overnight. In 2003, nearly half of all crop circles found in the UK were within a 15 km (9.3 mi) radius of the Avebury stone circles.

Unlike crop circles, archaeological remains can sometimes cause cropmarks in fields, which look like circles or squares. These cropmarks do not appear overnight and are always in the same places each year.

History

A 1678 news pamphlet called The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News Out of Hartfordshire described a crop whose stalks were cut rather than bent. (See the folklore section for more details.)

In 1686, an English naturalist named Robert Plot wrote about rings or arcs of mushrooms in The Natural History of Stafford-Shire, suggesting that air moving from the sky might be the reason. In 1991, meteorologist Terence Meaden connected this report to modern crop circles, a claim that has been compared to ideas from Erich von Däniken.

An 1880 letter to the editor of Nature by amateur scientist John Rand Capron described several circles of flattened crops in a field. He said the circles were formed under suspicious conditions and might have been caused by "cyclonic wind action." He wrote that from a distance, the circles looked similar, with a few standing stalks in the center, some bent stalks forming a circle around the center, and a wall of stalks outside that had not been damaged.

In 1932, archaeologist E. C. Curwen saw four dark rings in a field near Chichester but could only examine one. He described a circle where the barley was "lodged" or knocked down, with the inside area slightly raised.

In Fortean Times, David Wood reported that in 1940, he made crop circles near Gloucestershire using ropes.

In 1963, Patrick Moore described a crater in a potato field in Wiltshire that he thought might have been caused by an unknown object from space. Nearby wheat fields had circular and oval areas where the wheat was flattened, with signs of "spiral flattening." He believed the flattening might have been caused by air currents from the impact. Astronomer Hugh Ernest Butler observed similar craters and thought they were likely caused by lightning strikes.

During the 1960s, there were many reports of UFO sightings and circular formations in swamp reeds and sugarcane fields in Tully, Queensland, Australia, and Canada. For example, on August 8, 1967, three circles were found in a field in Duhamel, Alberta, Canada. Investigators from the Department of National Defence said the circles were artificial but could not explain who made them or how. The most famous case was the 1966 Tully "saucer nest," where a farmer claimed to see a saucer-shaped object rise from a swamp and fly away. After investigating, he found a nearly circular area where the grass was flattened in clockwise curves and the reeds were uprooted from the mud. Local police, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the University of Queensland thought the flattening was likely caused by natural forces like a down draught, a willy-willy (dust devil), or a waterspout. In 1973, G.J. Odgers, Director of Public Relations for the Department of Defence (Air Office), wrote to a journalist that the "saucer" was probably debris lifted by a willy-willy.

After the 1960s, many UFO researchers in Wiltshire reported "saucer nests" appearing in the area, though they were never photographed. There were other reports of circular formations before 1970, especially in Australia and Canada, but they were simple circles that might have been caused by whirlwinds.

British pranksters Doug Bower and Dave Chorley said they began creating crop circles in British cornfields in 1978, inspired by the Tully "saucer nest" case.

The first film to show a geometric crop circle, made by super-intelligent ants, was the 1974 science-fiction movie Phase IV. This film has been cited as a possible inspiration for the pranksters who started the crop circle phenomenon.

Most reports of crop circles began appearing and spreading after the late 1970s, as many circles were found across the English countryside. Around this time, researcher Colin Andrews started documenting the phenomenon and co-authored Circular Evidence with Pat Delgado in 1989, a book that collected reports and photos of early formations. The phenomenon became widely known in the late 1980s after media coverage of crop circles in Hampshire and Wiltshire. After Bower and Chorley gave interviews in 1991 about creating crop circles, similar formations began appearing worldwide. By 2001, about 10,000 crop circles had been reported internationally, in places like the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, the U.S., and Canada. Researchers noted a connection between crop circles, media coverage, and the lack of fencing or anti-trespassing laws.

Although farmers worried about crop damage, local communities often welcomed crop circles, using the increased attention to boost tourism and attract scientists, researchers, and people seeking spiritual experiences. This led to the creation of tours, T-shirts, and book sales.

Since the start of the 21st century, crop formations have grown larger and more complex, with some including up to 2,000 different shapes and incorporating mathematical or scientific features.

Researcher Jeremy Northcote found that crop circles in the UK in 2002 were not randomly placed. They often appeared near roads, areas with medium-to-high populations, and cultural heritage sites like Stonehenge or Avebury. He noted that they always appeared in easily accessible areas, suggesting human involvement rather than paranormal causes. Another clue was that areas with many crop circles had a history of creating large-scale formations, such as stone circles, earthen mounds, long barrows, and chalk carvings.

Bower and Chorley

In 1991, two men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, claimed they began the crop circle phenomenon in 1978. They used simple tools, including a wooden plank, rope, and a baseball cap with a wire loop to help them walk in straight lines. To prove their claim, they created a crop circle in front of reporters. A cereologist, someone who believes crop circles have paranormal explanations, named Pat Delgado, examined the circle and said it appeared real. Later, it was revealed that the circle was not genuine.

Bower and Chorley said they were inspired by reports of crop circles in Australia from 1966. They claimed to have created all crop circles made before 1987 and more than 200 circles between 1978 and 1991. They also stated that 1,000 other circles were not made by them. In an article for Physics World, Richard Taylor from the University of Oregon wrote that the designs created by Bower and Chorley inspired other artists. He noted that crop circles did not end but instead grew into a global phenomenon, with hundreds of complex designs appearing each year worldwide.

Art and business

In the 1970s, simple circles were reported. Over time, more complex geometric designs were made by unknown artists, sometimes to draw attention to a location.

Beginning in the early 1990s, a UK group called Circlemakers, started by Rod Dickinson and John Lundberg, and later including Wil Russell and Rob Irving, created crop circles in the UK and globally as part of their art and for clients who paid for their work.

The Led Zeppelin Boxed Set, released on September 7, 1990, along with remastered versions of earlier sets, included an image of a crop circle found in East Field, Alton Barnes, Wiltshire.

On July 11–12, 1992, a competition to make crop circles with a £3,000 prize (partially funded by the Arthur Koestler Foundation) was held in Berkshire. The winning team, three engineers from Westland Helicopters, used rope, PVC pipe, a plank, string, a telescopic device, and two ladders. Rupert Sheldrake, who organized the event with John Michell, stated it was co-sponsored by The Guardian and The Cerealogist. The prize money came from PM, a German magazine. Sheldrake noted that the experiment showed humans could create complex crop formations, as 11 of the 12 teams made designs that matched the competition’s requirements.

In 2002, Discovery Channel asked five graduate students from MIT to create crop circles to copy features claimed to distinguish real crop circles from fake ones made by Bower and Chorley. The process was filmed for the Discovery Channel documentary Crop Circles: Mysteries in the Fields.

In 2009, The Guardian reported that crop circle activity in Wiltshire had decreased, partly because makers preferred creating promotional designs for companies that paid them.

A video shown during the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London displayed two crop circles shaped like the Olympic rings. Another crop circle resembling the Olympic rings was visible to passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport near London during the Games.

In December 2017, a 3-hectare (7-acre) crop circle depicting the Star Wars Rebel Alliance emblem was made in California by a father and his 11-year-old son as a spaceport for X-wing fighters.

Legal implications

In 1992, Gábor Takács and Róbert Dallos, both 17 years old at the time, became the first people to face legal action after creating a crop circle. The two students attended the St. Stephen Agricultural Technicum, a high school in Hungary focused on agriculture. They made a crop circle with a diameter of 36 meters (118 feet) in a wheat field near Székesfehérvár, which is located 69 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Budapest. This happened on June 8, 1992. In September, the two men appeared on Hungarian television and revealed the crop circle was a hoax by showing pictures of the field before and after the circle was made. Because of this, Aranykalász Co., the landowners, sued the teenagers for 630,000 Ft (~$3,000 USD) in damages. The judge in charge decided the students were only responsible for the damage inside the circle, which cost about 6,000 Ft (~$30 USD). The judge also stated that 99% of the crop damage was caused by the many visitors who traveled to Székesfehérvár after the media promoted the crop circle. The TV show eventually paid the fine and the students’ legal costs.

In 2000, Matthew Williams became the first person in the UK to be arrested for causing criminal damage after making a crop circle near Devizes. In November 2000, he was fined £100 plus £40 in costs. As of 2008, no other person in the UK had been successfully prosecuted for criminal damage caused by creating a crop circle.

Creation

Most scientists believe that crop circles are made by people as pranks, advertisements, or art. The most common way to create a crop formation is to tie one end of a rope to a fixed point and the other end to a board used to flatten the plants. Sometimes, people can bend grass without breaking it after rain, a method used to make crop circles in Hungary in 1992. People who doubt supernatural explanations say that all features of crop circles match what human pranksters could make.

In 1991, Bower and Chorley admitted to creating the first crop circles in southern England. When others doubted them, they added straight lines and squares to prove the designs were human-made. This led to more complex crop circles appearing worldwide, including fractal patterns. Some scientists suggest advanced tools like GPS and lasers might help create the most intricate designs. In 2009, a circle was made over three nights and left unfinished, with some parts not completed.

The main criticism of claims that non-human forces made crop circles is that no evidence other than eyewitness accounts supports this idea. Many crop circles are known to be made by people, and others can be explained as human work. Some researchers claimed crop circles were real until the people who made them were found, such as Bower and Chorley, or others like Pat Delgado and Terence Meaden. In his 1995 book, Carl Sagan said crop circles were made by Bower and Chorley and their followers, and he noted that some people ignore evidence of human involvement to believe in alien origins. Others, like Matt Ridley, showed how simple tools can create complex designs, and he wrote about how some experts were tricked by fake crop circles. Today, methods for making crop circles are widely shared online.

Some crop circles are made by companies for advertising. Many designs include human symbols, like hearts or alien faces. People have been caught making crop circles, such as in the Netherlands in 2004. Some theories suggest meteorological events like tornadoes or ball lightning might create crop circles, but no evidence supports this.

In 1880, John Rand Capron wrote that crop circles might be caused by storms. In 1980, Terence Meaden, a scientist, proposed that whirlwinds shaped by hills made the circles. As designs became more complex, Meaden suggested a theory involving plasma vortices. However, this idea was weakened in 1991 when Bower and Chorley admitted to making the circles. By the end of 1991, Meaden agreed that complex designs were human-made.

In 2009, Tasmania’s attorney general said wallabies might create crop circles after eating opium poppies and running in circles. In the 1980s and 1990s, some magazines suggested microwave radiation bent plants, but this is now considered pseudoscience. At the time, it was more likely that unknown factors were involved, as GPS was not widely available.

Since the 1980s, crop circles have sparked theories about supernatural causes, meteorological events, or messages from aliens. Some people believe they are linked to ley lines. Others think ball lightning or supernatural forces, like Gaia or extraterrestrials, create them.

The Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) said crop circles are man-made. Scientists like Eltjo Haselhoff and William Levengood claimed to find differences in plants inside crop circles, suggesting human involvement was not the cause. However, Joe Nickell criticized Levengood’s work, saying his methods were flawed and his conclusions were not reliable. No credible evidence of alien involvement has been found.

Related art

Patterns that look like crop circles can also be created in snow using skis, snowshoes, or even regular shoes. In forests, images can be made by cutting trees, especially in snowy areas. To celebrate the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994, a 360-meter (390-yard) tall designed image of an Olympic torch runner was created in a forest near one of the event venues.

Folklore

Researchers who study crop circles have connected modern crop circles to old stories and legends to suggest that they may not be made by people. Crop circles depend on the culture of the area: they are most often found in developed and secular Western countries where people believe in New Age ideas, such as Japan, but they are not found in other regions, like Muslim countries.

Fungi can create round areas where crops die, which might be the source of old stories about "fairie rings." These stories also mention glowing balls of light, but they are not connected to crop circles.

A 17th-century English woodcut called the Mowing-Devil shows the devil with a scythe cutting a circular pattern in a field of oats. The pamphlet that includes the image explains that a farmer was upset with the high wage his worker demanded and said he would prefer the devil to do the work instead. Crop circle researcher Jim Schnabel does not think this image is an early example of crop circles because the plants were cut, not bent. The circle shape led the farmer to believe the devil had made it.

In the 1948 German story Die zwölf Schwäne (The Twelve Swans), a farmer finds a circular ring of flattened grain in his field each morning. After several days, his son sees twelve princesses disguised as swans who remove their disguises and dance in the field. Crop rings caused by fungi may have inspired such stories, as folklore often says these rings are made by dancing fairies or wolves.