CROP CIRCLES STRANGENESS:

Not all crop circles have these characteristics of course. Some of them are obvious hoaxes, this list can indeed serve as a checklist when a crop circle is investigated.

• In the cells of plants in a crop circle the cell pits, microscopic interleaves between cells, are greatly enlarged, due to the intense heating and expansion of the water within each cell. Numerous experiments have shown that if a plant is heated for longer than 40 seconds with microwave energy, dehydration takes place and the plant will burn. Since the plants in a crop circle are not burned in any way but show the enlarged cell pits, then we have to assume that the forming of these crop circles takes place in about 30-40 seconds. If the time were longer than that, the plant would literally be cooked, but instead crop circle plants continue to grow.

• Seeds in the formation plants germinate faster than normal and, in fact, grow 45% faster than plants outside the circle. It has always been felt that if scientists can affect even a 5% increased growth rate, they were doing very well. And here we have a 45% growth rate which cannot be explained.

• The cereal crops are swirled, usually counter-clockwise, and woven together. Generally this weave is like a basket or like that of cloth. Multiple layering is a common phenomenon and varies in complexity from 2-5 or more layers. Each layer running the opposite direction from the one above it.
• There have been several cases in Canada and England that are quite unusual: the circles contain compressed porcupines. Most animals, given the slightest warning of impending danger, will fly or run away. The porcupine, however, stays put, relying on its sharp quills for defense. A mature porcupine weighs about 25 pounds and stands at least 12 inches tall. The ones that have been found in the crop circles have been compressed down to 2-3 inches by some tremendous force. Also, there have been at least two cases where a skid mark in the soil, embedded with broken quills, showed the unfortunate porcupine had been dragged by force from the edge of the formation into the center. Its quills were oriented in the same direction as the swirled wheat.
• The geometry of crop circles is most amazing. Astronomer and mathematician Gerald Hawkins analyzed the photographs of a number of crop circles in terms of geometry and discovered various interesting characteristics such as harmonic progression, or use of the Golden Number.
• Electrical equipment jams or malfunctions such as unexpected power loss of batteries are often reported.
• Some persons walking in the circle hear a strong buzzing or humming sound. There seems to be a very real energy, felt during the first three days or so of its existence, that can do one of several things to people who are walking in a new circle, such as migraine headache and nausea or even unconsciousness.

THE DEBATE

Recent news and documentary have ruined years of research by convincing the general public that crop circles are all clever human hoaxes. There are crop circle makers, even crop circle clubs of hoaxers who create beautiful crop circle artwork indeed. But obviously it does not explain the whole phenomenon. Here are some clues that crop circles might be something more disturbing:

THE NUMBERS:

Over 5000 crop circles have been referenced now. How could a few hoaxers have performed this?

GEOGRAPHIC DISSEMINATION:

Crop circles started to appear in the south of England. But there are crop circles in almost every country, worldwide. In areas where there are no crop fields, they are found also, like for example the circles in watery rice cultures in Japan. It is of course at odds with the first self-declared hoaxers, two seniors englishmen whose claim to be responsible of the fabrication of all existing crop circle would imply that they would have a huge budget and time, to travel across the whole world to perform their craft.

QUALITY:

The quality, complexity, lack of damage, presence of diatonic ratios, sacred geometry, sacred numbers among other aspects are not found in hoaxed crop circles. There are always damages in their middle, and their regularity and design does not match those of crop circles that are not claimed to be hoaxes.

CHARACTERISTICS:

As aerial photos, some hoaxed circles look almost convincing. But they do not have the quality of 'real' crop circle at close sight, such as the layering of the crop, the biological changes, and the other strange feature often reported. Careful inspection is required in order to determine authenticity. Damage to crop, soil compaction, complex weaving, footprints, various anomalies in the way the crop is laying, fluidity of the lay, spilled seeds, electronic failures and camera malfunctions etc, are all signs one must look for. To suggest that three men running around for six hours stomping crop with planks is enough to create the strange effects we often see, yet not cause damage, is a bit much to believe.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR CREATION:

It is a known fact that the vast majority of formations appear at night. A survey taken one year (1992) showed that two thirds came on nights when it was raining, wet and heavily overcast.

A TV show for example was aimed to demonstrate that human can design crop circles. But the demonstration, done in a full moon night, required spot lights hanging from crane. This virtual daylight was very different than nights when one cannot see 5 feet in front. And of course the crop circle did not have much of the qualities described here.

UFO SIGHTINGS:

Ufo sightings are often related to crop circles. Sometimes, a UFO sighting occurs, generally a luminous object or glow, at night, and crop circles are discovered the next morning.

Some traces are mentioned as crop circles, which are rather seemingly landing traces and modification of the soil and vegetation due to supposed UFO landing.

RESOURCES:

There was a mind-boggling array of equipment dragged into the fields by contestants in a hoaxing contest held some years ago. Circle researcher Michael Glickman once asked an architectural firm what it would take to reproduce the Windmill Hill formation, also called the "Triple Julia" of 1996 about 1000 feet in diameter and made of 200 circles. After studying it for a few days, their estimate was many days work and thousands of dollars in costs.

OPINIONS:

It is widely ignored that most hoaxers themselves thing that there is a real crop circle phenomenon. They have all had extremely strange experiences in the fields while in the act of making a formation. On a few occasions, they found that the design they were about to hoax was already in the field.

OTHER REFERENCES:

• Center for Crop Circle Studies Newsletter, California, Summer 1993.
• Davis, Beth (ed.), Ciphers In The Crops, Gateway Books, Bath, England, 1992.
• Deetken, Chad, "Comparison of British & Canadian Crop Circle Lays," MUFON UFO Journal, August 1993.
• Howe, Linda Moulton, Glimpses of Other Realities, Volume I: Facts and Eyewitnesses, LMH Productions, Huntingdon Valley, PA, 1993.
• W.C. Levengood, N.P. Talbott, "Dispersion of energies in worldwide crop formations", Physiol. Plant. 105: 615-624 (1999).
• E.H. Haselhoff, "Comment to Physiol. Plant. 105: 615-624", Physiol. Plant. 111: 123-125 (2001).
• E.H. Haselhoff, http://www.dcccs.org/id48.htm
• N.P. Talbott, http:/www.labyrinthina.com/crop.htm, or N.P. Talbott, http://www.crystalinks.com/crop1999.2.html.