Mysterious Crop Circles

Narrator: The beautiful rolling countryside of England has a long history. But in
recent years, there’s been a strange phenomenon here; one which people all over
the world have been studying with great interest . . . crop circles. These strange and
mysterious circles have many people—even some scientists—asking: Who or what
could have made them?

Since the beginning of time, human beings have created signs such as unusual
constructions or animals carved into the hillsides. Some people suggest that
different cultures may have constructed them as ways of communicating with aliens.
Others say that ancient peoples must have created them to please the gods. Did
people create these crop circles or are they messages made by aliens from outer
space? The question has been the cause of much debate.

Reg Presley, Crop Circle Researcher: I walked into the first crop circle in 1990, and I
thought, “Hmm . . . I love puzzles.” And what I did was say, “Right, I’m going to try
and find out what this puzzle’s all about.” I think probably 95 percent of them are
man-made. But there’s one particularly here, just over on the hill—Milk Hill—it’s so
enormous, that you can’t even see the other side of the crop formation.

Narrator: Presley then explains that the formation is over a kilometer wide. He feels
that people couldn’t have made such an enormous circle without other people
knowing about it. He also points out that these formations appear all over the world.
He tells of a circle in a forest near Vancouver, Canada. In it, only the top two meters
of the trees were bent and shaped in a circle. Remarkably, the trees were not broken
suddenly and quickly, but bent over—without breaking—when they were arranged.
Presley has also heard of ice circles, in which a circle of ice is missing from a body of
water while the area around it remains frozen. For Presley, a connection between
these mysterious circles almost certainly exists, but to a young Englishman named
Matthew, they’re not all that mysterious.

Matthew, Crop Circle Maker: Yeah, a lot of circles have been appearing in this area.
It’s a lovely landscape, and the fields are just very clean and open like a canvas.

Narrator: In the area near Matthew’s home, many crop circles have recently
appeared. While he will not admit to making any of these, Matthew has offered to
demonstrate exactly how crop circles are made.

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Matthew: Well, if there are aliens out there doing it, they’re using stomper boards
and . . . these little markers. Because, I mean, there’s things there, like combing
effects, which are people going around and around and around the same area,
flattening it down. That wouldn’t be there with aliens I’m sure.

Narrator: In fact, Matthew thinks aliens would more likely use a faster,
instantaneous technique; something obviously real to everyone—even him.
Matthew’s never seen this kind of evidence. The only crop circles he’s seen are
undoubtedly made by humans.

As Matthew and his team begin the long evening task of making a crop circle, he
talks about some of the beliefs regarding them. He explains how people imagine
seeing extraterrestrials, strange balls of light, or UFOs when they see a crop circle.
Matthew, however, claims that crop circle design is actually a creative art done by
human beings. He also explains that teams sometimes challenge each other to
amaze the public by showing what they can do in an evening.

Matthew: It is a bit like a military operation. You’ve got to get in, do the job, get out,
not get caught, you know. It’s SAS I suppose. “Who dares wins.” I’m a little bit
worried about some of the beliefs I hear going around. Some of the stuff is a bit
apocalyptic.

Narrator: At times, Matthew is disturbed by some of the beliefs about crop circles.
He thinks that some people are using the circles to push their own unusual theories.
In his years of making crop circles, Matthew’s never seen any evidence that aliens
made them. In his opinion, crop circles are definitely not signs of intelligent life in
outer space; but perhaps opinions like Matthew’s are a sign of one kind of intelligent
life—intelligent life on Earth!

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