INTRODUCTION

Crop circles are organized harmonic forms that manifest around the world, the result of an energy interacting with the physical world - in this case plants. This energy is comprised of light, sound and magnetism. To date, crop circles have been reported in over 70 countries, and have appeared in mediums such as wheat, barley, canola, trees, ice, rice paddies, even linseed. Contrary to popular perception, crop circles are not a modern phenomenon. They are mentioned in academic texts of the late 17th Century, and over 200 cases have been reported prior to 1970. Some eighty eyewitnesses as far flung as British Columbia and Australia have reported crop circles forming in under twenty seconds; these witnesses describe sightings of incandescent or brightly-coloured balls of light which either precede a crop circle or are actively involved in its creation; in some cases shafts of light have descended onto a field and swirled the crop into a geometric shape in less than fifteen seconds. Such reports are often described by farmers. Only around 1980 serious attention was finally given to the phenomenon, primarily in southern England, where 90% of designs are reported. The designs appeared primarily as simple circles, circles with rings, and variations on the Celtic cross. By the late 1980s they had developed straight lines, creating pictograms not unlike the petroglyphs found at sacred sites throughout the world. After 1990 the designs developed exponentially in complexity, and today it is not unusual to come across crop glyphs mimicking computer fractals and elements expressing fourth dimensional processes in quantum physics. Crop circles have also increased in size, some occupying areas as large as 200,000 sq ft. To date there have been over 10,000 reported crop circles. According to many media reports, all crop circles up to 1992 were made by two simple, elderly men called Doug and Dave. However, it has since been discovered that the D&D story appears to have originated at the British Ministry of Defence. Evidence supplied by a high-ranking informant in that government institution suggested that the British government had every intent of discrediting the phenomenon by putting forward two pranksters in an effort to quell growing public interest in crop circles. But 1

when later confronted to provide evidence of their alleged creations, Doug and Dave changed their story, even reversing previous claims; they could not even explain the unusual features found in the genuine phenomenon. Yet since Doug and Dave's inauguration, many copycat hoaxers have appeared on the scene. That people with a good amount of training can go into a field and eventually create a coherent pattern. This has never been the issue in crop circles research in 1998 a group of hoaxers called Team Satan/circle makers was paid to go to conveniently out-of-the-way New Zealand to make an elaborate formation for The Discovery Channel. The deceptive tactics used to trick a viewing public into accepting that crop circles are human made. In genuine formations the stems are not broken but bent, normally about an inch off the ground and near the plant's first node. In special cases, the stems are bent six inches from the top of the seed head. Such features defeat the hoax argument, since a plank or garden roller is required to flatten the crop to the ground, resulting in clear damage to the plants. The plants appear to be subjected to a short and intense burst of heat which softens the stems to drop just above the ground at 90, where they harden into their new and very permanent position without damage. Plant biologists are baffled by this feature, and it is the single most method of identifying the real phenomenon. Research and laboratory tests suggest that infrasound (sound below 20 Hz) is capable of producing such an effect: High-pressure infrasound is capable of boiling water inside the stems in one nanosecond, expanding the water, and leaving tiny blowholes in the plants' nodes. The pressure applied also causes the water to steam, and it is reported by farmers that when they stumble upon a new crop circle they see steam rising from within the design. This process creates surface charring along the stems. Crop circles generally form at night between the hours of 2-4 am, traditionally during the shortest evenings of the English year when darkness lasts but four hours. A lucky few have witnessed large balls of incandescent colour project a beam of golden light into a field which next morning displays a new crop circle. During surveillance project in 1989 a Japanese TV crew filmed a crop circle manifesting in the early hours of the morning, showing a swirl motion of energy lasting less than fifteen seconds. Such a rapid rate of creation confirmed the unpublished eyewitness reports.

EXPLANATIONS REGARDING ITS FORMATION

Weather Some people have suggested that crop circles are the result of extraordinary meteorological phenomena. This hypothesis probably originated from an 1880 publication in Nature by investigator and amateur scientist John Rand Capron. Part of the publication reappeared in the January 2000 issue of Journal of Meteorology: Paranormal Since appearing in the media in the 1970s, crop circles have become the subject of speculation by various paranormal, ufological, and anomalistic investigators ranging from proposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from extraterrestrial beings. The location of many crop circles near ancient sites such as Stonehenge, barrows, and chalk horses has led many New Age belief systems to incorporate crop circles, speculating their existence in relation to ley lines. Some New Age supporters have related crop circles to the Gaia hypothesis, alleging that "Gaia", the earth, is actually alive and that crop circles are messages or responses to stimuli such as global warming and human pollution. It asserts that the earth may be modeled as if a single super-organism, in that earthly components (e.g. biota, climate, temperature, sunlight, etc.) influence each other and are organized to function and develop as a whole. The main criticism of alleged non-human creation of crop circles is that while evidence of these origins, besides eyewitness testimonies, is essentially absent, some are definitely known to be the work of human pranksters and others can be adequately explained as such. There have been cases in which researchers declared crop circles to be "the real thing", only to be confronted with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud .In his 1997 book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan discussed alien-based theories of crop circle formation. Sagan concluded that no empirical evidence existed to link UFOs with crop circles.

A popular theory is that crop circles are made by alien visitors. Sometimes the circle is thought to be caused by the alien ship landing. Some of the more complicated crop circle formations could, it has been suggested, be aliens trying to communicate with us. The Whirlwind Theory The official government explanation is that whirlwinds, created by heat thermals, are the true cause of the crop circle anomaly. But whirlwinds or Mini-tornadoes are not static, they travel around and it is very unlikely that they would create such intricate and symmetrical patterns. The Electro-magnetic Field Theory According to Dr Colin Andrews, who has studied crop circles for 17 years, about 20% are caused by Eddie currents in the earth's magnetic field - a mysterious shift in the electro-magnetic field creates a current that flattens the crops in its path. That could probably explain the numerous reports of electronic equipment failing in crop circles and compasses spinning out of control in and over the crop circles (even when flying over in aircraft).

EFFECTS ON HUMANS AND ANIMALS

The circles have striking effects on humans. Some experts suggest that stepping inside certain patterns can cause extreme emotion change. Some people feel an improved physical well-being and vitality in certain circles, whilst in others feelings of nausea, migraine, fatigue and light-headedness are brought about. Just by sitting inside stone circles people with a longstanding medical conditions are said to have been significantly improved or even cured; the effect of a crop circle's power on animals is equally impressive. Horses and cats in particular become agitated near patterns, and often refuse to enter them. Flocks of birds have been seen flying straight towards a crop formation, only to drastically steer around them at the last minute, whilst some dogs feel compelled to bind right into the centre of some circles, only to drop down asleep when they reach it.

HISTORY OF CROP CIRCLES

One of the earliest reports was in Lyon in 815AD, and a late 16th Century woodcut depicts the devil mowing a field into patterns. They began to appear in significant numbers in the fields of southern England in the mid-1970s. Early circles were quite simple, and simply appeared, overnight, in fields of wheat, rape, oat, and barley. The crops are mostly flattened and the stalks are usually bent but not broken. As the crop circle phenomenon gained momentum, formations have also been reported in Australia, South Africa, China, Russia, and many other countries, frequently in close proximity to ancient sacred sites. For the thousands reported every year, the vast majority go completely undetected. Most of the complex formations occur in the United Kingdom and they are also more likely to be detected.

Over the last 25 years, the formations have evolved from simple, relatively small circles to huge designs with multiple circles, elaborate pictograms, and shapes that invoke complex non-linear mathematical principles. Since the early 1990s, however, the phenomenon has grabbed world attention, as the formations evolved into enormous, increasingly mathematically complex and perfectly executed shapes appearing in fields, often near the sacred sites of Wiltshire. The largest to date, a perfectly formed spiral formation 244 metres in diameter, composed of 409 circles covering almost the entire field, appeared overnight on a rainy night at Milk Hill in Wiltshire Aug. 12, 2001. The movie Signs, starring Mel Gibson, while universally scorned by serious crop circle researchers, nevertheless renewed interest in crop circles after years of the phenomenon being dismissed in the media as a sophisticated hoax, following the announcement of two elderly landscape painters named Doug Bower and Dave Chorley who confessed in 1991 that they had been making crop circles in English grain fields since the 1970s after reading about the Tully, Australia Saucer Nest of 1966. The truth is that they were both unable to draw a decent crop circle in daytime and to remember the exact location of their exploits.

There is an ongoing debate between researchers as to the longevity of the phenomenon. Essentially two camps exist within the debate; those who believe that the crop circle phenomenon is a relatively modern occurrence beginning in the mid 1970's and those who believe that there are reports going back to the beginning of the century and even earlier. Certain evidence, such as the Mowing-Devil, suggests the appearance of crop circles before the 20th century. Nevertheless, there are important differences between that story and modern crop circles. The story of the mowing devil involves the cutting of the crops following a dispute over crop harvesting and an invocation of the devil, no geometric patterns were reported.

WHEN AND WHERE DO THEY APPEAR?

Crop circles are a global phenomenon, but predominantly appear in the Northern Hemisphere, with southern England as the main centre of activity, particularly Wiltshire. England has played host to around two-thirds of the recorded formations so far, but places as diverse as Germany, Canada, North America, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic and Russia, to name but a few, have also recorded many appearances. Although it might seem obvious, crop circle occur only during the crop growing season. In the UK the first circles can start to occur in April and May, reaching their height in late July and August. Crop circles do in fact occur all over the world in many countries and obviously they similarly follow growing seasons in that particular part of the world. The crop circles do seem to have an affinity for ancient sites. Many circles appear close to stone circles, barrows, earthworks and other landmarks. Off-season formations do sometimes occur, but by and large they begin to appear from spring onwards until early autumn, with most arriving during the three main summer months of any given country.

WHAT CROPS DO THEY APPEAR IN?

Any crop can be a potential target for the phenomenon: wheat, barley and oilseed rape (canola) are the most common in England, being the main varieties grown, but they have also been reported in rye, oats, flax, peas, potatoes, sweet corn maize and many other mediums, including rice paddies in Japan. Formations have also been found in wild grass, bracken and other undergrowth-type plants.

HOW LARGE ARE THE CROP CIRCLES?

Crop Circles can range in size from only a few feet across to several hundred feet in diameter. Sometimes larger designs are accompanied by a smattering of tiny circles (some barely a foot in diameter) these are referred to as 'grapeshot' or 'satellite' circles. One of the largest designs recorded appeared at Milk Hill, in Wiltshire, it measured over 900ft in diameter and the design was made from 409 circles all arranged in a circular spiral. The 409 circles in the formation ranged in size from 70ft down to about a foot in diameter! However, all this said, the average size for a crop circle is around 200-300ft in diameter - still no small feet!

CIRCULAR STORIES FACTS AND FIGURES

Longest crop formation: This occurred at Etchilhampton, Wiltshire, in 1996 - a chain of circles and pathways approximately 4100 feet long crossed from one end of a field to another. Largest design and most circles in one formation: The record for both these qualities is currently held by the huge motif at Milk Hill, Wiltshire, August 12th 2001 - 409 small circles made up a staggering six-armed design of around 800 feet diameter. Largest expanse of laid crop in one design: A seven-petalled mandala which appeared at Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, in 1998 contained an unbroken flattened area covering 6000 square metres. Most geometrically perfect formation: Most would agree that the formation at Windmill Hill, Wiltshire, in 1996 takes this award - an endless procession of perfect equilateral triangles, from large to small, could be drawn by overlaying geometrical shapes onto a triple-armed spiral of 194 circles covering around an area of 600 feet diameter. If just one of the main circles or arms had been even slightly misplaced, this geometry would not have worked.

Most visited formation: Stonehenge, 1996; it is estimated around 10,000 people entered this pattern once it was opened to the public by the farmer, partly through being so visible next to such a major landmark. Most publicized formation: Alton Barnes, 1990 - many global newspapers and TV stations reported the appearance of this, the first of the large pictograms. Strange effects: There have been many reported effects on people's health, sometimes of cures, sometimes of ailments, which have come on while within crop circles. Animals sometimes behave strangely in crop formations. Electronic and mechanical equipment, videos, cameras and even combine harvesters have also been known to malfunction in very odd ways, far above the average one would expect from chance. Scientific tests: Work by W C Levengood, a respected Michigan-based biophysicist, has shown notable biological changes taking place inside circle-laid stalks, which could be attributable to some kind of microwave energy. No man-made demonstration formation has ever produced these results, yet the majority of the hundreds of crop circles sampled have proved positive in this regard. Levengoods papers have been published in scientific journals and his work has been replicated by other laboratories working with the US-based BLT Research organization. In 1995, tests on crop formation soil samples were conducted by ADAS, a division of the English Ministry of Agriculture. Although preliminary, they showed distinct anomalies in the nitrogen/nitrate ratios which could not be explained. There have been other scientific tests carried out by different bodies over the years which have produced peculiar unexplained qualities.

CONCLUSION

Work by laboratories on circle-affected crop has shown biological changes taking place at a cellular level, suggesting the involvement of microwave energy. Other physical tests have shown anomalies not yet replicated by man-made experiments. These, together with the lights, eye-witness accounts, reports of malfunctioning electronic equipment and health effects on people visiting circles, suggest the phenomenon should be looked at far more closely. Over 80 eyewitnesses describe them to be made by tubes of light in less than fifteen seconds. Whether the crop formations are warnings, messages of greeting or abstract doodles remains to be seen. As they amaze and frustrate in equal measure with their stunning beauty, no doubt they will continue to create further controversy. Even within the crop circle research community itself, there has been much intense debate, disagreement and division - but also with much inspiration, sparked by the deep questions raised and by the simple influence of beauty in people's lives.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Apart from the efforts of me, the success of any project depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this project. I would like to show my greatest appreciation to Prof. Dr. Rajaram. I feel motivated and encouraged every time I attend his class. Without his encouragement and guidance this project would not have materialized. The guidance and support received from all the members who contributed and who are contributing to this project, was vital for the success of the project. I am grateful for their constant support and help.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

The information provided in this project was collected from the following internet sources: - Swirled News, the crop circle headline news service provided by the Southern Circular Research (SCR) organization - Crop Circle Research Dotcom - Temporary Temples - Wikipedia - Wyrdology - The Crop Circles Phenomenon by Rich Anders - cropcirclesecrets.org - aliens.monstrous.com - cropcircles.org - aliens.monstrous.com - andypotter.com - cropcircles.net - world-mysteries.com - greatdreams.com - newageinfo.com - timestar.org - mendhak.com - pactiss.org - ukcropcircles.co.uk

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