The Crop Circle

Dr. Novella reran an interesting look at crop circles. I wanted to share it as it gives me an excuse to reminisce about a funny moment I saw in one of the many documentaries shown on cable lauding and claiming to examine the phenomenon.

In it a true believer, as he stood in the middle of one circle, with a film crew and other enthusiast, who were studying it, claimed the circle, like other circles, had amazing properties. Apparently, it disrupts electronic devices...Think about that scene. Beyond the others with equipment studying the circle, you have a film crew, with booms, cameras, etc. Yet they had no trouble whatsoever filming a long interview and shots of enthusiast looking around the circle. No camera going funny, no sound system going on the fritz. One would think they would have included that as damning proof, if it occurred. But no. I wonder how an experienced film crew, well versed in technical malfunctions reacted to the claim and its divergence from reality. They must have had to work hard to stifle laughter.

Dr. Novella:

Several years ago a “crop circle” (actually a crop square) appeared in Martha Bailey’s cornfield in New Milford, CT. Her field is surrounded by a 7-foot-tall fence of chicken wire and wood. Overnight, in the middle of the field, a “perfect” square of flattened down corn appeared. According to Martha, “Everything was secure, the gates were locked, [so] it had to be something that touched down and flattened it.”

By something, she probably meant an extraterrestrial landing ship. Rather than looking for simpler explanations—like, say, someone climbing a chickenwire fence—believers in crop circles often posit visits from aliens or other paranormal explanations. And, perhaps fueled by pop-culture references like the 1999 M. Night Shyamalan movie Signs , the ranks of believers are growing. For the last couple of decades, mainly in English-speaking nations, summer brings with it an increasing number of ever-more-elaborate pictures made in large fields of wheat and other crops. Crop circle season exactly coincides—amazingly—with the end of school and the beginning of summer vacation.

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