Synaesthesia

My local newspaper recently featured a full-page article on the mysteries of crop circles. What sparked my curiosity was the claim that ‘genuine’ crop circles display unusual damage to the stem nodes in and around the formation. The claim is that microwave radiation caused these. I would be interested in learning how these are actually produced and if there is even a causal relation between them and crop circles.

MortalWombat

If the claim is made by a guy named w.C. Levengood, here is an article by CSICOP that discusses his "research":

<a href="http://www.csicop.org/sb/9606/crop_circle.html" target="_blank">http://www.csicop.org/sb/9606/crop_circle.html</a>

elwoodblues

I thought the whole 'crop circles' thing had been pretty much debunked over the last 5 years or so. Turned out it was a bunch of smart, bored, tight-lipped country boys. That's how I heard it, anyway.

manhattan

Curiouser and curiouser. Circles? Now some people are reporting seeing crop <a href="http://www.qubit.org/people/david/UFO/UFO.html" target="_blank">cylinders</a>!

liquid

Crop circles are easy to make, if you know a few tricks. It all started here in the UK, and the some of the original guys owned up and did some TV slots explaining it. There were also items where they made one, and were filmed. The next day paranormal 'experts' arrived and declared it 'genuine'.

Pantera

Given that the people who make crop circles now have <a href="http://www.circlemakers.org" target="_blank">a slick website</a>, you have to conclude that the people who are still baffled by them have an inbuilt desire to be confused.

Bookman

Beautifully said.

Pantera

Erm... is this what you're talking about? From the <a href="http://www.circlemakers.org/guide.html" target="_blank">Beginner's Guide to Circle Making</a>

Ritual
Before starting, a simple ritual should be performed. Whilst not obligatory, this ritual will assist in causing minimal damage to individual stalks while the crop is being laid. Using a long, curved, razor-sharp blade, cut seven single stalks for every circle planned for the formation. Place each one between thumb and forefinger and stroke until the stem starts to bend. When the stems are bent at a right angle about two inches from their base, place each sheaf at the centre of each proposed circle. If this service is not performed, a greater ratio of breakage will occur. Cerealogists who find a sheaf of sharply cut stems within the finished formation tend to automatically see this as a sign of genuineness.

{Edited because I really like the edit function}

[ February 20, 2002: Message edited by: Pantera ]</p>