Crop circles

[Cuddles]

There was a program (I really can't bring myself to call it a documentary) on crop circles yesterday on Sky3 that I actually managed to force myself to watch. Some of it at least. I just can't get over just how desperate to believe some people are. Some of the most cringeworthy parts :

Their "expert" saying how the scientific approach asking how and why they happen is wrong, and his approach of trying to translate them must be, after 11 years of work, "unarguably right". That's actually his own words. Apparently it is impossible to say that his approach is not the only possible one despite him not having found out a single thing in over a decade.

A crop circle maker claiming that there is obviously something paranormal creating them, even though he was making them himself. That's right. Someone who actually makes crop circles claims that there is something paranormal going on while he is walking round in circles squashing crops.

The "expert" again, when faced with a fellow believer offering a demonstration of how humans could make some crop circles, said how proud he was that he had reported him to the police for criminal damage. He actually had a fellow believer and "researcher" arrested because he was so desperate not to find anything out. Ironically, this means that the only person who has ever been prosecuted (in Britain at least) for making crop circles is in fact someone who doesn't believe humans are making them.

I'm sure I could go on, but I had to give up after half an hour before I started throwing things at the TV. I can understand how people go for a lot of woo, but this is just too weird. How can people debunk themselves so effectively and yet still carry on believing?

[Admin]

The logic circuits in my brain have just melted after trying to rationalise that!! ;D

I'm rather glad I missed the programme now.

[Allo Allo]

The logic circuits in my brain have just melted after trying to rationalise that!! ;D



could be a point! (http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/HotTopics/uploads/cropcircles.jpg)

[Nicky]

Living down here in the West Country, a lot of folk are really into their crop circles. I found it quite refreshing the other day, however, when I was reading an article about a crop circle convention being held in Glastonbury and when the organiser was asked what caused crop circles, they said they thought most were caused by freak weather conditions or some kind of geomagnetic pull, but admitted a fair few were made by humans and then laughed and said that some people still believe they're caused by aliens. I thought it was refreshing that people are no longer starting from the alien theory.

Our two main crop circle creators are no longer doing it. One got hayfever and the other committed suicide so that he could go to the higher level and find the truth, or something.

[Allo Allo]

Living down here in the West Country, a lot of folk are really into their crop circles. ......
Our two main crop circle creators are no longer doing it. One got hayfever and the other committed suicide so that he could go to the higher level and find the truth, or something.

Is it true that SOME circles are not man made? Might we find a non supanatural explanation one day for such things appearing because they are not found purely in cereal crops nor are they always circular. I have seen photos of them in snow, pack ice, dust, pine needles, grass and sand as well as the more conventional fields of wheat, barley, corn, rye and oilseed rape. They appear all over the world in varying degrees of complexity and size. Lots possibly aren't "discovered" at all.

The "Circlemakers" have done a good promotional job for themselves - and they design with care and produce quite astonishing "art".

In the 90's I was in Wiltshire and the "news" came through to my local friend that there was a new circle in a specific place - so we went to find it. Well, it was a devil to get to and when we reached the middle of it- the wheat had been laid over in different directions so it formed a "plait". I remember feeling disbelief that circlemakers would endure the discomfort of fiddling about with plaits and stuff on a work of art that had to be completed before dawn, not to mention their determination to have trogged all their equipment, lighting, planks and grub to some godforsaken field!

Nowadays, there are so many circlemakers infesting the place, its hard to tell whats what. ^-^

M

[Mongrel]

I remember feeling disbelief that circlemakers would endure the discomfort of fiddling about with plaits and stuff on a work of art that had to be completed before dawn, not to mention their determination to have trogged all their equipment, lighting, planks and grub to some godforsaken field!
M

You'd be surprised at the dedication of the people who do something just for the hell of it ;) That and some of the good circle makers would occasionally sell their time to the farmers, who would then charge entrance for viewing.

[Cuddles]

Is it true that SOME circles are not man made? Might we find a non supanatural explanation one day for such things appearing because they are not found purely in cereal crops nor are they always circular.

The thing is, we know for sure that most crop circles are manmade. Why do we need any other explanation? It is far more logical to assume that all circles are made using the one method we know exists than to assume that because we can't prove they are all manmade that some of them must be supernatural.


I remember feeling disbelief that circlemakers would endure the discomfort of fiddling about with plaits and stuff on a work of art that had to be completed before dawn, not to mention their determination to have trogged all their equipment, lighting, planks and grub to some godforsaken field!

This is the classic argument from ignorance that many circle believers use. However, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny at all, because we know that some people definately do this. Of course, this doesn't prove that all circles are manmade, but it does prove that, whether you want to believe it or not, some people really do spend whole nights doing this sort of thing. When it comes down to it, I find it hard to believe that people would endure the discomfort of watching half an hour of Neighbours, but that doesn't make it any less true.

[Cuddles]

they said they thought most were caused by freak weather conditions or some kind of geomagnetic pull, but admitted a fair few were made by humans and then laughed and said that some people still believe they're caused by aliens.

This is actually more common than any alien beliefs. The first explanation ever given was something about freak tornadoes. The trouble with all these explanations is that there is absolutely no evidence for any of them, and some, like the magnetism thing, are just utter bollocks. They may laugh at people who believe in aliens, but the sad thing is that all their beliefs are just as silly.

[ReverendNick]

Living down here in the West Country, a lot of folk are really into their crop circles. I found it quite refreshing the other day, however, when I was reading an article about a crop circle convention being held in Glastonbury and when the organiser was asked what caused crop circles, they said they thought most were caused by freak weather conditions or some kind of geomagnetic pull, but admitted a fair few were made by humans and then laughed and said that some people still believe they're caused by aliens. I thought it was refreshing that people are no longer starting from the alien theory.

Our two main crop circle creators are no longer doing it. One got hayfever and the other committed suicide so that he could go to the higher level and find the truth, or something.


While making a Crop Circle last year in West Nightcott last May... A few local people spoke with me(in the "The Anchor Inn") on my way back from the circle. We talked about Aliens and Weather Patterns. I told them I saw some strange lights over the field we just came from and they should have look in the morning. They never noticed the tools (rope, boards, measure tape) and dirt all over us!

Never found out what happened after that!:-X

[Allo Allo]

While making a Crop Circle last year in West Nightcott last May... A few local people spoke with me(in the "The Anchor Inn") on my way back from the circle. We talked about Aliens and Weather Patterns. I told them I saw some strange lights over the field we just came from and they should have look in the morning. They never noticed the tools (rope, boards, measure tape) and dirt all over us!

Never found out what happened after that!:-X

Well, so you are a circlemaker? Your circle might have been May 21st 2006 :cheesy: http://www.fatemag.com/issues/2000s/2007-02article1.html – and thank goodness for that – circles are on the DECLINE (obviously platting wheat in remote fields is not so fulfilling as one might think, and also, everyone's doing it anyway) so England needs you! You get DIRTY?

If you persevere you might get onto Google Maps! :smiley: http://googlesightseeing.com/2006/02/14/alien-crop-circles/

M

[Mongrel]

This (http://www.circlemakers.org/hellokitty.html) is still my favourite http://www.ukskeptics.com/forum/images/smilies/smiley.gif

All hail our feline overlords

[ReverendNick]

Sadly its not mine...
I'll try a little harder this year!

Sorry for lettin the side down:'(

[Mongrel]

Sadly its not mine...
I'll try a little harder this year!

Sorry for lettin the side down:'(
Got any pictures from yours? I'm sure they're marvellous :)

[ReverendNick]

[/ATTACH]
Got any pictures from yours? I'm sure they're marvellous :)

No...My 3 circles are horrible. Im terrible with getting dirty and hiding from farmers shotguns! Im getting better...

[chillzero]

You should perhaps take care about publically confessing to criminal behaviour.

[ReverendNick]

Your right.

Since I can tkeep my mouth shut I should stop practicing.

Killjoy!

[Allo Allo]

Crop Circle (http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/headlines/display.var.1559662.0.the_crop_circle_mystery.php) - could you make this pattern with a board and string?

[Busby]

It would solve a lot of headaches if those as yet unnamed, anonymous and clever crop circle makers would do us the favour of openly showing us just how they do it (so perfectly). It's about time they collected the admiration to which they are due.

Then we could get on with something else.

[Cuddles]

Crop Circle (http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/headlines/display.var.1559662.0.the_crop_circle_mystery.php) - could you make this pattern with a board and string?

Yes. The trouble with crop circle believers is that they seriously underestimate human ingenuity and also the lengths people are willing to go to to have a bit of fun. This picture is actually one of the less impressive ones. It's just made up of lots of circles arranged in a pattern, and circles are by far the easiest shape to make.

As for the people who make them showing how they have done it, they have. Sensible people accept their explanation while believers just ignore it. As I mentioned earlier, there are actually people who make the circles themselves and somehow still manage to believe that it is really aliens making them. There is no evidence for aliens or anything else at all interesting involved and there is plenty of evidence that people wandering round at night with bits of wood and string are. Arguments from personal incredulity are not valid evidence.

Edit: For example, http://circlemakers.org/exhibit_a.html are artists that make crop circles on request, often for advertising.

[Matt]

Crop Circle (http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/headlines/display.var.1559662.0.the_crop_circle_mystery.php) - could you make this pattern with a board and string?

And a bit of planning, yes.

If Romans can make straight roads over hundreds of miles I'm sure we haven't degenerated so much since then that we can't map out circles over a field.

[Dr B]

The grass in my garden is really long - so with a strimmer i have put some circles and designs in there......now all i need to do is wait for new-age hippy-types.....the gun is loaded just in case.

:cheesy: