"The reason aliens aren't doing crop circles anymore"

[Stray Cat]

The earliest report that the proponents seem to think was a report of a crop circle dates back to 1678 and the Devil was blamed. It was known then as The Mowing Devil. Note that this is not a classic crop circle, but a field that was cut down (mowed) in a circular pattern.

Actually there is a body of work that reports events which pre-date the Mowing Devil but on the whole croppies don't have a clue about much (which is why they believe aliens make crop circles).

In a book "The Natural History of Staffordshire" written by Robert Plot (Professor of Chemistry at Oxford and first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum) published 8 years after the Mowing Devil but containing information from as early as 1590, Plot goes on to talk about not only fairy rings and other strange circular depressions in fields but also more complex geometric shapes. He was also the first person (obviously long before Terrence Meaden) to posit the theory that the weather was the primary cause.

As for why no one (read not many of the regulars in the UK) is making crop circles anymore... that's a different story and too long and complex to go into here. Of course the lack of people making crop circles has lead directly for the need by croppies to explain why aliens aren't making them anymore. This year Europe seems to be the place, the best and most active circlemakers in the UK have decided for some reason to head to the beach and make sand circles instead.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Thanks for that interesting post and link, Stray Cat!

The article says the circle maker loves the paranormal, which sounds like he's a woo. Is that typical for circle makers?

 

[Mudcat]

Thanks for that interesting post and link, Stray Cat!

The article says the circle maker loves the paranormal, which sounds like he's a woo. Is that typical for circle makers?

I think the circles are awe-inspiring, even without extraterrestrial interference, but the comments on that article are what's truly entertaining:

All those who study crop circles and know in what way the plants inside the circle are modified in structure and magnetic resonance, know that the story we read about here is only made to put an end on this 'crop circle fantasies'. But those who have seen some closer and analyzed them, know there is a mystery to solve. For sure, there are no Aliens involved on that, but certain magnetic force of our planet, and here we just face a riddle. Just hope that all the farmers who has some in their field, all over the world, will come to Mr Richardson and claim their damage. Anyway, he has a lot of money, since if you can travel that much and that fast to create all the circles we find on our globe, you really need to be rich.

Perhaps he will also reveal just how he has managed to alter the nodes on the stalks of wheat in the fields where genuine crop circles have appeared. It's sad that some people who know so little about the true nature crop circles are so quick to dismiss the phenomena.

Magnetic resonance? Alteration of the nodes? Where do people even come up with this poppy-cock?

 

[Stray Cat]

Thanks for that interesting post and link, Stray Cat!

Pleasure's all mine Orph.

The article says the circle maker loves the paranormal, which sounds like he's a woo. Is that typical for circle makers?

I love the paranormal too but I'm no woo.

Julian is (or at least can be) a strange one. I think he may have a tendency towards "positive energy" type stuff, but on the whole his head is fixed on the right way... As artists we are allowed to occupy ambiguous areas and maybe create fuzzy edged zones in order to encourage our audience to 'suspend disbelief' and hopefully take them somewhere they wouldn't usually go... It's playing out a fantasy and as such doesn't have to conform to rules of logic or physics. The trick is knowing which is real and which is engaging with fantasy. (heck I hope that doesn't sound too woo ).

 

[Stray Cat]

Magnetic resonance? Alteration of the nodes? Where do people even come up with this poppy-cock?

Like most things of this nature, people found some stuff that they didn't understand and instead of actually using the scientific method to deduce what was going on and learning about it so that they did understand it, they attached their own predetermined (paranormal) conclusion and then it was a simple task to back engineer the story to fit what they'd found.

The myth then becomes stronger and stronger with every retelling of the story and all attempts to counter it with real science are met with fingers in ears "lalalalala".

These demands for circlemakers to explain how they alter nodes is laughable really. Nodes alter due to phototropism.
So far no one has been able to even show an example of an altered node in the crop circle sample where phototropism could be ruled out as the cause. Until they do, the circlemakers have nothing to answer.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Pleasure's all mine Orph.


I love the paranormal too but I'm no woo.

Julian is (or at least can be) a strange one. I think he may have a tendency towards "positive energy" type stuff, but on the whole his head is fixed on the right way... As artists we are allowed to occupy ambiguous areas and maybe create fuzzy edged zones in order to encourage our audience to 'suspend disbelief' and hopefully take them somewhere they wouldn't usually go... It's playing out a fantasy and as such doesn't have to conform to rules of logic or physics. The trick is knowing which is real and which is engaging with fantasy. (heck I hope that doesn't sound too woo ).

Good answer, and more good posts from you!

Thanks for putting the E in JREF!

 

[MikeG]

........In a book "The Natural History of Staffordshire" written by Robert Plot (Professor of Chemistry at Oxford and first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum) published 8 years after the Mowing Devil but containing information from as early as 1590, Plot goes on to talk about not only fairy rings and other strange circular depressions in fields but also more complex geometric shapes. ....

Fairy rings are made by mushrooms, and strange circular depressions in fields are often looked for in aerial photos by archaeologists searching for the sites of ancient settlements. They are the signs left over from bronze and iron age earthworks, burials, or huts. Don't go giving people ammunition. They might just shoot themselves in the foot.

As to the OP, aliens are making precisely the same number of crop circles they always were.

Mike

 

[Stray Cat]

.... and strange circular depressions in fields are often looked for in aerial photos by archaeologists searching for the sites of ancient settlements....

Not in 1686 when Plot wrote his book they didn't... That's how myths start, develop and mature... people cling to what people used to believe instead of accepting newer knowledge. This is the exact reason that croppies cling to the legend of the Mowing Devil in an attempt to counter the argument that crop circles are a relatively recent phenomenon. In reality for all of recorded history people have noticed and written about circles in fields whether made by mushrooms, archeological remains, storms, natural sinkholes or rutting badgers is not the point. The point is that significance of some supernatural origin was strongly believed and that tradition carries on today with those who think that crop circles are of supernatural origin. It's quite an easy myth to expand on from the artists point of view. Especially the artists who have studied their subject.

They are the signs left over from bronze and iron age earthworks, burials, or huts.

Some of them yes... Not all of them.

Don't go giving people ammunition. They might just shoot themselves in the foot.

Sorry I've no idea what you're talking about here.

 

[MikeG]

Not in 1686 when Plot wrote his book they didn't...

You missed my point. The point is that they are obvious features in the landscape, and have been for centuries. They aren't mysteries, or signs of aliens. They are simply remnants of ancient archaeology.

Some of them yes... Not all of them.

Well, are you sure of this? There are thousands of un-excavated ancient earthworks all over Britain (and Europe). Are there any circles that have been excavated which have proved not to be from ancient buildings, field boundaries, tombs etc? Any?

Sorry I've no idea what you're talking about here.

Don't give people ideas that there is anything whatsoever to stories of mysterious circles in the countryside with anything other than simple obvious common-or-garden explanations. If you tell them that mysterious circles have been around for centuries, people will start saying that aliens have been making mysterious circles for centuries. Which they haven't.

 

[Stray Cat]

You missed my point. The point is that they are obvious features in the landscape, and have been for centuries. They aren't mysteries, or signs of aliens. They are simply remnants of ancient archaeology.

It seems it's you that's missing the point of why some people believe that crop circles are of paranormal origin. There is a tradition in Folk lore that attributes circular depressions in fields to the paranormal. What they actually are is of no concern to the believers. I simply stated that Plot had studied the various reported phenomena only 8 years after the Mowing Devil pamphlet was published. Even at that time with no aerial photography nor modern understanding of archeological sites, Plot was looking at the subject from a non paranormal angle.

Well, are you sure of this? There are thousands of un-excavated ancient earthworks all over Britain (and Europe). Are there any circles that have been excavated which have proved not to be from ancient buildings, field boundaries, tombs etc? Any?

What I'm saying is that what have been historically reported as strange circles could and do range from Fairy Rings (caused by fungi) to flattened crop (known today as lodging) caused by adverse weather and including archeological sites as well as a whole host of other mundane causes. Your narrow view that they could only be archeological does nothing to educate people. Today people regularly report complex geometric patterns flattened in the crop fields... They are certainly not archeological in origin, so yes I am very sure thanks.

Don't give people ideas that there is anything whatsoever to stories of mysterious circles in the countryside with anything other than simple obvious common-or-garden explanations.

So now you're going to tell me where I did any such thing?

If you tell them that mysterious circles have been around for centuries, people will start saying that aliens have been making mysterious circles for centuries. Which they haven't.

Dude, get with the programme... people have been saying that for a long while now with no help from me. That's exactly why the Mowing Devil pamphlet was brought up in this thread (because it is regularly used as an example of aliens making crop circles centuries ago) and exactly why I pointed out that it was not unique as folk lore, myth and urban legend all have many such stories. Some of which were studied by and written about by Plot in 1686.

 

[TjW]

I think you two are actually in violent agreement.

As for rutting badgers... "Badgers? We don't need no steenkin' badgers!"

 

[MikeG]

I think you two are actually in violent agreement.

Indeed. All I am doing is pointing out the obvious explanations for the phenomena that Plot wrote about centuries ago. I don't give two hoots what Plot or the population thought the explanations for these features were, any more than I care what the lunatic fringe think the explanation is these days.

 

[Sideroxylon]

If that's true, maybe all you have to do is consume GMO products in order to ward off anal probing. Win!

Or go on a strict organic diet!

 

[Stray Cat]

I think you two are actually in violent agreement.

The difference being that I am interested in the subject so as I've spent the majority of my spare time (and a lot of time that wasn't actually spare) for the past 15 years learning about and studying it in great depth, whereas Mike is apparently doing that uninformed "sceptic block" thing which does no good to no one. If an explanation offered doesn't fit what is being said, it's not the right explanation and to offer 'archeological sites' as the only solution is simply wrong.

Furthermore, I do not give people ammunition with which to shoot themselves in the foot and I don't appreciate the accusation.

 

[Stray Cat]

Indeed. All I am doing is pointing out the obvious explanations for the phenomena that Plot wrote about centuries ago. I don't give two hoots what Plot or the population thought the explanations for these features were, any more than I care what the lunatic fringe think the explanation is these days.

Then if you're not willing to learn what motivates people to believe in ********, to study the deep traditions and folk lore that puts things into a real historical context, to understand that crop circles are more than simply flattening some crops for the gullible to fawn over, you're never going to be able to have anything more than an uninformed opinion on the subject... good luck with that approach, not only on this forum, but also when you come across anyone who has actually read what Plot wrote and will certainly put you straight about how "obvious" your explanation really is.

 

[NetPen]

The most likely answer is that the local population of teenagers are too busy with their PSPs, TVs and computers to need to kill time by wandering around in a field.

In which case, why haven't the aliens adapted to this new generation by sending out tweets or viral youtube videos or the like? Ask these UFOers that question along with this:

Why bend lots and lots of straws forming words, in their own language and not ours, in order to try and communicate to another sapient species who has no Language A to Grey dictionary or whatever they call themselves? It's like a American tourist, yelling at the top of his lungs, to a Chinese vendor, who speaks only Chinese, in Bejing about how great Iron Man 3 was back in the states. No matter how loud he's going to be, the vendor is never going to understand. Surely a space faring species should be above this sort of asinine mentality, right?

 

[Elizabeth I]

Fairy rings are made by mushrooms, and strange circular depressions in fields are often looked for in aerial photos by archaeologists searching for the sites of ancient settlements. They are the signs left over from bronze and iron age earthworks, burials, or huts. Don't go giving people ammunition. They might just shoot themselves in the foot.

As to the OP, aliens are making precisely the same number of crop circles they always were.

Mike

There was a fairy ring in the park close to my house after our last big run of thunderstorms. It was so cool - I had heard about them all my life but never seen one. I didn't make it back after dark to see if any fairies were dancing there, though. Actually, since our parks department installed those big "moonlight" towers there a few years ago, there's not much dark there anymore.

 

[justintime]

Have the crop circles been deciphered? They look more sophisticated than the Arechibo message sent in 1974. But why use crop circle messages when we are all set to receive radio messages unless they are here already?

 

[John Jones]

Have the crop circles been deciphered? They look more sophisticated than the Arechibo message sent in 1974. But why use crop circle messages when we are all set to receive radio messages unless they are here already?

It was in all the papers. It was also on page 78 of The Demon-Haunted World, as you pointed out to us with such hilarious unambiguity.

The Demon-Haunted World. Page 78

ISBN 0-345-40946-9 and ISBN 0-394-53512-X

 

[Skeletor]

Have the crop circles been deciphered? They look more sophisticated than the Arechibo message sent in 1974. But why use crop circle messages when we are all set to receive radio messages unless they are here already?

I think the messages are for "somebody" rather than "everybody."