People with Too Much Time on Their Hands: Crop Circles

Crop circles are defined as patterns created by the flattening of various crops.  Since around 1990, the “circles” have evolved into complex geometric patterns but the term “crop circle” still remains.  These circles have supposedly been in existence since the 17th century — a devil was depicted in a pamphlet mowing circles into the crops.  Crop circles have popped up between then and now with an increasing popularity in the 70’s and 80’s in England.

The origins of the circles have been disputed by many.  The explanations have ranged from geological anomalies to man-made hoaxes or even UFOs.  In my opinion, the circles are almost always created by people with too much time on their hands.  People will do the oddest things when they are bored or in need of attention or popularity.  Everyone is looking for their “15 minutes of fame”.  Crop circles are definitely one of the odder pursuits of those who have an overabundance of time.

There have been over 12,000 documented circles world wide.  They are increasingly becoming an art form all of their own.  There are even companies such as circlemakers.org who will make advertisements in fields for products such as Red Bull, Mitsubishi, Discover Channel and NBC.  Some of the circles have been shown to have been made with little more than rope and two by fours to stomp down the crops into amazingly complex patterns.  Elements of three-dimensionality are becoming increasingly frequent and have culminated in speculator images of cube-shaped structures.

Take a look at these images below and try to imagine how much time they would have taken to create.  What I wouldn’t do for that much extra time in a day!  Or, on the other hand, look at the pictures through the eyes of a believer — if people didn’t create these than what did?

This intricate crop circle composes of circles and triangles was spotted August 5, 2007 on Sugar Hill in Upper Upham, Wilshire in the UK.  The symmetry of the design appears to be absolutely perfect and there are no signs of human interaction with the design from the air, at least.  This is one of the most baffling things about crop circles.  Makers will go to extreme lengths to cover their tracks which leads believers to believe even more.