The Mystery of Crop Circles

When strange patterns began appearing in farmers’ fields in England in the 1960s, local people were absolutely baffled. Some of the patterns were simple, some were complex, and a few even looked similar to the DNA double helix. The weirdest thing was that nobody knew who, or what, was making them. Crop circles are patterns in fields that appear overnight, and which many people believe aliens make. Up close, a crop circle looks like somebody took boards and pulled them over the field to flatten the plants. From an aeroplane, a crop circle can look like a work of art.

When crop circles were found in southern England in 1978, nobody blamed aliens. Some people said vortexes (a kind of whirlwind), ball lightning, or plasma caused the designs. Some people think the patterns were caused by wind, heat, or animals. Others even think the military may be causing them when trying out a new weapon. It soon became clear that intelligent creatures were making these designs. Doug Bower and David Chorley claimed they made around 250 crop circles over many years. Now, people discover crop circles in many countries, including the United States, Australia, and much of Europe, but all of them are the work of pranksters.