This 46-minute segment of the PAX-TV series Encounters with The Unexplained takes a look at the phenomenon of crop circles, recently given new fame with the popularity of the movie Signs.. Since the late 1970s, people in England and elsewhere in the world have been mystified over the geometric shapes (usually in circles) pressed down into fields of standing crops, usually grains like winter wheat. Some who live in the areas where these have appeared claim to have seen silvery discs in the skies at night. Others remember witnessing beams of light shining down from above on the fields.
The official response of the British government has been to state that the crop circles are the result of a natural phenomenon: whirl winds. In 1991, two Englishmen came forward and claimed to be behind a gigantic hoax perpetrated upon the public. The media gobbled up their story of having created these intricate and oftentimes beautiful geometric designs by using boards and walking around in circles. Other explanations for the crop circles have included the wayward impact of satellites or microwave technologies.
Some who have studied this phenomenon closely, including research scientists, have put forward the hypothesis that they are the work of extraterrestrials. They cite mineral changes in the soil under the crop circles as an indication of some kind of outside force affecting them. They also question whether even a large group of hoaxers could make so many circles, especially on the same night.
Many of these artistic and intricate designs are in the same area as Stonehenge and other artifacts from ancient cultures that have been linked to astronomy. Some crop circle followers go so far as to say that alien beings have created them as a way to give us additional information which may prove helpful for the survival of the planet.
One thing is for sure, the mystery surrounding the over l000 crop circles that have turned up all over the world, has deepened with each passing year. There is no single explanation that speaks to the breadth and complexity of this phenomenon.
Purchase: Grizzly Adams Productions