Circles on the field and other formations.

Circles in the fields - a term that denotes patterns in the form of rings, circles, and other geometric figures, formed on the fields by flattened plants. These patterns can be small or large enough that they can only be seen in their entirety from an airplane.

In addition to classic flattened ears of corn in the field, this phenomenon also includes burnt grass, geometric traces on the ground, snow, and other surfaces, including water.

This phenomenon is considered a fact if the above-mentioned traces were found at the scene, regardless of the presence of other phenomena (UFO landing site, fairy observation, etc.).

The first known mention of circles in England dates back to 1618 (chronicles contain mention of miraculously appearing circles in wheat fields), in the Netherlands - to 1503. The earliest documented mention is considered to be an English pamphlet from 1678 entitled "Mowing-Devil."

Mentions of areas of flattened wheat appear in the legends of various peoples, for example, in Russian folk tales, Mongolian folk tales, and many others with very similar story lines. Individual episodes of these tales were combined by P. Yershov into a richly adventurous tale "The Humpbacked Horse," written by him in 1834. Although none of these works mention clear geometric figures and only speak of flattened crops, they are often cited as evidence of the ancient origin of this phenomenon.

The first scientific study was published in the 22nd issue of the journal Nature on July 29, 1880.

However, the phenomenon was relatively unknown until the end of the 20th century, and sharply gained popularity in the early 90s. It was only in 1990 that about 500 figures were discovered, and in the following years their number exceeded several thousand. Starting out as simple circles, the figures became increasingly complex over time.

Modern "circles" are often very complex formations. For example, a figure discovered on August 14, 2001 in Wiltshire has a diameter of about 450 meters and consists of 409 circles. Today, several figures are registered every week, sometimes several in one day.

As of today, there are more than 5000 figures registered in 40 countries around the world. However, the majority of them are registered in close proximity to Avebury, Great Britain.

The phenomenon occurs in almost all countries. The most frequent mentions are found in England, but they can also be found in Japan, Australia, America, South Africa, Spain, Germany, France, Bulgaria, and Russia. They are encountered less frequently in other countries.

Classical manifestations of the phenomenon are considered to be the figures in cereal crops - rye, wheat, etc. Many researchers believe that the appearance of figures on other underlying surfaces is impossible, however, examples can be given:

• Italy, Brazil, Australia, and other parts of the world: pictograms appear among shrubs;
• Afghanistan: a group of geologists in the mountains discovered over 30 circle-pictograms in deep snow;
• Egypt, Red Sea: Charlotte Wusthoff from the cabin of a passenger plane discovered clear pictograms on the sand in a desert area of Egypt;
• Kharkiv: a ring with a diameter of 20.7 meters was found on the ice of the frozen Mzha River;
• Samara: two circles with a diameter of about 20 meters were found in a snowy field near the Kurumoch airport. This observation was made from the cockpit of a departing plane at low altitude. There were no traces of a person or equipment on the nearby snowy expanse, which completely rules out the artificial origin of the discovered circles.

Since the signs of authenticity only apply to formations in cereal fields, and such signs have not yet been developed for other cases, this article will consider the phenomenon of "circles in the fields" in its classic manifestation, on cereal fields as the underlying surface.

Until 1990, only very simple - mostly circular - formations were encountered. Since 1990, the complexity of the circles has increased, with the appearance of huge complexes of circles with various extensions. They were given the name "pictograms." Since then, pictograms have become more and more complex, gradually moving away from simple geometric shapes.

There are numerous hypotheses about the origin of circles. They are described in detail in Richard Taylor's article, which is largely dedicated to the history of the study of circles and considers many theories from the 19th century to the present day. All of these hypotheses can conditionally be divided into several categories.

Mystification

• In September 1991, British residents David Chorley and Doug Bower confessed to creating the circles. According to them, they made the first pattern in 1978, inspired by photographs of tracks left in wheat fields by agricultural machinery.
• A group of circle makers, founded by John Lundberg, demonstrated that it is possible to create almost any circles, including analogs of those recognized as authentic by cereologists.
• Joe Nickell, senior research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, claims that the circles have all the signs of hoaxes: they are concentrated in southern Britain, they become more complex over time (the skill of the creators is growing), the creators hide and remain anonymous. Objections to this hypothesis are based in part on the fact that careful studies of some figures show complex changes in plant structure that cannot be reproduced in the field. In addition, it is pointed out that some formations are large and complex, which does not match with the short time frame (one night) required for their creation.
• Agronomy luminaries claim that if a "knockout dose" of ammonium nitrate is applied to the winter crops within the circle in the fall, then from this nitrogen overdose, the plants within the circle will grow faster and reach such a height that the delicate stems will be flattened by the slightest breeze. They can be arranged in a spiral (this is exactly the pattern observed in "circles in the fields"). This was demonstrated by journalists from the Komsomolskaya Pravda in one of the private farms in the Moscow region in 2001. However, it is unclear how this method can create formations with clear boundaries and multiple layers of substrate in different directions.
• Richard Taylor believes that crop circle makers flatten the grass using microwave radiation. The main tools of the "artists" seem to be salvaged magnetrons from microwave ovens, powered by powerful portable batteries. And GPS navigation helps to set the steps. However, if the original article of Richard Taylor, to which reference is made in promoting this theory, is found, it turns out that it is more about the history of the study of circles than about the study itself. In the end, a reference is given to the research of the BLT Research Team, whose members allegedly managed to reproduce changes in plant structure using microwave radiation from magnetrons from ordinary microwave ovens. And scientists Haselhoff and Levengood even developed a model describing such processes. However, all this remains a theory, and it is still not possible to reproduce it in reality in a field. Moreover, using radiation will not create clear edges of the formation, which is one of the signs of authenticity. The author of the article does not even insist on such an origin of the circles, the article is purely an overview, simply mentioning the possibility of using modern technology (microwaves and GPS) by fraudsters in the creation of circles.

Natural causes

• One theory suggests that the circles are created by small whirlwinds that send strong air currents to the ground, flattening plants. Such whirlwinds are common in hilly regions of Britain.
• Dr. Terence Meaden of the Tornado and Storm Research Organization (TORRO, Wiltshire) believes that these whirlwinds have an energy charge (plasma vortex theory). Dust particles caught in the rotating charged air can emit light, which explains the glowing lights reported by witnesses. But the question remains how air vortexes can create such complex pictograms.
• As reported by The Washington Post, the California researcher Don Scott recently observed the appearance of mysterious circles in a rye field in southern England. Among his equipment were a radiation detector, infrared vision devices, cameras, and camcorders. Don Scott proceeded from the well-known fact that circles in laid crops have recorded the presence of radioactive isotopes. Therefore, before installing his equipment, he identified areas of the rye field that exceeded the normal radiation level with a radiation detector. Two weeks later, he found such an anomaly, and the waiting began. Several days later, at 1:57 a.m., the automatic infrared camera turned on. In the night vision device, Scott observed as ears of rye began to bend, forming a circle. By enlarging the image, the researcher saw small beings moving among the ears. They were not aliens from outer space, not mystical creatures from ancient Celtic legends. The circle builders turned out to be ants, a type of insect with primitive social organization. What makes the ants walk in a circle? According to Scott’s assumption, the direction of the ants' movement is determined by the Earth’s magnetic field. This theory does not line up with the history of the phenomenon and does not explain the places of occurrence of the circles, although it is considered to be the most plausible because "ants are found everywhere." It is also impossible to find a source that describes this theory and its research in detail.
• An employee of the All-Russian Electrotechnical Institute, Anatoly Arzayev, blames lightning:

We got inexplicable circles on the lawn of our institute 50 years ago, when no one talked about them at all, - recalls Anatoly Mikhailovich. - I and two other young employees were testing high-voltage equipment. The cable through which the voltage was being supplied was hanging about 10 meters above the ground. Suddenly it "short-circuited" - an artificial lightning struck the lawn. The grass on it lay in even circles clockwise.

Then we conducted several "experiments" specifically - we bent the grass in circles of approximately 5 meters in diameter. We wondered for a long time how this could happen. And we realized: the electric arc of lightning electrifies the vegetation - it becomes magnetic and turns as if into the stator of an electric motor. And the arc itself becomes the rotor. Rotating in relation to each other, the "parts" create a dynamic force that bends the vegetation.

• One of the latest theories explaining rectangular, square, and other simple formations lies in the uneven evaporation of moisture in the locations of ancient structures. The study was carried out by aerial archaeologists from the Royal Commission who deal with questions related to ancient and historical monuments of Wales:

The figures found in the fields, they claim, testify to various human activities in this region. The scorching heat helped greatly in this study. Grass due to the heat withered, and figures that could only be seen from the air began to appear on the landscape. In other cases, drought would have played a different role.

All this is because a large amount of moisture has accumulated in underground channels, created in ancient times artificially. Above them, the grass grows better, and around it burns out. This became the reason for the manifestation of signs. They resemble the mysterious circles in the fields. However, researchers also noticed square and rectangular structures.

In their opinion, the signs are the remnants of fortresses and castles, prehistoric farms, and houses.

Because of the heat, plants wither completely if they grew directly above ancient foundations - this prevents moisture from accumulating in the soil. Conversely, water accumulates in the artificial channels - in this case, the grass grows more and denser. In one way or another, the difference can only be noticed during long periods of drought.

Other Reasoning

• One of the assumptions is that the pictograms in the fields are traces of an alien intelligence. For example, traces from the landing of UFOs. Or, conversely, messages sent to earthlings from other planets. However, this theory lies on the same plane as the question of the existence of UFOs and other anomalous phenomena - scientific evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence has not yet been obtained, despite the fact that from a scientific point of view, its existence is very likely. Perhaps the reason for this is that scientific work on the search for extraterrestrial civilizations is currently focused only on a narrow area of the search for a radio signal of a certain frequency resembling an artificial one.

It is impossible to name one version that explains all "circles." As a rule, versions vary from case to case, from natural causes, such as whirlwinds, to obvious complex formations, created by a team of artists. For example, in 2007, one group called Circlemakers emerged from the shadows. They confessed to creating circles as advertising for commercial companies such as Nike, Pepsi, BBC1, and Greenpeace, as well as many other well-known circles.