Cover Image: August 2002 Scientific American Magazine See Inside

Crop Circle Confession [Preview]

How to get the wheat down in the dead of night















Share on Tumblr

SIGNS OF TERROR or just of human mischief? Wheat flattened in 1998 in Hubbard, Ore. The center circle is about 35 feet wide.

SIGNS OF TERROR or just of human mischief? Wheat flattened in 1998 in Hubbard, Ore. The center circle is about 35 feet wide. Image: DAVE OLSON AP Photo

On August 2, Touchstone Pictures released Signs, starring Mel Gibson as a farmer who discovers mysterious crop circles. Directed by Sixth Sense auteur M. Night Shyamalan, the movie injects otherworldly creepiness into crushed crops. The truth behind the circles is, alas, almost certainly more mundane: skulking humans. Herewith is the account of one such trickster.

I made my first crop circle in 1991. My motive was to prove how easy they were to create, because I was convinced that all crop circles were man-made. It was the only explanation nobody seemed interested in testing. Late one August night, with one accomplice--my brother-in-law from Texas--I stepped into a field of nearly ripe wheat in northern England, anchored a rope into the ground with a spike and began walking in a circle with the rope held near the ground. It did not work very well: the rope rode up over the plants. But with a bit of help from our feet to hold down the rope, we soon had a respectable circle of flattened wheat.


This article was originally published with the title Crop Circle Confession.



Subscribe     Buy This Issue

Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.

2 Comments

Add Comment
View
  1. 1. myteedogg 08:22 PM 2/5/08

    crop circles are not even worth writing about... they top the list of hum bug !! people that think aliens did them are morons and need to be in the nut house !!

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  2. 2. jack009 02:49 AM 7/29/08

    Crop circles are always made by some one to fool other people. It is not not made by any UFO or ETs. But crop circles are a real site to watch.

    =======================
    Jack
    Wide Circles

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Leave this field empty

Add a Comment

You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmerican.com member to submit a comment.
Click one of the buttons below to register using an existing Social Account.

More from Scientific American

See what we're tweeting about

Scientific American Editors

More »

Free Newsletters


Get the best from Scientific American in your inbox

Solve Innovation Challenges

Powered By: Innocentive

  SA Digital

Latest from SA Blog Network

  SA Digital

Science Jobs of the Week

Email this Article

Crop Circle Confession: Scientific American Magazine

X
Scientific American Magazine

Subscribe Today

Save 66% off the cover price and get a free gift!

Learn More >>

X

Please Log In

Forgot: Password

X

Account Linking

Welcome, . Do you have an existing ScientificAmerican.com account?

Yes, please link my existing account with for quick, secure access.



Forgot Password?

No, I would like to create a new account with my profile information.

Create Account
X

Report Abuse

Are you sure?

X

Institutional Access

It has been identified that the institution you are trying to access this article from has institutional site license access to Scientific American on nature.com. To access this article in its entirety through site license access, click below.

Site license access
X

Error

X

Share this Article

X