I mentioned on another thread that I was assigned to write in the Supernatural column for Tryo!, my school's magazine. I just finished it so I'm sharing it with all of you. Tell me what you think, please
Is it a Hoax?Earlier this year, a movie dealing with crop circles came out: Signs. It raised an interesting question: what are crop circles, really? In the movie, they were used as a guide as to where the aliens should land. It was mentioned in the film, by a skeptic on the radio, that many people were just copying what one person had done. He supposes that one person was bored, and decided to scare his neighbors, and made a design in a field. Other pranksters most likely borrowed his idea, and a chain reaction of sorts was set off. As a result, many crop circles sprouted up practically overnight, which seemed impossible to have been by any other means than "alien".
In the real world, however, crop circles are not nearly as highly publicized. There are no "Breaking News" reports that interrupt television shows or sporting events to tell us the latest happenings in the world of the unknown. It might have to do with the fact that we are not currently experiencing an alien invasion, or perhaps more people these days just don't consider the paranormal. In order to get information for this article alone, it was necessary to compile information from dozens of websites. In the end, however, the site Supernatural Zone proved to be the most helpful.
The first crop circle was reported in 1972. Arthur Shuttlewood and Bryce Bond were sitting on the slope of Star Hill, near Warminster, England. They were hoping to see a strange unidentified flying object that had been spotted in that area of England frequently for nearly a decade. They were skeptics when they first went to that hill, but they saw something that changed their minds forever. About a hundred feet away from where they were relaxing and star gazing, a large circular area of plants suddenly collapsed. There was no one else around and no reasonable explanation on to how this phenomenon occurred.
Since then, there have been about eighty eyewitness accounts similar to Shuttlewood's and Bond's reaching as far away as British Columbia. Each crop circle has reportedly taken less than twenty seconds to form and is often accompanied by unusual lights shining on the field the night before the crop circle actually takes shape. Though eighty eyewitnesses don't seem like much in the span of thirty years, these are not the only signs of crop circles. There have been over 9000 reports of crop circles from all over the world, about 90% of which all come from England.
Now, were all these crop circles real? Could all of these crop circles been done by a normal Joe in just an elaborate hoax? In the early 1990's two elderly men, Doug and Dave, came forward and proclaimed that they had done them all just for fun. They said they did them all with a couple of planks, some string and a baseball cap. It seemed as if they had fooled the world. Even though these two men had come forward and confessed to doing all the crop circles people did not believe them. The men would have had to have been in several places at once and have done the crop circles in a matter of seconds. Colin Andrews of Circles Phenomenon Research International interviewed the two men in hopes for them to renounce their confession. It was finally proven that there was no physical way for the two men alone to have done it. Not only is it nearly, if not completely, impossible to bend rapeseed oil plants and not break them in the process, the circles spanned many miles. Later, it was speculated that the British Ministry of Defense, with the help of the CIA, forced Doug and Dave to come forward to calm the masses.
How can you tell if a crop circle is real? In real crop circles the stems are not broken in anyway, they are bent at a ninety-degree angle about an inch above the ground. In order for this to happen, they must be hit by quick intense heat. The heat would cause the stems to soften and bend, once the heat dissipates the stems harden once again and their new bent position becomes permanent.
Now that the facts have been provided, what should you believe? There are many skeptics that would swear that crop circles are just made by some "punk kids" as a cry for help, or even by locals in a rural town for fame and fortune. There are also those true believers that will tell you no matter what that aliens are among us. Millions of people could come forward, claiming to have made the crop circles that are currently in existence and these believers would just think that the government put them up to it. Are crop circles real? The signs shall show you the truth.
yeah, its kind of long...
Of course the beginning part about the Supernatural column always throws me; as I'm waiting to hear about Superman. 
But anyones' guess is as good as mine. 
