Large patterns of flattened crops and other plants, crop circles are breathtaking when viewed from above. But that doesn't mean they have extraterrestrial origins.
Media Drum World/Alamy Stock PhotoA crop circle in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, perhaps no term was more commonly associated with UFOs and extraterrestrial visitation than “crop circles.” As the name suggests, crop circles are massive, circular areas of flattened crops — usually wheat or corn — or other plants, which depict seemingly intentional shapes and other images when seen from above.
Crop circles amazed many people due to the large size of the indentations and the images they depicted. It’s little wonder why they led to speculation about alien craft landing on Earth. After all, some indentations appeared to mark where “saucers” had once rested. And others seemed to be messages from extraterrestrial beings — like those used in the thriller movie Signs.
But in the early 1990s, as crop circle fever was reaching its boiling point, two drunk Englishmen proved that it didn’t take an advanced civilization or technology beyond humanity’s comprehension to create crop circles.
In fact, all it required was a bit of liquid courage, heavy planks of wood, and some rope. Today, crop circles are far less likely to be seen as a “phenomenon,” and they’ve evolved into more of a pop culture motif than anything else. In 2018, Spotify even conducted a viral campaign to promote country artists by creating “crop circles” of their likenesses.
Despite this, some ufologists insist that at least some crop circles were made by “nonhuman” beings. However, the evidence isn’t as convincing as paranormal enthusiasts may have hoped. That said, believers and skeptics can agree on one thing: Crop circles are stunning forms of landscape art.
The First Historical Mention Of Crop Circles
Interestingly enough, the earliest known historical mention of a crop circle — albeit not by that specific name — emerged in 1678, well before the age of science fiction and a widespread fascination with worlds beyond our own. The reference appeared in a pamphlet from England entitled "The Mowing-Devil: Or, Strange News out of Hartford-shire."
According to the pamphlet, a disgruntled farmer was engaged in an argument with one member of his hired help. During the argument, the farmer told the worker that he would rather the Devil mow his field than pay the worker to do the job. Then, the next night, the pamphlet claimed:
"And lo it fell out, that that very Night, the Crop of Oats ſhew'd as if it had been all of a Flame, but next Morning appear'd ſo neatly Mow'd by the Devil, or ſome Infernal Spirit, that no Mortal Man was able to do the like. Alſo, How the ſaid Oats ly now in the Field, and the Owner has not Power to fetch them away."
The British Library/Public DomainThis 1678 pamphlet is often described as the first historical reference to crop circles.
In other words, the farmer's crops had been mowed in the shape of spiraling circles that were so precise it would have been impossible for an ordinary man to complete them in one night. The farmer, so disturbed by what had transpired, dared not disturb the perfectly mowed circles.
This chilling story left the people of 17th-century England as baffled then as people would be hundreds of years later, when they heard about the bizarre flattening of crops in farmers' fields once again.
The Tully UFO "Nests," Australia's First Big Encounter With Crop Circles
References to crop circles or possible crop circles were relatively scarce before the 20th century. And it wasn't until the 1960s that the modern idea of a crop circle became an international phenomenon.
In 1966, an Australian banana farmer named George Pedley allegedly witnessed something bizarre on his property near Tully. Pedley claimed to have seen a "flying saucer" lifting off — leaving behind a large, circular area of flattened plants in the exact same spot where the UFO had landed.
Dubbed a "saucer nest," Pedley's crop circle was not an isolated incident. All around the Tully region, locals began reporting more saucer nest sightings, including cane farmer Tom Warren and schoolteacher Hank Penning.
Queensland State Archives/FlickrA news headline speculating about the "Tully nests" that appeared in 1966 in Tully, Queensland, Australia.
"Had anyone asked me five days ago if I believed in flying saucers, I'd have laughed and thought they were nuts," Pedley told a local news correspondent. "But now I know better. I have actually seen a spaceship."
These alleged sightings of saucer nests are believed to be some of the first modern references to crop circles as places where UFOs purportedly landed.
The first reported "nests" were rather simple in design — circles, nothing more. But years later, increasingly complex crop circles made their debut.
When Crop Circles Started To Appear Across Southern England
About a decade after the Tully nests appeared in Australia, farmers across southern England began to notice similar patterns in their own fields.
It started in Wiltshire, England. There had been much buzz about flying saucers in the region, with the town of Warminster gradually becoming a hub for "sky watches" — events dedicated to searching the skies for UFOs.
Naturally, rumors began circulating, and those who had heard about the UFO nests in Tully claimed that the phenomenon had made its way to England.
When a striking crop circle appeared in the country in 1976, it seemed that the rumors were true. But in reality, this saucer nest had more Earthly origins — it had been created by two men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley.
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock PhotoDoug Bower, the famous crop circle creator who started a phenomenon in England with his friend Dave Chorley.
Bower and Chorley had been inspired to create their own saucer nests after discussing the Tully nests over a few pints at a local pub.
And according to the Smithsonian Magazine, they quickly put their plan into action. One night in 1976, Bower turned to Chorley and said, "Let's go over there and make it look like a flying saucer has landed."
The two men did their work at night — after all, they wouldn't want to be caught stamping down a farmer's crops — and the next morning, news spread across southern England that strange circles had appeared in a wheat field. Many believed they had been the work of extraterrestrial visitors.
How Doug Bower And Dave Chorley Pulled Off A Prank That Fooled A Nation
Doug Bower and Dave Chorley's earliest "nests" were simple. The two men used planks of wood with ropes attached to both ends to stamp out the "circles" in the fields, holding the ropes with their hands while pressing down on the planks with their feet. But once they got used to this process, the pranksters started creating more complex and striking crop circles.
The patterns started to take on intricate shapes — all planned ahead of time by the Englishmen — leading to further speculation about the supposed meaning behind them. Ufologists tried to decipher the "alien language" that was apparently being pressed into the fields, while other theorists turned to even stranger explanations, suggesting that Mother Earth herself was trying to send messages to humanity through the crop circles.
All the while, Bower and Chorley were laughing it up. Each time a new crop circle was "discovered," Bower and Chorley would be among those in the crowd, marveling at their own handiwork and how they had fooled people.
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock PhotoDoug Bower demonstrating how he and Dave Chorley made their famous saucer nests.
In due time, copycat crop circles began emerging all over the world.
Doug Bower and Dave Chorley finally confessed to being the masterminds behind the "extraterrestrial" phenomenon in 1991 — a full 15 years after they started — when they spoke to a reporter named Graham Brough.
"I spent a week getting them to show me how they had done it all, and I have never laughed as much in my life," Graham Brough later recalled in an interview with The New York Times. "The prevailing wisdom at the time was that aliens were about to land any day, but it had all been kicked off by these two blokes who'd have a couple of pints at their favorite pub and then head out into the night to have a bit of fun."
Bower and Chorley's confession came as a massive shock to ufologists who had been writing about crop circles and their supposed meanings for years. Such was the case with author Pat Delgado, who had once claimed that crop circles were certainly a sign of a "higher intelligence."
To Delgado's credit, when he was presented with the truth, he admitted that he had been fooled, and even recognized Bower and Chorley since they were always among the first to arrive when a new crop circle was found.
That said, not everyone came around quite as easily as Delgado.
Why Some People Still Think Certain Crop Circles Were Created By Aliens
Rob Irving, a fellow crop circle creator who started his handiwork in 1989, summed it up best: "The people who wanted to keep believing in aliens and everything else just ignored the evidence, no matter how obvious it was."
Some authors, like Delgado and his co-author Colin Andrews, had made quite a good living writing about crop circles throughout the years. Naturally, some of these authors would want the phenomenon to continue.
Colin Andrews/FacebookUfologist and author Colin Andrews, who claimed to have invented the term "crop circles" in 1983.
Andrews has claimed that people like Irving, Chorley, and Bower have caused harm with their antics. He pointed out that there is no proof that all crop circles are manmade, and even if they are, he insisted that those who created them were "prompted by an independent nonhuman mind."
Meanwhile, across the pond, the Independent Crop Circle Researchers' Association in the U.S. and the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network have been established to further investigate crop circles in North America (although the last major in-person investigation in the U.S. was in 2012).
The international fascination with crop circles seemed to slowly trickle off around the turn of the century, but some still argue to this day about their nature, with a newer theory connecting crop circles to ley lines — invisible pathways that allegedly link historic sites around the world — though the efficacy of that argument largely depends on whether you believe in ley lines in the first place. Some have also compared crop circles to the mysterious Nazca Lines, which are groups of 2,000-year-old geoglyphs in Peru.
Amazingly, people are still creating crop circles, and they remain a draw for curious tourists today, many of whom simply want to see stunning landscape art. As recently as July 2023, the BBC has reported that a large number of these circles are still appearing in Wiltshire — 380 since 2005.
While most paranormal enthusiasts today admit that many crop circles are definitely manmade, some also contest, perhaps hopefully, that some of these circles could have been created by beings from another planet.
After this look at crop circles, check out some of the most famous hoaxes to ever fool the world. Then, see more of the world's coolest crop circles.
