Mysterious Suburban Chicago Crop Circles

NBC 5 Chicago ^ | 7/26/02 | NBC 5 Chicago

[Dengar01]

Timing Suspicious On Mysterious Suburban Crop Circles
Could Eerie Mystery Have To Do With Movie Release?

Is it a case of mysterious crop circles -- or an elaborate movie hoax?

A soybean farmer in Naperville said the broken, concentric rings that appeared in a field off Diehl Road left him scratching his head.

"Have you ever heard of something so crazy?" Steve Berning said. "Unbelievable."

Berning said the circles appeared last weekend and damaged more than 10 percent of his 8-acre field.

The circles do resemble similar ones seen in England, but in this case, the timing of their appearance in the western suburb is a bit suspicious.

Two weeks from now, "Signs" hits the big screen. The movie starring Mel Gibson involves -- you guessed it -- mysterious crop circles.

William Leone, an investigator with the Mutual UFO Network, said soil analysis could determine whether the circles have human or extraterrestrial origins.

But Illinois Farm Bureau spokesman Dennis Vercler scoffed at that idea.

"Since I don't believe in UFOs -- at least not soybean-destroying UFOs -- I have to assume whoever did this did it intentionally as a malicious prank," Vercler said.

Meanwhile, Berning doesn't seem overly upset about the circles.

"There's some damage, which upsets me," Berning said. "But I'm more curious than anything. I"ll always be asking questions."

[general_re]

When the Seventh Planet is in the house of Cancer, a visit from the mysterious ones shall come...

[RightWhale]

that was not so obvious

A couple of things to look for:
An unsymmetric piece in the design that in a perfect mathematical graph wouldn't be quite like that
Crude patterns in the grass as laid down as opposed to what was left standing.

Been a draftsman for a long time. You get so you see the rough edges and don't worry so much about artistic content.

[balrog666]

Hmmm, that was not so obvious to me. If you were going to do such a thing, how would you do it? I've seen the shots of admitted hoaxers doing their trade, but it always seems like their efforts result in circles that look like crap. What I haven't seen yet, is to have these guys do it real time, in front of witnesses, and produce something like #9.

Why would you assume they would do it without planning it out first?

BTW, a simple Spirograph-type setup would produce #9.

[Wrigley]

"Who do you think makes them?"

Really bored Cubs fans.

Because White Sox fans aren't that creative.

[anymouse]

Couldn't be a publicity hoax. A major star, Mel Gibson get's conned into doing a turkey movie, "Signs" about crop circles, and magically crop circles appear the day the movie opens? Mere coincidence I'm sure. /sarcasm

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Why would you assume they would do it without planning it out first?

Of course not. What I'd like to know is how they're doing it.

BTW, a simple Spirograph-type setup would produce #9.

Great. But all i've seen is a couple of guys with boards and ropes who couldn't make a decent circle if they're lives depended on it. Plus, they damage the crops and leave footprints. When I think of obvious, that's what I'm thinking about.

[mhking]

From the high prarie and the great American midwest...

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

That makes sense. I look for sloppiness, too, but you've got a better eye for it. These guys must be really, really good, who did #2 and #9. Regular Joes would do a half-assed job and be spotted a mile away.

[Orual]

Cute picture of Katie.

Two weeks from now, "Signs" hits the big screen. The movie starring Mel Gibson involves -- you guessed it -- mysterious crop circles.

Gee, this couldn't be a...whatchamacallit?...that publicity stuff, could it? Nah.

[Momaw Nadon]

Impressive.

It looks even better when viewed from a higher altitude.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

I have no idea as to the origins, but to make such designs as #9 (beautiful work) would require much more than just good planning. For instance, since the 'makers' can't see their work from ground level, how do they maintain symetrical layout in something so elaborate? Whoever does these, not only don't spend much time walking around and surveying the site, but they apparently do it all for free.

[general_re]

Cute picture of Katie.

I always try to show her in the best possible light...

Gee, this couldn't be a...whatchamacallit?...that publicity stuff, could it? Nah.

Heresy. It must be aliens, hungry for tofu and other fine soybean products....

[sphinx]

Anybody who still believes that somebody named Al and Fritz sneak out at night and make all of these crop circles, most of which, nowadays, are incredibly complex, has their brain on hold.

Nowadays? Y'mean alien signalling is evolving? Scary.

A couple of guys in England got a lot of play two or three years back when they confessed to several they had done. Some of their work was quite elaborate. Perhaps someone here can outline the technique involved ....

[general_re]

Not hard to replicate, though. A good, long piece of rope, something to flatten the stalks, and four or five cooperative friends is all you'd need to do it in an hour or two. You could really do it all alone if you weren't in a hurry and you had some stakes, but having at least one other person help would let you avoid leaving evidence in the form of stake-marks...

[Larry Lucido]

Move along, nothing to see here.

Well, okay, there IS something to see here. I just wanted to say that, and someone always beats me to it.

[general_re]

Some of their work was quite elaborate. Perhaps someone here can outline the technique involved ....

I could tell you, but then my alien masters would...let's just say I'd "disappear". ;)

It's not nearly as hard as you might think - like I said in #55, the equipment you'd need is strictly bare bones stuff...

[Orual]

How to make crop circles.

How to make really complicated crop circles.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Crop circles? I don't pretend to know what causes them, but I do know that a couple of guys with some rope and a plank couldn't make most of the ones I've seen. They are just too precise, too intricate, too large and they appear too quickly (overnight). You tell me how even a crew of people could create one of these in one day, in broad daylight! Seriously, I bet you couldn't get a team of contractors to produce some of the ones I've seen, they were just enormous, covering acres of land. And this happens overnight in every case that I'm aware of, so the parameters are:

A: Crews of people
B: Working at night during mostly summer months with short nights, sometimes less than eight hours
C: Creating enormous artistic works that are amazingly precise in their execution
D: Creating their works in a single night in every case
D: Without ever being detected!

There has never been a farmer who ran into a crew of vandals cutting crop circles into their fields. Not one that I'm aware of.

Are there prank crop circles? Sure there are. But there are a whole lot of them that just defy that explanation. I don't have an answer but I ain't buying the "prankster" explanation.

[MissAmericanPie]

Well my hat is off to the college kids or whomever did this. I would hate to see the mess I would make trying to form a crop circle to be viewed from above that would look like anything other than a bowl of pasta...with sauce.

I take issue with calling it a malicious act, I don't think it was intended as such. Just kids having fun.