Are crop circles man-made or a genuine mystery. Here's some of the best evidence for a paranormal phenomenon.
WEAVING
Researchers have long contended that the plants in genuine circles are weaved together in a particular way when they are flattened. Hoaxers have supposedly not been able to duplicate this pattern. "The plants are masterfully overlapping each other, and gently spiking into the standing crop in a spoke effect creating the circle," says Urn Greene at "Crop Circles: Fingerprints of the Gods?". "This is an effect that is not achieved by simply stomping on the plants with a board and or a garden roller, two tools commonly used by hoaxers to create fakes."
ELONGATED NODES
Joseph E. Mason at "Arguments Against the Hoax Theory of Crop Circles" says that there is a distinct difference between crops that are bent in genuine circles and those bent by hoaxers. With photos to support his claim, Mason says: "The bent node of the plant from inside a [genuine] crop formation is elongated yet undamaged. Plant stems bent by people via mechanical means appear damaged and do not have the elongated nodes."
BLOWN NODES
Many plants inside genuine circles also have "blown nodes," according to Mason.
DRIED GROUND
The soil beneath crop circles often appears inexplicably dehydrated, even after heavy rain.
INCREASED SIZE
Dr. Eltjo H. Haselhoff, Ph.D., a former employee of Los Alamos National Laboratories, noted these alterations in crop circle plants in his research: "It was discovered that the plant stems inside these formations had increased in diameter, as an effect of intensive heating, with an astonishing circular symmetry. Moreover, this effect perfectly matched the radiation pattern of an electromagnetic point source at a height of four meters and ten centimeters above that field." This finding, he says, supports the contention that the formations were created by the "balls of light" (see below) that witnesses have claimed to see at crop circles.
BENT UNBENDABLE PLANTS
Some plants just should not be able to be bent, say some researchers. "Crop circle formations often appear in canola (oil seed rape) fields," says Joseph Mason. "This plant has a consistency like celery. If the stalk is bent more than about 45-degrees, it snaps apart. Yet, in a 'genuine' crop circle formation, the stalks are often bent flat at 90-degrees. No botanist or other scientist has been able to explain this, nor has it ever been duplicated by a human being."
ALTERED SEEDS
Tests by some researchers have shown that seeds planted from crops that were part of crop circles grow abnormally. Biophysical Effects found in Crop Formation Plants by BLT Research says that the seed-heads (barley) from the 1992 formation at Barbury Castle are "stunted and seedless." Some crop circle plants also produce seeds that are noticeably smaller than normal plants.
CROP YIELD
At the other end of the spectrum, "Peculiarities of Crop Circles" says that some farmers have experienced increased crop yield in fields in which formations have appeared: "In 1997, Tim Carson who farms East Field (where the 'DNA' formation appeared in 1996) reported to researchers that his yield was up 30-40%."
CELLULAR CHANGES
There are microscopic changes as well, Joseph Mason says, and provides photos that show the differences. It isn't explained what the differences mean, however. BLT Research also shows photos that depict an unexplained cell wall enlargement in a crop circle wheat plant.
