Crop Circles Were Just The Beginning

About a year ago I put up a brief post that featured a picture of a decorative crop circle, but I thought I’d revisit the subject today for a couple of reasons. For one thing I now have the slideshow gizmo at my disposal, which allows me to show a whole series of pictures instead of just one. But I also thought I’d dig a little deeper into something that was first thought to be signs from aliens or some other mysterious source, but has ended up turning into something else. As you can see below, we can now enjoy a plethora of imaginative patterns that serve purposes ranging from pure decoration all the way to advertising gimmicks.

But even if crop circles now take a lot of forms, it seems that the originals first began to appear in Great Britain back in the 1970s, mostly in the general area of the mysterious and ancient Stonehenge monuments. In fact, even though crop circles — or formations, as they’re more properly called — can be found all over the world, the Brits still have the most, by far. The guys who supposedly started it all confessed a few years later, but even now secrecy is often involved. Still, many of the designs are openly created by individuals or groups, in some cases using basic methods like dragging boards or lawn rollers through the greenery. And — like most things in recent years — the practice has spawned contests, TV shows, and websites, with lots of sponsors involved.

Larry Clinton & Orchestra – “Studies In Green”