# Crop circles: how do those guys make such intricate patterns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894 "2014-02-21T17:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/21 "2014-02-22T04:44:37Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Yeah, but someone would have talked by now to explain how they did it. Has anyone ever confessed to creating a crop circle? šŸ˜› > **[Ā¤ c i r c l e m a k e r s Ā¤](http://www.circlemakers.org)** > > circlemakers: Home of England's crop circle makers. Making the world a more interesting place. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/22 "2014-02-22T06:00:10Z")
Maybe something like how this guy does his beach art? > **[Artist Tony Plant Creates Epic Sand Etchings on England's Beaches Using Only...](https://inhabitat.com/artist-and-surfer-tony-plant-creates-epic-sand-etchings-on-englands-beaches/)** > > Environmental artist Tony Plantā€™s giant sand drawings transform Englandā€™s beaches into intricate temporary canvases. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/23 "2014-02-22T06:25:33Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > Dude, you are my hero. Keep it up!!! Sadly, I donā€™t need the possible legal trouble and have stopped. It was certainly fun, but it takes some practice, and itā€™s hard on the legs. Iā€™d compare it to wading for a few hours in a lake as every step requires more effort because youā€™re pushing the plank down, and thereā€™s resistance from the crop. Circles also take some effort to get right. Because itā€™s easier to push the wheat down alongside a prior pass, you start drifting in that direction. You really have to watch that edge. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/24 "2014-02-22T11:46:10Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > [http://www.circlemakers.org](http://www.circlemakers.org) Yes, I am familiar with their work but they never explain HOW they actually do it. Theyā€™re a pretty well known group, and have produced several circles to order for TV commercials etc (I remember they did one for Weetabix). So thereā€™s no doubt they can do it, but it still boggles my mind how they can make such beautiful and precise patterns of such size in such a short time. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/25 "2014-02-22T12:21:34Z")
This section is a good read: [Ā¤ c i r c l e m a k e r s Ā¤](http://www.circlemakers.org/freddy.html) And this: [Ā¤ c i r c l e m a k e r s Ā¤](http://www.circlemakers.org/guide.html) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/26 "2014-02-22T12:27:47Z")
The farmer we buy hay from has a cornfield maze every year that is extremely challenging. He designs them on his computer and with graph paper so that the maze contains a hidden design, recognizable from the air. [Check out his designs and discussion.](http://www.gearhardfarms.com) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/27 "2014-02-22T22:34:48Z")
Does the corn recover? Seems a bit mean otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![MikeRosePro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@MikeRosePro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeRosePro)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/28 "2014-02-23T08:37:16Z")
In the case of a scientifically-established genuine crop circle: How does your board-flopping crew get **each stem of crop** to grow a new node at ground level? When examined close-up, the lower part of the stem remains uprightā€¦ the rest of the stem is found as if itā€™s **always** been growing parallel to the ground. The bend in the stem looks as if the plant was trained to grow that way. There is **no sign** of a broken stem. The other hugely significant point in Richā€™s vids, link below, is this: YES thereā€™s a contract team of artist types, paid handsomely to make fake crop circles. In fact most circles will be unmistakably done by board-flattery. Only perhaps 1 on 20 crop circles will be authentic, with grown-bent stems as I described. So why would MI5 or was it MI6 bribe students huge sums to create fakes? (The Team Leader lives in an expensive unmarked Govt apartment in Dockland) Hereā€™s an idea: say you want to hide something, something so huge you canā€™t easily stuff it in a luggage locker. Best to hide it in plain sight, right? Get your workers to create fakes ā€¦ the word gets round that crop circles are fakes. When a real circle appears, most people will automatically say itā€™s them board-hoppers at work, and people will be less inclined to look at what you donā€™t want them to see. I personally wasnā€™t in the least interested in the topic precisely because I assumed the phenomenon is all hoax. The Powers That Be nearly succeeded in keeping me off the track, so to speak. Thank goddess I watched Richā€™s video, and learned about each stem regrowing as if instantaneously. Smart decoy tactics? I think so. Just not smart enough. Then there is the super-curious evidence that the genuine crop circle artist comes along under cover of darkness, and ADDS its own circle artwork to the fake from the Ministry. Believe it or Ripley not šŸ†’ I have no idea who or what or how is the real circle creator BTW I have my suspicions, but you have more than enough to checkā€¦ or to scoff at. (check Richā€™s video at [http://www.richplanet.net/detail.php?dbindex=207](http://www.richplanet.net/detail.php?dbindex=207) ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/29 "2014-02-24T17:57:06Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Actually, very hard considering that creators of the Nazca didnā€™t have paper or advanced degrees in the mathematics and graphic design. And since they couldnā€™t see how their finished works looked from the air, they had to ā€œguessā€ how it might have looked upon completion. Well they werenā€™t stupid were they? You donā€™t need math or paper. You draw a figure in the dirt small enough that you can see it. Use string to lay out a very basic grid noting the distance between important points in the figure and scale up. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/30 "2014-02-24T18:30:45Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Must have been very quiet and not brought any flashlights or lanterns. Sounds carries and a light can be seen for miles away at night. Well, no doubt if the farmer did live right next to the field, and was sitting up on his roof all night looking and listening for circle-makers, the circle-makers would indeed have to be incredibly stealthy. But I suspect most farmers sleep at night and/or live a moderate distance from most of their fields. (And circle-makers do have the ability to scout out a field and make sure thereā€™s no house right next door, you knowā€¦) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/31 "2014-02-24T18:37:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **MikeRosePro** : > > In the case of a scientifically-established genuine crop circle: > How does your board-flopping crew get each stem of crop > to grow a new node at ground level? I donā€™t know what you mean by ā€œscientifically-established genuine crop circleā€. If you go out and look and see that, yup, thereā€™s a crop circle out there, thatā€™s scientific verification that itā€™s genuine. But to answer your question, if you happen to want your crop circle to look weird in some particular way, all you have to do is to arrange for the first person to investigate it to be an ignorant big-city reporter who doesnā€™t know anything about wheat, and who will therefore think anything he sees looks weird. Or even simpler, donā€™t bother arranging that at all, since itā€™s likely to happen anyway whatever you do. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/32 "2014-02-24T18:52:40Z")
> [@MikeRosePro](#): > > snip So youā€™re saying the people making the fake ones are just there to make sure we donā€™t catch on to the aliens? Also, anytime someone says ā€˜thank goddessā€™ I make sure to doubly believe anything they say. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/33 "2014-02-25T00:51:06Z")
I will admit to wondering how long it would take before we got a Feb 2014 registration date into this thread. I presonally welcome our secretive crop-circle making alien overlords. They have a lovely sense of artistic and mathematical beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/34 "2014-02-25T05:23:52Z")
Standard woo reaction to any given instance of woo being debunked is to say, ā€œOh yeah, sure, _that_ instance is fake/scientifically explicable etc but there are _other_ instances where it totally is caused by aliens/deities/supernaturalā€. Of course, this could be true. Itā€™s just that you have to wonder how many instances have to be proven to have a perfectly ordinary explanation before you become sceptical of all instances. ---
**Author:** ![MikeRosePro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@MikeRosePro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeRosePro)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/35 "2014-02-25T07:54:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I donā€™t know what you mean by ā€œscientifically-established genuine crop circleā€. If you go out and look and see that, yup, thereā€™s a crop circle out there, thatā€™s scientific verification that itā€™s genuine. > > But to answer your question, if you happen to want your crop circle to look weird in some particular way, all you have to do is to arrange for the first person to investigate it to be an ignorant big-city reporter who doesnā€™t know anything about wheat, and who will therefore think anything he sees looks weird. Or even simpler, donā€™t bother arranging that at all, since itā€™s likely to happen anyway whatever you do. If you bothered to read the part where I mention that a ā€œgenuine crop circleā€ stem shows a different growth node compared with the simple bend or break of e.g. a faked circle stem, would you have something serious to add? You immediately rush to say ā€œBut to answer your questionā€ but then leave us completely in the dark as to what you thought my question was. Iā€™d be the first to agree my typing may well confuse you expert crop-circle board walkers ā€¦ therefore I provided a link to a well-thought-out video which even I found quite intelligible. If youā€™d care to check the vid ā€¦ Iā€™d look forward to your further comments. Thanks. šŸ†’ ---
**Author:** ![MikeRosePro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@MikeRosePro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeRosePro)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/36 "2014-02-25T08:01:33Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > So youā€™re saying the people making the fake ones are just there to make sure we donā€™t catch on to the aliens? > > Also, anytime someone says ā€˜thank goddessā€™ I make sure to doubly believe anything they say. SOME, maybe most, of the professional fakirs are paid BY certain higher authorities who are very keen to distract (y)our attention from the genuine thing (you said aliens: my lips are sealed. Thank goddess) šŸ†’ ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/37 "2014-02-25T11:53:07Z")
> [@MikeRosePro](#): > > SOME, maybe most, of the professional fakirs are paid BY certain > higher authorities who are very keen to distract (y)our attention > from the genuine thing > (you said aliens: my lips are sealed. Thank goddess) šŸ†’ So do you think itā€™s aliens or not? If not, what is it? Donā€™t be shy now. Donā€™t give us any of this ā€œlips are sealedā€ malarkey: that will send you straight to the box marked ā€œyou ainā€™t got nuthinā€™ā€. I think we all learned to be sceptical about that ploy in grade school. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/38 "2014-02-25T12:05:42Z")
WikiHow: [How to make a crop circle](http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Crop-Circle) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/39 "2014-02-25T12:24:39Z")
> [@MikeRosePro](#): > > Iā€™d look forward to your further comments. Thanks. šŸ†’ Simple yes/no question. Have you been abducted? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894/40 "2014-02-25T12:42:46Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Does the corn recover? Seems a bit mean otherwise. Some farmers offset the losses by charging people to come look at the crop circle, but the corn will be damaged (or at least made harder to harvest) which can cost up to Ā£1000 a circle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crop-circles-how-do-those-guys-make-such-intricate-patterns/681894.md?page=3)