Challenge 1: Crop Circles

On the 15th August 1980 the Wiltshire Times carried a report of three strange circular marks, each 20m in diameter, which had appeared in fields of oats near Westbury in England.

Since then there have been hundreds of similar formations - with single circles as large as 60m across and complex pictograms 150m long. Each year the formations have become more numerous, more complex, and more difficult to explain.

We now know:

• the formations are non-random, precise and large
• the formations have been reported in many countries - including Australia
• apart from being bent (not broken) vegetation shows very little, if any, damage and in many cases continues to grow
• in many cases there are no signs of any physical disturbance inside or outside the formations that indicate a physical presence or even access to the formation - no footprints in wet or dry soil, no damaged vegetation
• anomalies often associated with formation include changed magnetic fields, high pitched sound, and altered crystalline structure of plant matter
• formation designs and locations are purposeful

There are those that say it‘s all very simple: it‘s just whirlwinds; or it‘s just a fungus; or it‘s just hoaxers; but these glib answers add little to discussion and often just insult one‘s intelligence. Of course there are some (poor) formations that have been created by hoaxers, but to suggest that this accounts for all formations is to close one‘s mind to something that might be trying to open it!

So what are we seeing? Are the formations caused by

• some new technology being applied by an unknown (international?) organisation?
• alien technologies applied by beings floating in extra-terrestrial craft?
• psychokinetic (mind influencing matter) activity applied by unknown physical or non-physical beings?
• Earth‘s response to new energy patterns said by some to be currently affecting the planet?
• other?

If the location and design of the formations is being directed by a being or beings, what is their purpose in doing so? Perhaps we are being deliberately challenged with a puzzle - the solution of which leads us in turn to challenge our own knowledge of the world, our assumptions, our beliefs?

And if we are being challenged, why is it in such an obvious and insistent way - last year alone more than 400 formations were reported - many so large that their design could only be fully appreciated from the air. Perhaps it is because many of us have ignored less obvious challenges in the past?