Editing Crop circle (section)

==== Paranormal ====
[[File:Colour sketch of a spaceship creating crop circles.jpg|thumb|Sketch of a "spaceship" creating crop circles, sent to UK [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] circa 1998]]

Since becoming the focus of widespread media attention in the 1980s, crop circles have been the subject of speculation by various [[paranormal]], [[ufological]], and [[Anomalistics|anomalistic]] investigators, ranging from proposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from [[extraterrestrial beings]].<ref name="csicop" /><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5777580/Mayan-apocalypse-crop-circle-appears-at-Silbury-Hill.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5777580/Mayan-apocalypse-crop-circle-appears-at-Silbury-Hill.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title= Mayan 'apocalypse' crop circle appears at Silbury Hill |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date= 8 July 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Haselhoff1">{{cite book |author= Eltjo Haselhoff |year= 2001 |title= The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research & Urban Legends |publisher= Frog Ltd |isbn= 1583940464}}</ref><ref name="clark1">{{cite book |author1= Jerome Clark |author2= Nancy Pear |year= 1995 |title= Strange and Unexplained Happenings: When Nature Breaks the Rules of Science |publisher= [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |volume= 3 |isbn= 0810397803 |url= https://archive.org/details/strangeunexplain0000unse }}</ref> There has also been speculation that crop circles have a relation to [[ley line]]s.<ref name="Haselhoff1" />{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=138–139}}<ref name="faussett1">{{cite book |author= Charles Godfrey-Faussett |year= 2004 |title= England |series= Footprint Travel Guides |isbn= 1903471915 |url= https://archive.org/details/footprintengland00godf }}</ref>

Some paranormal advocates think that crop circles are caused by [[ball lightning]] and that the patterns are so complex that they have to be controlled by some entity.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page=138}} Some proposed entities are: [[Gaia hypothesis|Gaia]] asking to stop [[global warming]] and human [[pollution]]; [[God]]; supernatural beings (for example Indian [[Deva (Hinduism)|devas]]); the collective minds of humanity through a proposed "quantum field"; and extraterrestrial beings.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page=138}}

Responding to local beliefs that "extraterrestrial beings" in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing, the Indonesian [[National Institute of Aeronautics and Space]] (LAPAN) described crop circles as "man-made". {{ill|Thomas Djamaluddin|id}}, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LAPAN stated, "We have come to agree that this 'thing' cannot be scientifically proven." Among others, paranormal enthusiasts, ufologists, and anomalistic investigators have offered hypothetical explanations that have been criticised as [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] by [[scientific skepticism|sceptical]] groups and scientists, including the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]].<ref name="vidal guardian">{{cite news |author= John Vidal |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jun/05/ruralaffairs |title= The bizarre revival of crop circles – and advice on how to make your own |newspaper= The Guardian |date= 5 June 2009}}</ref><ref name="nickell1996">{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |author-link= Joe Nickell |journal= [[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date= June 1996 |volume= 6 |issue= 2 |url= http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research |title= Levengood's crop-circle plant research |ref= {{harvid|Nickell|1996}} |access-date= 31 March 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100309051544/http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research/ |archive-date= 9 March 2010 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name="levengood1994">{{cite journal|author=W.C. Levengood |year=1994 |url=http://icircle.home.xs4all.nl/dcircles/Levengood_Physiologia.htm |title=Anatomical anomalies in crop formation plants |journal=[[Physiologia Plantarum]] |volume=92 |pages=356–63 |issn=0031-9317 |doi=10.1111/j.1399-3054.1994.tb05348.x |issue=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128201931/http://icircle.home.xs4all.nl/dcircles/Levengood_Physiologia.htm |archive-date=28 January 2012 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Krismantari">{{cite news|author=Ika Krismantari |url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/6/focus/7978671&sec=focus |title=Crop circles provide food for thought |newspaper=[[The Star (Malaysia)|The Star]] |date=6 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030122405/http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F2%2F6%2Ffocus%2F7978671&sec=focus |archive-date=30 October 2012 }}</ref> No credible evidence of extraterrestrial origin has been presented.