Editing Crop circle (section)

=== Human origin ===
The scientific consensus on crop circles is that they are constructed by human beings as hoaxes, [[advertising]], or [[Crop art#Crop circles|art]].<ref name="bbc">{{cite web |date=9 August 2000 |title=Magnetic 'solution' to crop circle puzzle |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/872142.stm |access-date=30 September 2015 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The most widely known method for a person or group to construct a crop formation is to tie one end of a rope to an anchor point and the other end to a board which is used to crush the plants. It is also possible to bend grass without breaking it, if it has recently rained—a method that was used to create crop circles in Hungary in 1992.<ref name="randi-1995" /> Skeptics of the paranormal point out that all characteristics of crop circles are fully compatible with their being made by hoaxers.<ref name="csicop">{{cite journal |author=Joe Nickell |date=September–October 2002 |title=Circular Reasoning: The 'Mystery' of Crop Circles and Their 'Orbs' of Light |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/circular_reasoning_the_mystery_of_crop_circles_and_their_orbs_of_light/ |url-status=live |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=26 |issue=5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206012813/http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-09/crop-circles.html |archive-date=2006-12-06 |ref={{harvid|Nickell|2002}}}}</ref><ref name="randi-1995" />

Bower and Chorley confessed in 1991 to making the first crop circles in southern England.<ref name="Taylor2011"/> When some people refused to believe them, they deliberately added straight lines and squares to show that they could not have natural causes. In a copycat effect, increasingly complex circles started appearing in many countries around the world, including [[fractal]] figures. Physicists have suggested that the most complex formations might be made with the help of GPS and lasers. In 2009, a circle formation was made over the course of three consecutive nights and was apparently left unfinished, with some half-made circles.<ref name="Taylor2011"/>

The main criticism of alleged non-human creation of crop circles is that while evidence of these origins, besides eyewitness testimonies, is absent, many are definitely known to be the work of human pranksters, and others can be adequately explained as such. There have been cases in which researchers declared crop circles to be "the real thing", only to be confronted with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud,<ref>{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |author-link= Joe Nickell |title= Crop-circle mania: An investigative update |journal= Skeptical Inquirer}} Cited as reference 6 in {{harvnb|Nickell|1996}}</ref> such as Bower and Chorley and tabloid ''Today'' hoaxing Pat Delgado,<ref name="today91"/><ref name="economist91"/> the Wessex Sceptics and [[Channel 4]]'s ''Equinox'' hoaxing Terence Meaden,<ref name="Ridley"/><ref name="economist91">{{cite news |title= Flattened. (crop circles hoax) |magazine= [[The Economist]] |location= US |date= 14 September 1991 |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11247968.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130515213014/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11247968.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 15 May 2013 |url-access=}}</ref> or a friend of a [[Canadians|Canadian]] farmer hoaxing a field researcher of the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network.<ref>{{cite news|title=Farmer embarrassed by crop circle hoax |agency=[[Canwest News Service]] |date=2 October 2007 |work=canada.com |url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c363e5a1-ce48-488b-bd21-9f3943e2d952&k=60192 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018061250/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c363e5a1-ce48-488b-bd21-9f3943e2d952&k=60192 |archive-date=18 October 2013 }}</ref> In his 1995 book ''[[The Demon Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]'', [[Carl Sagan]] concludes that crop circles were created by Bower and Chorley and their copycats, and speculates that [[UFOlogists]] willingly ignore the evidence for hoaxing so they can keep believing in an extraterrestrial origin of the circles.{{sfn|Sagan|1997}} Many others have demonstrated how complex crop circles can be created.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/2R89.html |title=Faking UFOs |author=Roel Van der Meulen |publisher=Roel Van der Meulen |year=1994 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123033522/http://galactic-guide.com/articles/2R89.html |archive-date=23 November 2011 }}</ref> ''[[Scientific American]]'' published an article by [[Matt Ridley]],<ref name="Ridley">{{cite journal |first= Matt |last=Ridley |author-link= Matt Ridley |title= Crop circle confession |journal= [[Scientific American]] |date= 15 July 2002 |volume=287 |issue=2 |page=25 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0802-25 |bibcode=2002SciAm.287b..25R | url = http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=crop-circle-confession | access-date = 2007-08-16|url-access= subscription }}</ref> who started making crop circles in northern England in 1991. He wrote about how easy it is to develop techniques using simple tools that can easily fool later observers. He reported on "expert" sources such as ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' who had been easily fooled, and mused about why people want to believe [[supernatural]] explanations for phenomena that are not yet explained. Methods of creating a crop circle are now well documented on the [[Internet]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=How to Make a Crop Circle: 15 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow Life |url=https://www.wikihow.life/Make-a-Crop-Circle |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=www.wikihow.life}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-05-13 |title=Author Benjamin Myers on the crop circle makers who 'blew people's minds' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61332202 |access-date=2023-10-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |title=Crop Circles: The Art of the Hoax |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crop-circles-the-art-of-the-hoax-2524283/ |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

Some crop formations are paid for by companies who use them as advertising.<ref name="vidal guardian"/>{{refn|group=n|name= "Cohen2008"}} Many crop circles show human symbols, like the heart and arrow symbol of love, and stereotyped alien faces.{{refn|group=n|The website Crop Circle Research.com described one formation stating, "It looks reminiscent of a fake dummy constructed by 'Balok' in a Star Trek episode called '[[The Corbomite Maneuver|Corbomite Manourvre]]'{{sic}} (series 1)' or the logo of local soccer club [[Feyenoord]]".{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=143–145}}}}

Hoaxers have been caught in the process of making new circles, such as in 2004 in the Netherlands.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=143–145}}