Episode 13 – Crop Circles and Wasted Wallabies
Hello, hello, hello! Come on in and let's talk about CROP CIRCLES! We have a listener and guest, Peter's brother, Joey. Welcome, sir! And we are diving into all things crop circle: the why, the how, the when, and the who. Join us as we delve and everything comes full...circle.
See what I did there?
Yeah.
STOP! INSIDE JOKES AHEAD! If you haven’t gotten to listen to the episode yet, spoiler alert! This post contains lots of stuff that will make waaay more sense if you listen to the episode before or while reading. So if you haven’t already, pump the brakes and listen to the episode or just click above to play so that you can be in on all the shenanigans to follow!
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Produced by Peter Woodward
LISTENER STORY ALERT!!
Welcome our special guest and listener, Joey! He gave us a story about his own home in which he has either a haunted room, haunted furniture, or a haunted girlfriend. Whatever it is, seems like there’s some strange going on in there. And we’re all about that!
And do you really have to disclose a haunting for a house sale? Fun FACT time! In two states (New York and New Jersey) there are actual stipulations to notify potential buyers of paranormal activity!
Here’s an article about that!
https://krbhk.com/are-sellers-required-to-disclose-that-their-house-is-haunted/
CROP CIRCLES!
Crop circles are areas of patterns in fields of crops that are flattened into various shapes creating a large image. The patterns are often geometric and have been found in planting fields, deserts, and even under water in locations all over the world. While a vast majority of current crop circles in existence have been proven to be manmade, there is a significant number of these beauties that have yet to be explained. They are a phenomenon that has been occurring for centuries, and they continue today to inspire dispute about how in fact they come to be.
So what causes these beautiful and massive patterns that often appear overnight? Several theories exist:
Ball lightning...the swamp gas of the sky
Ball lightning is in itself a topic of dispute as to whether or not it actually exists. It is a literal ball of lightning produced in a thunderstorm that flies down like a meteor and creates…perfectly geometrical patterns in crop fields? Hmm…
A twister, Auntie Em?
A popular theory is that crop circles are created by tornadoes, water spouts, or dust devils. Essentially…freaky wind phenomena. This was supported by none other than Stephen Hawking who basically stated that crop circles are either hoaxes or made from vortexes of air.
Magnetism
Another theory is that Earth’s magnetic fields create crop circles. This is thought to happen by the magnetic fields essentially fluctuating and “electrocuting” the plants until they fall down, thereby forming the patterns.
More info here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/some-crop-circles-created-by-magnetic-fields-710744.html
When animals get...like...super high...
LOL. This is fun. Confirmed: In Tasmania, wallabies apparently routinely gorge themselves on poppy flowers and get real stoned. Poppy flowers are used to produce opium, and once these little dudes start eating them, they begin jumping around the fields in circles until they wear themselves out and lose consciousness. 😀
Hey, wallabies. Just say ‘No’.
NBC article about these critters:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31539546
But of course...
Of course, here at The Strange Woods Podcast, we likey the alien theory! It’s aliens, bruh. Aliens.
Here are the images we referred to of a crop circle creation in action…
Whoa.
Peter discussed the Tully “saucer nest” incident in 1966 in Queensland, Australia that is arguably the most famous modern crop circle report.
This incident was reportedly the inspiration for the two men in England that admitted to creating numerous crop circles in the 1970s, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley. They claim they did it all with a few simple tools: rope, a wooden plank, and wire.
So if crop circles are created by aliens, what is the purpose? What do they mean?
Are they galactic street signs?
Are they messages from extraterrestrial life forms?
Are we being warned about decreasing lithium and melatonin levels in the environment diminishing our progeny like this Dr. Kroth, Ph.D. thinks?
Questions, questions, questions.
Some other stuff we discussed...
Nazca Lines
Giant geoglyphs in the southern Peru desert: cool. These things have been around since 500 BCE. They are images of things like birds, monkeys, and spiders and are thought to have been created by the Nazca people, though their exact purpose is still unknown.
Read all about them here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines
Pufferfish flexing for the ladies...
Where are “underwater crop circles” coming from? The latest theory is its all about the hook-up. Male pufferfish apparently have now been documented as the creators of these beautiful formations in the sand. They swim in circles and knock the sand around to impress the lady fish. Nice flex.
Green circles in the Egyptian desert...
So…not crop circles. But cool to look at. Created by irrigation systems that pivot around a central well source, these bad boys can be seen from the International Space Station!
Fairy rings and fairy circles
We talked about fairy circles, which are in fact called fairy rings. Fairy rings are rings of mushrooms that are thought in legend to be from the fae or faerie folk and possess magical powers. We used the term interchangeably with fairy circles, which is in fact something else: barren patches of no vegetation.
These cool things are in the desert in Namibia in southern Africa. And just like crop circles, the hot debate is ‘how do they occur?’ Multiple theories exist: sand termites, plant toxins, naturally-occurring competitions between grasses (whaaa? like chess or arm wrestling, but with grass?), hydrogen deposits, and of course, the lore of the Himbra people that they are footprints of the gods.
Japanese forest crop circles...
So these cedar trees in a forest in Japan were apparently planted approximately 50 years ago as a forestry experiment. The result is this unbelievably cool-looking, perfectly circular pattern of forest that was spotted overhead from an airplane and photographed. The aim of the experiment was to study tree spacing and its effect on growth.
Read more about it here!
https://earthlymission.com/mysterious-crop-circle-forest-japan-50-year-old-experiment/
Definitely man-made...
But awesome nevertheless. This colorized crop circle in Indiana depicts the character Eddie Munson from the amazing Netflix show Stranger Things. If you haven’t seen it…why? What are doing with your life? Go watch the show.
Alright, everybody! Another one down! Let’s ask the questions:
Is there a Secret Society of Crop Circles? A Crop Circle Cult? A Crop Circle Illuminati?
Are Slenderman and Hatman Joey’s new roommates?
And, finally, what resources can we offer these wallabies to get them off the junk? Is there a wallaby rehab? Can we do a Kickstarter for that?? Send us your money to help the wallabies, dude. Don’t be so selfish.
Thanks for stopping by! We are so grateful and happy to have you here. Do your best not to be an opium addicted marsupial. When life gives you lemons, make crop circles. And as always, stay strange!
Some articles and sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_circle
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/90937/crop-circles-in-sharq-el-owainat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_(arid_grass_formation)
Peter’s wife. Registered nurse. Uber-fan of The Strange Woods Podcast.
