Blog #4: Research Proposal

A Working or Tentative Title

        The Hidden Messages of Crop Circles

Topic Description

        I will explore the creation of crop circles and how they are viewed by people depending on how they were created. Crop circles have been around for a long time and have evolved in their complexity and purpose. There have been many debates regarding the creation of many crop circles and whether extraterrestrials played a role in it. In my research, I have come across books by Jerry Kroth that suggests that crop circles with no manmade evidence show signs of hidden messages that warn the human population about potential threats. Along with viewing the side of extraterrestrials, there is a common link between crop circles and humans and how it has led to many creations to be an expression of art.

Research Question

        Crop circles have been around for a while and have evolved throughout the years. How have crop circles evolved, and how do humans view crop circles based on the debate of who was behind the initial creation?

Theoretical Frame(s)

        One of the primary analytic terms applied to understanding how people view crop circles is “hoaxers” and “extraterrestrials.” There are many ongoing debates on whether aliens have had a hand in some crop circles that show no indication of being created by humans. Crop circles have been around for a while and have evolved into intricate designs and purposes. Many believe that crop circles are a message from extraterrestrials, whereas others believe that hoaxers are behind the crop circles.

        From the readings, some ideas that I have gotten that will be useful for my analysis are the connection between the crop circles and how they are interpreted. Jerry Kroth, in his book Messages from the Gods: A Scientific Exposition on the Extraterrestrial Origin of Crop Circles, takes the aspect of extraterrestrials related to crop circles and decodes the hidden message within. Korth interprets 40 crop circles and mentions, “These indeed are messages from the gods” (Kroth). Each hidden message is unique and alerts to potential harm to humankind. Whereas Kroth takes an aspect in relating crop circles to extraterrestrials, Lucy Pringle, an English researcher, “believes that many crop circle formations are due to natural causes”(Steiger). As a result, there are two aspects to my question that I am going to elaborate on. My question is how crop circles are viewed based on how they have been created, whether human-made or by extraterrestrials.

        The topic of crop circles is long debated when it comes to the initial creation, which is why I was drawn to this topic. As more crop circles are developed, they are being portrayed with more complexity. Crop circles have evolved as a whole in their message and purpose and have been a form of art growing more interest.

Case(s) or Examples

        Nuclear Reactor

               A crop circle that Kroth mentions is the crop circle found near Oldbury nuclear reactor on July 18, 2010. This crop circle portrays two large circles that have rings around them, which a physician says represents the electron shell of an element that is radioactive, specifically polonium, astatine, and cesium. The two smaller circles represent the electron shell of the radioactive element, beryllium. Close to a year after this crop circle had been discovered, an incident occurred, which led to the plant's closing. Containments of polonium, astatine, and beryllium were found at the site. Kroth believes that the hidden message behind the crop circle had been that these elements can be a threat to the planet and society. I will be able to use this case in supporting the aspect of extraterrestrials having a hand in the creation of crop circles and how people view the message.

        Processor Advertisement

            Near Salinas, California, a crop circle had shown up in a field without anyone knowing who had made it. The crop circle was a design of a processor which had a hidden clue in it, the number 192 in Braille. Word had come out that the crop circle was an advertising method to get the word about the new Tegra K1 processor with 192 graphic cores. Nvidia, the company, wanted to spread the word about their processor that “can do things no other technology — on this planet” (Nvidia). This case of crop circles being used as a form of advertising will help me explore my question's human use and perception aspect. It adheres to how crop circles have evolved and become more complex, and have more purpose.

Working Bibliography in MLA 8 format

Donald R. Prothero, and Timothy D. Callahan. UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says. Indiana University Press, 2017.

Kingsbury, Paul. “Go Figural: Crop Circle Research and the Extraordinary Rifts of Landscape.” Cultural Geographies, vol. 26, no. 1, SAGE Publications, 2019, pp. 3–22, doi:10.1177/1474474018814991.

Kroth, Jerry. Messages from the Gods: A Scientific Exposition on the Extraterrestrial Origin of Crop Circles. Genotype, 2019.

Taylor, Richard. “The Crop Circle Evolves.” Nature, vol. 465, no. 7299, NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, 2010, pp. 693–693, doi:10.1038/465693a.

“The UFO Mystery Grows.” Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained, vol. 3, 2003, pp. 290–301.