For anyone paying attention, crop circles have been in the news for decades. Reports were so common in the 1990s that, at that time, many people stopped paying attention. Still, there are mixed explanations for these unusual occurrences.

Crop circles, also called crop formations or corn circles, are patterns created in certain crops, usually cereals like corn, wheat, or barley. Coined “crop circles” in the 1980s, some theorize that crop circles merely appear from natural causes like severe wind, or are man-made, while others attribute them to alien origins. Most crop circles are created overnight, but that’s not always the case. Crop circles are not to be confused with different crop formations known as cropmarks. Cropmarks are buried archaeological sites that are visible from the air and are usually square or circular and appear in the same locations year after year.

Crop-circle enthusiasts call themselves cereologists, or "croppies," after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Most cereologists believe crop circles to be the work of extraterrestrials or some kind of plasma vortex. While there has been very little scientific study of crop circles and no official UFO evidence to date, the number of crop circles has increased worldwide since the 1970s. Designs in the United Kingdom have appeared near roads in areas of medium to dense populations and near monuments like Stonehenge and Avebury. Apparently, crop circles might be a phenomenon that has been around for centuries. In 1678, a news pamphlet called The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News Out of Hartford-shire was published. It is claimed to be the first distributed news article addressing crop circles, although the details within the publication show differences from modern crop circles.

Taner Edis, a professor of physics at Truman State University, speculated that crop circles fall within the range of events that tend to be hoaxes. In 1991, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claimed they created many crop circles throughout England as a hoax. Generally, crop circles are viewed as hoaxes. Scientists have identified methods where people can flatten or bend crops. Newer suggestions posit that GPS and lasers are used to attain the accuracy seen in many crop circles. Additionally, some hoaxers have been caught in the act of creating crop circles.

Although scientists are generally firm in their belief that all crop circles are hoaxes, they haven’t been able to definitively determine that all were manmade. Alternative theories exist for how the remaining formations are created. Of note, weather, magnetism, and the paranormal are included theories. The paranormal theory, of course, leaves the field wide open. The most popular belief by the masses is that crop circles are of alien origin. The media, such as grocery store tabloids have heavily influenced this widespread belief. Still, until definitively proven, anything is possible, even extraterrestrials making pretty pictures in our food supply.