Indonesia has become the home of the most recent crop circle in the world. The crop circle is only the second ever to have appeared in Indonesia, created in a rice paddy in Sleman, Yogyakarta. The design consists of several precise geometric shapes and patterns with a size of approximately 60 by 70 meters, or 197 by 230 feet. The crop circle has already attracted over 1,200 people to the scene and many thousands of others are expected to travel from all parts of the globe to witness it for themselves after it was reported in the early morning hours, local time, on Sunday the 23rd.The debates now are of course it’s origins. So let’s review a few facts:
- According to Fox News, residents of the area reported seeing what they thought to be a tornado the evening before over the area where the crop circle was discovered.
- The Jakarta Globe says that according to Thomas Djamaluddin, chief of astronomy research at Indonesia’s space agency, no investigation will be done on the crop circle simply because they ‘believe’ that there was human intervention with the crop circle and that no scientific or paranormal cause would be found anyway. Therefore, any trace evidence of radioactivity or electromagnetic activity won’t be discovered if it is in fact there.
- According to the Jakarta Post and TempoInteraktif.com, Nur Agustinus, co-founder of Indonesian UFO Enthusiasts Community (IUFOEC), the group has not yet found a meaning of the crop circle yet, however, they do believe it to be the work of extraterrestrials. Additionally, in an earlier article the Jakarta Post says that an anonymous statement was published on StudentMagz.com and Kompas.com stating that seven unnamed students from UGM enrolled at the Faculty of Mathematics and Science created the crop circle themselves to showcase the student’s design and mathematic skills.
- Asia One, a part of Asian News Networks, says that local police and military agencies are in fact looking into the event and believe it to be the result of either a UFO or a natural phenomena. They say that the Indonesian Air Force Chief Marshall, Imam Sufaat, instructed his staff to use helicopters to take aerial photographs of the crop circle and quote him as saying, “If we examine the photographs, we will possibly see if the patterns were in fact created with powers beyond human knowledge”.
- The International Business Times and other similar websites are discussing the event because the crowds are becoming so overwhelming for the small hamlet that the police have had to tape it off and farmers in the area are charging visitors and tourists making their way to the crop circle entrance fees onto their land to see it, making more money in a couple of days than they do all year from farming.
- Another Indonesian news source, Kompas, says that several villagers who live very close to the site are now confessing that they heard what they thought might be helicopters flying around and landing in the area. Two of them said they assumed they were military helicopters on a training flight and ignored the sounds.
- Other smaller and more independent news sources are reporting all sorts of people either taking credit or even accusing the local farmers of creating the crop circle themselves to profit from the ticket sales they’re now making money on.
- So what does this all mean and why is it such a big deal? Let’s break it down a little more. Residents apparently saw something, they claim was a tornado, but either way, several witnesses saw something happening in the area. The weather was not conducive for a tornado so that can be crossed off the list, but they still saw something in the area. Other people that were also very close to the area say they heard helicopters. Was this the sound of what the other villagers saw or was it in fact military personnel attempting to locate a UFO? Or was it something entirely different?
- The fact that so many people are claiming the work as their own tells me something as well. More than likely, none of them did it. These are people simply trying to get attention and win their 15 minutes of fame. Mainly because they’ve come forward too soon. If this truly was a hoax, the hoaxers would have waited a little longer before letting the news out and the anonymous students claiming their work, in my opinion and others who seem to share my thoughts, is more than likely a disinformation campaign to simply calm the nerves of those who may be frightened by the prospect of a UFO event in the area. Additionally, for those who know about rice paddies and their construction, etc., the possibility of any human, specifically a group of humans, would not have been able to achieve a feat like this because it was created on water and there were no other traces of boats having gone out to the area, specifically any other broken plants or other tell tell signs.
- No matter what, something spectacular has happened. The debate about the origin of crop circles still rages. While some circles have been in fact hoaxed, others have never been claimed which leaves many to speculate that it wasn’t a hoax or the person or people involved would have wanted to take some sort of credit for their hard work at some point or another. Additionally, many crop circles do in fact emit electromagnetic and/or radioactive energies where there was none before and have been known to create physical symptoms in people investigating or visiting the crop circles including ringing in the ears, dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, and other peculiar signs of abnormal energy at the site.
So what do you think? The latest ‘whodunnit’ has begun. We’d love to hear what you have to say!
