Crop Circles

      Imagine a golden cornfield in the light of a sunset. Just another perfectly normal night sets in on the perfectly normal field. But overnight, the field transforms into something not so perfectly normal. In the morning, it is covered with precise circles, geometric figures and intricate designs.

      Crop circles are not ALWAYS just circles. And they are not always abstract. Like the Nazca lines, they can be pictures of something...

 

The 'season' for crop circles is from April to September, the growing season of crops.

No one has ever seen crop circles being made. They are unbelievably large and precise, made in a very short span of time(usually overnight). There are accounts of UFO sightings before the appearance of crop circles, but of course, these have not been proved to be true. Some say the circles are a result electrocution of crops due to shifts in magnetic fields. Many are hoaxes, but there are also many which have reason to be considered genuine. Some patterns hint strongly at profound geometrical theorems.

Now, scientists have found changes in the biological structure of grains of crops inside the circles. These tend to show stunted growth. These effects extend even to the following year's crop, subtly marking the past crop circle. This suggests that there is more to it than simply the physical bending of plants.

Spiritual research suggests that genuine crop circles are made by spiritual beings with the purpose of transmitting either positive or negative energy. This energy spreads to people when the grain from crop circles is consumed.

Some people, though, prefer to hold on to the Alien Theory. So before I finish this article, here's some food for thought:

This is the face of an alien with a message in binary code. What do you think of THAT?

You may find the YouTube video concerning this(and other) circles interesting. Follow the link on the left.

Ball Lightning

      Everyone knows that thunderstorms are almost always accompanied by lightning strikes. However, ball lightning is a much rarer phenomenon associated with thunderstorms. It basically a sphere, disk, rod or oval (and many other shapes) of radiating flames or sparks, 'usually' with a diameter of 10-20cm. It usually appears at the same time as normal lightning, moves unpredictably for upto a minute and then disappears. But, there is a catch- ball lightning can ALSO appear when there isn't a storm for miles around!!

      

                                              
                                                    Natural Ball Lightning, Netherlands

      Some reports claim that the ball lightning moves even through closed doors and windows, either harmlessly or melting the material. It even appears inside aircraft. Sometimes, it moves along metal wires and is attracted to metal objects as electricity would be. The lightning disappears with a pop or a great explosion, or even silently, leaving behind an odour of sulphur.

                                                                                             
Researches have been able to produce similar conditions in laboratories, mostly using microwaves.

Ball lightning could be the source of many mythological legends involving luminous balls. Science has not been able to pinpoint the EXACT reason behind them or their composition, but there are a number of interesting hypotheses.

• Some effects of ball lightning imply extremely high density. So, it is suggested that the phenomenon could be caused by microscopic black holes moving through the earth's atmosphere.
• It could be caused by the condensation of high energy atoms due to normal lightning. This is called the Rydberg Matter Concept.
• Another possible explanation is antimatter meteors being destroyed by atmospheric molecules.

Some have actually attributed this phenomenon to tricks of our own brains! They say that the occurence of multiple lightning strikes at a place produce rapidly changing magnetic fields that can excite the neurons of the brain. This may cause visual hallucinations and people just think they see ball lightning. But then, what about the physical damage reported in some instances of ball lightning?

Nazca Lines

     The Nazca Lines are huge geoglyphs (geo=earth; glyphs=images) in the Nazca Desert in south Peru. They include not only simple lines, geometric figures and abstract irregular designs, but also pictures of humans, birds, flowers, trees, spiders, monkeys, fish, whales, jaguars, lizards, etc.     Physically, the Lines are only about 20cm deep trenches in the red pebble-covered ground, exposing the grey-white ground underneath. They are believed to have been made between 500BC and 500AD. They span across nearly 500sq.km and the largest figures are more than 270m across. The Nazca Lines were first spotted by Peruvian archaeologist, Toribio Mejia Xesspe, in 1927.

Spider

Hummingbird

Dog

Monkey

       Of course it wouldn't have been easy for such an ancient people to construct the Lines without the aid of flight or other sophisticated technology. However, WHY they were made is a tougher question. Some theories go-

"The geometric ones could indicate the flow of water or be connected to rituals to summon water. The spiders, birds and plants could be fertility symbols. Other possible explanations include irrigation schemes or giant astronomical calendars." (from wikipedia)

"...they are not shapes of constellations, but of what might be called counter-constellations, the irregularly shaped dark patches within the twinkling expanse of the Milky Way." (from wikipedia)

      Some say the Lines are connected to star alignments and represent constellations. The straight lines may have been used to track the movement of stars across the sky. They could have been related to religious worship and rituals. It has even been suggested that the Lines were giant looms used to weave the long-thread textiles that were used as mummy shrouds by ancient South American civilizations. However, the 'Giant' or 'Astronaut', as some call it, continues to baffle everyone. The figure is humanoid and seems to be wearing a space helmet- BUT, the Nazcas were not supposed to have known about space travel. This, and other unearthly figures bring in the idea of alien influence.

 

Giant/Astronaut

Hands- (or what?...)

      No one has yet been able to interpret the individual figures. No single theory completely explains the mystery of the Nazca Lines.