Is Sound Creating Crop Circles? Part 1 by Freddy Silva

Crop circles are not new. Over 10,000 have been catalogued since the early 1900s, with dozens of eyewitnesses even reporting crop circles forming in a matter of seconds as far back as 1890; several descriptive accounts were even documented in 1678 by Robert Plot, then curator of the Ashmolean Library in Oxford. So, if hoaxers are behind this phenomenon, it would appear they have mastered the art of time travel, in which case it is they who should be under scientific scrutiny.

The anomalous features associated with this phenomenon appear to fall outside the normal feats of humans: plants bent an inch above soil and gently laid down in precise spiral forms with no physical signs of damage; light burn marks at the base of the stems, altered cellular structure and soil chemistry, alteration of the local electro-magnetic field, depletion of the local watershed, and dowsable, long-lasting energy patterns, not to mention measured effects on the human biological field.

So much, then, for two guys and a plank of wood. By definition, hoaxes are forgeries, and forgeries require originals from which to copy. So what unknown force creates the genuine crop circles? One answer may lie with sound.

Sound has traditionally been considered a prime Universal force in the creation of matter, as echoed in all the world's faiths and traditions: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God', St. John reminds us. Hopi and Navajo traditions assert that in ancient times shamans would utter words onto sand and create patterns, a concept not dissimilar to the Hindu mandalas which are said to be expressions of the breath of God. Consequently, the Eastern faiths—Islam in particular—chose sacred geometry to express the image of God, a practice later applied in Gothic cathedrals to enhance their acoustics and, as discovered recently, to stimulate heightened states of awareness.

Sacred geometry lies behind the atomic structures of plants and crystals, and these geometric rhythms share similar harmonics to those found in the pure music scale. Even that primeval sound, OM (from which is derived our modern term 'hum'), when sung into a tonoscope produces geometric shapes attributed with 'sacredness'. Physical reality, it seems, is governed by geometric arrays related to sound frequencies.

In 1992, Prof. Gerald Hawkins found four geometric theorems in the relationships of elements in crop circles. More significantly, he discovered a previously unknown fifth theorem from which he could derive the other four. Despite an open challenge to over half a million mathematicians, none were able to create such a theorem. Interestingly, shortly after Hawkins’ discovery, his fifth theorem materialized as a crop circle in southern England.

As the expression of number in space, geometry is inextricably linked to music, since its laws govern the mathematical intervals that make up the notes in the western music scale—the diatonic ratios. Since Hawkins' theorems also produce these ratios, a link now exists between crop circles and musical notes, which are the by-product of sound frequency. Soon, crop circles bearing unmistakable associations with sound began to appear. One contained a curious ratchet feature from which is constructed a musical diagram dating to the Egyptians, the Lambdoma. Later known as the Pythagorean Table, it defines the exact relationships between musical harmonics and mathematical ratios.

Then, an unusual formation at Goodwood Clatford in 1996—in which the barley plants were bent six inches from the top— gave the proverbial nod to sound, for here was a representation of a cymatic pattern.

Cymatics is the study of vibrational wave patterns. One of its earliest pupils was Margaret Watts-Hughes who, in 1891, captured precise geometric patterns on film as she sang sustained notes into a device containing lycopodium powder. But it would be another seventy six years before Swiss scientist Hans Jenny published the first of his painstaking studies on the transmission of sound through liquids, using monitored electronic frequencies.

He observed how sound vibration created geometric shapes: a low frequency produced a simple circle encompassed by rings, whereas a higher frequency increased the number of concentric rings around a central circle. As the frequencies rose so, too, did the complexity of shapes, to the point where tetrahedrons, mandalas and other sacred geometric forms could be discerned. Like Margaret before him, Jenny enabled humanity to observe 'frozen music'.

Jenny also provided a connection to the creation of crop circles since many of the vibrational patterns in his experiments mimic their designs. Some are blatant imitations, such as the circle surrounded by concentric rings typical of early 1980s patterns; the tetrahedron at Barbury Castle in 1991; even the highly structured star fractals of 1997. Other images demonstrate the geometry that is invisibly encoded within the crop circles.

Visually, then, the connection is undeniable. But what evidence is there to link sound and crop circles at a physical level?

Many accounts exist of a trilling sound heard by witnesses to crop circles forming. The reports describe a sudden stillness in the air, the early morning birdsong superseded by a trilling sound and the banging together of wheat heads despite an absence of wind. A whole section of crop then lays down in spiral fashion, the whole episode lasting less than fifteen seconds. Researcher Colin Andrews came across the trilling noise himself when, in mild frustration during his search to find an answer to the phenomenon, he beseeched the heavens: "God, if only you could tell me how these things are created”. The reply he received was eventually captured on magnetic tape. Subsequent analysis at Sussex University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory concluded the noise was mechanical in nature and vibrating at a frequency of 5.0-5.2 kHz.

Whilst recording an interview inside a crop circle the same trilling sound was captured by a BBC cameraman shortly before it rendered his $50,000 camera obsolete. Interestingly, when the sound made another appearance inside another formation it exhibited qualities of non-linear movement, and behaved in tandem with specific requests, sometimes on a psychic level. Since it also has the ability to transmit on radio frequencies and interfere with electronic equipment, birds and insects can be ruled out.

Interestingly, the Aborigines relate to this trilling sound. During their ceremonies to contact—in their words—the sky spirits, a 'bora' (a specially-shaped piece of wood attached to a long string) is whirled, creating a noise practically identical to the crop circle hum. One has to wonder where the inspiration for this device came from, who these sky spirits are, and what on earth made the timeless Aborigines associate this noise with them. That was until it was discovered that not only have crop circles appeared in Australia, but their manifestation figures in Aboriginal lore, just as their geometries appear in rock paintings.

Mar/Apr 2003

Is Sound Creating Crop Circles? Part 1

by Freddy Silva