'Crop circles' suddenly appear near small Wash. town
SEATTLE (AP) — Mysterious crop circles have appeared in an eastern Washington wheat field — not far from the nation's largest hydropower producer — but area farmers preparing for the summer's harvest find the distraction more amusing than alarming.
"You can't do anything other than laugh about it," said Cindy Geib, who owns the field along with her husband, Greg. "You just kind of roll with the theory it's aliens and you're special because aliens chose your spot."
Friends called the Geibs on July 24 when the pattern of flattened wheat was spotted off Highway 174, about five miles north of the town of Wilbur. The field is about 10 miles south of the Grand Coulee dam, which the Bureau of Reclamation says is the largest hydropower producer in the United States.
The circles resemble a four-leaf clover and remind Cindy Geib of Mickey Mouse ears. The design knocked down about an acre of their wheat. Some of it could be salvaged by combines when the harvest starts in a week or two, she said, but some will be lost.
"Of course, we don't have alien insurance," she said.
Crop circles have been a worldwide phenomenon for decades, and this is not the first one in Lincoln County. Similar circular patterns were left in crops in the Wilbur area in 2010 and in 2008 or 2009, Geib said.
Lynne Brougher, public affairs officer for the Grand Coulee dam, hadn't heard about the latest crop circles but said the previous one was no cause for alarm.
"It seemed to be highly unusual," Brougher said. "As I recall from a couple of years ago, there was no good explanation of how they got there."
Still, she added, "it wasn't a concern."
The latest crop circle was first reported Tuesday by Spokane station KHQ-TV (http://is.gd/57FTpy ). There were no signs that anyone walked into the field.
"We're trying to figure out how they got out there without breaking any of the wheat. It's hard to walk through the crunchy wheat and not knock it down," Geib said. "At the same time, it's hard to think it's aliens. It's a bizarre thing to wrap your brain around."
Geib's daughter-in-law, Kelly Geib of Wilbur, says the crop circle has given the family something to ponder and chuckle about.
"The kids all like to say the aliens have come, and we're happy to indulge them," she said.
Looks to me like a Disney Charactor -- Mickey Mouse
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 @feministdolphinbuddha I was thinking the same thing.
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Either that, or Cthulu.
Who doesn't love a good crop circle mystery....better than the doom and gloom lately.
Crop circles suddenly appear? I wouldn't expect them to gradually appear.
Lol
It was Bush's fault
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Signed,
BHO
glad i decided to stay home last night and not go out in my pickup truck
Where heck can I see a photo of this crop circle?
 Must be a slow news day, crop circles, that is so last millennium.
The majority of crop circles in the past have been linked to the farmers do it, I would imagine this is the same case. Maybe he/she/they/etc wanted to bring attention to their 'small Wash. town.'
@molotovmouse Do you think a farmer could create this one? http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2004/uk2004cp.shtml
 @molotovmouse Since farmers make their incomes from the grain/hay they raise, I would not think any farmer would destroy their crop by intentionally smashing it to the ground. Some prankster who has no clue they are actually stealing from the farmer when they do this.
It was the little known but often seen "Art Aliens". They are a race of round aliens that like to do family tree images on other planets to introduce themselves. Since no one was been able to do the same with the crops in return, they just keep trying.   Maybe stick figure family trees in return??Â
(Sorry, I'm bored and this was a silly story.)Â
I think that you are correct. They are from the planet Spirographya
To steal a quote from Jeff Foxworthy " GOODWILL picked up a donation of a boat trailer and a trampoline". That's what probably caused the "crop circles".
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Ah yes, let's travel thousands of light years to a planet with <some> intelligent life, leave patterns in their crops and leave.  Tee hee!
 @Jaysana They're extra-dimensional travelers so it's actually not that far away, distance wise. :)
 @Mark Sparkle Reminds me of a postcard from Montana that my wife sent me, of a '50s family standing on the side of the road looking up at a flying saucer, and the dad is saying "Look, everybody. Californians!"
WHY NO PICTUR??? It is a cover up by the US Government. The crop circles are made by visitors that the US Government doesn't want you or me or anyone to know about. The wheat is laid down, not broken off. The designs are complicated and beautiful and impossible for any human technology to make. Watch the movie "Thrive" if you want to know about the cover up. It is fascinating. Aliens are trying to communicate with us and your government doesn't want you to know about it because it would change EVERYTHING that has to do with energy. "Thrive" is freehttp://www.thrivemovement.com/home. It will blow you away.
 @Rockwater So the ones we made as College students using the high-tech "walking board" method (which also lays the wheat down) that were highly complex (what would later be called fractals) were what? Chopped Liver?
Go hit one of the big banks, take out a loan, and rent a clue.
@ShallowEnder Do you think a human could create this one?: http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2004/uk2004cp.shtml
@portlandborn83 It could if someone had plenty of daylight, drew it out in CAD and imported the linework into a piece of survey equipment. It would require a tripod, a survey pole, and some stakes. Ofcourse all of the stakes would have to be removed at the end for no evidence left. You would have to hoof it into there and out with the quipment and stakes...
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Get a couple of partners and this could be possible....
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The ones that are odd is when they find the laid down hay as molecularly changed or is highly iradiated.
 @Rockwater Nice plug.  Do you troll here often?
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Nice picture of a rainbow over a wheat field......in a story about crop-circles......
 @Ely Tried to find something in our database on crop circles but no luck....
 @BillatKATU It's a pretty picture, Bill. None of us believe in crop circles anyway. But, a double rainbow might have caught our attention . . . . ;-)
 @BillatKATU How about taking pictures of the circles cited in the article?
The guy that will know what is going on, I have placed a call, no reply yet, to Steven Spielberg