History Main / CropCircles

* In ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'' (of the ''Literature/{{Diskworld}}'' universe), the impending visitation of the elves causes crop circles to spontaneously generate in everything from an herb garden to a handful of seeds sprouting in a damp cloth and even Archchancellor Ridcully's "crop" of hair. Probably a reference to {{Fairy Ring}}s, mixed with the ufology trope for some AlienFairFolk fun.

[[caption-width-right:330:This 1678 pamphlet (relating a farmer's DealWithTheDevil gone bad) may be the first recorded claim of paranormal crop circle activity.]]

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', Josuke and Okuyasu see a crop circle while walking to school and, to their surprise, find a young man sleeping under the cut grass who claims to be an alien and says he's responsible for the circle.

* In the 1990’s radio spoof ‘’The X Fools’’, Agent Smoulder and Sulky discover the crop circles are being created by a secret conspiracy of English nerds armed with rulers and string who call themselves [[ADateWithRosiePalms Circle Jerks]]. They solve this problem by [[TheInternetIsForPorn introducing them to the internet instead]].

* In a commercial for Bush's Baked Beans, Jay Bush and his dog Duke are walking through a cornfield. Jay gives his usual spiel about the secret family recipe and how he's only shared it with Duke, but Duke would never tell. They then come upon a crop circle. "You don't think... [=UFOs=]?" wonders Jay as the camera zooms out reveal that the "crop circles" actually form the message "SECRET FAMILY RECIPE FOR SALE CONTACT DUKE". "Yeah. That's it. [=UFOs=]," [[TalkingAnimal agrees Duke]].

Compare/contrast AliensStealCattle, a much more comedic way for aliens to attack a farm, and FirstContactFarmer, where farmers are the first people aliens meet.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', the impending visitation of the elves causes crop circles to spontaneously generate in everything from an herb garden to a handful of seeds sprouting in a damp cloth and even Archchancellor Ridcully's "crop" of hair. Probably a reference to {{Fairy Ring}}s, mixed with the ufology trope for some AlienFairFolk fun.
* In ''Martians in Maggody'', the appearance of crop circles in moonshiner Raz Buchanon's field draws a horde of UFO fanatics to the little Arkansas town, eager to photograph (for $10 a head, payable to a grinning Raz) this "inexplicable" phenomenon.

* In one of the books in the ''Literature/ElementalMasters'' series, it's mentioned that while a {{Muggle}} can't see any of the [[ElementalEmbodiment Elementals]], they can see the effects, among which are crop circles.
* In the ''Literature/{{Temps}}'' short story "Playing Safe" by Marcus Rowland, a paranorm working for the secret service jokes to his boss that he tells his old DPR friends he's with the Department of Agriculture, in the crop circle division. After he completely screws up his mission, he is indeed [[PunishmentDetail put on crop circle investigations]] ... and told it's no good turning up after the event, he needs to camp out in fields until he sees one happen.

* ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar The Collegium Chronicles]]'': In ''Foundation'', Mags encounters a group of prankster Trainees. Dallen tells him that their previous pranks included creating crop circles at nearby farms.
* ''Literature/Area51'': Majic-12 is in fact behind these as part of their cover-up for Area 51.

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'': Cognito Inc. makes these for unclear purposes (''they'' might not even know). In the first episode, JR declares that due to budget cuts, they're rolling back from the artsy patterns to just easy circles.

* In ''VideoGame/UniverseAtWar'', Hierarchy Glyph Carvers can create crop circles by carving out glyphs in the ground (not necessarily in corn crops). These are actually "bar codes" which the orbiting motherships scan and drop/teleport in the appropriate buildings/walkers. If you see a crop circle in your area, chances are that a [[ILoveNuclearPower nuclear powered]] HumongousMecha [[BaseOnWheels Base On Legs]] with [[MoreDakka lots of dakka]] is going to [[ColonyDrop drop in]] and start [[KillAllHumans blowing up stuff]].

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', the impending visitation of the elves causes crop circles to spontaneously generate in everything from an herb garden to a handful of seeds sprouting in a damp cloth and even Archchancellor Ridcully's "crop" of hair. Probably a reference to {{Fairy Ring]}s, mixed with the ufology trope for some AlienFairFolk fun.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', the impending visitation of the elves causes crop circles to spontaneously generate in everything from an herb garden to a handful of seeds sprouting in a damp cloth and even Archchancellor Ridcully's "crop" of hair. Probably a reference to {{Fairy Rings}}, mixed with the ufology trope for some AlienFairFolk fun.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', the impending visitation of the elves causes crop circles to spontaneously generate in everything from an herb garden to a handful of seeds sprouting in a damp cloth and even Archchancellor Ridcully's "crop" of hair.

* In Creator/JamesHerbert's ''Literature/{{Once}}, crop circles are said to have been initially caused by magnetic interference from UFOs; then, [[ThePrankster for laughs]], by pixies, and eventually, humans.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler Let's Kill Hitler]]", Amy and Rory contact the Doctor by making a crop circle of his name when he wasn't answering his phone. Which does summon the Doctor with an exasperated "Really?!" while holding up an aerial picture in the following day's newspaper. Rory studies it and points out a line they ''didn't'' make [[FiveSecondForeshadowing and look up to see]] [[OhCrap a car coming right at them]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'': In the episode "Space Jammin'", the title band uses a crop harvester to clear out a cornfield for a concert, only for the machine to malfunction and run rampant due to sabotage. When a FlyingSaucer promptly drops out of the sky immediately afterwards, it's revealed Grojband accidentally created a crop circle that was a challenge to the aliens for a BattleOfTheBands.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'' "Space Jammin'": A malfunctioning crop harvester runs rampant in the corn field that the band wanted to clear for a concert, accidentally creating a circle. A FlyingSaucer promptly drops out of the sky. Apparently, the circle is a challenge to the aliens for a BattleOfTheBands.

Compare/contrast AliensStealCattle, a much more comedic way for aliens to attack a farm.

* The Alliance in ''WesternAnimation/RoswellConspiracies'' stages these in their efforts to keep people thinking the Roswell Conspiracy is real.

* Crop circles were discussed on ''{{QI}}'', bringing in experts and even commissioning them to do a piece in the shape of the show's logo.

* The [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Pixar Short]] "Unidentified Flying Mater" has Mater create crop circles shaped like tires.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode "Sandy's Rocket", one of the points Spongebob brings up about the existence of aliens is "Those mysterious circles that pop up in kelp fields overnight" and then freaks out when he notices a circle in the sand (which he made while pacing around Sandy) "AHH! There's one now!"

* One of ''Series/TheXFiles'' comic has Mulder go to a Crop Circle in progress and discovers a kid with a board and a flashlight flattening the stalks. The kid gets away, and may not have actually existed.