Crop circles appear in a rice field in Sleman, Indonesia

A 70 metre wide crop circle was reportedly spotted on Monday January 24, 2011 in a rice field at Sleman, Yogyakarta in Indonesia.

A crop circle (not from Indonesia)

According to reports, the crop circle pattern looks like an intricately designed flower, and is made out of circles and triangles. As it has appeared in the middle of green rice paddies, it has drawn a lot of attention by thousands of curious visitors. The cause of the crop circles is not yet clear, and it has been rumoured that it may be a trace of UFO… one with an eye for design.

According to Cahyo Utomo, a resident of Krasakan, “The circles were there since yesterday morning. I think they were left by an alien space ship, like one I saw in TV. It is impossible that this was made by the wind or any animal.”

However, another resident said that on Saturday there was a tornado and they have been seeing traces on their fields the following today. However, according to Budi Waluyo who is the head of the Meterology, Climatology, and Geology Agency in Yogyakarta, there were no records of tornados in the province or any of its surrounding areas on the weekend. In addition, if a tornado did occur it would have left a distinctive snaking trail and not a crop circle.

Police officers have decided to block their area with yellow tape, while farmers have fenced off the area in order to protect their fields from being trampled upon by curious sightseers. It is also reported that villagers are charging entrance fees for those who wish to see the area. Vendors are also selling photographs of the crop circle.

According to Thomas Djamaluddin who is the chief of astronomy research at the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, “we will not send investigators to the scene because we suspect the crop circle involves human invention, not natural phenomena, nor scientific phenomena associated with outer space creatures commonly referred to as aliens.”

Crop circles have now mysteriously appeared in at least 30 countries, according to Freddy Silva who is an expert on crop circles. “The phenomenon has been going on since 1680, with eye witness accounts of their creation being recorded since the 1880s.”

Investigrators from the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) will now look into the claims that a group of local university students may have been behind this elaborate crop circle hoax.

The Indonesian Air Force has also pitched in by dispatching one of its helicopters to capture the image of the crop circle. Adisutjipto base responded by flying a Colibri HL 1210 for a 30 minute photo session starting at 10:30am, according to a press release from the helicopter base’s website. This press release stated that the Air Force helicopter took many photographs ‘of the object thought to be left over from a UFO from the height of 1,000 feet… from a number of different angles.’

Meanwhile, on Twitter, users are engaged on a debate of where the crop circle originated from. While some disbelieved outright that these were just hoaxes, others said that were ‘spooked out’ by the appearance of the crop circle. ‘It’s scary. It got me thinking if I should believe the world will end in 2012,’ one Twitter user said.