Russian crop circle
© kosmopoisk.orgShot taken from a helicopter in the Dinsky district, Krasnodar region, June 2009.
Mysterious pictograms consisting of several circles have appeared on a wheat field in Southern Russia's Krasnodar region. Was it someone's joke or did aliens visit us?

According to enthusiasts from Kosmopoisk (Space Search group), it's not the first time such a phenomenon has been discovered. Group members have visited the spot to carry out research and film the area from an unmanned helicopter. The circles appeared in the Dinsky district in the region.

"The figure consists of eight circles and rings around them that are interconnected," the group coordinator, Vadim Chernobrov, told Interfax news agency. "Their sizes vary from 5 to 25 meters."

He said they had known in advance of an approximate date when signs would appear.

How do they appear?

The Kosmopoisk website reports that according to area residents, the night the circles appeared shining balls were seen in the sky. The experts now seek to determine whether the marks in the fields are man-made or whether their origin can be explained by someone's joke.

The activist from the group set up special "watching points" to spot the appearance of the pictograms in the areas where they might appear, judging by past experience. They choose the highest places in the area.

According to Chernobrov, each time it happens the same way. At about 1.15 AM some animals start to show anxiety, especially cows and dogs. But in exactly five minutes they all calm down and complete silence falls within a radius of 20-30 kilometers from the place where the circle will later appear, and no sounds of frogs or insects can be heard.

Then the observers notice a shining light in the field, it can last from a few minutes to several hours. Sometimes people begin to panic by this time and feel a desire to leave the zone. Also, from time to time cars won't start and mobile phones and cameras may be down.

Farmers fear

The mysterious phenomenon hit several areas in the region. Pictograms appeared not only in Dinsky district, but also on one of the fields near the town of Armavir. But the UFO-logists had no opportunity to study them: the farmer who spotted the circles was scared that the mysterious things will make superstitious customers refuse to buy his wheat, so he leveled the pictograms with a tractor.

The activists of Kosmopoisk often complain about locals. When similar things happen in the West, many farmers use it as an opportunity to earn money from the sensation. But in Russia many people fear radiation (while it's level doesn't rise in the "enigmatic zones") and, as they call it, "dangerous" wheat in the area. So they do everything to trample the pictograms down.

World enigma

Groups of enthusiasts investigate the pictograms in the fields and work in 35 countries throughout the world. Similar phenomena have been reported in the UK, the US, Canada, Denmark, Spain, and Germany.

Some researchers say that the geography of the circles is not chaotic, claiming that if one draws the lines on the map, connecting the places in Europe where they appear, he will draw several parallel arcs.