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CNN Live Today

Researcher Discusses Crop Circles

Aired August 08, 2002 - 11:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Crop circles have now gone from scientific debate to Hollywood blockbuster. They're featured, of course, in the new movie "Signs" starring Mel Gibson. He plays a farmer who finds the mysterious patterns in his fields. The movie has harvested more than $60 million at the box office this past weekend.
Our guest this morning supplied some of the research used in the movie. Colin Andrews has been researching crop circles since 1983. And he is joining us from Hartford, Connecticut.

Good morning. Thanks for joining us.

COLIN ANDREWS, CIRCLES PHENOMENON RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL: Good morning, Daryn. My pleasure.

KAGAN: What is going on here? Is it an "E.T." kind of thing or something you can explain in a different way?

I've never, certainly, claimed or stated or even believed that extraterrestrials are forming crop circles. What I know in having looked at them for 20 years, unlike the people that you saw in that clip, is that I've actually been inside 2,500 of these worldwide. And my case is that we can't explain them. We do have some science to support the fact that something very unusual is happening, but we're not basing the fact that they are real, or some of them are real, on purely science.

We are unable to explain how these markings appear in the rice patty fields of Japan, in tobacco and corn and cereal crops in this country, and across the whole of Europe and many other countries I have traveled to -- in the outback of Australia. There are no tracks in, there are no tracks out. The plants are changed at the cellular level. We have magnetic anomalies that currently we are looking at and we certainly can't explain.

KAGAN: You can't complain it, but can tell us more about that, that the magnetic field is more powerful or stronger where this takes place.

ANDREWS: Yes, that's right. We have been carrying out magnetometer surveys now for last, I think we're into year four now. And in a handful of those patterns, which are real insomuch as they are unexplained, the Earth's magnetic field increased about 150 percent above the norm, which is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the wrong hemisphere, and mimics the actual pattern that the anomaly exists over. KAGAN: And you've also made it your passion to talk to eyewitnesses, of people who have been there. And time and time again, they tell you when this happens, it happens really quickly.

ANDREWS: Yes, that's a very important point that most people do tend to miss. That I was asked by a special interest group at the United Nations, about eight years ago, to interview people who had claimed to have seen them form, which I did. And there are about 50 worldwide who claim to have seen them form. I don't see any reason why they were not being truthful. And they all said that what they saw happen happened in less than 10 seconds.

KAGAN: Really? So these intricate designs take place that quickly?

ANDREWS: It's that quickly. And that is supported by what we see by simple detective work in the fields.

KAGAN: So tell me this: Have you seen the movie?

ANDREWS: Yes, I have. I just saw it the other night.

KAGAN: And first of all, do you think it's a good movie.

ANDREWS: It's a good movie. It's very scary.

KAGAN: Even for someone like you it's scary?

ANDREWS: Well, yes. It has scary elements to it. But I would just say go and enjoy it. But keep an open mind, because it's quite possible that you might be looking at some small part, perhaps, of your future.

KAGAN: How representative is it of the crop circle situation?

ANDREWS: Well, quite a lot of it is very much representative. Disney, I consulted with Disney, and have provided them with factual information. I think the "E.T." spin towards the end of the movie, which of course I don't want to spoil for anybody...

KAGAN: Please don't. I haven't seen it.

ANDREWS: No, I won't do that -- is perhaps going a little further than we would see that is actually factually reported.

KAGAN: Colin, just looking ahead, is there any way to predict where they might pop up? We know where they have been, but where might they be in the future?

ANDREWS: I think it's all over the world. As it is now, there's about 95 percent near Stonehenge. I just came from England, where there are 50 already. You can you see from the aircraft right from horizon to horizon these complex designs. I'm sure they are going to pop up.

Unfortunately, the negative side of the movie perhaps is that I'm sure a lot of people will be going out there and attempting to make them.

KAGAN: Right. There will be some hoaxes, no doubt.

ANDREWS: I'm sure there will. And there are many hoaxes going on anyway.

KAGAN: But mysteries galore.

ANDREWS: Mysteries galore. It's a fascinating situation.

KAGAN: It is.

Thanks for stopping by and helping us look at that.

ANDREWS: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Colin Andrews.

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