THE CULT OF PERSONALITY
For years, the crop circle phenomenon has attracted a specific type of public figure: lecturers, “whistleblowers”, self-proclaimed contactees… and very often, the same shift appears:
the starting point is the formations in the fields -
but the ending point is them.
Instead of discussing dates, locations, original photographs, field notes, verifiable elements and serious cross-checks, everything rapidly turns into “me, myself and I”. Crop circles become a backdrop; the main stage is no longer the phenomenon, but the person telling the story. And through spectacular narratives, “revelations” and unshakeable certainties, we end up with something impressive… but almost impossible to verify.
Meanwhile, solid cases remain in the shadows. Well-documented formations are avoided, field investigations are bypassed, nuances disappear, and sometimes the roles are reversed:
- crude formations suddenly become “highly sophisticated messages”,
- while properly documented cases are downgraded to “simple board hoaxes”, such as the Bee formation – the perfect example.
Sometimes it is simply a way of protecting a personal story, but other times it is clearly a way of obstructing. If the facts are inconvenient, they get twisted… or simply omitted. In contrast, there is another way to approach the phenomenon: by keeping it at the center, and placing the characters in the background.
No need for mystical posture or cosmic mission. Just:
- original documents,
- field observations,
- verifiable facts,
- serious cross-checking,
- and the honesty to say “we don’t know yet”.
This is what we try to do with years of field notes, photographs, videos, on-site observations, and the patient assembly of these materials compared with external sources. It may not be as spectacular as a “timeless” story, but at least it remains open to discussion, verification, debate, additions and corrections.
The recurring problem with the cult of personality is that it falsifies the process right from the start: when everything revolves around one face or one name, the goal is no longer to understand the phenomenon but to preserve – or build – an image. Only what serves the character is kept; what contradicts it is dismissed. But history has a memory, and things eventually fall back into place.
For the public, this is not easy – especially today, with millions of YouTubers and content creators. Faced with this immensity, people gravitate to a familiar voice, a tone, a presence. And then one ends up confusing:
- “I know this person well, I watch them often”
with
- “what they say must be reliable”.
In the end, the real question is: what are we really looking for?
- companionship through a screen, a “hero” to follow episode after episode?
- or concrete elements to understand the phenomenon, its history, its symbols, and perhaps detect the presence of an exotic intelligence trying to communicate with us?
If we choose the second option, the cult of personality becomes a warning sign: the topic – the crop circles themselves – is about to disappear behind the show. You may have had a pleasant moment of entertainment, cooking with your Bluetooth headphones on – surely more interesting than the stream of bad news from the big black screen in the living room.
But on the other hand, showing sources, explaining method, accepting uncertainty and unanswered questions allows us to bring together pieces of a puzzle that deserves better than serving as a launchpad for personal careers. It requires concentration and a willingness to leave the realm of entertainment. Some subjects will be completely new – and there are many of them. In the end, crop circles lead us to rediscover our own world, the one we believe we already know. As you have seen on these pages, you may have discovered the impact of lodging on wheat, even if you were already familiar with the phenomenon known as “laying”. And for others, you may have discovered that our Sun follows its own cycles above us, remaining a central subject for every civilisation that has observed it.
Anne L.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence... unless you're watching entertainment.
November 2025