The mystery deepens… now, in addition to the abduction of Google’s second letter “o”, crop circles have become the primary image at the popular search engine’s main page. Similar to the “abducted ‘o’ scenario”, clicking the modified logo merely takes users to a Google search for the relevant term (which is “crop circle” in this instance). First they were abducted, and now Google appears to be seeing circles: what is behind Google’s fascination with the unexplained?

The first major search item in the Google search is the Wikipedia entry for “Crop Circle” (although Josh Williams with the Washington UFO Examiner wrote late last night–9:57 PM on September 14th, to be exact–that some Pacific rim countries were the ones showing the new logo. This limited reporting of the appearance of the logo, of course, was likley due to information streaming in as Google was still in the process of erecting the image on all relevant servers in the correct countries… and since bloggers like Williams were posting the news as it happened). The Wikipedia entry on the subject includes the following interesting information:

“According to material published by Nancy Talbott’s “BLT Research Team”, anomalies found at some circle sites in England and the US are consistent with them having been created when localized columns of ionized air (dubbed plasma vortices/vortexes) form over standing crops. Talbott claims minuscule spheres of magnetic iron have also been found, distributed either around the perimeter of the circle or linearly, and that this suggests a very complex delivery system.”

The article goes on to say that “Claims of bent or extended nodes in the stems of cereal grasses have also been made, allegedly suggesting that the crop has been subjected to a very rapid electromagnetic burst, causing the moisture inside the stems to expand, stretching or bending the nodes to almost three times their length. Talbott claims holes have been found in the nodes, suggesting a rapid microwave burst, causing the moisture to turn into steam, which then forces its way out, leaving expulsion cavities.”

Is there a pattern to Google’s use of paranormalia in the images appearing on its homepage, or are they merely placing random images for the sake of piquing public interest? What do you think Google is up to? In the meantime, you might enjoy watching this video, which showcases all the crop circles appearing on Google Earth, set to the Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly: