By Associated Press, 7/14/2003

ROCKVILLE, Calif. -- Throngs of UFO enthusiasts, New Age followers and assorted believers in the paranormal have been flocking to the Sacramento Valley to take in the dozen or so crop circles that mysteriously appeared in a wheat field two weeks ago.

Some hoped their ailments would be cured. Others looked for spiritual insight. Others came, crediting aliens with the phenomenon.

Now, though, it appears the most simple explanation is at hand for why this sleepy farming community, halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento, has been turned into a tourist destination: four bored teenagers.

They confessed to The Vacaville Reporter.

"Man, we had to rest sometimes," one teen told the paper of the quartet's hours-long handiwork done in the wee hours of June 28. "My back got tired and I laid down in the field."

The paper said in an editor's note that the confession "rang true."

"Because three of the four are juveniles, and three of the four are already on probation for unrelated matters, we decided their request for anonymity was reasonable," the paper said.

The teens, all from Fairfield, told the paper they were inspired by a documentary they had watched on the 400-year history of crop circles. Armed with a 30-foot rope, planks of wood and tape, the teens created a connected series of circles by pressing down on the wheat.