Silly old scientific explanations for faerie rings

Here’re a few silly explanations for fairy rings. There’s also one that gives an electric hypothesis that makes me think of various electromagnetic paranormal claims.

see also: [[ science ]] - [[ scientific dishonesty ]] - some scientific reports are biased in favor of the believable - magnetic metal found at ufo landing site - [[ magnets and the paranormal ]]

from Passport to Magonia by Jacques Vallee:

It is amusing to note that attempts have been made, in the early days of Rationalism, to explain fairy rings as electrical phenomena, a consequence of atmospheric effects. P. Marranzino,11 for example, quotes a little couplet by Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of the English naturalist, written in 1789:

So from the dark clouds the playful lightning springs, Rives the firm oak or prints the fairy rings.

And according to Erasmus Darwin:

There is a phenomenon, supposed to be electric, which is not yet accounted for; I mean the fairy rings, as they are called, so often seen on the grass.

[[ magic circle ]] [[ faerie ring ]]