Top 7 Strange Things Found On Google Maps
Since the early 2000's, Google Earth (and the associated software and technologies behind
it) have fascinated the collective internet by providing a way to explore almost every
corner of the Earth from the comfort of your own chair.
Of course, like most times a camera is involved, some crazy things were bound to be documented
- and the views of Google Earth and Google Street-view are no exception.
From wacky planned shenanigans to mind-blowing finds - let's take at look at the craziest
things found!
(And stay tuned later to find out more about the DARK side of google maps!)
#7 The Roadside Bathtub
As singer and founding member of alternative indie band The Flaming Lips, Wayne Coyne has
proven to be quite the eccentric himself.
From strange on-stage antics - to crazy movies - even making art with his own bodily fluids
- Coyne's personality is larger-than-life with a hint of humor.
Back in 2007 - Coyne and his wife set up a bathtub outside for a Halloween party - posting
pictures and video online to the band's (then) MySpace account - leaving the tub where it
was for quite some time after.
After getting wind that the Google street view cars would be coming down his street,
he planned accordingly - hopping into the tub at just the right moment for this odd
photograph.
#6 Sandy Island
"Sandy Island", a nonexistent island appearing on maps near the northwest of New Caledonia,
has stumped cartographers for over a century.
After appearing on maps for 100 years as a "phantom location", this strange location
was finally photographed by Google Earth - simply displaying a black polygonal void, about the
size of Manhattan.
The Australian researchers who found the black mass alerted scientists - eventually sailing
to the location in 2012 only to find open water and emptiness instead of the solid ground
they expected.
Now thought to simply be human error or possibly just a pumice raft - it's hard not to suspect
that Google may actually be in on the joke.
#5 The Lake Inside Of A Lake
Found by map enthusiasts that carefully scrub Google Earth, the world's biggest island-in-a-lake-located-ON-an-island-in-a-lake-located-on-an-island-itself
was discovered near Northern Canada several years ago.
This narrow, tilde-shaped strip of land - measuring only four acres in size - floats quietly in
the center of a small lake that itself is encapsulated by another, larger island that
resides inside a mass of finger lakes located about 75 miles from the coast of Victoria
Island.
Although not much is known about this island, researchers agree that the likelihood of any
humans ever stepping foot on the land mass are highly improbable.
We can't help but wonder if there's a Gilligan's Island type situation going on out there that
no one knows about.
#4 The Airplane Graveyard
The Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona (otherwise more commonly known as
"The Boneyard") is a 2,600 acre metaphorical cemetery - Although closed to the general
public, navigating to the coordinates on Google Earth provides a detailed peek inside - which
is almost every single piece of aircraft the United States Military has flown since World
War II - storing unbelievable relics of the past in staggering numbers.
Snooping around the premises offers a glimpse into air travel history - albeit in a slightly
creepy, definitely desolate kind of way.
#3 The Giant Signature
Billionaire Sheikh (and member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family) Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan
likes to stand out.
Aside from an absolutely mind-blowing amount of wealth and power, he likes to be seen (and
not so much heard).
Ordering to have his first name carved into the top sand layers of surface on al Futaisi
Island located in the Persian Gulf (which he also happens to own).
Measuring a half-mile tall by two miles wide - the letters can be visibly spotted from
space and are debatably the largest man-made typography.
Since the letters are so large, the pathways caused by the text being carved into the sand
has formed waterways and channels, effectively making this a semi-permanent (if not altogether
permanent) installation.
#2 The Massive Colonel Sanders
It was only a matter of time before advertising executives realized the potential in "mapvertising"
- a now common practice of constructing elaborate, enormous physical contraptions that form a
logo or photo when viewed aerially.
Although major companies such as Coca-Cola have constructed the world's largest Coke
logo on a hillside of Chile (built out of a reported 70,000 empty bottles of the sugary
soda) - KFC has outdone their peers with this 87,500 square foot picture of the chicken
overlord - none other than Colonel Sanders himself - located just off the Extraterrestrial
Highway in Nevada.
#1 The Pentagram
Located on the windy and dusty steppes of central Asia, deep within an isolated region
of Kazakhstan, this humongous pentagram measures just about 1,200 feet in diameter - deeply
etched into the surface of the Earth below.
Tucked away in the southern shore of the Upper Tobol Reservoir, the chilling discovery can
be spotted on both Google Earth - and in greater, vivid detail on Google Maps.
With the closest human habitation being over 12 miles east of the symbol - conspiracy theorists
went nuts over the source of the ancient symbol.
After much speculation and deliberation, it was revealed that the pentagram was initially
etched into the ground due to the region's ties to Soviet Russia.
Since the area is determined to be a former Soviet campground, the insignia would be marked
there as stars were commonly used to decorate Soviet facades, flags and monuments.
Did we miss a place?
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