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Earth Oddities Seen In Google Maps / Earth / Street View

maximus otter

Recovering policeman
Joined
Aug 9, 2001
Messages
12,239

Vostok Island on Google Maps: Tiny Pacific Ocean land mass sparks conspiracy theories


A strange, dark mass in the middle of an island on Google Maps is blowing up social media with speculation — with some users suggesting that it’s a “censored” destination.

b51b9428cb546ce110d34925e067725e


The image of Vostok Island, an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, was shared to a popular Reddit thread that discusses unusual Google Maps finds.

“What the f**k this looks nothing like an island,” user Kokoblocks wrote alongside the screengrab of the triangular island.

The tiny island appears to have a hollow, black centre, with only the sandy beach surrounding it being visible.

Some speculated that it was a secret military base.

“Looks censored for some reason,” user KorvisKhan commented.

“My first thought was that it’s censored. It wouldn’t make sense for a natural formation to be black like that in such a shallow, small atoll/island,” added another.

Others offered more reasonable explanations for its appearance: “What you see as black is actually very dark green, it’s a very dense forest made up of Pisonia trees,” user SatisfactionAny20 wrote.

Pisonia trees have become a problem across much of the world and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of seabirds each year.

Nicknamed “bird-catchers”, Pisonia trees are found in tropical habitats across the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific.

The trees produce long seeds, covered with a thick mucous and tiny hooks that stick to almost anything that brushes against them.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/dest...s/news-story/25a047dc4f9403aff13ab8b73337d290

maximus otter
 

blessmycottonsocks

Antediluvian
Joined
Dec 22, 2014
Messages
8,330
Location
Wessex and Mercia
Looking

Vostok Island on Google Maps: Tiny Pacific Ocean land mass sparks conspiracy theories


A strange, dark mass in the middle of an island on Google Maps is blowing up social media with speculation — with some users suggesting that it’s a “censored” destination.

b51b9428cb546ce110d34925e067725e


The image of Vostok Island, an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, was shared to a popular Reddit thread that discusses unusual Google Maps finds.

“What the f**k this looks nothing like an island,” user Kokoblocks wrote alongside the screengrab of the triangular island.

The tiny island appears to have a hollow, black centre, with only the sandy beach surrounding it being visible.

Some speculated that it was a secret military base.

“Looks censored for some reason,” user KorvisKhan commented.

“My first thought was that it’s censored. It wouldn’t make sense for a natural formation to be black like that in such a shallow, small atoll/island,” added another.

Others offered more reasonable explanations for its appearance: “What you see as black is actually very dark green, it’s a very dense forest made up of Pisonia trees,” user SatisfactionAny20 wrote.

Pisonia trees have become a problem across much of the world and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of seabirds each year.

Nicknamed “bird-catchers”, Pisonia trees are found in tropical habitats across the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific.

The trees produce long seeds, covered with a thick mucous and tiny hooks that stick to almost anything that brushes against them.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/dest...s/news-story/25a047dc4f9403aff13ab8b73337d290

maximus otter

Looking at photos from beneath the canopy, I reckon it's where Treebeard's Entwives fled to to set up a feminist refuge:

tree.JPG
 

Dinobot

Justified & Ancient
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
4,329
Location
Broadcasting from the moon...

Vostok Island on Google Maps: Tiny Pacific Ocean land mass sparks conspiracy theories


A strange, dark mass in the middle of an island on Google Maps is blowing up social media with speculation — with some users suggesting that it’s a “censored” destination.

b51b9428cb546ce110d34925e067725e


The image of Vostok Island, an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, was shared to a popular Reddit thread that discusses unusual Google Maps finds.

“What the f**k this looks nothing like an island,” user Kokoblocks wrote alongside the screengrab of the triangular island.

The tiny island appears to have a hollow, black centre, with only the sandy beach surrounding it being visible.

Some speculated that it was a secret military base.

“Looks censored for some reason,” user KorvisKhan commented.

“My first thought was that it’s censored. It wouldn’t make sense for a natural formation to be black like that in such a shallow, small atoll/island,” added another.

Others offered more reasonable explanations for its appearance: “What you see as black is actually very dark green, it’s a very dense forest made up of Pisonia trees,” user SatisfactionAny20 wrote.

Pisonia trees have become a problem across much of the world and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of seabirds each year.

Nicknamed “bird-catchers”, Pisonia trees are found in tropical habitats across the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific.

The trees produce long seeds, covered with a thick mucous and tiny hooks that stick to almost anything that brushes against them.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/dest...s/news-story/25a047dc4f9403aff13ab8b73337d290

maximus otter
It's either the location of the Thunderbirds, or Fortean Towers.
 

Erinaceus

Abominable Snowman
Joined
Jul 22, 2020
Messages
835
Location
Hythe, Kent
As you approach my house from one direction Streetview shows scaffolding for chimney repairs which disappears when you get nearer. The house changes colour as well.
 

maximus otter

Recovering policeman
Joined
Aug 9, 2001
Messages
12,239
INTERNET sleuths have made a horrifying discovery in the depths of Russia that they've labelled the "most depressing place ever".

An eerie indentation on Google maps marks the spot of a former Gulag correctional labour camp in Krasnoyarsk Krai.


NINTCHDBPICT000711905246.jpg


Found at 69°24'19°N, 87°38'57°E, images show the hollowed ground where deconstructed buildings lie in piles of grey rubble.

An eagle-eyed online detective made the connection after seeing the ghostly image on Reddit.

They wrote: "It is indeed the Norillag labour camp. You can even see the mining facility connected to the camp further west.”

Norillag, the Norilsk Corrective Labour Camp, was one of Russia's abysmal Gulags, where prisoners were made to build the complex and dig for copper and nickel.

Eventually, workers were hauled into other activities which underpinned the economic function of the area, such as fishing and reconstructing the home where Stalin lived in exile.

gulag_fotoD2.jpg


Stock photo of a gulag

It operated from June 25, 1935 to August 22, 1956 with estimates more than 400,000 inmates worked there throughout its history - 300,000 of them political prisoners.

Norillag began with just 1,200 inmates but amid Stalin's push to identify and divide any nonconformists during the Great Purge, numbers grew increasingly high.

The forced-labour camps were set up by the order of Vladimir Lenin before reaching their peak once Joseph Stalin took power until the early 1950s.

It is believed the Gulag system had more than 30,000 camps with more than three percent of the Soviet population imprisioned or in internal exile.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/4683032/google-maps-users-horrifying-discovery-depths-of-russia/

maximus otter
 
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Vardoger

Make mine a 99
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
6,619
Location
Valaskjalf (Ex. pat.)

Vostok Island on Google Maps: Tiny Pacific Ocean land mass sparks conspiracy theories


A strange, dark mass in the middle of an island on Google Maps is blowing up social media with speculation — with some users suggesting that it’s a “censored” destination.

b51b9428cb546ce110d34925e067725e


The image of Vostok Island, an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, was shared to a popular Reddit thread that discusses unusual Google Maps finds.

“What the f**k this looks nothing like an island,” user Kokoblocks wrote alongside the screengrab of the triangular island.

The tiny island appears to have a hollow, black centre, with only the sandy beach surrounding it being visible.

Some speculated that it was a secret military base.

“Looks censored for some reason,” user KorvisKhan commented.

“My first thought was that it’s censored. It wouldn’t make sense for a natural formation to be black like that in such a shallow, small atoll/island,” added another.

Others offered more reasonable explanations for its appearance: “What you see as black is actually very dark green, it’s a very dense forest made up of Pisonia trees,” user SatisfactionAny20 wrote.

Pisonia trees have become a problem across much of the world and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of seabirds each year.

Nicknamed “bird-catchers”, Pisonia trees are found in tropical habitats across the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific.

The trees produce long seeds, covered with a thick mucous and tiny hooks that stick to almost anything that brushes against them.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/dest...s/news-story/25a047dc4f9403aff13ab8b73337d290

maximus otter
1644935541221.png
 

escargot

Disciple of Marduk
Joined
Aug 24, 2001
Messages
40,350
Location
HM The Tower of London
As you approach my house from one direction Streetview shows scaffolding for chimney repairs which disappears when you get nearer. The house changes colour as well.
A pub in my home town can only be seen on Google Earth from side streets, filmed before it was demolished.
 

hunck

Antediluvian
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
8,485
Location
Hobbs End
Stash of stolen bikes found on Google Earth

A mountain of ‘stolen bikes’ that was so big it could be seen from Google Earth has been discovered in Oxford.

Google Earth Images of the street show a dark mass covering the semi-detached property’s garden.
As images of the find were shared on social media people asked how the mammoth stash had not been spotted earlier.

The stash of bicycles was found in the back garden of a house in Littlemore, to the southeast of the university city.

When police raided the house they discovered the backyard was full of hundreds of bicycles piled on top of one another.

A 54-year-old man living in the house was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods and possession of the criminal property. He has since been released under investigation.
1647991282353.png
1647991351173.png
 

Vardoger

Make mine a 99
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
6,619
Location
Valaskjalf (Ex. pat.)

Ronnie Jersey

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Messages
2,781
Weeks ago I was scrubbing floors and doing housework for the day, a real mess, and was out on the front porch for a minute.
I looked up and the 'Google Street Maps' car was going past, and I smiled and waved, whereby they went past again as I was still waving - I cringe thinking about seeing that mess, complete with flip-flops, online! :)
 

Vardoger

Make mine a 99
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
6,619
Location
Valaskjalf (Ex. pat.)
Weeks ago I was scrubbing floors and doing housework for the day, a real mess, and was out on the front porch for a minute.
I looked up and the 'Google Street Maps' car was going past, and I smiled and waved, whereby they went past again as I was still waving - I cringe thinking about seeing that mess, complete with flip-flops, online! :)
Just wait for your neighbours to look up the street view in a few months time:
"- Hey look, that's our neighbour waving as crazy at the Google car!"
 

Tunn11

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Nov 23, 2005
Messages
1,525
Location
Under the highest tree top in Kent
No, I'm not that silly - I would black it all out, but it hasn't appeared yet, and may not, hopefully!
So you admit that you think we're a bunch of weirdos then? :thought:

Probably right. :)
 

madmath

Ephemeral Spectre
Joined
Oct 17, 2001
Messages
253
Wasn't there a Ray Bradbury story where aliens had completely recreated Earth and all it's wildlife for the benefit of humanity, except all the dogs had six legs? Or was it some other SF writer?
I don't recall the author, but the story was a farmer used genetic engineering to create a disease to wipe out coyotes and foxes, which of course also killed off the world's dogs. Aliens later took dog DNA and mixed it with one of their six legged species to bring back the canines, after a fashion.
 

SimonBurchell

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Sep 15, 2001
Messages
1,729
Location
Somewhere in the labyrinth
I don't recall the author, but the story was a farmer used genetic engineering to create a disease to wipe out coyotes and foxes, which of course also killed off the world's dogs. Aliens later took dog DNA and mixed it with one of their six legged species to bring back the canines, after a fashion.
That's the one! Glad I hadn't imagined it!
 

blessmycottonsocks

Antediluvian
Joined
Dec 22, 2014
Messages
8,330
Location
Wessex and Mercia
El Ojo (The Eye) is a perfectly circular, floating island in the delta of the Parana river, between Buenos Aires and Campana, in Argentina.
It rotates around its own axis, giving the impression of an eye looking around.

The phenomenon can be observed through the Google Earth satellite images taken at different times, by typing "El Ojo" at coordinates: 34 ° 15'07.8 ? S 58 ° 49'47.4 ? W.

eye1.png
eye2.png


https://mybestplace.com/en/article/the-eye-the-mysterious-rotating-island-in-argentina


For more about El Ojo and similar floating island features see:

Floating Islands (Tussocks; Floatons; Suds)
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/floating-islands-tussocks-floatons-suds.61651/
 
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