weirdest places to visit on google maps

16 Of The Weirdest Things Found On Google Maps

Google Maps can be useful, but it can also turn up some pretty weird stuff while browsing. These are the strangest things on there.

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A Few More Crazy Things Found On Google Maps

• Alien city debunked: The "alien city" in Argentina that appeared on Google Maps turned out to be an oilfield, not extraterrestrial life.
• Massive face mystery: A massive face in Canada's Badlands Guardian is believed to be a sign from past civilizations, adding to the area's eerie reputation.
• Airplane graveyard: The largest airplane graveyard in the world was discovered outside of Tucson, Arizona, filled with crashed and scrapped planes.

Although traveling and getting out there is definitely the best way to see the world; we can't always visit all the places on our bucket lists. That means that we're stuck just looking at pictures and checking out Google Maps to see what the place is like and pretend we're on a relaxing trip to the location of our dreams.

Related: 10 Weird Disney Park Urban Legends Visitors Think Are Real

Unfortunately, not everything on Google Maps is so dreamy. Some stuff that their cameras catch is closer to being straight out of a nightmare. Whether it's creepy or just plain confusing, weird things on Google Maps have often been found. With endless urban legends around the world , anything people see that is out of the ordinary can quickly become headlining news.

To see the weirdest things found on Google Maps, keep reading!

UPDATE: 2023/10/09 15:08 EST BY SUNIL PURUSHE

The list can be never-ending, with Kazakhstan and Finland joining the list of weird stuff on Google Maps for people to see this year and into the future.

16 Alien Structures In Argentina

• What appeared to be a vast alien city popped up in Rio Negro, Argentina.
• This has since been debunked and labeled as the area's oilfield.

Another spooky-looking sight caught by Google Maps was the "alien city" in Rio Negro, Argentina. This appeared to be a vast civilization of extraterrestrial life living in the middle of nowhere but has since been debunked by experts as the country's oilfields.

15 A Massive Face In Canada

• A massive face popped up in the geographical composition of the Badlands Guardian in Canada.
• Many believe this is a sign or spirit from those who used to inhabit the country/area.

One of the stranger things found on Google Maps was the massive face within the Badlands Guardian in Canada. This resembled a human being with lips, eyes, and a distinct face. Many people believe the area is filled with spirits of past civilizations, so that could explain the mix-up.

Canada is home to many weird yet interesting facts , so the unnatural is sometimes common.

14 An Airplane Boneyard In Tucson, Arizona

• This Google Maps image showed a vast collection of crashed planes just outside Tucson.
• Surprisingly, this has been proven to be real and is the largest airplane graveyard in the world.

One sight found on Google Maps was an "airplane graveyard," which brought people from all across Arizona to a stand-still. Located just outside Tuscon, this airplane grave is filled with thousands of crashed and scrapped planes, giving it a super creepy vibe. There aren't many reports on it to this day.

These 14 weird facts about the Gates of Hell in Turkmenistan might also be intriguing .

13 Phantom Island Off The Coast Of Australia

• This island appeared on Google Maps just off the coast of Australia.
• It appeared to glow in the water, resembling a massive 24-kilometer sunken ship.

Another troubling image captured on Google Maps was of a phantom-looking island just off the coast of Australia. In this image, people witnessed what appeared to be a 24-kilometer island in the shape of a sunken ship. Today, no phantom island can be found.

12 A Glitch In New Baltimore

• This small town of roughly 3,000 people experienced a major glitch.
• All the buildings in New Baltimore looked as if they were melting.

New Baltimore is a town in New York that has a population of about 3,000 people. This town is not exactly the first one that many people think of when they think of New York. But because of the strange images of this town that the Google Maps camera caught, it's become a pretty well-known one around the Internet.

For unknown reasons, the Google Maps camera had a major glitch when it was driving through New Baltimore to document the town. The pictures that it caught have an eerie purple tint to them, and all the buildings almost look like they're melting. So creepy!

These ten weirdly named US cities might also be worth checking out.

11 Japan's Pigeon People

• Google Maps mistakenly turned citizens of West Tokyo into pigeon people.
• This remains one of the most talked about fails on the map to date.

Japan is home to quite a few unique and unusual things. From strange restaurants to unusual vending machines, it's safe to say that Japan is a special country. When the Google Maps camera was making its way through Japan and documenting the streets, it caught something that's weird even by Japan's standards.

Related: 10 Weird Festivals To Add To Your Bucket List (And What They're All About)

On one street, the camera caught a huge group of people wearing pigeon masks and standing in the street. If you click down slightly to go past this group of people, you can see that they turned to keep watching the camera as it went by.

10 Nagoro Doll Village in Japan

• Google Maps captured human-size dolls hanging out in this Japanese village.
• There are many urban legends surrounding the village of Nagoro.

This town in Japan is definitely not one that's a place that people who are afraid of dolls will want to visit. Nagoro is a village located in Japan that only has a couple dozen residents. But this town has become a hugely popular tourist destination because of the hundreds of non-human residents.

Tsukimi Ayano lived in Nagoro as a child, but her family left when she was a child. When she moved back in the 2000s, she made a doll in the likeness of her father. Since then, she's made hundreds of dolls, many of which were made to look like former Nagoro residents. These dolls may look creepy on Google Maps but have made the village a popular tourist destination.

9 This Message In Memphis

• A spray-painted message appeared on top of a Memphis building.
• The message read: "Come Downtown And Play"

This image was caught on the rooftop of a building in Memphis, TN. Google Earth is often too far away from the ground to really allow people browsing to spot anything strange, but this message was spray painted onto the roof so large that it's visible from even this distance.

We don't know who wrote this message or why they want people to come to play, but it's safe to say that this is an invitation no one should be RSVPing to. Memphis is a nice place to visit, but keep this downtown invitation off your travel to-do list.

8 A Pattern In The Desert

• Many believe this sighting was because of aliens in the Chinese desert.
• The pattern was found close to the headquarters of China's space program.

Was this the work of aliens? Or is it something more easily explained? Unfortunately, this question has been puzzling Internet users for years . This unusual pattern was found in the Gobi Desert, near the headquarters of China's space program.

Related: 10 Seriously Strange Things We Can Only Find In China

While many people believe these are simply roads that were built in order to aid in testing equipment, there are also people who believe it's something more out of this world. Could this be China's Area 51? Unfortunately, the world will likely never know.

This UFO watch tower is somewhere alien lovers may also want to go.

7 These Discarded Mannequins

• This sighting turned out to be mannequins, not human bodies.

At first glance, this scene from Chile seems pretty chilling. It looks like a pile of bodies that were carelessly tossed into a dumpster, right? Fortunately, Google Maps didn't publish the result of a horrible crime on their website. This scene is simply a curbside dumpster where someone discarded a huge collection of discarded mannequins.

We can only imagine what these mannequins were used for in the past and why their owner was throwing them out. But the way they were tossed in the dumpster to be picked up later made this Google Maps sighting pretty strange.

6 Trementina Base

• The Scientology building, aka "Trementina Base," glitched during a Google Map reading.
• Many locals claim this building and property owned by the Scientologists is creepy.

Scientology is a pretty secretive group. For people who aren't members, it's hard to know exactly what's going on inside their various properties. Trementina is one of the properties owned by Scientology that can be seen on Google Maps in New Mexico.

Related: 10 Strange Resorts From Around The World You Should Add To Your Bucket List

While Scientology may be pretty secretive about what they do, the purpose of Trementina Base is something they have told the public about. According to Scientology officials, Trementina Base was built to preserve the works of L. Ron Hubbard, including books and movies. His writing was even carved onto stainless steel tablets and buried here to keep it safe.

5 This Red Lake In Iraq

• The Lago Vermelho Lake turned blood-red in a Google Maps image.
• Since then, it has returned to its regular color.

Going on vacation to a beautiful, clear lake is definitely a dream vacation for many people. But going to a lake with bright red water like this one in Iraq is not exactly the lakeside vacation that most people dream of.

This bright red lake was spotted on Google Earth in Sadr City, just outside of Baghdad, several years ago. Viewing Lago Vermelho Lake now will show the lake in its original color instead of the eerie red one that it was a decade ago. According to local sources, the lake was turned red by the runoff of a local slaughterhouse. Still, this is pretty scary to see and one of the weirdest things on Google Maps.

4 A Friendly Gathering

• This Google Maps image showed a group of friends in a remote desert area.
• Nobody knows the four people or why they were there.

Nothing weird about a group of friends standing in the desert with creepy masks on, right? There's not much known about this Google Maps sighting, but it's definitely a creepy one. These four friends were spotted on Google Maps standing in the road, staring right at the camera.

Although it's likely that these friends just saw that they were driving in front of the Google Maps car and decided to get out and mess with anyone checking out this street, it's still pretty creepy. Who just keeps all those masks in their car?

These UFO houses in Wanli might also spark interest .

3 Pittsburgh's Giant Chicken

• A giant chicken was spotted on a lawn in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
• The sculpture has since been removed from the property.

Looks like someone is thawing out dinner for their entire neighborhood! This giant chicken was spotted on a lawn by the Google Maps car on the corner of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Sampsonia Street.

Unfortunately, this chicken has since been taken out of the lawn and can no longer be seen on Google Maps. But it definitely had people wondering what it was doing there and what it was made out of when it was still on the lawn.

2 Pentagram Of Kazakhstan

• 52.47944° N, 62.18631° E - these coordinates can be fed into Google Maps to clearly see the figure in the satellite view.
• The figure measures roughly 1,200 feet (366 meters) in diameter.

Another one of those strange things on Google Maps is Kazakhstan's Pentagram. In an isolated corner of Kazakhstan, there's a large pentagram etched into Earth's surface. Surrounded by a circle, the five-pointed star is located on the southern shore of the upper Tobol Reservoir and shows up quite clearly while using the satellite view on Google Maps. The entire etched area is dotted with trees, almost as if it has been marked. For the adventurous traveler, this is one of the most unique places to visit in Kazakhstan .

There are almost no other signs of human habitation in the area, with the closest settlement being the city of Lisakovsk, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) to the east.

Related: Visit Googleplex: A Comprehensive Tour Of Google's Headquarters

1 Creepy Scarecrows Of Finland - The Silent People

• Google Maps' street view shows an eerie image of the Silent people outside Suomussalmi, Finland

On Highway 5 outside of Suomussalmi, Finland, anyone who comes across the scarecrows finds the sight either glee-inducing or terrifying. The figures are covered in straw hair and simple wooden bodies draped with colorful clothing that is changed twice a year.

The work of artist Reijo Kela, the image of Silent People, is one of those strange things on Google Maps and an art installation whose meaning is a mystery. The artist himself prefers the viewers to use their perception to define it. Many find the scarecrows sad or disturbing.

12 Google Maps Secret Locations [With Coordinates]

Last Updated on January 20, 2023 by Urbex Underground

We live in an age where you literally have the world in the palm of your hand. You can explore the entire planet from the comfort of your home. But there are some Google Maps secrets that were never meant to have been photographed. Here are 12 Google Map secrets, and places that you can explore for yourself. Click the coordinates to view each location, or check out the map below.

35.414520, 119.499892

Number one of our list might surprise you. It’s the entire country of China. Go to any place in China on Google Maps and you’ll see that none of the roads line up. This isn’t a glitch in the matrix, but a design by the Chinese government to keep the exact location of their country obscured. If you were in China, and had a GPS in your camera, your geo-tagging feature likely wouldn’t work. Companies like Google and Fujitsu comply with China’s requests and use an altered version of the GPS system that isn’t 100% correct. Due to national security concerns, surveying and mapping in China is illegal and can cost you up to $75,000 in fines! What are you in for? “Oh ya know, makin maps of China.” But China does more than just mess up their maps a little bit, there is a method to the madness, more like an algorithm. Before any public maps are published a secret formula is applied that offsets certain parts of the map by varying degrees. This system is called GCJ-02, or more commonly known as Mars Coordinates. If you visit Hong Kong you’ll notice all the roads appear correct, and that’s because the country uses the true GPS coordinates. Things get even more confusing when crossing into China from Hong Kong, roads suddenly shift when entering the country and this can leave visitors really confused.

2. Russian Hexagonal Warehouses

54.35967, 41.32853.

Deep in an unnamed forest right in the heart of Russia is a series of strange buildings that used to be obscured. On the ground you may never notice these warehouses, but from the air their spacing creates an eye catching pattern. Who would build this far into the woods? And why would they space these buildings out so evenly? Let’s take a closer look. This facility sits isolated down a single stretch of road that’s nearly a mile long. At the end of the road are a few buildings and what appears to be a guard shack or checkpoint. Notice the high double fencing surrounding the entire property.

Whatever this place is, they did a good job of hiding it in the woods, but not so much from above. The carved perimeter in the trees makes this place pop out from hundreds of feet in the air. And the odd arrangement of their warehouses contrasts the forest around the property. So what is this place? My guess, it’s a military storage facility for something that’s highly explosive. The warehouses are likely spaced out to avoid causing a chain reaction and leveling the whole forest if something went wrong. If I’m not on a watch list, I probably am by now.

3. The Princeport Road House

54.570690, -1.303580.

There’s an unassuming house on Princeport road in the tiny town of Teesside. But that doesn’t seem so odd. However if you go on Google Streetview and try to look at the house, Google won’t let you. For years, this house, and only this house has been censored by Google, you just can’t look at it. Why? No one knows why it’s censored, not even the owner of the home who’s lived there since 2000. Was someone doing something nasty in one of the windows, or is there more to this house than we know about?

4. UFO Crashsite

-25.89493, 27.80137.

You couldn’t map out the entire earth and not capture at least one UFO, right? Well, people think they’ve found the crash site of a flying saucer in the plains of South Africa. In the middle of the field you can make out what appears to be a flying saucer angled on it’s side, as if it slid in after a crash landing. Trees appear to be growing around it now, and a well worn dirt path leads right to it. Unlike the roof tops in the nearby villages, this does appear to be metallic, at least in the aerial shot of it. Either way, we want to see them aliens.

5. Mysterious China Symbols

40.4521, 93.74211.

Circling back to China, there are two strange symbols etched into the mountain in the Gobi Desert. These symbols don’t appear to be in any specific language, or have any meaning behind them. The mysterious China lines are huge, measuring in at over a mile across. Looking closer, they don’t seem to go anywhere, or lead to anything. Almost as if the lines are meant to be a kind of message. Between the two massive symbols it’s clear there is activity present, likely military. You can find small craters from bomb testing and even dirt roads that disappear underground. So does anyone really know what these things are?

Well, scientists who’ve studied the area are pretty sure they’re calibration sites for Chinese spy satellites. Satellites who lost their way would orient themselves towards the large mountain range, and then find and lock on to the calibration sites. Since the sites are so large, this indicated that the satellites are lower resolution. The United States used similar markings for their CORONA spy satellites in the 1960s. In the Casa Grande mountain range are two concrete white crosses that are about 60 feet in diameter. A lot smaller and less impressive than the mile long lines in China, but still very odd to stumble across. 

6. Orano La Hague

49.67706, -1.86918.

There’s a complex that’s nearly two miles long, and it’s completely pixelated out – for good reason. Orano La Hauge is a massive recycling plant. Not for beer cans and plastic bags, but for spent nuclear fuel.

As you can imagine, taking something as hazardous as nuclear waste and recycling it safely? That has to be a massive undertaking. Keeping a two mile long campus secure is also a challenge, so it’s no wonder they don’t want people snooping at their rooftops.

7. GROM Headquarters

50.03693, 19.90391.

If you’re scrolling around eastern Warsaw in Poland, you may come across a group of buildings that look like a blurry blob compared to the city next to it.

This isn’t an accident. This is the GROM Headquarters, basically Poland’s Special Forces buildings. GROM evidentially stands for ‘thunderbolt’ in Polish, so you know these guys mean business.

But it’s not just their name. This is the same group that rescued a number of CIA agents who were trapped in operation Desert Storm back in 1991. Whatever goes on there, they don’t want nosy people snooping around from the sky and finding out.

8. Brooklyn Blackout

40.68875, -73.9697.

Just like the Princeport house, there is another house in Brooklyn that is mysterious blacked out. No one really knows why, and the neighbors nearby appear unaffected. Is this a random glitch that sometimes blocks houses? Is the owner in witness protection? If you find out, be sure to let me know.

9. Courtyard Of The Orange Tree

36.83888, -2.47222.

On the coast of Spain is the town of Almeria, and in that town is a beautiful place called the Patio de los Naranjos, which means the Courtyard Of The Orange Tree. But Google has very blatantly hidden this place from us. Why would Google want to hide a courtyard of orange trees? Do these orange trees produce the rarest and most pure orange juice on the planet? Or are the surrounding buildings involved in secret military activity. I personally have no idea. I wonder what happens if you try and take an orange from the tree? Probably nothing good.

10. Massive Pentagram

52.47933, 62.18566.

In the far reaches of Kazakhstan on a windswept peninsula, something evil is carved into the earth. You might not notice it on the ground, but it’s glaringly obvious from above. A massive pentagram has been etched near the cliff side. The land itself is ancient, and holds artifacts dating back to the bronze age, but is it related? Conspiracy theorists have tried to link this place back to Freemasons and Wiccans. Comments online vehemently state that this is a site of animal sacrifice and satanic rituals. However local historians paint a much different picture. They say the land was supposed to be a soviet era summer camp, and was left abandoned. The summer camp construction was never completed and everything was left in a standstill as the soviet union fell. The large pentagram is actually a soviet star, which was quite a common symbol at that time.

11. Ariel Castro’s Home

41.472553, -81.697896.

Unlike the pentagram in Kazakhstan, true evil lurked at 2207 Seymour Avenue in Cleveland Ohio. If you go to that address in Google streetview, you’ll be met with a square block obscuring the home. That might seem mysterious to some people, if you don’t know the story. 2207 Seymour Avenue is where Ariel Castro kidnapped three girls, and held them captive for over a decade. Inside he sealed off sections of the home and held the girls hostage. Doors were locked from the outside and the front door was boobytrapped with makeshift alarms to alert him of escapes. On May 6th 2013 Amanda Berry, one of the kidnapped girls was able to break free when Castro forgot to lock one of the main doors. She ran across the street to a neighbor and was able to call the police. Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1000 years. He would end up taking his own life in his cell. Out of respect for the kidnapped girls, Google has blocked old images of the house, and rightfully so. On August 17th 2013 the house was completely demolished. An empty lot with a flower bed now takes the home’s place.

12. Christian Science Society Of Dixon

41.84211, -89.48616.

I’ll be honest with you, this is possibly one of the greatest structures on this list. I was told that at one point Google censored out this entire building, and then removed it shortly after. I find it very hard to believe that the engineers who built this building, didn’t know what they were doing. Sure from the ground this church looks innocent enough but from above.. Do I just have the mind of a 12 year old? Or was someones Dixon in the wrong place?

Google Maps Secrets

Those were 12 of the best kept Google Maps secrets I could find. be sure to check out the Urbex Underground Ariel Oddities map below for more hidden and weird parts of our planet. Let me know in the comments if there’s a place on the map you think deserves to be added.

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