26 Scary Things on Google Earth

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Get close and personal with ghosts, ghouls, and mysteries at these creepy coordinates
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Google Earth is honestly one of the most impressive modern feats. Through sheer effort and technological advancement, the entire planet has been mapped from space. But such a colossal achievement has come at a cost. Specifically, we’re also able to see just how downright spooky a lot of places are. In this article, we’ll break down the 26 most infamous, scary, and unnerving locations you can visit on Google Earth.

Creepy & Weird Things on Google Earth

  • The Pigeon People (Japan): 35.7040744° N, 139.5577317° E
  • Balcony Ghosts (France): 48.700568° N, 6.189389° E
  • Human Lips (Sudan): 12° 22′ 13.32″ N, 23° 19′ 20.18″ E
  • The Badlands Guardian (Canada): 50° 0′ 38.20″ N, 110° 06′ 48.32″ W
  • The Ghost Town (USA): 36.9005° N, 116.8273° W
  • Giant Pink Bunny (Italy): 44°14’39.4″N 7°46’11.1″E
1

The Pigeon People (Japan)

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  1. Standing in two rows, people in realistic pigeon masks stare down the Google Street View filmer. They’ve since been blurred out by Google due to the urban legends and stories that have developed around them, but you can still see the Pigeon People in the Musashino neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan (there’s an unblurred photo here). The ominous and frankly confusing vibes here are the stuff of legend.
    • Coordinates: 35.7040744° N, 139.5577317° E
    • What’s the story here? This was an elaborate prank by some writers at a Japanese blog who heard that Google was coming to their neighborhood to document their streets. They decided to prank the world with this elaborate, creepy stunt.[1]
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2

The Gates of Hell (Turkmenistan)

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  1. Also known as the Door to Hell, the Gates of Hell appear to be a black hole in the middle of rural Turkmenistan. To add to the creep factor, there’s a bizarre “tourism campsite” and an airport runway next to it. The cherry on top is the giant ash field surrounding the portal, giving it an ashy, unnatural energy.
    • Coordinates: 40.2525° N, 58.4395° E
    • What’s the story here? This is actually a natural gas mine that collapsed on itself. It has been burning continuously since 1971. It’s actually almost creepier to know the truth here—a crater in the former USSR has been on fire for over half a century! You can see what it looks like on the ground here.[2]
3

Balcony Ghosts (France)

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  1. In Nancy, France, you can drop down in Google Earth and poke around the quaint French streets, but there’s one street where Google decided to block access. It’s because viewers stumbling around the area found this poltergeist hanging out on a balcony. What made it even creepier was that the ghastly figure wasn’t just a blip—it remained, regardless of what angle you viewed it from on the street.[3]
    • Coordinates: 48.700568° N, 6.189389° E
    • What’s the story here? It’s still not clear. It’s unlikely this was Google’s work since Google's blurring looks very different. That’s part of what makes it so much creepier!
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4

Human Lips (Sudan)

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  1. Labelled the Landlocked Lips by Google, this remote area of Sudan contains what appears to be a giant pair of lips. Locals consider the lips a spiritual love letter to their people, as lip plates are significant in many Sudanese tribal cultures. Conspiracy theorists wonder if these lips are a portal to another dimension or a sign of alien interference. In any case, you have to admit the giant lips are pretty unsettling!
    • Coordinates: 12° 22′ 13.32″ N, 23° 19′ 20.18″ E
    • What’s the story here? You can’t tell from the bird’s eye view, but the lips actually sit on a set of hills. The shading from the light and the greenery in the surrounding area create the impression of lips. On top of that, there’s a narrow band of rocks running through the center of the “lips,” giving the mouth its definition.[4]
5

The Boneyard (USA)

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  1. In this obscure corner of Tuscon, Arizona, you can see rows upon rows upon rows of hundreds of strange planes. They’re obviously not commuter planes, and they’re also in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. It’s like a graveyard in the desert for hundreds of planes!
    • Coordinates: 32° 10′ 15.20″ N, 110° 51′ 18.66″ W
    • What’s the story here? It’s basically storage for military planes. Officially, this is the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group—a government organization that stores military and government-owned planes. The dry air and low humidity keep all of these planes from rusting, and the site is famous for its appearance in movies like Transformers.[5]
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6

Face in the Desert (USA)

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  1. It’s called the face in the desert, but it’s really more of a 6-pointed star. This bizarre structure in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Nevada has been the source of conspiracy theories for decades. Why the odd shape? What’s the remote building in the center of the shape? Are the markings trails of some kind, or is this just desert art? The questions are nearly endless.
    • Coordinates: 37.401573° N, 116.867808° W
    • What’s the story here? It’s called the face in the desert because that’s actually its name! The Nevada Desert FACE facility (NDFF) is a scientific compound that studies climate conditions using a method called Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (or FACE).[6]
7

The Outback Triangle (Australia)

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  1. At first glance, this random patch of land will probably just look like random farmland to you, but zoom in a bit. Really look at the area. Do you see the strange symmetrical shapes that appear and disappear randomly? Do you see the giant triangle with lights around it? What about the weird bristly features in the landscape? This creepy area is also fascinating because it sits almost perfectly on the opposite side of the planet from the Bermuda Triangle, and pilots have also reported odd weather and electrical problems when flying over this area.
    • Coordinates: 30.0305° S, 115.3565° E
    • What’s the story here? Honestly? We’ve got no idea. Some research indicates you’re looking at the remnants of renegade farming activity. Other people report government operations in the area. It’s still pretty unclear, which only makes it all the scarier.[7]
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8

Scarecrow Village (Japan)

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  1. In a random remote logging area, you can find more than 300 strange scarecrows. Some of them are hyper-realistic and look basically like real people. Others are more impressionistic. The scarecrows are scattered throughout the area and create a deeply ghastly, haunting impression.
    • Coordinates: 33.8444° N, 134.1559° E (we recommend poking around a bit on Street View to look for the scarecrows)
    • What’s the story here? In a rural area of Japan in Naka, Tokushima, there sits Nagoro—the remains of a once bustling city with a huge population. The town declined over time, and now it’s basically abandoned. To pay homage to the history of the area, local artist Tsukimi Ayano has constructed human-sized scarecrows out of random materials.
9

The Badlands Guardian (Canada)

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  1. In the rural Badlands of Canada, there’s a giant head. It rests in profile facing west and appears to have closed eyes and a headdress. Is it the spirit of the native ancestors staring out in mourning over what happened to the indigenous peoples of Canada? Is it the embodiment of the land itself, reminding us that the Earth carries all the power it’d ever need?
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10

Strange Wheels (Jordan and Saudi Arabia)

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  1. East of Israel, in the deserts of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, there are creepy, strange black circles and orbs that pepper the landscape. These colossal shapes appear in different shades, portions, and sizes, but they’re clearly not natural. They’ve been the subject of many conspiracy theories, ranging from military testing sites to portals from another dimension.
    • Coordinates: 31.029° N, 37.641° E
    • What’s the story here? These are farms! In the arid deserts of the region, these commercial farms grow grass, barley, wheat, corn, and alfalfa (which explains the different sizes. They appear black when they’re unused during crop rotations.[9]
      • These wheels are often confused for Jordan’s stone wheels—ancient stone shapes that have been carved into the desert for unclear reasons.[10] The stone wheels aren’t big enough to see from Google Earth.
11

The Ghost Town (USA)

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  1. It may not look like much from the bird’s eye view, but if you pop down into Street View, you’ll find the ruins of what looks like a prehistoric city that has been abandoned. The remnants of stone walls protrude from the ground, abandoned roads are covered in cacti, and there isn’t much in the way of modern amenities. It’s considered one of the most haunted places in America, and that’s not even to mention the odd ghoul sculptures.
    • Coordinates: 36.9005° N, 116.8273° W
    • What’s the story here? This is Rhyolite, Nevada, and you’re looking at the remnants of an abandoned gold rush town. Gold was discovered in Rhyolite in the late 1800s, but things quickly fell apart. Today, it stands as one of the best examples of what a railroad boom town looks like.[11]
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12

The Broken Face (Antarctica)

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  1. The broken face will send chills down your spine. This giant, wailing face stands out in the stark Antarctic landscape, and it appears to be in pain. It looks like the remnants of an ancient titan left to rot in the frozen pole of our planet. Many people think it may even be more evidence of aliens!
    • Coordinates: 72° 00′ 36″ S, 168° 34′ 40″ E
    • What’s the story here? It hasn’t been studied in as much depth as the Guardian in Canada’s Badlands, but this is likely just the same thing—centuries of weather and tectonic plate movement creating something that happens to resemble a face.[12]
13

Blood Lake (Iraq)

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  1. A lake of blood sits ominously in the middle of this Baghdad neighborhood in Iraq. Today, Blood Lake is more of a muted brown than the bright red it used to be, but you can still see the huge color contrast with the surrounding bodies of water.
    • Coordinates: 33.3961° N, 44.4875° E
    • What’s the story here? The true story is more sad than creepy. Local companies dumped so many chemicals and so much sewage into the lake that it destroyed the ecosystem and caused all kinds of colorful algae to grow.[13]
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14

The Island of Birds (USA)

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  1. Sand Island, of the Midway Islands, is a tiny isle that may not look like much from above. If you pop down on Street View, though, you’ll find an unfathomably large number of birds. That may not seem scary at first, but we assure you—if you’ve ever found yourself surrounded by an unsettling number of birds, you know that this can get real spooky real fast.
    • Coordinates: 28°12’55.9″N 177°22’35.2″W
    • What’s the story here? It’s a wildlife refuge! This protected land is a key resting and nesting spot for dozens of essential, endangered, and rare birds.[14]
15

Giant Pink Bunny (Italy)

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  1. In a random corner of Italy’s northern mountains, a giant, spooky pink bunny lies down. It stares up into the heavens with an empty, dead expression on its face. How did it get there? Who did this? The questions are a unique combination of scary and funny. Unfortunately, it’s not visible anymore, but a photo of the landmark carries on in our hearts forever.
    • Coordinates: 44°14’39.4″N 7°46’11.1″E
    • What’s the story here? A group of artists installed the bunny with the aim of making visitors feel like the diminutive Lilliputians from Gulliver’s Travels. Mission accomplished, I guess? Weird goal, but you do you, Italian mountain artists![15]
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16

The Scientology Compound (USA)

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  1. This is also pretty high up there in the authentically scary category. Carved into the pristine mountainside of Trementina, New Mexico, Scientologists built…something. Does it harbor secrets related to their alien theology? Is it an end-times bunker?
    • Coordinates: 35.524423059378705, -104.57172606840156
    • What’s the story here? L. Ron Hubbard—the leader behind the foundation of Scientology—commissioned this compound to be built in order to store all of the organization’s writings. It’s said to be able to survive a nuclear blast, and the odd shape is supposedly meant to help make it easier for Scientologists to spot it from outer space. To add to the creepy factor, nobody knows what’s inside or how deep the compound goes.[16]
17

The Marree Man (Australia)

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  1. Squint at the image and follow the outline of the lighter soil. See the man? This scary thing was found kind of randomly by a pilot flying over the area, and it quickly blew up as a viral mystery. Nicknamed after the nearby town of Marree, this strange bit of Earth art is the subject of countless theories and mysteries.
    • Coordinates: 29.5324° S, 137.4694° E
    • What’s the story here? Nobody knows. The 2.2 mi (3.5 km) long work must have taken forever to create if it’s the work of one artist, but you’d think somebody would have spilled the beans if a group of artists were behind it.[17] There’s even a cash reward for anyone who can crack the mystery!
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18

The Swastika Building (USA)

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  1. We readily admit that this is less scary than it is upsetting and confusing, but there is a perfectly-shaped Swastika building nestled along the coast of Coronado, California. It has been the subject of much concern and questioning by the general public. It’s also a common feature of many government-themed conspiracy theories.
    • Coordinates: 32.676193° N, 117.157661° W
    • What’s the story here? The story here is actually really dumb. This is a naval base that was established in 1943. The base was quickly built, and the building in question (which is a barracks) was constructed to house soldiers. The thing is, nobody actually looked at the design for the barracks from above—they only looked at the plans from the front and sides, so nobody noticed the unfortunate shape.[18]
19

The Pentagram (Kazakhstan)

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  1. On the edge of a remote lake in Prokhorovka, Kazakhstan, there is a giant pentagram carved into the earth. Even creepier still, a “playground” sits in the middle of it, according to Google Earth. This Satanic symbol has fueled tons of spooky theories over the years, and it’s a popular locus for Soviet conspiracy theories.
    • Coordinates: 52°28’48.4″N 62°11’09.6″E
    • What’s the story here? The pentagram is just supposed to be a regular star—a common symbol of the Soviets during the USSR. This location was originally going to be a park, but construction halted before they got past the “carve a pentagram in the ground” stage.[19]
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20

The Sunken City (Italy)

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  1. Off the shores of Naples sits a strange shape floating in the water. To some, it must be Atlantis. To others, it’s the sign of a hidden treasure trove. Upon closer inspection, you’ll see the outline of ancient ruins, tucked just below the surface of the water.
    • Coordinates: 40.821233140822464, 14.077730718783444
    • What’s the story here? If you’re ever lucky enough to dive and visit the figures in the water, you’ll be greeted by the sunken city of Baia. This ancient Roman town was a hot vacation spot in antiquity, but it eventually fell into the sea due to volcanic eruptions.[20]
21

The Shipwreck of the SS Ayrfield (Australia)

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  1. Yup. That’s a ship submerged in the river and a tree growing out of the top of it. What happened here is pretty obvious—a ship sank. The scary part comes in when you really consider how terrifying it must have been to have actually been on this ship as it slowly fell through the deep.
    • Coordinates: -33.83647313578192, 151.08048915379533
    • What’s the story here? Nicknamed “the floating forest,” the SS Ayrfeld was intentionally sunk due to damage and lack of salvageability.[21]
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22

Child-Sized Gas Masks (Ukraine)

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  1. Google has since blocked out the pile of child-sized gas masks that sit at this location, but we’re including this area on our list nonetheless for the sheer overwhelming terror of the area. This is the Kyivs’ka Oblast in Northern Ukraine—the site of the nuclear disaster known as Chernobyl.
    • Coordinates: 51.40715°N 30.05823°E
    • What’s the story here? Chernobyl is shorthand for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, which exploded in 1986. It almost single-handedly ended the USSR, and it was moments away from potentially ending the world. Today, the area around these coordinates remains abandoned. In fact, the ground and buildings are still deathly radioactive and will remain uninhabitable for another 20,000 years.[22]
23

Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery (USA)

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  1. Just outside of Chicago, you’ll find the Bacelor’s Grove Cemetery. On Google Earth, it appears as a secluded graveyard covered in trees. Can you feel the ghosts reaching through your computer screen? This land is frequently cited as one of the most haunted areas in the world.
    • Coordinates: 41.6309° N, 87.7707° W
    • What’s the story here? This is the oldest cemetery in the area, and it’s home to some of the settlers of the area.[23] People have frequently reported running into aggressive apparitions, including (but not limited to) a ghastly woman who breathes down your neck, a phantom dog that bites at your soul, a random “yellow man” who follows you in the dark, and a beautiful woman who appears human at first, but soon appears different when you approach her.[24]
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24

Underwater Plane Crash (Bahamas)

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  1. At first, this just looks like your average plane crash. But what really adds to the spooky factor here is the location. Zoom out a bit. Look at all that dense marsh and remote forest. Can you imagine how scary it would have been to survive this flight, only to find yourself stuck in an extremely remote bayou with no hope of rescue?
    • Coordinates: 25.71896620673477, -77.81999522970831
    • What’s the story here? The story here is admittedly not that spooky. There’s actually a small airport to the north of the crash. The plane's brakes were discovered to have failed when landing, and the pilot attempted a go-around. All 8 people on board survived with minor injuries.[25]
25

The Rainbow Satellite (USA)

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  1. This one is just weird. It appears that a satellite was caught between Google’s satellite and the Earth. The result is that it looks like there’s a space station just sort of sitting on the ground. To add to the mystery, there are various layers of light reflecting off the satellite, making it appear like something from another planet.
    • Coordinates: 33.744157, -96.746170
    • What’s the story here? We’re not sure. Reddit stumbled on this one randomly, so your guess is as good as ours!
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26

The Mystery House (USA)

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  1. We’ll end with another rather speculative and odd inclusion. The so-called “mystery house” sits a few dozen miles outside of Philadelphia. It first popped up as a point of interest when users on Reddit discovered that the address would redirect to odd locations on Google Earth. Then, strange photos and posts started appearing on Instagram. Rumors abound regarding ghosts, the souls of Civil War soldiers, serial killers, cults, and so on.[26]
    • Coordinates: 39.8492789,-75.6169862
    • What’s the story here? Nobody knows! A lot of online users report hearing about cult activity at this location growing up, but there’s nothing documented that we can find.

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References

  1. ↑ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/who-are-the-pigeon-people-of-japan-caught-on-google-maps-camera/articleshow/120641436.cms
  2. ↑ https://www.cnn.com/travel/turkmenistan-flaming-gates-of-hell-darvaza
  3. ↑ https://www.weirdgoogleearth.com/2014/12/25/ghost-on-the-balcony/
  4. ↑ https://propakistani.pk/2025/06/05/satellite-images-capture-earths-lips-in-africa/
  5. ↑ https://tucson.com/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen/article_c841ed52-48ce-11ed-8372-43dd1d5b6e1a.html
  6. ↑ https://www.ornl.gov/content/nevada-desert-face-facility-ndff
  7. ↑ https://awol.com.au/5-australian-unsolved-mysteries/89360
  8. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Badlands-Guardian-Alberta-Canada-Google-Earth-2006_fig1_360789356
  9. ↑ https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86079/todhia-arable-farm-in-saudi-arabia
  1. ↑ https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/first-chronometric-results-for-works-of-the-old-men-late-prehistoric-wheels-near-wisad-pools-black-desert-jordan/E26D1FABBABAD9BC713C1A4DAD77F7D8
  2. ↑ https://10best.usatoday.com/travel/rhyolite-nevada-things-to-do-ghost-town-las-vegas/
  3. ↑ https://www.greenmatters.com/pn/google-earth-user-claims-to-see-a-face-in-antarctica-and-people-have-some-wild-theories
  4. ↑ https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1881770_1881787_1881782,00.html
  5. ↑ https://www.fws.gov/refuge/midway-atoll/species
  6. ↑ https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/colletto-fava
  7. ↑ https://www.koat.com/article/church-of-scientology-has-vault-hidden-in-new-mexico/5071196
  8. ↑ https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146061/marree-man
  9. ↑ https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/coastal/san-diego-swastika-shaped-building/
  10. ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/huge-mysterious-pentagram-remote-kazakhstan-explained-6c10843939
  11. ↑ https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-sunken-city-of-baia-baia-italy
  12. ↑ https://www.ramblingfeet.net/ss-ayrfield-floating-forest-sydney/
  13. ↑ https://www.thetravel.com/is-chernobyl-safe-to-visit/
  14. ↑ https://www.bachelorsgrove.com/history
  15. ↑ https://www.bachelorsgrove.com/paranormal-history
  16. ↑ https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-cessna-402c-great-harbour-cay
  17. ↑ https://www.housecreep.com/ee/701-cossart-rd-chadds-ford-pa-19317-us

About This Article

Sydney Bermudez
Co-authored by:
Sydney Bermudez
Urban Legends Expert
This article was co-authored by Sydney Bermudez and by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Sydney Bermudez is a horror content creator and Mexican folklore and urban legends expert. Sydney is a storyteller, who crafts engaging narratives that explore paranormal cases, internet mysteries, and psychological horror. She shares content on TikTok and Instagram to over 400k followers. Sydney specializes in horror storytelling, Mexican folklore, creepy pastas and urban legends, and is interested in how horror intersects with pop culture, social media trends, and modern myth-making. Her videos have received over 12 million likes on TikTok, with some videos reaching over 10 million views. This article has been viewed 5,640 times.
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