Featured Image Credit: Google Maps/National Geographic
Topics: Conspiracy Theory, Google Maps, Technology, Travel
Jess Battison
Topics: Conspiracy Theory, Google Maps, Technology, Travel
For those with perhaps a little bit of extra time on our hands, or you know, who can’t help but procrastinate at every given moment, you might be all to versed in looking around Google Maps.
Ok, maybe a lot of extra time. It can kill quite a chunk of your day just scrolling around the world, dreaming of holidays, looking at the roads of people you know or finding weird, mysterious locations.
Like the ‘hole’ completely blacked out of Google Maps.
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The site does sometimes black out places it doesn’t have access to or where people don’t want it publicly shown. But social media users have been absolutely baffled by a weird ‘hole’ in the middle of the water.
It appears as a mysterious island that looks totally hollow, with waves crashing around the edge.
People who have discovered the blacked-out spot weren’t initially sure of its exact location, with some joking they’d finally found the remote spot from Lost.
But in November 2021, after months of speculation, it was announced by social media users that the mystery hot spot is actually an uninhabited island called Vostok Island, belonging to the Republic of Kiribati, a country located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And a diver finally showed us the reality.
A YouTube video, published by National Geographic over 14 years ago, was later unearthed by eager spectators to the mysterious island.
In the clip, first posted on the video-sharing social media site back in April 2009, diver Enric Sala claims he has just enjoyed one of the best dives of his life, exploring the wildlife of Vostok's rich coral reefs.
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"Well, we just came back from a dive on Vostok Island," the diver told viewers on the popular video. "I just did the very best dive of my life."
Eric went on: "There were [indistinct] sharks around us, schools of jags, barracuda and surgeon fish, everything!
"Incredible! Really unbelievable. This is the most pristine place we have dived so far. We have found it, this is it. Vostok Island.
"I cannot wait for tomorrow to get back in the water."
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The island remains to appear blacked out on Google Maps, however, despite its identity having been confirmed.
This led to several initial conspiracy theories, including that it’s a 'censored' destination.
“My first thought was that it’s censored," one Reddit user previously wrote.
"It wouldn’t make sense for a natural formation to be black like that in such a shallow, small atoll/island."
Another social media user suggested: "What you see as black is actually very dark green, it’s a very dense forest made up of Pisonia trees".
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And, of course, others added: “Ladies and gentlemen, they have found the island in Lost.”