How much can we discover with a simple trip on the internet? Sometimes we don’t even realize it, but we really have a world at our fingertips. The content to read, watch or interact with on the web today is endless, and it is not uncommon for a person to stumble upon something strange, no matter how strange, every now and then. inexplicable.
Take the example of the Reddit user who, while surfing Google Maps, was stunned by a strange image to say the least. So much so that, unable to find an explanation for himself, he decided to ask others, looking for the truth about what he had seen. And, as is often the case in these cases, there was no shortage of theories – from the most truthful to the most improbable. What did he see? A sort of “black hole” in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!
#1

image credit: kokoblocks/reddit – Google Maps
Who does not know Google Maps? Everyone, at one time or another, has used the application of the American computer giant to obtain information on a route or to move from one point to another. However, not everyone may spend time on Maps just to explore the world around us, traveling virtually to discover places far away. The Reddit user known as kokoblocks, a member of Google’s service group, was just doing it, when something amazing and unexpected appeared on his screen.
At first, as has happened on other occasions, he thought it was a Maps bug, a point in the image that was not displaying correctly. Still, his curiosity kept growing, to the point that he felt the need to share the stage on his band and ask other users what they thought.
#2

image credit: Angela K. Kepler/Wikimedia
The image is actually quite curious: you just have to look at it to realize it. It is a kind of “black hole” in the waters of the ocean, around which the waves crash as if they were an ordinary island. At the center of this “thing”, however, you see absolutely nothing. Island, insect, mysterious object, or censored in some way? The theories quickly raged in response to the image, to the point that a real “case” was raised.
Among the more fanciful hypotheses, some saw in this black “spot” a sort of secret portal, or a structure deliberately hidden by someone. Whatever the truth, one thing is for sure: browsing the comments is as curious as it is fun. The alleged conspiracies, the parallel dimensions, the secret conspiracies were combined with jokes whose authors spoke of an island which could be that of the famous television series “Lost”.
#3

image credit: Pxfuel – Not the actual photo
It’s all very intriguing, isn’t it? Too bad it took further investigation to discover that the truth might be much more obvious than expected. This “black hole” on Google Maps would be none other than the island of Vostok , a landmass located in the northeast of New Zealand and belonging to the Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific.
“What you see as black is actually a very dark green, that of a dense Pisonia forest,” one user wrote in response to the photo, effectively dispelling some of the excitement the post had generated. Although this explanation, which is not otherwise confirmed by official statements, has not convinced everyone, it seems so far that this is the most plausible hypothesis, and that the fanciful theories of censorship and conspiracy will have to wait!
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