People go hunting for all sorts of things on Google Maps, but some users believe they've stumbled onto something as equally fascinating as it is frightening as a disturbing 'face' appears to be present on a mountain top in Chile.
There are signs all across the world of alien involvement for those who want to believe, from scary floating metal orbs to the good old fashioned UFOs that have dominated media for decades.
Our planet is even filled with fascinating seemingly natural oddities that many mistake for extraterrestrial communication, so you certainly can't blame some people for believing that there's something more at play — even if the result of that could be a catastrophic alien invasion.
Some UFO hunters have managed to spot another potential sign of aliens while scouring Google Maps, and it's hard not to be creeped out by this mysterious 'face' sprawled across a Chilean mountain.
What is the 'face' that people think is linked to aliens?
As reported by the Daily Mail, self-professed UFO expert Scott C Waring was having a look on Google Maps one day in search of any possible sign of alien life, only to stumble on something that immediately caught his attention.
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What he has branded to be the 'oldest alien base on the planet' is a mountain top on a remote island off the southern coast of Chile that appears to have multiple 'faces' etched into it.
Found at the coordinates '55°32’35”S 69°15’56”W', you can begin to spot the different markings as you zoom in, with one particular face appearing to the south that looks an awful like a traditional alien visage.
Many fellow alien hunters have congratulated Scott for his find, with one even comparing it to the iconic Nazca lines found in Peru that continue to mystify people.
Outside of their otherwise unexplained nature there's nothing that necessarily links them to alien life, although they would certainly make a good place for any extraterrestrials to settle if they were to drop down onto our planet.
Can scientists explain the markings?
Thankfully – or perhaps regrettably if you're excited about the prospect of aliens – there is a scientific explanation as to why we can see faces in this particular mountain top, and it explains a number of other similar face-related finds too.
As outlined by Dr Robin Kramer of the University of Lincoln: "Our face detection system has evolved to be great at detecting faces and it makes more sense to err on the side of caution by occasionally seeing faces where there aren't any, rather than missing faces where there are."
What this means is that our brain can effectively trick us into thinking we're seeing a face when we're not, perhaps as a survival mechanism, even when nothing is actually there.
This phenomenon is known as pareidolia, and it extends to seeing other similar visual patterns in inanimate objects and Earthly structures like this one. Dr Kramer adds that this "explains why we see faces in geological structures, as well as pretty much anything else."
So, while it might look like there are 'faces' etched into the mountain that Scott stumbled upon, it's merely our brain making it seem like something is there, and a mere coincidence caused by the way shadows have fallen in this particular image. Just don't go applying the same rule of thumb to Mount Rushmore!