There's a secretive side to Google Maps that makes Area 51 look like common knowledge, and now, one YouTuber has looked into why some locations might be blurred out on the web mapping platform.
There are some fascinating and equally frightening things on Google maps, like the incident where the word ‘help’ looked like it was repeatedly spotted from above. Or, what about a mysterious 'alien bases' that are seemingly scrubbed from Google Maps and terrifying faces hiding on top of mountains?
Most of these mysteries aren't some hidden Grand Theft Auto Easter egg, with many being natural phenomenon like bizarre geometric structures that can only be appreciated from above.
We were recently told to blur our houses on Google Maps to maintain our privacy, but be warned, it's an irreversible process once you do it. It's not just residents hiding their homesteads, with YouTube creator Sam "Sambucha" Beres diving deep into the mysteries of Google Maps' many blurred locales. Explaining how Google Maps will blur faces for privacy, and reiterating how you can request to have your home blurred, Beres said he wanted to look at some of the places people don't 'want' you to see.
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First stop on the tour is New York's Indian Point Energy Center that was finally decommissioned in April 2021. Although the I.P.E.C. once powered 25% of New York City and would've been bustling with thousands of people, he referred to it as the 'Chernobyl of the United States' as a ghost town with overgrown grounds.
Things are a little less spooky as he heads to KFC, with numerous KFC locations apparently being blurred on Google Maps. Due to Google's AI facial recognition, the likes of KFC's Colonel Sanders, Starbucks' mermaid, and Wendy from Wendy's can all end up being blurred.
Similarly, the giant face of the Statue of Liberty also gets blurred despite her being one of the most recognizable visages in the world.
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The Washington Square Arch might be an icon of lower Manhattan, but that hasn't stopped it from being hidden on Google Maps. Sambucha guesses that it could be for crowd control or to prevent grafitti on what's supposedly one of New York's most vandalized landmarks. It's also possible that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson's faces are the reason behind the blur.
As one of the most recognizable stars in the world, Taylor Swift has had her entire apartment block blurred, while the late Jeffrey Epstein's apartment is also obscured from view.
The rare sight of a New York City graveyard is blurred, presumably because some of its residents include President James Monroe and several members of the Roosevelt family.
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Even spookier than this, the Amityville Horror house on 12 Ocean Avenue is missing on Google, which is likely to do with its sordid part and numerous movies that have been made about it. Despite the horrific events that took place in the house, Beres admitted that he feels particularly safe in the neighborhood. Another grim stop is The Dakota on 1 West 72nd Street. For those who don't know, it was here that John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman in 1980.
Rounding off the video, Westchester's Playland theme park is blurred, potentially due to the fact that all of Westchester was once blurred due to terror threats.
Each of these has their own reason for being blurred, and whether it be for privacy reasons or more macabre ones, the video offers some interesting insight.