From ghost planes disappearing into the jungle to mysterious doors in Antarctica, Google Maps users have stumbled upon plenty of bizarre discoveries over the years. But the latest find to surface on Google’s map application may be one of the strangest: A giant skull-like shape hidden underwater, just off the coast of Cormorant Island in Canada.
To see the shape, you need to zoom into the village of Alert Bay, the only settlement on the island, and then rotate the map 180 degrees, so that north is at the bottom. Only then, from the shallow waters of the northern shore, a sandy silhouette suddenly emerges that (definitely) looks like a fearsome human skull.
The person who identified the phenomenon is Scott Waring, a well-known UFO enthusiast and founder of the website “UFO Sightings Daily.” He claimed in an interview with MailOnline: “I believe ancient alien visitors created this skull. They did it to leave a sign saying, ‘We were here first.’” Waring emphasized that “the details are incredibly precise,” and according to him, the human-like shape is clear and “spans about 100 meters.”
What do you think?
Online reactions quickly followed. “This is amazing!” wrote one commenter. “Google Maps once again proves how little we really know about Earth,” added another. But not everyone was convinced that this was evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Philip Mantle, a veteran British UFO researcher, told MailOnline: “There’s no evidence that alien life forms visited Earth in the past and left signs. It’s most likely just a natural rock formation. It’s like seeing faces in the clouds.”
So why do we even see a skull?
The scientific explanation is simple — and quite amazing on its own: pareidolia — a psychological phenomenon in which we perceive familiar shapes, especially faces, in meaningless objects like clouds, rocks, toast, or underwater sand.
Dr. Robin Kramer, a facial perception expert from the University of Lincoln, explained: “Our face recognition system is so efficient that it would rather make a mistake and see a face that’s not there than miss a real one.” Prof. Kevin Brooks from Macquarie University supported this view: “The human brain categorizes anything that roughly resembles a face as a face — until proven otherwise. It’s an ancient survival system that helped us detect enemies or recognize friends from afar.”
It turns out our tendency to see faces everywhere is also hereditary. Dr. Susan Wardle from the U.S. National Institutes of Health explained that the phenomenon isn’t a sign of a mental disorder, but it can indicate a tendency to believe in the supernatural or stem from strong cultural influences.
A Finnish study conducted in 2012 even found that people who believe in religion or the supernatural tend to see more faces in random objects than those who don’t. That might explain why UFO hunters spot faces both on an isolated Canadian island and in a crater on Mars.
So... is there a skull there?
Probably not. But it’s one of the most beautiful reminders of how our brain works: Searching for meaning, connections, and patterns — even when there’s nothing there. And on the other hand, it’s just as powerful a reminder of the strength of imagination, of the internet, and of Google Maps. Because even if it’s just a regular 100-meter-long sandbar — you have to admit it’s still pretty cool.