Bedeviling Phenomenon: What Do You Make of the 1,200-Foot Wide Pentagram on Google Maps?

So, there seems to be a giant pentagram etched into a windswept corner of Kazakhstan in central Asia.

Don't believe us? The devilish symbol, measuring roughly 1,200 feet in diameter, shows up quite visibly on Google Maps:

(Credit: Google Maps)

It's found on the southern shore of the Upper Tobol Reservoir where there are almost no other signs of humanity; the closest settlement is the city of Lisakovsk, about 12 miles to the east, according to Yahoo News.

Adding fuel to the proverbial lake of fire are reports that you zoom into the center of the pentagram on Google Maps, you can see two spots highlighted by previous visitors to the topographical app: "Adam" and "Lucifer"—and you know what figure that name is connected with...

But believe it or not, archaeologist Emma Usmanova has worked in the Lisakovsk area and has an answer.

"It is the outline of a park made in the form of a star," she told LiveScience, Yahoo News reports.

More from Yahoo News:

The star was a popular symbol during the Soviet era (Kazakhstan was a part of the former Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991). Stars were often used throughout the Soviet Union to decorate building facades, flags and monuments. (Several online comments had suggested the star shape was the abandoned site of a Soviet-era lakeside campground.)

The star in the Soviet-era lakeside park is marked by roadways that are now lined with trees, Usmanova explained, which make the star shape even more distinct in aerial photos. Additional images of the site, now abandoned and overgrown with weeds, can be seen at englishrussia.com.

(H/T: Yahoo News)

--

[related]