Photo: Google Maps / TikTok
What is the mysterious object?
By Kurtis Condra — Written on May 28, 2022
TikTok never ceases to amaze us with wild stories, theories claiming the world ended already back in 2012, Justin Beiber was a member of the lizard people, and much more.
Still, one video is now looking at something strange.
A Google Earth user decided to look around the blue marble until they found something unexpected.
The user documented their findings on a TikTok, finding something quite odd on an island. A strange tail-like streak extended to an uncanny object before asking, "could this be a UFO" wondering if the object really was.
The alleged UFO sighting occurred on Starbuck Island.
User @googlemapsfun was exploring Google Earth near French Polynesia and North of Kiribati when they zoomed in on an island called Starbuck Island. They started to explore the island when they noted they saw something uncanny.
They spotted a long streak across the land, asking why this is on an abandoned island until they say they have found the answer. They go over to the object located on the beach, asking if it is a UFO crash.
Comments on the TikTok range from comedic to informative.
"Starbuck Island (where starbucks cane from)." one user writes.
"It’s a leftover building from the Guano collection in the 19th century. It’s named Starbuck after the captain who discovered it," another user writes about the strange object that is seen in the video.
There doesn't appear to be a UFO on Starbuck Island, according to research.
National Geographic published two videos back in 2009 about a Dr. Enric Sala and "members of the Ocean Now team being stranded on Starbuck Island during an on-shore excursion." 36 seconds into the video, the camera shows the building structures that were constructed by hand.
Starbuck Island was discovered by Valentine Starbuck, captain of a whaling ship, in 1823. The United States claimed it under the Guano Act of 1856 until Britain annexed it in 1866.
Guano deposits worked on the island from 1870 to 1920, and attempts were made to plant coconut trees but failed. The Island became part of the Gilbert and Elice Islands Colony in 1972 and a part of independent Kiribati in 1979.
The island is a popular breeding location, and Starbuck was designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1975.
The structure in the video was a building from the 19th-century Guano act and the only thing that remains of the island.
The island also was home to shipwrecks as well. A Sacramento Daily Union paper dated 1897 recounts the wreck of the Bark Seladon.
"The vessel struck Starbuck Island while running at a speed of seven knots, and fifteen minutes later, four feet of water was reported in the hold, and two boats were launched with crews of eight men each," the paper details.
The survivors attempted to make for Maiden Island but missed it until running aground on Sophia Island before being tended to by natives of the island for ten months until a steam vessel sailed past and picked them up.
The island is uninhabited, so nobody needs to worry about aliens living on islands on the planet.
Kurtis Condra is a writer focusing on entertainment and celebrity news. When he's not scouting the latest gossip, he's working on his poetry and short stories. You can read all his poetry on his Instagram.