Few things on Google Maps have caused as much collective panic as a giant five-pointed star sitting in the middle of an empty stretch of land in northern Kazakhstan. When people first stumbled upon it online, the reaction was immediate and dramatic. The shape of a near-perfect pentagram enclosed within a circle, measuring roughly 1,200 feet across, sat in one of the most desolate corners of the world, far from any city, surrounded by almost no signs of human life. It looked deliberate. It looked enormous. And for a large section of the internet, it looked deeply sinister. The mystery haunted online forums, conspiracy websites, and curious map browsers for years. But the real explanation, when it finally came, was far more grounded in history than in the occult.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
