Investigation initiated after spotting unidentified disc resembling UFO on Google Maps in New Mexico

A mysterious structure in a mountainous region of New Mexico has taken the internet by storm, sparking an investigation to uncover the truth.

Google Map users discovered a large, white disc protruding from the ground at an altitude of 7,400 feet, with its coordinates being 34°24’21.6″N 107°05’44.5″W.

The location, about 34 miles from the Sevilleta National Refuge in La Joay, is nestled in the Sierra Ladrones with no clear roads or homes nearby.

Google Map images of the site show the top of the disc features metallic hardware and part of one side has since been covered by vegetation.

Speculations arose among users suggesting that it could be “a UFO stuck in the mountain for centuries” or possibly “a ceiling hatch of an underground hangar for UAP [Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena].”

Others claimed they saw windows, a fuselage and electrical circuits on the object.

Upon reviewing historical images of the area, some users found a black, box-shaped structure in the same location back in 1975. A comparison to images from 2003 revealed the presence of the disc in the otherwise barren landscape.

The images were shared on X where people are calling for someone to send a drone to the mountain and capture images of the scene.

The Google Map images were shared by X user Steph Kent who posted: ‘Something in the shape of a disc embedded in a mountain in New Mexico, USA, at an altitude of 2,255 meters.’

Commenters suggested it could be an observatory, old water reservoir or a crash alien craft. 

The earliest Google image, in 1996, revealed a completely barren landscape without a dirt path or the disc. 

YouTuber MrMBB333 shared a video in August while investigating the site on Google Maps.

‘This is a very remote location, nothing going on up here,’ he said in the clip.

‘This looks very much like a disc that is stuck in the top of this mountain. I measured the disc from side to side, it’s around 30 feet across.’

He claimed that ‘whenever it crash landed in the mountains,’ it lunged forward and became buried in the ground. 

While the YouTuber’s theory suggested the object was a crash UFO,  a user of Mick West’s Metabunk website had a more realistic investigation. 

The post initially claimed the object was a crashed disc when the user started the thread last August, but they later updated it to read: ‘The structure has been identified as a rainwater catchment that has since been removed and replaced by a different structure.’

They searched through historical records on the US Geological Survey, uncovering images dating back to 1975 that showed a black dot where the white disc is now. 

There is also a clear path leading from a clear to the site. 

‘So what is it? A research station of some kind? Something related to the nearby testing range,’ they asked in the post dated August 26. 

‘Some suggested a wildlife catchment tank (which looks similar if not a bit smaller) or a Frank Lloyd Wright project (it’s not). 

Wright was an American architect famous for unusually designed homes, some of which that were circular. 

‘From a quick search there appears to have been a structure built on that exact spot from at least the 1975 so it seems unlikely anything coincidentally ‘crashed’ there,’ the MetaBunk user shared. 

Google Map users have come across many strange locations worldwide with a recent one in Los Angeles when people spotted ‘HELP’ spelled out with various materials on a plot of storage or waste facility in Los Angeles, California.

This area is about one mile east of Los Angeles City Hall, situated between the Los Angeles River, North Mission Road and E Cesar E Chavez Avenue. Its coordinates are 34°03’18’N 118°13’30’W. 

The Spanish words ‘TRAFFICO’ (traffic) and ‘TERRORISMO,’ (terrorism) also appear, as well as ‘LAPD,’ ‘FEDERAL,’ and ‘FBI.’

The images went viral on social media over the weekend, sparking fears that someone may be trying to alert the public or law enforcement to a human trafficking operation in the area.

One Reddit user wrote: ‘This sounds like someone or a group are being trafficked and used materials available to them to spell out an SOS. I hope if a random person noticed, authorities noticed as well.’

‘We have all known for a long time that shipping containers are being used for human trafficking,’ one X user posted, referencing the location’s close proximity to the shipping yard.

Concerned viewers also pointed out what appears to be holes or tunnel entrances nearby, speculating that nefarious activity may be taking place inside.

One such person, who goes by ‘LAguy’ on X, spoke with a woman experiencing homelessness who lives near the lot.

She told him the words were written by a man named Jose who has been writing them ‘for years.’

‘[José’s] the one who puts [help] all the time,’ she said. ‘He writes it everywhere […] it’s been years,’ she added, though she made clear she didn’t know the reason why he has been writing the messages.

Others claiming to live nearby offered similar explanations.