Many places can claim to be haunted, but on every list you find a certain few that keep popping up. The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, LA USA is one of these places, and is considered one of the most haunted locations in the United States. Built in 1794, the property is said to be the site of up to 10 different murders, and home of 12 resident ghosts. Visitors claim to hear footsteps going up and down the halls, see ghostly children running around the property, and even talk with the ghosts of slaves who ask about chores. Want to visit? Go ahead and book a room because it’s currently a thriving bed and breakfast.

Our second stop isn’t actually a specific location, but an entire country. With the rise of paranormal television shows and magazines, Singapore is quickly becoming known as a hotbed of activity for wannabe ghost hunters. Throughout the city there are numerous ghostly stories to be told. One location is said to be haunted by an entire family that committed suicide together. Another home in Changi Beach apparently is haunted by a ghost that likes to slap house guests across the face! It gets worse though… at the Bedok Tenant House, supposedly a ghost actually killed a woman. The victim went on to become a screaming ghost herself! Maybe that’s all just a bit to scary and you should just stay in the city. Well be careful when travelling on the subway, apparently there are headless ghosts that run through stations terrorising passengers!

Stop number three takes us to England and the infamous Tower of London. GSS visited the tower back in 2005, and the street view update has now given us the ground level perspective. The tower was built way back in the year 1078, so you know there are some creepy stories to be told. Guests claim to see numerous shadows replaying the violent murder of the Countess of Salisbury. She tried to run from her scheduled execution back in 1541, but was chased and then axed to death by her executioner. Others claim to see more legendary ghosts like the beheaded Ann Boleyn. She’s often seen by guests carrying her head in her hands around the property.

Back in the United States, the retired Queen Mary is often called the most haunted ship in the world. Now permanently docked in Long Beach as a hotel, this once luxury ocean liner has been the set for numerous movies and ghost hunting television programs from both the US and the UK. Visitors report being touched by invisible fingers in their room, hear banging and movements from throughout the ship, and even claim to hear a soldier calling for help from the engine room. Strangely enough, it just so happens that a soldier was crushed to death in there back in 1966.

Our last stop takes us to Scotland and to perhaps, the most haunted structure in the world. The site of the Edinburgh Castle has been occupied by man since the late Bronze Age, and the current castle has been dated back to 12th century. The structure sits atop a volcanic rock 80 meters high, with the steep cliff faces surrounding it visible from the street view car. Visitor’s stories range from tales of wandering war prisoners, headless drummers, and ghostly dogs. Some even claim to hear the tunes of a long-dead piper player coming from the castle’s ancient tunnels. Story goes that the piper discovered the tunnels a few hundred years ago, and was playing his tune so that people on the surface could hear him and map his progress. Well at one point the tunes stopped, and the piper was never found. Over two thousand years of history certainly mean the next time you visit the castle and its dungeons, you’re surely not to be alone.

Be sure to check Google for some more great ghost stories at each of these locations. Wikipedia offers great historical information on the Tower of London and Edinburgh Castle. If you’re brave enough, spend the night by booking a room at either the Queen Mary or Myrtle’s Plantation.

Special thanks goes out to Greg, Sergio, Will, Mike, Gareth, Jeff, Kate, Dave, Michele, Ron, Max, James, Ned, Robert, Terry, Boris, Benjamin, Matt, Paul, 7up7, Steve, and Larry for the suggestions and links!

Locations: California, England, Louisiana, Scotland, Singapore / Categories: Buildings, Other Vehicles, Structures, Towers, Weirdness

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Trains descend into the trench near Greenleaf Boulevard in the south and rise back to the surface at 25th Street to the north. It runs parallel to Alameda Street, from which it takes its name.

Before the trench was completed, trains up to 2.5km long would have to slowly pass through around 200 grade-level crossings (i.e. no bridges or tunnels), which resulted in considerable traffic holdups and pollution from stopped vehicles. Since the $2.4billion construction project was completed in 2002, the trench has significantly eased congestion through central Los Angeles.

The struts across the trench – clearly visible from above, and on street view – are intended to maintain the integrity of the concrete walls during California’s frequent earthquakes¹.

The trench is part of the Alameda Corridor which takes 30-60 trains per day from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to locations across the United States – accounting for up to 1/4 of all consumer products imports. Design and construction is underway for an expansion to the east, into San Gabriel.

Somewhat surprisingly, given the number and length of trains which pass through the trench, none are visible on Google Maps. We can, however, see some on Bing Maps’ Bird’s Eye View. And this Youtube video gives you a sense of what it’s like to travel through the trench which is only used for freight traffic (though some ceremonial passenger trains did run through the Corridor on its opening day).

Locations: California / Categories: Other Vehicles, Street Views, Structures

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As part of the same announcement, imagery was unveiled of some slightly less traditional locations, including Laguna Seca Raceway, and Thunderhill Raceway Park, where the Street View car actually raced round the tracks.²

The remaining locations to receive imagery yesterday were even more unusual, San Diego State University and Legoland California. Both of these are fully pedestrianised, and the imagery was captured using the widely publicised Street View Trike.

Using the trike, Google captured some excellent images of Legoland California, many of which we’ve been linking to on our Twitter page – but there’s still lots to be found.

On the other hand, the imagery captured of San Diego State University is slightly less interesting. You might think that it would help entice students to the admittedly utterly picturesque California campus, but as far as we’re concerned, this looks like the most boring University campus in the world.

Why does nobody wave at the camera? Why is it that nobody chases the bike? Why do none of the students flash any naked body parts at the lenses? Naturally, not all students conform to the rowdy stereotypes we have in the UK, but why does nobody really react to the camera at all?

You might guess that they were all instructed not to react in advance, but even the people on guided tours don’t look very interested in the passing camera trike.

What’s perhaps most interesting is that the private properties mentioned here have been brought to your screens through the Street View Partner Program, which allows property managers to request that Google record images of their properties.

What other private places would you like to be able to take virtual tours of?

Locations: California / Categories: Buildings, Crowds, Street Views

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We first posted Neverland Ranch to the site back in April 2005, but at the time Jackson was in the news for very different reasons.

This is the theme park at Neverland – a property which Jackson built here in 1988 at a cost of $17 million. Neverland Ranch was Jackson’s permanent residency from 1988 until 2005, when the main house was eventually closed as a cost-cutting measure in the wake of the star’s declining fortunes.

Despite having been out of the property since 2005, it wasn’t until November 2008 that Jackson finally transferred the title deed to the Sycamore Valley Ranch Company, and in April 2009 a widely reported exhibition of Neverland’s contents opened in advance of all the items going to auction.

In truth however, the Sycamore Valley Ranch Company is a venture that Jackson himself set up¹ – and the auction was actually cancelled at the last minute. Meaning that at the time of his death, Michael Jackson still owned at least some proportion of Neverland Ranch itself, as well as all of its contents.

So maybe this isn’t the last we’ll see of Neverland – perhaps one day it will be reborn to become the Graceland of the pop-era.

Goodbye MJ, thank you for the music.

Locations: California / Categories: Buildings, Monuments

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Death Valley National Park, part of the greater Mojave Desert, is an expansive 13,630 square kilometre natural preserve located on the border between California and Nevada. As its name would suggest, the valley has a climate that is most inhospitable to human settlement, but attracts over 700,000 visitors annually. It also holds the triple honour of being the hottest, driest, and lowest (in altitude) place in North America.

The valley’s floor receives an average annual rainfall of around 4 cm and lies predominantly below sea level. Its unique location between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Amargosa Range allows temperatures to regularly rise above 40°C in the summer months. In fact, the hottest temperature ever observed in the Western Hemisphere was recorded at Death Valley¹ in 1913 when the mercury hit 56.7 degrees Celsius!

Badwater Basin, pictured below, is a broad salt flat located at the southern end of the park. At 85.5 metres below sea level, it is the lowest point in the valley and in all of North America!

Given its low altitude, the basin drains a large area and can actually become a full-blown lake on rare occasions. Above right we see a Landsat-5 satellite image from back in February of 2005 when unusually high rainfall filled the basin for several days creating a salt lake.

Just a few miles up the valley you can clearly make out the colourful rock formations that make up another Death Valley attraction known as Artist’s Palette.

Along a stretch of road known as Artist’s Drive, a rich spectrum of colours can be seen in a relatively isolated space. The variation of red, pink, yellow and green hues are caused by the oxidation of different metals within the rock.

Toward the northern end of the park, Death Valley’s diverse topography can be seen in many different stages of wind erosion.

On the left, Zabriske Point overlooks an extreme erosional landscape composed of sediment from a prehistoric lake bed. The Mesquite Sand Dunes, some as tall as 40 meters, are pictured to the right and located at the northern edge of Death Valley National Park. Due to their relative proximity to Los Angeles, the dunes have been a generic desert backdrop for many Hollywood films, including the Star Wars series.

So there you have it, vast natural wonders and a week-long vacation condensed into a few paragraphs. Should you care to see it for yourself, or if you just want to find out more, Wikipedia (as always) has loads of information, as does the US National Parks Service.

Thanks to hexodus, Rob Smith, Keith, Beej and Jillian Johnson.

Locations: California / Categories: Deserts

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Just like Batman’s underground lair, this warehouse appears to be the base for the whole operation. Panning around, you’ll find the dimly lit room¹ is filled in every direction with dozens and dozens of fully loaded camera cars, some featuring the older camera-only mounts, and others with the newer 3D laser mounts.

Other than the camera cars, there are several other fascinating things to see here, including this setup up of 9 LCD monitors mounted around a couple of old car seats, which would act like a 3D VR room. Is this for checking cameras? Reviewing recorded material? Or live monitoring of the drivers’ progress?

Also of note around the garage are some support vans, lots of bits of computer junk and, in an image captured immediately outside the building, several mysterious black vehicles.

Thanks to VGT.

Locations: California / Categories: Street Views

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You might guess San Francisco. If you’re a Guinness Book of Records-reading smart alec, you might say New Zealand. As it turns out, you’d be wrong – probably. In fact, nobody seems quite sure which is the world’s steepest, and then there’s the problem of what exactly counts as a street anyway.

But we’ve looked into it, got out protractors out, and can now reveal the not-quite-scientifically-verified Google Sightseeing Top Six World’s Steepest Streets! And happily, the intrepid Street View car has struggled its way up (or down) all of them. Here they are, in reverse order:

6) Dornbush Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In the East Hills area of the city, this quiet-looking residential street has been surveyed at a 31.98% grade – that’s a 17.7° slope. The Street View car missed out one section of the steepest part, which is one-way in the downhill direction. Check out the heavy-duty concrete staircase.

5) Maria Avenue, Spring Valley, California

Here’s a prime example of the “We’ve got a grid system and we’re damn well going to stick to it” school of city planning. Google’s Terrain view shows how the north-south street pattern has been laid out with no regard whatsoever to the steep contours – in fact you have to wonder whether the planners had ever even visited the site!

Maria Avenue marches straight up the southern slope of Dictionary Hill, attaining a surveyed grade of 32% (17.7°) just north of Chestnut Street. This section of road seems to be paved with concrete, and is cut off from the section above: Street View leaps straight across the gap, missing out this part of the road. The next block to the east would have been even steeper – Buena Vista Avenue is shown on the street map, but the builders understandably admitted defeat there.

4) Baxter Street and Fargo Street, Los Angeles, California

We’ll call this one a tie. These two streets are right next to one another in the Silver Lake district of LA, and both have been measured at 32%, but they get the nod over Maria Avenue on account of being altogether more exciting.

Baxter Street goes up and up and up… but then it goes down almost as steeply, giving the alarming impression that you’re about to drive off a cliff as you approach the summit.

Fargo Street is much shorter – only one block – but that’s plenty long enough for the cyclists who enter the annual Fargo Street Hill Climb. In 2008 one nutter rode up it 101 times in one day.

3) Eldred Street, Los Angeles, California

Just pipping Baxter and Fargo, with a 33% (18.3°) grade at its topmost end, LA’s steepest is in the Highland Park area. It rises 67m over only 400m, which presents some interesting challenges for its residents, according to an entertaining LA Times article.

2) Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand

Despite being listed in the Guinness Book of Records (and having that sign at the bottom), Baldwin Street doesn’t make the top slot. True, the top section attains an impressive 35% (19.3°) grade; true, it’s quite a slog walking up, even with the steps at the side¹; and true, sliding down it in a wheelie bin is a very bad idea; but it’s not the steepest. Unless anyone else knows better, the winner is…

1) Canton Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The signs at the top say “Do Not Enter”, and in slippery conditions you’d do well to heed them. Canton Avenue, a short cobbled street in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighbourhood attains a whopping 37%, or 20.3°, gradient, making it the steepest public road in the United States – and, quite possibly, the world. This YouTube video shows what happens when you try and cycle up it, and this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more photos, giving an idea what it’s like to live there in winter. You can bet the residents of this house at the bottom of the hill are quite glad of that crash barrier out the front.

Honourable mentions

Here are a few other contenders that, for various reasons, didn’t quite “make the grade”…

West 28th Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles

Apparently this is officially the steepest LA street, at 33.3% (18.4°, just pipping Eldred), but looking at it on Street View, the steep portion is pathetically short. Next!

Ffordd Pen Llech, Harlech, Wales

This lane, said to be the steepest in Britain, plunges down the side of the steep hill topped by Harlech Castle. Sadly, Street View hasn’t reached rural north Wales yet, but there is high-resolution aerial imagery. The sign at the top claims it to be a 40% (21.8°) slope, but that seems dubious. And in any case, look at the sign just below the gradient warning: “Anaddas i fodur”. Unsuitable for motors. Disqualified on a technicality…

Waipio Valley Road, Hawaii

Now we’re talking: 45% gradient, or 24.2° – just look at those contour lines! Sadly, although this potential record-breaker is paved, it is restricted to 4WD vehicles – and in any case, it’s out in the wilds of the north of the Big Island, and with no houses on it you can hardly call this one a street. Still, it looks like quite a drive, judging by the pictures on this page.

Locations: California, Hawaii, New Zealand, Pennsylvania, Wales / Categories: Street Views

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The Turning Torso was designed by world famous Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava (some of whose work we’ve featured in the past), and represents part of a growing trend for elaborately warped and twisted “torqued towers“.

In San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park the new M.H. De Young Museum was completed in October 2005 – replacing the original building that had been damaged in an earthquake. To prevent damage to the new building, it can move almost a metre thanks to a system of sliding plates and fluid dampers. It’s also entirely clad in copper, which will eventually oxidize, taking on a green colour reflective of the surrounding vegetation.

From many places around the park, the most striking feature of the building is the 44 metre Hamon Tower, the impressive twist of which can be clearly seen from both an aerial and ground-level point of view.

Tower designers aren’t just rotating their towers either – although still under construction in Google’s images, the China Central Television Headquarters building was completed in December 2008, and its design almost defies belief. Especially when you consider that this area is also prone to earthquakes!

Technically the CCTV building isn’t a traditional tower, but rather a “continuous loop of six horizontal and vertical sections covering 381,000 square metres of floor space”. This is probably best summed up by the building’s local nickname – “Big Shorts”.

There are several other torqued towers around the world that are either in planning, or already under construction. However I wonder how many of them will be delayed or cancelled due to the current economic climate?

• 1 World Trade Center, New York City, (formerly known as the Freedom Tower), will have a roof set at 45° from the bottom.
• The Infinity Tower, Dubai, will feature a 90° twist like the Turning Torso, but will be nearly twice the height.
• The Chicago Spire, Chicago, also designed by Santiago Calatrava, will be 160 metres taller than the Sears Tower.
• The Burj al-Taqa, Dubai, will feature a twisted hyperboloid design, and will generate all its own energy.

Finally, check out the totally insane Signature Towers and equally ludicrous Dubai Towers Dubai which are both planned for construction in Dubai.

See the amazing skyscraperpage.com for more jaw dropping future skyscrapers.

Thanks to stephan and Vectoor.

Locations: California, China, Sweden / Categories: Buildings, Shadows, Towers

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Brainchild of Ever Increasing Faith Ministries pastor Frederick K. Price, construction of the Faith Dome was completed in 1989 on 32 acres of the former Pepperdine University¹ campus. The geodesic church sanctuary is constructed almost entirely of aluminum and hosts Dr. Price’s sermons which reach over 15 million families across the United States each week.

By all reports a lively character, Dr. Price oversaw the construction of this behemoth structure from start to finish. During an inaugural sermon, he described his love for the new church structure, exclaiming “Hallelujah! Jesus just hit a grand-slam home run!”

Situated along a busy flight lane, the Faith Dome is clearly visible to thousands of airline passengers landing at Los Angeles International Airport every day. It seems that Dr. Price and his construction team must have been acutely aware of this fact. An enormous advertisement to anyone looking down, the church’s car park has been emblazoned with gigantic letters proclaiming the Faith Dome’s glorious existence.

Then again, it could be a way of broadcasting to the “big man” himself.

Thanks to stongey and Bird’s Eye Tourist.

Locations: California / Categories: Buildings, Large Type

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Back in 2005, Google Maps’ satellite imagery was barely 24 hours old, and restricted to North America, when we linked to our very first sight – this Mickey Mouse-shaped lake at Disney World, Florida. Interestingly, other than a change in the projection of the images¹ (which stopped everything looking squished), the imagery here hasn’t been updated since then.

In a poor reflection on our imaginations back in 2005, the second sight we posted was even more stereotypically “American”. We think we’ve come a long way since we posted The Hollywood sign, as the entire post simply consisted of the words:

Only just legible, but very cool, the Hollywood sign. Now I don’t need to go there to see it.

The imagery may have been updated since then² (and we’ve gotten a lot more wordy), but the sign never really changes much. However, thanks to Google Street View, we can now get an even better view from the ground.³

Google Sightseeing has come a long way since 2005, and we’re very much looking forward to improving and expanding the site even further in the future. Later this week we’ll be announcing the results of our recruitment drive from a few weeks ago, so there’s going to be lots of new Google Sightseeing to be done over the next four years.

Thanks for reading.

Locations: California, Florida / Categories: Monuments, Movie Locations, Site News, Theme Parks, Watercraft

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