Weirdest and best Google Maps sightings as blood-soaked Pennywise clown spotted

A weird part of our human nature is that the first thing we do, when given access to technology like Google Maps’ Street View, is look at the place we already live.

Not the Pyramids of Giza, the towering concrete skyscrapers of lower Manhattan, nor the hustle and bustle of ancient cities like Istanbul, the first place we head to is to make sure the front of our humble abode looks better on camera than Dave and Beryl’s place next door.

The Street View feature doesn’t just mean we can check how the front garden looks in the eyes of the general public, it also catches some pretty creepy, and often funny, moments as well.

A prankster in Montreal, Canada, dressed up as the infamously scary Pennywise clown as the Google Maps van drove past, brandishing a bloody knife.

From raunchy couples to toilet-needing tourists, Street View has caught more corkers than Peter Schmeichel on a Saturday afternoon. Here is a look at some of the best.

Mafia boss caught on camera

A Mafia boss, who was on the run for 20 years, was nicked after police spotted him on Street View.

Gioacchino Gammino was a member of the Italian mafia group known as Stidda, and was recaptured in December, 2021, after escaping a Rome prison in 2002.

He was found in Galapagar, Spain, living under the name ‘Manuel’ when seen outside a grocery shop.

Upon being arrested, he said to the police: “How did you find me? I haven’t even called my family for 10 years.”

What bedrooms are for

Naturally, the Street View camera has caught its fair share of couples hoping for some time alone.

Perhaps the best place for this is not outside the gig venue Warehouse Project in Manchester. The discoverer of the scene said: “There is no way I have just searched up the address for WHP and on Google Maps Street View is a guy getting a h**d j*b down the street it’s at.”

First revealed in 2013 and now removed from Google Maps, one Twitter user said: “VIP looks different this year.”

As nature intended

Often left out in books that look at how humans evolved to become the creature at the top of the food chain, is that what really sets us apart from other animals is access to Andrex.

The human species became intelligent enough to feel the emotion of embarrassment, meaning that toilet trips are a private affair designed for somewhere with a chain or button to flush.

One poor soul in Roosendaal, a city and a municipality in Southern Netherlands, was caught with his pants down, squatting by a field.

The Dutch dumper was spotted by a Reddit user, causing another to write: “If this isn’t something to be proud of, I don’t know what is.”

Couple strips

When people see the Google camera, they often react in a fun way to its presence.

Others react in what many may consider a slightly questionable way, like one couple on a beach in Mexico.

When the famous camera arrived, the two promptly stripped naked to prank it, before continuing with their day.

Their identities were blurred out and Google has previously stated on the matter of privacy: “We take a number of steps to protect the privacy of individuals when Street View imagery is published to Google Maps.”

Despite this, The Daily Star does not recommend stripping off your clothes whenever a camera is directed towards you.

Axe-murderers?

Pranking the Google camera does not have to resort to people stripping off, an axe will do.

In 2014, pranksters from Blythe Bridge-based JMZ Ltd spotted the car approaching and decided to stage a fake murder scene.

One of the three lads involved decided to lie down, while colleagues stood over him wielding their axes.

Paul Ingle, the boss of JMZ Ltd, which specialises in driveways, paving and patios, said: “It was just a bit of harmless fun. The lads had spotted the Google camera car going past so when it came back down they quickly got in position to make it look like a murder was happening.