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Google Earth Uncovers Swastika-Shaped Government Building

by Terrence O'Brien on September 26, 2007 at 04:09 PM

Google Earth Uncovers Swastika-Shaped Government Building

Google Earth's omnipotent eye on existence has wrought many wonderful, strange and sometimes creepy discoveries. Giant bugs, Oprah tributes and even nude sunbathers have all been caught by the all-knowing, all-seeing Google-y eye.

And what do we spy here? No, that's not the international headquarters of a white supremacy group -- but good guess. Believe it or not, this swastika-shaped building complex is a U.S. Naval barracks in Coronado, California. The buildings were built in the 1960s but, according to the Navy, their sinister configuration wasn't discovered until the construction project had already broken ground -- which was apparently too late to do the decent thing and modify the designs a bit. But that's beside the point, anyway. Are we to believe that not a single person involved in a construction project for the U.S. Navy ever looked at a set of blueprints? Is it also just a coincidence that the buildings sit at the intersection of Tulagi and Bougainville -- two streets named after famous WWII battles?

Whew. Let's reel in the paranoia a bit.

According to a report by CBS's San Diego affiliate, News 8, architect John Mock still stands behind the design of the buildings, which he insists were never meant to look like a swastika and for which he actually won an award. Nonetheless, change is on the way thanks in large part to Missouri-based radio host Dave vonKleist, who has been vocal about the structure since he first stumbled upon it in Google Earth in 2006. Today brings word that the Navy is finally relenting to vonKleist's calls to action and intends to spend upwards of $600,000 to camouflage the structure with landscaping, walkways and solar cells, all of which will hide the offending shape from aerial views.

For some seriously haunting conspiracy theory surrounding the Coronado barracks (including parallels drawn to 9/11), read the full News 8 report.

From News 8 and LA Times

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Tags: barracks, california, coronado, google, google earth, google maps, GoogleEarth, GoogleMaps, navy, swastika

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