There is no shortage of people using Google Earth to make unbelievable discoveries across the world, from a possible secret military site in China to the largest Coca-Cola logo in Chile.
Enter the city of Los Angeles, where a small triangular plot of land along the Los Angeles River in Lincoln Heights, near the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mission Road, has garnered the attention of social media users and sparked conspiracy theories and concerns about criminal activity related to human trafficking and drug cartels.
The satellite images show the word “help” had been spelled out about a dozen times on the piece of land that is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. The Spanish words for “trafficking,” “federal” and “terrorism” were also spelled out, as well as “LAPD” and “FBI.”
Despite the alarming messages online, police have yet to confirm that anything nefarious is happening in that location.
Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI, referred all questions to the Los Angeles Police Department.
In a statement, the LAPD said that it had responded Sunday morning to an “unknown trouble” call near Mission Road and the 101 Freeway.
“Upon arrival, officers conducted a thorough investigation and found no evidence of any criminal activity or threat in the area,” the statement read.
The Police Department also concluded that the satellite images shared on social media were taken in 2023. A news helicopter for KTLA showed that the words were still at the property as of Monday afternoon.
The LAPD said it had notified Union Pacific Railroad about the incident and referred further questions to the railroad company.
Jill Micek, a spokesperson for the company, said in an email response to The Times on Monday evening that no one was or is in danger, and that Union Pacific is aware of a man who has been trespassing on the company’s property and other commercial lots “to create misleading messages.”
“We want to remind the public that it is illegal — and more importantly unsafe — to trespass on Union Pacific property,” Micek wrote.
On the social media platform X, the images sparked conspiracy theories about human trafficking at the site because of the message and because the location is near a shipping yard.
“There’s a deep subterranean system under the surface that the access points are covered by containers they use cranes to remove. There’s a lot more going on than what’s visible on the surface,” wrote a user by the name of Cyrus on X.
At least one user on X produced a video using AI images showing shipping containers filled with people, tunnels and armed men. The video included the message: “The truth is in the tunnels” along with the coordinates of the property. “Someone took time to place dozens of logs and scrap to write the words ‘help,’ ‘trafico,’ ‘LAPD’ and ‘federal’ big enough to be seen on Google maps.”
But another X user said on the platform that he had traveled to the location and interviewed homeless people in the area; he said they claimed a homeless man had been writing the messages for years. Some who said they lived in the area echoed those details and posted images that appeared to show similar messages written on trees and walls with spray paint in the area near the property in question.
In a response on X, the LAPD said officers had spoken to the man behind the mysterious messages on several occasions.
“He has refused housing or a mental health evaluation,” the department wrote in its post. “There is no evidence of Human Trafficking. He has been at the location for a few years.”
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