‘Definitely aliens’: drying Chinese lake bed reveals mysterious patterns which officials say are old fish traps but online conspiracy theories abound
- Bizarre patterns exposed on a lake floor in China by a recent drought have triggered speculation of aliens and ancient civilisations online
- Officials have dismissed the theories and said the area has always been underwater until recently and that the patterns are most likely old fish traps
Months of intense drought have caused 70 per cent of water to disappear from the 2,800 sq km Dongting Lake in Hunan, central China, exposing several square-shaped patterns on the lake bed’s red mudflats, the Beijing News reported.
A local resident, surnamed Hu, took aerial videos of the exposed patterns which he said looked like giant mazes.
“Those square blocks, with some straight patterns inside, look like mazes.”
Another resident, Yang Xinwei, said he didn’t think the patterns were made by human beings as he did not find any evidence of construction.
“It’s astonishing to see those patterns. Each block is as big as standard football fields, Inside those square blocks are special bone inscription-like patterns. Some strokes could be as long as 10 metres,” he said.
An official from the East Dongting Lake Management Committee dismissed the possibility of ancient tombs and said the area has always been underwater until recently, news site rednet.cn reported.
“We guess the signs are traces of former ai wei (meaning ‘short fences’ in English),” said the anonymous official, referring to fish traps built by fishermen years ago in shallower areas of the lake.
