Phantom settlement facts for kids

Have you ever looked at a map and wondered if every single town on it is real? Sometimes, they're not! These imaginary places are called phantom settlements or paper towns. They are towns and villages that appear on maps but do not actually exist in the real world.

These fake places usually get on a map for one of two reasons: either by accident or on purpose as a clever trick. Some famous examples include Argleton in England, and Beatosu and Goblu in Ohio, United States.

What Are Phantom Settlements?

A phantom settlement is any populated place, like a town or village, that is shown on a map but isn't a real location. If you tried to travel there using the map, you would find nothing but an empty field, a forest, or maybe just a crossroads. They are like little secrets hidden in the lines and colors of a map.

Why Do Mapmakers Create Fake Places?

It might seem strange to add a fake town to a map, but there are a few reasons why it happens.

Simple Mistakes

Sometimes, a phantom settlement is just a simple mistake. A mapmaker might misspell a real town's name, or a computer program like Google Maps might accidentally create a label for a place that isn't there. This happened with places named Mawdesky and Dummy 1325 in Lancashire, England, which appeared on maps but weren't real villages.

Copyright Traps

The most interesting reason for a paper town is something called a copyright trap. Making a map takes a lot of time and effort. To protect their work, mapmakers would sometimes add a tiny, fake place to their map. This is also known as a fictitious entry.

If another company copied their map and the fake town also appeared on the new map, the original mapmaker had proof that their work was stolen! It was like a secret signature that only the creator knew about.

Famous Examples of Paper Towns

Some phantom settlements have become famous over the years, especially when their stories have a surprising twist.

Agloe, New York: The Town That Became Real

One of the most famous paper towns is Agloe, New York. It was created in the 1930s by a map company as a copyright trap. The name "Agloe" was made by mixing the initials of the two mapmakers.

For years, Agloe was just a dot on a map. But in the 1950s, something amazing happened. A person who saw Agloe on a map decided to build a general store at that exact spot. They called it the Agloe General Store. Because of this, the phantom settlement became a real place!

Jokes and Theories

Sometimes, the idea of a place not being real becomes a popular joke or even a conspiracy theory.

The Bielefeld Conspiracy

In Germany, there is a popular joke that the city of Bielefeld doesn't actually exist, even though it's a real city with over 300,000 people. The satirical conspiracy theory started online in 1994 and is a fun way people joke about how little-known the city is to outsiders.

A similar joke exists in Portugal about the city of Leiria, which has a population of over 128,000. The joke even led to a song called "Leiria não existe," which means "Leiria doesn't exist."

See also

• Paper Towns, a novel for young adults where paper towns are an important part of the story
  • The 2015 film based on the novel
• Paper township
• Phantom island
• Fictitious entry