The North West is home to hundreds of villages, each with its own unique selling points.
However one village captured the hearts of many despite it never existing. Argleton was a West Lancashire town just a few miles from Merseyside which suddenly appeared on Google Maps and Google Earth one day, despite there being no trace of the area ever actually existing.
The settlement would appear "closed" on the search engine and would be located just off the A59 from Bold Lane in Aughton with a Merseyside postcode. People who did fancy a day out visiting the mystery village would be met with a number of dry and empty fields, although the neighbouring village is home to a number of things to do for those who were a bit stuck.
READ MORE: Once empty village now 'the place to be' in stunning transformation
It's not clear how the phenomenon began or when Argleton was first googled but it was first picked up and pointed out by Mike Nolan in 2008, a web designer who lived at nearby Edge Hill University, Lancs Live reports. It went on to receive global attention after local media picked up the story and Argleton the anomaly ended up getting its own coveted hashtag on Twitter.
The fictional place also appeared in residential lettings and estate agent listings, weather updates and job listings. But Argleton's days in the spotlight were short, and it had been removed from Google Maps by May 2010.
It has never officially been revealed how Argleton came into existence on the World Wide Web, but theories include that it was a copyright trap, which sees cartographers insert fake places to catch any violations and people trying to copy maps (an old trick also used on paper maps) or simply that it was a mistake.
READ NEXT:
Aldi issues five day warning to all customers
Killer 'burst through woman's front door' and shot her dead
Man spends £2,500 TUI holiday alone after girlfriend gets deported
Woman followed through city by two men and sexually assaulted
Marco Pierre White junior jailed after stealing from Waitrose and Co-op
