An eerie art installation located in a barren field in the Finnish countryside recently went viral after someone accidentally stumbled across it while searching on Google Maps.
The Silent People is a creepy-looking group of hundreds of scarecrows dressed up as people filling a field outside of the town of Suomussalmi. Seen from afar, they look like an army of people, all facing the same way. It’s only when you take a closer look that you realize it’s made up of wooden frames covered in human clothes, with heads made of hay. It turns out that artist Reijo Kela designed the display back in 1988 and has been moving it from location to location ever since. If you’re feeling curious about what Kela wanted his Silent People to symbolize, you can keep scratching your head, because he’s not willing to reveal the answer. People have been speculating about the meaning of the installation for decades, but so far there are only theories. The most popular version is that the figures represent those lost during a fierce battle that took place nearby during the Winter War of 1939-1940 between Finland and Soviet Russia.
