Mystery Spots and Gravity Hills

More of this Feature • Part 2: What's the explanation?    Join the Discussion about other weird places "The Orkney Islands are creepy. My father used to tell tales of a race of little people that lived on the islands and fed off raw flesh. Whenever anyone would come near them they would run into the trees and hide until dark, when they would come out and cause mischief. If you've ever been to the islands, the trees there have strange markings and patterns in the wood that look like doors or holes. And it just feels CREEPY there. For one thing, it's unnaturally silent there. It makes you feel very heavy if you stand near the trees - almost like being hypnotized." Read more and respond     Related Resources • Spooklights: Where to Find Them • Haunted Lighthouses • The Haunted Railroad Crossing    From Other Guides • Travel Talk: Healing Places to Visit    Elsewhere on the Web • Gravitational Mystery Spots • Roadside America

There are dozens of mystery spots to be found around the U.S., and many more gravity hills - places where gravity itself seems to be warped. Our perceptions of up, down, straight and crooked are confused by what some say are powerful gravitational anomalies and dizzying magnetic vortexes. Is that the case, or are our senses being fooled by clever man-made and natural optical illusions?

Here are just some of the more well-known locations:

The Mystery Spot - Santa Cruz, Ca.
Discovered in the 1940s, this site on Branciforte Drive in Santa Cruz just might be the most well-known "mystery spot" in the U.S. Tour guides walk visitors through the "Mystery Shack" that stands on this spot and demonstrate the many weird effects that seem to take place there. Balls roll uphill, brooms stand on end at odd angles, people's heights seem to change as they walk about, among other weird effects of perspective and gravity. Even the trees in the area do not stand straight. Some visitors actually feel faint within the shack. MORE INFORMATION

Spook Hill - Lake Wales, Fl.
Located between Orlando and Tampa, this stretch of road off Hwy. 27 is said to have gravity-defying effects on cars. The phenomenon on the sloping road is so well known that there is a sign on the roadside explaining its legend:

"Many years ago, an Indian village on Lake Wales was plagued by raids of a huge gator. The chief, a great warrior, killed the gator in a battle... The chief war buried on the north side. Pioneer mail riders first discovered their horses laboring down hill, thus naming it 'Spook Hill.' When the road was paved, cars coasted uphill. Is this the gator seeking revenge, or the chief still trying to protect his land."

The story is local folklore, obviously, but drivers do attest that when they stop their cars at a certain spot and shift their transmissions into neutral, the cars do seem to roll up the incline of the road. MORE INFORMATION

The Mystery Spot - St. Ignace, Mi.
Like the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot, this one in Michigan's upper peninsula also features an old shack situated on a sharply sloped landscape. Balls and water appear to defy gravity by moving uphill. People seem to be able to stand at impossible angles. MORE INFORMATION

Mystery Hill - Marblehead, Ohio
"See Mystery Hill defy the laws of nature and gravity..." declares the promotional material for this anomaly-plagued site in Ohio. Visitors to this place say that you can feel perfectly okay standing in one spot, then just a few inches away feel totally strange. Here, too, water seemingly flows uphill, a pendulum swings only to the south and people appear to change height right before your eyes. MORE INFORMATION

The Oregon Vortex - Gold Hill, Or.
Some kind of magnetic vortex - a spherical field of force, half above the ground and half below - is said to be responsible for the peculiar effects experienced at this site's House of Mystery. Those who visit the spot, it is claimed, cannot stand erect anywhere within the vortex, but are always inclined toward magnetic north. Distortions in perceived perspective are also affected, giving the impression, in some spots, that as a person approaches you he or she becomes shorter. There are other weird effects as well. MORE INFORMATION 

Gravity Hill - Bedford County, Pa.
It's a place where gravity goes haywire, says one article about this hill near New Paris, Pa. A "GH" spray-painted on the road tells you when you've found the spot where you can stop your car, shift it into neutral, then sit in amazement as it seems to slowly begin to roll uphill. If you're still in doubt, you can do as other experimenters have done and pour water on the road - and watch as it flows uphill. MORE INFORMATION

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