THERE ARE PLACES
IN THIS WORLD WHERE SEEING IS DECEIVING, WHERE LOGIC’S LEFT HANGING, AND SUREFOOTED SENSES ARE NOT ALWAYS ON THE LEVEL.
This does not merely refer to the sensation one feels when observing Bay Area real estate prices. Rather, we’re talking about gravity hills. Sometimes called mystery roads or magnetic hills, such spots exist around the globe and right here at home — eerie locales where cars seem to roll up a downslope on a stretch of country lane, or water appears to flow uphill, flying in the face of gravity, causing double takes and a reflexive “What the …?” These sites often are accompanied by urban legends — wild theories of magnetic vortices, alien navigational devices embedded underground or even ghost stories that frequently involve crashed busloads of schoolchildren. Scientists, though, say these socalled anomalies actually are just plain-old optical illusions, with a convergence of landscape cues conspiring to fool the senses. Whether phantasm or phantom, the feeling at these places often is fantastic. So get ready to explore far-flung Bay Area spots where gravity gets some serious pushback. If Sir Isaac Newton were alive, this would probably kill him. LET’S START WITH A CLASSIC.
If you’ve been in the Bay Area any stretch of time, you’ve likely felt the pull of the famed and quirky Santa Cruz Mystery Spot, an enigma wrapped in a riddle and packaged in a 45-minute tour. As the story goes, builders back in 1939 surveyed a small patch of woodland north of town, logged unusual readings on their instruments, then felt dizzy and off-balance. Naturally, they turned it into a tourist attraction. They Tour guide Skyler Williams demonstrates the 17-degree lean at Santa Cruz’s Mystery Spot. Previous page: A car appears to roll uphill on Lichau Road in Penngrove.
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AHA!
BAY AREA NEWS GROUP