Mystery Spot

[Billy]

Jim C's cycling adventure reminds me of a local spot near where I grew up - The Electric Brae in Scotland. It appears to be a hill whichever way you look at it - from the top, the bottom, from across the bay. But if you stop your car halfway up (or down) and take off the brakes it will gently roll upwards! WOOOOOOO

Don't believe me?

http://www.mcintyre.demon.co.uk/local/electbrae.htm

[Rolfe]

I remember we mentioned this in an earlier thread where some sort of spoof "paranormal house" was being discussed. I think that was a commentary-related item as well.

No doubt someone will remember the exact details, but it was a tourist attraction which had been built on purpose to be deceptive, with walls on the skew and so on. The sad part was that it seemed to be being marketed as genuinely paranormal.

I've heard of the Electric Brae since I was a little kid, but it's always just been as a "trompe l'oeil" thing which shows how comprehensively the eye can be deceived.

Have you even seen the house at Chatelherault, near Hamilton? That has suffered badly from subsidence, because one of the dukes mined a lot of sand from under it. The effect is clearly seen in the kitchen, where they've had to install genuinely level worksurfaces, and they're at a crazy angle to the window sills. Anyway, it's really very disorientating, and I got quite sick walking around the house. Basically, it was motion sickness, cause by my eyes and my semi-circular canals feeding my brain conflicting information. The guide explained clearly what the cause was, but if someone wanted to take advantage of this effect to declare the place haunted it wouldn't be hard.

Rolfe.

[Beady]

It seems a Mystery Spot (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/SCIspots.html) is a good, cheap way to bring in some cash during the tourist season. Trouble is, you apparently need a hill, and all I've got is 14 acres of wetland.

[Billy]

I think you are being a wee bit defeatist there Beady - just where would the good people of Loch Ness be today with that sort of attitude? They only had a big lake to start with.

[BillyJoe]

I've had a similar experience to the cyclist - except in reverse.

"The Warburton Trail" is a disused train track (with the tracks removed) excavated through hills and filled in over valleys so as to be as close to level as possible. However there is a 8 - 10 km section between neighbouring towns that slopes with a significant but imperceptible incline. The first time I cycled this, the outward journey was on the downslope and I remember thinking how well I was travelling, cycling with ease and racing past the occasional traveller on foot. On the return journey however.....F#@Ki^' He!!

BJ

[Charlie in Dayton]

I've been to the Mystery Spot just outside of St Ignace MI, and have stood on the 'level' concrete slabs that make people shrink and grow, and been the guy in the chair balanced on the wall...lemme tell ya, it was a real hoot. The experience was well worth the entertainment dollar, just for the 'wow' factor.

The explanations of why the things do what they seem to do are just a little inefficient in holding water, but for a 'to do' on vacation, the St Ignace Mystery Spot is more than adequate.

[Just thinking]

The following happened to me well over 25 years ago, so it will be impossible for me to prove anything I'm about to describe -- and believe me, I have absolutely no intention of making anything up or distorting what I recall -- which I assure you is quite accurate, as it truly baffled me at the time, and still does. All I'm looking for is some type of rational explanation.

I was riding with 2 friends of mine in a car along some back roads in PA late one night when the topic of "Gravity Hill" somehow came up. One of my friends new the location and said it wasn't far from where we were that moment -- so we went there to see it for ourselves. True enough, the road was flat and appeared to climb slightly uphill in front of us. He stopped the car. placed it in neutral and to what seemed totally unbelievable it started rolling 'uphill'. I, of course, said it must be some sort of illusion, but a good one none the less. Well, to prove my point, I asked him to stop the car and go back to the starting point once again. In the car, my friend had a 1 gallon plastic milk jug with about 1 inch of water in it (don't ask me why he carried this in his car, along with a ton of other junk -- I have no idea). So I took the jug and placed it next to the car on the road -- hoping it would tilt enough to displace the water to the front of the car. This would show that the road was indeed tilting downward.

Well, the water was clearly displaced to the rear of the car. What was going on? I repositioned the jug several times, but it always showed the water displaced in the same direction.

(No one was drinking or doing any drugs -- I'll put that up front as I'm sure to get some wisecracks on this.)

[gnome]

Originally posted by Just thinking
The following happened to me well over 25 years ago, so it will be impossible for me to prove anything I'm about to describe -- and believe me, I have absolutely no intention of making anything up or distorting what I recall -- which I assure you is quite accurate, as it truly baffled me at the time, and still does. All I'm looking for is some type of rational explanation.

I was riding with 2 friends of mine in a car along some back roads in PA late one night when the topic of "Gravity Hill" somehow came up. One of my friends new the location and said it wasn't far from where we were that moment -- so we went there to see it for ourselves. True enough, the road was flat and appeared to climb slightly uphill in front of us. He stopped the car. placed it in neutral and to what seemed totally unbelievable it started rolling 'uphill'. I, of course, said it must be some sort of illusion, but a good one none the less. Well, to prove my point, I asked him to stop the car and go back to the starting point once again. In the car, my friend had a 1 gallon plastic milk jug with about 1 inch of water in it (don't ask me why he carried this in his car, along with a ton of other junk -- I have no idea). So I took the jug and placed it next to the car on the road -- hoping it would tilt enough to displace the water to the front of the car. This would show that the road was indeed tilting downward.

Well, the water was clearly displaced to the rear of the car. What was going on? I repositioned the jug several times, but it always showed the water displaced in the same direction.

(No one was drinking or doing any drugs -- I'll put that up front as I'm sure to get some wisecracks on this.)

It is difficult to explain without more details. Can you describe where you put the jug in relation to the car? Was the road completely smooth? Did you test the car's ability to roll "uphill" at the milk jug spot?

[Just thinking]

Originally posted by gnome
It is difficult to explain without more details. Can you describe where you put the jug in relation to the car? Was the road completely smooth? Did you test the car's ability to roll "uphill" at the milk jug spot?

The jug was placed even with the rear passenger tire (about 6 inches out) and then the same for the front passenger tire. The car (to my best recall) was near the center of the roadway -- it was late and there were no other cars present. It was a road with open grass on both sides (back then).

The car was back at the first starting point (as could be best estimated) when the jug of water was used. After I pointed out the water's wrong displacement we all got back into the car and released the brake -- sure enough, it slowly started 'uphill' once more.

[Soapy Sam]

"The Electric Brae" is real enough. It took me several visits before I truly "saw" the illusion. When I did, I was positively gibbering. It really feels extremely funny.

I sometimes experience the same efffect in river tunnels, where there is no horizon. Don't fancy living on a toroidal space station.

Rolfe, I visited Chatelerhault several times during it's rebuilding and twice since. One of the carpenters said it was even squinter than a Barratt's flat. This is exaggeration; It's no worse than my flat. (Barratt's 1980).

I'll tell you where you should visit- the church at CwmYoy in Wales. It would take a tightrope artist to walk down the aisle without staggering.
http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walks/walks4/w237b.shtml

[Hamradioguy]

Canada's mystery spot is "Magnetic Hill" near Moncton, NB. The first time I visited was 25 years ago and it was nothing more than a rural dirt road with a sign saying "park here and take your car out of gear" and another one a hundred meters away saying "stop here".
But I almost didn't try it myself: From where I stopped, behind several cars waiting their turn, all I saw was cars slowly rolling downhill! No big deal with that- just gravity doing it's thing. However, when one gets to the "park here..." sign and releases break and clutch it sure as heck LOOKS like you are slowly rolling UPHILL. Amazing what a slight change in perspective does!