![]() That was fixed rather quickly once we left the area. Some of us felt a little ‘off’ while in the cabin. I’m leaning back in the picture about, but if I wasn’t, I feel like I would fall forward! Same with my son in the picture below! You can see in the pictures below that we are able to easily lean back, sit, and climb the walls sideways. Inside the cabin, your equilibrium is challenged. She even did it with water from a visitors water bottle! Outside of the cabin, the guide demonstrates how a pool ball will actually roll uphill on the board. The next part of the tour questions your perceptions of gravity. In the second picture ( below), standing on the same board on opposite sides, you can see they are about the same height. My older son is bit taller than my younger son. You can see the in the first picture ( below), their height looks correct. After using a level to prove a board on the ground is level, my sons stepped on. The first part of the tour questions your perceptions about height. Located about 10 minutes from downtown Santa Cruz, it is easy to get to yet feels a million miles away. The Mystery Spot is an activity that is perfect for the entire family, no matter the age. They come to experience the variations of gravity, height and perspective for themselves. Inside the circular area of the redwoods your perceptions of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned.ĭiscovered in 1939 by a group of surveyors and opened to the public in 1940, the Mystery Spot amazes visitors from all over the world. The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly. ![]() Located in the Redwoods of Northern California, the Mystery Spot should be on every visitors list of things to do while there. Mystery Spot tour guide Stella demonstrates her ability to lean at a seemingly impossible angle without falling down.There are so many great things to do while in Santa Cruz, California, but one of the most unique is visiting the Mystery Spot. For $8, plus whatever you're compelled to spend on souvenirs, you'll get one of the classic bumper stickers and enough mystery to keep you wondering all the way home. It's an optical illusion, though a supremely convincing one. The truth, of course, is not any of these wild, magical theories. Or even that some gases are seeping out of cracks in the hillside, causing visitors to hallucinate the whole thing. Or, perhaps, there's a swirling pool of magma somewhere deep below that's affecting gravity in the area. The Mystery Spot's "official" theories posit that maybe a UFO crashed into the hillside long ago, and the still-running engine is causing a magnetic anomaly. A large weight at the end of a pendulum swings widely when pushed one way, but half the distance when it swings back. People appear to change in height when standing in different areas around the cabin. The angle of the cabin allows folks to climb up the walls and stand balanced in seemingly impossible positions. Walking through the cabin's rustic interior, the discombobulation intensifies, with visitors sometimes experiencing motion sickness as a result of an unusual shift in perspective. An article from the Santa Cruz Sentinel describing the opening of the Mystery Spot. Water poured on a board demonstrated to be on an incline runs in opposition to gravity. The effect is an illusion that they're standing almost diagonally. The wooden structure leans sharply downhill, but visitors standing in front of it appear to be leaning uphill. Today, the Mystery Spot runs tours 365 days a year to the spot and through a cabin that helps demonstrate the quirks of the area. One of the 'Mystery Spot' bumper sticker cars that can sometimes be spotted parked in downtown Santa Cruz. Realizing he had an interesting piece of property on his hands, Prather dubbed the place the Mystery Spot and opened it as a roadside attraction in the early 1940s. Prather allegedly took a compass to the hillside, only to find that it pointed in the wrong direction. According to Prather, most of these effects were focused in an area approximately 150 feet in diameter. He reported feeling very dizzy while standing on the hillside, and he felt that the effort needed to hike it was much greater than he expected. ![]() While exploring his newly purchased parcel, Prather began to notice some odd things. According to the official lore, he only wished to purchase a flat area at the bottom of a hill, but was told the hill must be part of the deal. In 1939, a man named George Prather bought the land from a lumber company on which the "spot" sits. ![]() Lucky Santa Cruz visitors may even spot a "Mystery Spot car" parked somewhere downtown covered completely in stickers. ![]()
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