# part urban legend, part reality... how does this place work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476 "2000-08-15T18:28:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/1 "2000-08-15T18:28:16Z")
Here in my town, there is a place called “Gravity Hill.” The name should be “Anti-Gravity Hill” but that’s not what people call it. The legend has been around for many decades, about a horrible car accident where a guy was thrown through his windshield and struck a tree and died instantly. Supposedly his “ghost” inhabits the tree, and he is the force by which the mystery of the hill is supposed to work. The ghost story is pure UL, but the rest is real. I have done it myself many times…I didn’t belive it until I actually did it. You go late in the night (so there is no traffic interference) and bring your car to a complete stop in front of the legendary tree. The tree is at the base of the hill. You put the gear in neutral, and turn off the engine, then release the brake. Your vehicle commences to roll UPHILL while gaining speed, from a complete stop. I got my car up to about 10 mph. This works going backwards as well. I have no idea how this works, but the hill is definitely a hill, rising upward about 10 to 20 degrees from the tree to the crest. How in the hell does this work? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/2 "2000-08-15T18:37:02Z")
There’s some prankster with a really big magnet hiding behind your car. I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Outrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9d8465/32.png) [@Outrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Outrider)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/3 "2000-08-15T18:37:52Z")
I have two guesses: quantum tunneling and Budweiser. By the way, what the hell is quantum tunneling? Carl Sagan’s brief explanation was that, given enough time (say, several times the lifespan of the universe), your car could theoretically tunnel through your garage door and end up in the middle of the street. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/4 "2000-08-15T18:45:49Z")
or the car wouldn’t roll. However, I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut that you are judging the slope of the incorrectly. Bring a level out there some time. I’m sure you’ll find that the car is actually rolling downhill. Unusual geography is probably causing an optical illusion that makes you think wrong things. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/5 "2000-08-15T18:48:15Z")
**MSK,** I don’t have a cite off-hand, but I believe that what you’re talking about is actually a kind of optical illusion. There are a number of places in the U.S. that have this kind of local phenomenon. Look up “Gravity Hill” on the Web, also check Cecil’s columns Archives, I’ll bet he’s covered this at some point. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/6 "2000-08-15T18:52:53Z")
. . . can be found at [http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/roll-uphill.html](http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/roll-uphill.html) (BTW, MSK, I was pleased, when looking at your profile, to see you are from Mishawaka. Indiana was part of the sales territory in the office I used to work in, and that was one of my favorite place names, along with Oconomowoc, Wisc.) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/7 "2000-08-15T19:09:04Z")
Resisting the urge for smartass-ness on this one: There’s several places like this. Analysis of what’s going on usually reveals that there are unusual optical cues in the surroundings that make a slight downgrade appear to be an upgrade. Things like phone poles that happen to be slanted slightly more downhill than an actual gentle downgrade (you tend to view the phone pole, which is obviously slanted with respect to the ground as vertical, making the downhill grade appear to be going uphill). This, in fact, might be what the tree you are parking next is doing - maybe it is growing at a funny angle. Try holding a plumb line up to the tree trunk. Some of them have become tourist traps, like the “Santa Cruz Mystery Spot”, which I just mentioned in another thread, and the “Oregon Vortex”. Here’s a list: > **[Mystery Spots](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/29062)** > > Puzzling gravitational forces at play in a typical roadside Mystery Spot concentrate mostly on decreasing the weight of your wallet. For no-cost freefalls, try a gravity hill or magnetic hill. Is your “Gravity Hill” one of the 3 listed? Or one of the numerous other ones that will turn up in a web search (one in Pa, one in Mt, etc). ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/8 "2000-08-15T19:36:43Z")
to be honest, a level would not solve his problems. If reversogravity pulls the car uphill, why not the yellow water? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/9 "2000-08-15T20:24:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jb\_farley \* > \*\*to be honest, a level would not solve his problems. If reversogravity pulls the car uphill, why not the yellow water? \*\* Exactly. It won’t, because this effect is an illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/10 "2000-08-15T20:30:51Z")
There is also a “Gravity Hill” thing in Lake Wales, FL, just south or so of Orlando. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/11 "2000-08-15T20:38:29Z")
well no duh ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/12 "2000-08-15T20:47:28Z")
There is another, called “Magnetic Hill” outside Moncton in New Brunswick, Canada. Optical illusion, but great fun. GaryM ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/13 "2000-08-15T21:21:11Z")
I once read this is a fairly common phenomenon in Kansas, where the entire state slopes downward at about two degrees per mile, going west to east. Occasionally there are areas of less slope, say a degree and a half. To a driver, these sections of road appear to go uphill, even though they are still sloping down. Well, I’ve never been to Kansas, so what the hell do I know? ---
**Author:** ![geekgurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8797f3/32.png) [@geekgurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geekgurl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/14 "2000-08-15T23:26:05Z")
There is an “anti-gravity” hill about an hour or so out of Melbourne, Australia, called Straws Lane. Despite the fact that I know the science as to why my car rolls uphill, it is still an amazingly creepy sensation! Come to think of it, that whole area gives me the willies!! Just around the corner is Hanging Rock - an eerie outcrop of hills renowned for the disappearance of innocent 19th century Victorian school girls! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ranma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Ranma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranma)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/15 "2000-08-16T00:20:48Z")
You should go post that in the “creepy” thread in the IMHO forum 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/16 "2000-08-16T01:39:09Z")
I remember the Wacky Shack at Astroworld back in the 70’s. The balls on the pool table rolled up!!! Damn, this house must be haunted. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/17 "2000-08-16T01:46:16Z")
As others have said, it’s an optical illusion fueled by misleading clues in the surrounding terrain. There are many places like this around, one here in SLC, for example. > [@](#): > > but the hill is definitely a hill, rising upward about 10 to 20 degrees from the tree to the crest This is also an illusion. Most people will vastly overestimate the slope of the terrain. For instance, an 8% grade is considered a pretty steep hill, and I believe about the steepest used on standard roads anywhere in this country. So that is most likely the steepest road you commonly see. By contrast, a 10 degree slope would be 22.5% grade, and a 20 degree slope would be almost 50%. In the case of the road you’re talking about, a careful check would reveal that the slope is a degree or two in the opposite direction that it appears, and the apparent steepness is just part of the illusion. Ugly ---
**Author:** ![zebbmx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/958977/32.png) [@zebbmx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zebbmx)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/18 "2000-08-16T02:00:17Z")
i dunno if anyone posted this yet but there was a thing on dateline on nbc i think. Anyway these kids got killed in a bus accident years and years ago and if u put powder on your car and put it at a full stop it would roll and there would be little fingerprints in the powder if you put it on your bumper. i guess you could try that and see if any guys handprints show up ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/19 "2000-08-16T22:15:20Z")
Hmmm. Let’s see, rub fine powder on a chrome bumper. Let shake (i.e. free rolling). Loose powder falls off. Any greasy fingerprints on the bumper will hold powder. Ta duh! Those fingerprints could be days or weeks old. Oh, it doesn’t have to be chrome. Pretty much any smooth metal surface will work. Just like the police when they dust a place for fingerprints. Same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476/20 "2000-08-18T05:28:23Z")
This sure looks UPHILL to me: > **[Spook Hill, Lake Wales, Florida](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2058)** > > Well-known gravity hill, prominently marked for your uphill-rolling entertainment. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-urban-legend-part-reality-how-does-this-place-work/29476.md?page=2)