Thousands of visitors from around the world visit the Mystery Spot every year in an attempt to figure out this gravitational anomaly. Located in the Redwood National Forest just outside Santa Cruz, this point of interest is a 150 foot diameter circle that has intrigued and confused visitors, scientists and historians to this day.
The Mystery Spot was organically discovered back in the 1930s when the original owner, George Prather, purchased the plot of land that housed the Mystery Spot to build his home. A team of surveyors had noticed strange things going on the hill-side.
“The hill was extremely difficult to walk up,” said Tour Guide Manager Rachel Miller, “[There was a] feeling similar to a force pushing back on their chest as they walked up. They came to the conclusion that when they approached sideways it was easier [since it] was hitting them parallel.”
Prather took note of this strange sensation, but in the end he didn't seem to care all too much. He built his tool shed on the hillside, despite the warnings. There was a strange pressure people felt walking up the hill. Compasses would point north instead of south.
Soon after he built the tool shed (now known as a “cabin”), the structure slid down the side of the hill during a landslide, stopping right in the center of the Mystery Spot.
The inside of the cabin now manifests the strongest effects of the Mystery Spot. Standing up straight is impossible in the cabin. Visitors have to lean, anywhere from 30 to 17 degrees, which was corroborated by “Ripley's Believe It Or Not”, which visited the family-owned attraction around 50 years ago.
The Mystery Spot was opened to the public in 1940. Ever since then, guests have been bewildered, unable to figure out what's going on. Some visitors lean to the supernatural, blaming spaceship crashes for the affects. Others believe it to be more science-based…possibly even an illusion.
Miller has heard it all.
Like a straw appearing to bend in a glass of water, Mystery Spot visitors believe the circle to be like the glass and the people and trees are just like the straw…an illusion caused by their own eyes. A mere trick.
“Tour guide at Redwood National Forest demonstrating the gravitational anomaly at The Mystery Spot.” [Photo Credit: Rachel Miller]
“The most popular theory that people like to believe is that there's a hole in the ozone layer [of similar shape and size] directly above the Mystery Spot,” notes Miller. “[The thought is that] the light comes through and refracts, bending everything. People like to believe it may be an illusion, but it can't be explained that way because we have so many physical demonstrations. People bring their own objects and levelers [try to disprove the effects].”
But some are still unable to believe their eyes. Some visitors say there's a fault line underneath the Mystery Spot with a crack or fissure that's leaking gas into the air. In that way, it is theorized that gas is messing with the oxygen levels. People think they’re just not seeing straight or not thinking right. True or false?
“We've had scientists come out and they haven't found anything strange with the plants, animals, soil or air,” continues Miller. “There's nothing off-balance. I [would] think we would be able to measure it.”
So the Mystery Spot is not an illusion. Then what is it?
One popular (or pop culture infused theory) is that perhaps an alien spacecraft crashed, here. During the landslide the earth covered the spaceship deep below the Mystery Spot, with its unseen mechanisms affecting strange gravitational pulls on the surface.
While Miller is not able to confirm or deny this theory, many guests come prepared…just in case. To avoid the alleged spaceship's radiation, people often appear wearing tinfoil hats. And that's not all.
“Some people think the tour guides are aliens…that we generated this field thousands of years ago…that we mind-control the masses,” laughs Miller. “[Add to the fact] we are surviving on earth by charging $6 tours. I get a kick out of that one.”
Miller experiences the Mystery Spot's strange affects almost every day. Understandably, she has a very educated guess on which theory is the most realistic.
From personal experience, says the tour guide, the most realistic theory is that there's a pool of magma far under the earth's crust where a little pocket may be spinning in the opposite direction of the earth's rotation. This would cause people to get pulled in because of the shift gravity, hence the stooped postures [of people] inside the cabin.
“[The effect] has to be something with gravity or magnetic forces because you can feel the forces on your body when you're in there,” explains Miller. “People get dizzy all the time. That force is pushing you. Once you exit the Mystery Spot you feel the force lifted off of you almost immediately. I feel it almost every day.”
Not many planes fly over the Mystery Spot. Miller said that they never see planes in the area. But her father flew over the Mystery Spot a few times. He told his daughter that his plane will warn him of a “compass malfunction” as he flies over the Mystery Spot.
Pilots aren't alone in avoiding the Mystery Spot. Animals are also not too fond of the gravitational anomaly either. The tour guides seldom see animals near the Mystery Spot, despite being in the middle of the mountains and forest. Miller hasn't even seen one deer during her time as a tour guide.
“There was a tour guide [ahead of me] while we were training. He told me he saw two deer around the Mystery Spot. One was spinning in circles. The other was falling over [itself on] the hill, trying to find its way out.” Miller is skeptical of this story. But she has seen animals act funny at the Mystery Spot herself. “We do allow service animals. Even those animals will act funny on the tour, especially inside the cabin. They don't want to go in, even if their owner leads them in. They'll sit in the doorway and [simply] refuse.”
There are other places around the world similar to the Mystery Spot – such as the Oregon Vortex… or Gravity Hill in France – but Miller and the other tour guides still believe that the Mystery Spot is the most genuine, authentic experience of its kind out there.
With no cell phone service, visitors have no choice but to be present throughout the 45 minute tour. It gives them all the time in the world to come up with their own theories on why the Mystery Spot remains a mystery to this day.