The Mystery Spot Tour - Santa Cruz, CA

If you're looking for a truly unique and mind-bending experience, look no further than The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, CA, which my two brothers and I visited on 5.26.23. This fascinating $10 attraction has been baffling visitors for over 80 years with its gravity-defying effects and optical illusions. From balls that roll uphill to people appearing to shrink or grow in size, this is a place where the laws of physics seem to be turned on their head. In this post, we'll take a closer look at The Mystery Spot and explore the theories behind its mysterious phenomena.

There are several theories behind the mysterious phenomena of The Mystery Spot. One theory suggests that the spot is located on a gravitational anomaly or a "gravity hill," which creates an optical illusion that makes it appear as if objects are defying gravity [1].

Another theory is that the spot is situated on a magnetic anomaly, which affects the way objects behave in the area [2].

Yet another theory suggests that The Mystery Spot is a result of a vortex or a portal to another dimension [3].

While the exact cause of the mysterious phenomena at The Mystery Spot remains unknown, visitors continue to be awed by the gravity-defying effects of this unique attraction.

HISTORY:

The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, CA was opened in 1939 by George Prather [1a].

Photo by Steven Buena

What We Learned (Transcribed):

"Originally we wanted to get the level ground below here for a summer home or mountain cabin, but the gentleman we were buying from would not sell the level ground unless we purchased a strip across the entire south end of his property including this hillside. Finally we bought the entire piece mainly to get the level ground, and as we were helping the surveyor along the north line we noted the compass to vary a small amount on the transit, and spoke to him about it at that time. He said we might get that variation along a barbed wire fence or some mineral in the ground, and let it pass at that. On thinking it over later, there was no barbed wire fence near where we were at that time, and as far as we knew, no excessive mineral in this ground, so we took our own small hand compass and went up over the north line to try and check on it. The variation there was not great enough that we could tell anything about it with nothing to compare it with, as you would have with a surveying instrument or transit. But it is quite rough going up over the point of the hill and thru the brush. On returning we came down the little canyon or draw above here, in so doing felt very light headed or top heavy, felt like something trying to force us right off the hill. We sat down for a while to try and overcome that feeling. While sitting there we happened to look at the compass again, there the compass had varied enough that we needed nothing to compare it with to tell that it was not correct. We began to check from that and the more we checked the more we found, until we find we have this spot of ground here, about one hundred fifty feet in diameter, that so far we have not found any instrument absolutely correct over it. A portable radio will play any place over it with but very little variation, being the nearest correct that we have found."

Know Before You Go:

If you're in the area, definitely check this place out. Beware that you might end up feeling a bit dizzy, nauseated, and overall out of it. I had to sit down for a few minutes before hopping in the car to drive away. Was it worth it? Absolutely! It's fun, it's cheap, and the gift shop is pretty awesome.

For more information, check out: The Mystery Spot - Santa Cruz, CA

Sources:

https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/mystery-spot-science.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_hill

https://www.explainedly.com/mystery-spot/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Spot