Complete: October 25, 2008
Deep in the forest, less than 10 miles from here, is a tourist trap. I have lived in this town for 12 years and I have never visited the "World Famous" Santa Cruz Mystery Spot. Once, I tried to go, but they were sold out and we didn't want to wait. On Saturday, I decided that would change, and I took myself up to the mountain for a sunny day to witness this "miracle" in the forest that had been good enough for Ripley's Believe it or Not and Life Magazine.
The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California. It is a circular area of effect around 150 feet or 46 meters in diameter. Within the Mystery Spot you will be stunned as your perceptions of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned. But don't take our word for it, come and decide for yourself!
The Mystery Spot was discovered in 1939 by a group of surveyors and opened to the public in 1940. The Mystery Spot has amazed and perplexed hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world, and many return time and time again to experience these puzzling variations of gravity, perspective, and height.
Some speculate that cones of metal were secretly brought here and buried in our earth as guidance systems for their spacecraft. Some think that it is in fact the spacecraft itself burried deep within the ground. Other theories include carbon dioxide permeating from the earth, a hole in the ozone layer, a magma vortex, the highest dielectric biocosmic radiation known anywhere in the world, and radiesthesia. Whatever the cause is, it remains a mystery.
When I told some friends on Friday night that I was getting up on Saturday to brave new worlds, they laughed and said enjoy. But I was still determined to see what the great mystery was. At the very minimum, it was an afternoon in the sun and trees and I needed fresh air.
Tickets are $5 and parking is $5 for overall it was a $10 venture that had me feeling that I sort of swindled in the same way that you were at an old school carnival. I mean, maybe I just smart or skeptical, but nothing they did was really all that "unexplainable" or more than a serious optical illusion.
I mean really, I'm not sure this place is constantly packed, but damn, people are fools. I was on a tour with people who thought this was really quite possibly the coolest thing they had ever seen. Ever. The little kids made sense, but there were adults who were just totally convinced by the slight of the slats. I giggled, I was happy it was short. We were graced with a pretty energetic tour guide and I do think she probably made that painful hour of my life much more entertaining. I did appreciate her extra effort, and I thanked her kindly as she handed me my signature yellow Mystery Spot sticker that would not be making a home on my car. I sort of chuckled as I climbed back into my car and was happy that I went and was happy to call this MISSION COMPLETE.
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