Original headline:
Mysterious 'Gravity Hill' continues to draw the curious
Unlike pop singer Lance Bass, of the music group N'SYNC, who recently attempted to scrape together $20 million to defy gravity by taking a trip into space, Washington County residents can apparently defy one of Newton's laws just a few miles south of Bartlesville at no charge.
"Gravity Hill," located between Bartlesville and Ochelata near Gap Road at the intersection known as Matoaka Switch, is the stuff of local legend.
"When I was a little boy of about seven, my dad drove us out to Gravity Hill, stopped, put the truck in neutral and let off the brake," says Jim Hess, director of the College High School Alumni Association and a local historian. "The truck began to roll uphill. Then we got out and poured part of a Coke on the pavement. It also ran uphill."
The family was amazed at what they witnessed.
"My brother and I were astonished and ready to apply all kinds of weird 'magnetic' explanations to the phenomenon," says Hess. "Dad smiled and explained that the 'hill' was an optical illusion caused by the lay of the land around the hill, which made it look as if it were uphill, when in fact, it was slightly downhill."
Typically, when driving a vehicle "uphill" at Gravity Hill, the vehicle will cross the railroad tracks before coming to a stop on the bridge.
"Someone told me the point of it was to travel as far as possible to see if you could make it across the bridge and over the railroad tracks without coming to a stop," says Hess.
And if not?
"If you make it, you're supposed to lead a long, healthy life, and if not, well I guess the opposite," says Shannon Taylor.
"It's certainly not real. It's some kind of optical illusion," says Oklahoma Wesleyan University science Professor Brian Turner.
Rolling "uphill" is a common illusion experienced in many locations around the world. The area in which the phenomenon takes place is usually hilly, where the level horizon is not visible and the trees may be slightly leaning. An optical illusion is caused, making a slight downhill slope appear to be uphill.
Webster's defines gravity as, "The force of gravitation," between "two sufficiently massive bodies..." But gravity can also mean, "grave consequences; seriousness, importance..."
For example, consider these local legends.
One tale claims that years ago some teenagers were on their way to a football game when they stalled on the railroad tracks. While attempting to push their car to safety, a train hit them and they were all killed.
Another legend has it that one night a family of four children and their parents were driving toward Gap Road when their car was stranded on the railroad tracks. A train hit them and they all died.
Another grizzly story concerns a woman who was kidnaped and murdered in the area.
Joe Sears, a native of Bartlesville, remembers going to Gap Road every weekend to help feed his uncle's cattle.
"My Uncle had not only related this local history to me but reminded us of 'gravity hill' at the end of it," Sears says.
As he got older, Sears remembers Gravity Hill and Gap Road became a source of much fun with a carload of girls from high school.
"In 1967, me and the carload of girls were chased back into Bartlesville, by a mystery car one night," says Sears. "It became a horrifying experience for all of us and I never returned to gravity hill."
Others were skeptical of Gravity Hill's "powers."
"Gravity Hill was kind of an urban legend to me, something that probably wasn't true but I learned in reality it was after my first visit," says Michael Thomas. "Deeply impressed, I took many a date there and friends too. It made a nice evening, the perfect adventurous date."
How Gravity Hill was first discovered may never be known, just as the origins of the legends may never be uncovered. Through the years though, Gravity Hill has maintained its mystery and appeal.
