Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal

29. Magnetic Hill

~ Chapter 29 ~fa£~etic Hill ~ Located in eastern New Brunswick, near Moncton, is Magnetic Hill, Canada's third most-visited natural tourist attraction (after Niagara Falls and the Canadian Rockies). Nineteenth-century farmers going to market noticed a mysterious stretch of road where a wagon going uphill would run against the hooves of the horse pulling it. In 1933, an icecream stand with a gas pump opened at the top of the hill, sparking more interest in the site (then known variously as Fool Hill, Magic Hill, and Mystery Hill). Sightseers were invited to drive down the slope, place their vehicle in neutral, and experience being drawn back uphill! Truckers said the place must be magnetic, and the name stuck (Cochrane 1998; "Magnetic" 1997). Visitors to Magnetic Hill-the drivers and passengers of up to seven hun~red vehicles daily during the peak summer season-offer priceless quotes: "Do you stay in your car, or does it go up the hill by itself?""I have an expensive watch. The magnet won't hurt it, will it?" And"Do you leave the magnet on all the time, or does it get turned off at night?" (Cochrane 1998). Souvenir magnets are sold in the gift shop of the adjacent theme park. In fact, ofcourse, the place is no more magnetic than various similar sites-including two each in Ontario and Quebec (Colombo 1988), as well as one in central Florida (Wilder 1991).As the very helpful staffers at Magnetic Hill are quick to admit, the mysterious effect is essentially due to an optical illusion. This is created, says one source,"by a hill on top ofa hill, which makes people believe that they are actually travelling uphill when they are, in fact, going downhill" (Cochrane 1998). 186 "I' Real-Life X-Files Figure 29.1. Magnetic Hill. Driver proceeds from point A along an apparently continuous down hill course to B, places vehicle in neutral and removes foot from brake pedal. Vehicle seems mysteriously drawn backward, but in fact the distance from Bto C is a slightly downward incline, and momentum propels the vehicle back toward A (but never higher than B, due to the law of the conservation of energy). A more precise explanation is obtained by using a simple carpenter's implement. I was permitted to "walk" my four-foot level along the route, observing the bubble frequently. This demonstrated that the course is not a straight incline but a dipped one, although higher at the top. In other words, proceeding downhill,after the initial incline the course seems to almost level off, continuing in a gentle downslope, but in fact it actually turns gently upward. (See figure 29. 1). Therefore, from the point designated for vehicles to stop and be placed in neutral, they will begin to roll backward. The effect seems quite mysterious, since the driver is conscious of having driven downhill, and trees on either side of the road help hide the true horizon. But myths die hard. One Torontonian returned annually, claiming the magnetic force helped relieve his arthritis, and an American tourist insisted he could feel the magnet pulling on the nails in his shoes. One visitor insisted,"If it was only an optical illusion, my car wouldn't actually do it!" (Trueman 1972) References Cochrane, Alan. 1998. 65 years of magic. Times &- Trallscript (Moncton, N.R), Aug. 8. Magnetic Hill Colombo, John Robert. 1988. Mysterious Canada: Strange Sights, Extraordinary Events, and Peculiar Places. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. Magnetic Hill. 1997. Advertising flyer, Moncton, N.B. Trueman, Stuart. 1972. An Intimate History ofNew Brunswick. 1970; reprinted Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 109-14. Wilder, Guss. 1991. Spook Hill: Angular illusion. Skeptical Inquirer 16.1 (fall): 58-60. 187 ~ ...