mystified by The Mystery Spot

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November 13, 2011.

Hidden away in the forests of Santa Cruz, CA is a location frequented by tourists willing to be baffled for 45 minutes. This area is aptly called Mystery Spot and was one of the first destinations I had on my list of things to see during my vacation. It's literally off the beaten path (and is reached by taking a relatively rough road) but it's worth a visit for people who are interested in the quirky and the strange.

As we entered the park, we were welcomed by a gentle giant, the tourist spot's very own Mastiff. After a short wait, we began the walk around the mysterious spot, trying to decipher how we could possibly lose as quickly what we have gained. The path going up the slope was steeper than one would expect and only a few people could claim that they haven't taken an extra effort to climb it. Once up the path, visitors are given a treat: a tilted house where people could stand at an extreme angle and not fall off, jump off tables and land where we least expect it, and hang on handlebars at a weird angle. It's nothing short to being inside a 'walk-through'... or a traditional funhouse.

No wonder the guides kept asking if we were still thinking. To baffle us even further, they kept showing their bubble levels, throwing us off even more about our sense of balance.

What makes the Mystery Spot more fascinating to people who are willing to suspend logic for a few minutes, is that this is where laws established as scientific truths seem to be violated. People become taller or shorter at a blink of an eye; water flow upwards rather than downwards; and thumbs don't count as fingers... now that's weird.

I think, however, that the Mystery Spot's not as mysterious as the guides claim it to be. The "gravitational anomaly" that it seems to be may be nothing more than an optical illusion. The grade of the terrain as well as the tilt of the funhouse disorients people effectively; hence, the optical illusion. However, I will not destroy the child-like wonder of being in such a novel place by finding extensive scientific explanations to nature's mysteries.

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