Spook Hill – Lake Wales, Florida - Atlas Obscura

Spook Hill

A haunted hill that supposedly defied gravity. 

1074
2058

Located in Lake Wales, FL (about 50 miles south of Disney World) is Spook Hill. Legends abound regarding this landmark. Known as a magnetic hill, anti-gravity location or simply a “gravity hill” (there are hundreds around the world) a car, placed in neutral, will appear to roll uphill. Before the age of automobiles, horses would supposedly struggle to go downhill. The town embraces and officially recognizes the hill’s curious properties.

Legends say that an Indian chief battled an alligator that had been terrorizing the local village. The fight was apparently so intense that both combatants died, on top of the hill. The legends are split as to whether it is the chief or the alligator’s spirit that haunts the hill. In reality neither chief nor alligator are responsible for the hill’s anti-gravity properties, but like all other anti-gravity spots is the result of a peculiar optical illusion.

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