| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1851.1 | "House Guests"... Literally! | AIMHI::BROWN | | Tue Jun 08 1993 13:34 | 24 |
| I visited the house while on vacation about 8 years ago and found
it really amazing! It seems that Sarah had a very bad case of
arthritis in her legs and wasn't able to lift her feet higher than four
or five inches at a time. The entire house has steps which they called
"easy risers" (Not my words 8*)), 4" high and 18" long, which allowed
her to get to the different levels of the house.
I can't vouch for it being haunted, but the story has it that Sarah
spoke with spirits continually and they told her she would live as long
as she kept building on the house. There are stairs which go to
nowhere, and rooms which have no practical use at all. The room that I
found most facinating was the music room. We were told that the entire
room was put together with wooden pegs, and there are absolutely no
nails in there at all! The acoustics in there were unbelievable!!!
It was said that the entire house was furnished with Tiffany glass,
but most of it was destroyed during an earthquake. They had some of
the orig. furniture and fixtures displayed behind a glass wall and I
couldn't believe the detail in the workmanship.
All in all... Well worth a visit if you are ever in the area! I'd
say that some contractor sold her a bill of goods!!!
Another place to visit if you get out there is "Mystery Spot"...
Tom
|
| 1851.2 | Mystery Spot? | STRATA::THOMAS | | Wed Jun 09 1993 03:32 | 1 |
| What is the " Mystery Spot " does it go by another name?
|
| 1851.3 | Still a mystery to me... | AIMHI::BROWN | | Wed Jun 09 1993 18:09 | 30 |
| The "Mystery Spot" supposedly has a strange magnetic field emitting
from it, and causes the trees around it to grow like cork screws. It's
really strange because all the other trees around the spot grow
perfectly straight including the same species.
A couple of other strange things that occur there are not easily
explained either. The first is that it takes a lot more force to push
a vertically suspended weight toward the center of the "Spot" than it
does to push the same weight away from the center. The demo set up was
a weight (forgot how heavy it was) was suspended from a rafter in this
shack (which was orig. built right over the "Spot", but the force moved
it down the hill away from the center) and when you tried to push the
weight toward the center of this force you had to use two hands to push
it. When you turned around 180 degrees and pushed the same weight away
from the force it could be pushed the same distance using only two
fingers!!
There seemed to be an ability to create optical illusions there
too. If two people of different height stood on each end of this level
concrete slab, with the taller of the two on the left, everything would
appear normal. As soon as they switched positions on the slab, the
taller person (now on the right) would appear to be shorter than the
shorter person!!! I've seen it myself, and didn't move my position
while the two on the concrete slab switched ends! Really a bizarre
place and well worth the trip if you are ever in the area.
As far as I know the place is called "Mystery Spot" because that is
what it says on the postcard I bought while there.
Hope this helps,
Tom
|
| 1851.4 | Almost certainly simply an optical illusion. | CADSYS::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Wed Jun 09 1993 19:08 | 23 |
| I've been there. Fascinating but not mysterious place. Nothing there
which cannot be explained as an optical illusion -- but it sure is an
effective one. Basically the overall layout of the area (the
topography) is such as to mislead the eye about what level is. They
have strengthened the illusion by adding a shack which is badly
skew -- walls, door-frames, etc. do not meet each other or the floor
at right angles. Your eye, trained to fairly regular architecture,
tries to interpret the angles as the result of perspective distortions
of things which actually meet at right angles. As a result, you get
some very weird effects. I got a weaker dose of some of those -- some
were barely visible -- because I came just before dark, and the
interior of the shack was dim enough so that the visual miscues which
the effect is based on were not fully visible.
This is a very subtle but convincing set of optical illusions. Anyone
who arrives without a knowledge of the obscure perceptual principles on
which the illusions are based are bound to be "taken in". Even knowing
the illusion is still unshakable.
Highly recommended -- but not to be taken seriously as a real mystery.
Topher
|
| 1851.5 | What you see isn't always what you get! | AIMHI::BROWN | | Wed Jun 09 1993 19:45 | 9 |
| Hi Topher,
I figured the height demo was an illusion, but I couldn't explain why a
suspended weight wouldn't require the same ammount of force to be pushed
in the opposite direction. Any ideas?
Just curious...
Tom
|
| 1851.6 | Knott's has one too | SWAM1::MILLS_MA | To Thine own self be True | Wed Jun 09 1993 19:52 | 13 |
| A similar shack is in Knott's Berry Farm here in Southern California.
The shack is built slightly sloping (or so I thought, Topher's
explanation explains it better) so that bottles roll off a seemingly
level floor, etc.
The force required to push an object away from the center vs. towards
the center can probably be explained by the direction of the slope. It
takes more force to push something up than down.
They are neat places, though.....
Marilyn
|
| 1851.7 | Illusion + Suggestion. | CADSYS::COOPER | Topher Cooper | Wed Jun 09 1993 21:35 | 46 |
| 1851.8 | Knottier and Knottier | SWAM1::MILLS_MA | To Thine own self be True | Wed Jun 09 1993 22:19 | 12 |
| RE Knott's
Sorry, I what I meant to say is that the whole shack is built
"lopsided". The floor is sloping and the rest of the shack is built
perpendicular and parallel to the floor. So as you make your way from
room to room, it is heavy going, as you are really going up a slight
incline although your eye thinks you're walking straight.
Does that make sense now?
Marilyn
|
| 1851.9 | Clarks Trading Post, NH | STRATA::THOMAS | | Thu Jun 10 1993 03:25 | 5 |
| The same attraction can be seen at the Trading Post in New
Hampshire, not quit sure of it's excacted location. I agree it is
only an illiusion, but great fun.
Thomas
|
| 1851.10 | "Eye see!" said the blind man. | AIMHI::BROWN | | Thu Jun 10 1993 12:59 | 11 |
| Thanks Topher!
Come to think of it... If my memory serves me correctly, I seem to
remember that the weight was suspended on a rafter close to one corner
of the shack, and the exterior wall or corner of the shack restricted
how far the weight was able to travel in the "easy" direction!
Never thought too much about that before...
Tom
|
| 1851.11 | | HOO78C::ANDERSON | A high speed, heat seeking cat! | Mon Jun 21 1993 11:57 | 16 |
| For some reason or other I'm a good sailor, put me on a ship that is
heaving and dropping in a gale and you'll find me in the restaurant
happily eating while I watch people turning green, then find out that
there are two sides to a ship, and only one is suitable for throwing up
over.
However put me in one of those fun houses as described here and I feel
queasy instantly. My eyes send one set of signals to my brain whilst my
sense of balance sends a different set and confusion sets in.
The net result is usually me finding the emergency exit and use it. A
couple of times when I have survived long enough to look at the
"mysteries" usually billiard balls rolling up hill or water flowing
uphill they always appear to be rolling downhill to me.
Jamie.
|
| 1851.12 | We have Mystery Ridge | GLDOA::TREBILCOTT | I can't believe it's only Wednesday | Mon Jun 28 1993 22:25 | 9 |
| There is a place similar to the one mentioned here called Mystery Ridge
near Oscoda, Michigan. It's up north in the woods and they have the
height illusion as well as a ball that rolls up hill, they have a chair
that stays against the wall, off the floor, which people could sit in
(I did), and more...
They are fun, even if they are illusion and science, not phenomena...
|
| 1851.13 | Novel based on this | BOBSBX::LEMEN | | Tue Jun 29 1993 13:06 | 5 |
| There's a really fun old potboiler written by Kathleen Norris
that is set in the Mystery House, called, you guessed it ---
"Mystery House"!
june
|
| 1851.14 | Coincidences? | MISERY::CROW_DO | | Wed Jun 30 1993 23:44 | 8 |
| I moved to California 6 years ago - and my first residence was
right down the road from the Winchester Mystery House. Less than
a mile away.
Last year my husband and I purchased a home in Santa Cruz - 3 miles
down the road from the Mystery Spot.
Hmmmmmm....
|
| 1851.15 | LITTLE CALIFORNIA | USWRSL::BOUCHER_RO | | Thu Jul 01 1993 15:50 | 8 |
|
YA HEY,here is looking at you from SANTA CRUZ.HAY 14 where are you.
I,m from SANTA CRUZ.BUT most of my family is in NEWBEDFORD MA.I living
in SAN JOSE right now.But me and my New wife are moving back to SANTA
CRUZ as soon as we can.
For now later. SMURF
|