Spooky lore and unexplainable phenomena are common fare this time of year, but one Okanagan oddity, which fits into that category, offers year-round bewilderment to all who take it in.
Magnetic Hill on Vernon’s Dixon Dam Road has a stretch of pavement that has lured locals and tourists for as long as Kevin Aschenmeier, the “science guy” at the Vernon Science Centre, can remember.
In fact, the first account of it was written in April 1969, in an issue of the local newspaper.
Prompted to go there 25 years ago, he knew what he was in for, but admits it still worked.
The gist is, you drive to a specific spot on the road, shift your vehicle into neutral and it seems as though you start rolling uphill.
Don’t be fooled, though.
The laws of gravity have not been erased in this corner of the world. It’s all a bit of trickery conjured by Mother Nature.
“It’s an optical illusion,” Ashenmeier said. “When you park there it looks like you are pointing uphill, you are pointing downhill.”
He said it works because when you look around you, and the horizon is obscured all the reference points make it feel like you’re pointing uphill when in reality you’re actually pointing downhill.
Your eyes and your brain are telling you one thing and your senses another.
According to a website called Mysteries of Canada, there are 11 of these in the country and three in B.C.
In addition to Vernon’s, there’s one in Abbotsford on McKee Road, another in Maple Ridge on 100th Avenue.
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