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Vortex is Oregon at its strangest

A historical photo of the House of Mystery at the Oregon Vortex in Gold Hill, Ore.

Balls don’t roll up hill, it’s a basic law of gravity, but there’s a tiny place in southern Oregon that’s breaking the rules. While it’s widely debated whether or not the Oregon Vortex is a bunch of optical illusions or actually a center of paranormal activity; there is no debate that on those 22-acres of land, weird things happen.

Vortexes are associated with many things: crop circles, Stonehenge, Egyptian pyramids, ley lines (the alignments of religious sites and landmarks). On the other hand some people believe that vortexes are a result of magnetic or gravitational fields.

Before anything was built on the land there were rumors that Native Americans referred to it as the “forbidden” land. People would often find their horse refusing to go through that area.

One of the things specific to the Oregon Vortex is its House of Mystery, a popular tourist attraction. Originally it was an assay office (a place to test the purity of a gem) built in 1904. Several years later, the office slid down the hill it was on and came to rest at a rather odd angle. Some claim that the weird angle of the house is what makes the illusions possible.

The Oregon Vortex and the House of Mystery have been investigated on Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, Supernatural, alluded to in the video game Sam & Max Hit the Road, and is the inspiration for the Gravity Falls cartoon.