One of the downsides of having so much info at our fingertips is that there’s little mystery left in the world. Everything has been proved, disproved, researched, explained. I’m semi-revolting against this as I fight the urge to google the truth about the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, instead choosing to live in the weirdness of the experience itself.
I say “semi” because I did actually start to research the truth. Then I couldn’t handle it and closed the browser a paragraph in. I want to believe that this place is really, truly, weird.
Backing up here, we went to the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz this weekend. If you live in Northern California, you’ve seen the bumper stickers. I’ve been seeing them for years, half ignoring/half thinking it a thing of the past (supported by the fact that the stickers are typically spotted on 80’s volvo wagons). Well, turns out it’s still pumping through the tourists! So of course with the kids, the adventuring, etc… it was really only a matter of time that we end up here.
And so we did, on Saturday, along with about 300 other tourists. A mystery in and of itself, where did all the people come from? We drove up the quiet mountain road, few cars in site, so how is it once we got out of the car in the parking lot, the place was CRAWLING with people?! Mysterious.
But that’s obviously not the true point here, it’s the strange events that occur as you tour the small 150ft area in the redwoods outside of Santa Cruz. Water appears to flow uphill, people appear to shrink, grow, and lean in abnormal ways. Not to mention the dizzy, nauseous, uneasy feeling you get standing in this spot. Even my scientist husband found it all to be inexplicable and thought at the very least it would spur an interesting conversation amongst his scientist work buddies on Monday.
We had fun stumbling against gravity through the rooms of the tiny cabin, participating in a few puzzling demonstrations, and generally suspending our disbelief (and chuckling at some pretty cheesy jokes) for an hour in the redwoods.
Real or not, it’s mind-bending (and cheap) enough to get our thumbs up.
MYSTERY SPOT
465 Mystery Spot Road
Santa Cruz, CA 95065
http://www.mysteryspot.com/
fumbleweeds 