Can you trust your senses? We’re having fun with the freaky phenomenon of York County’s Gravity Hill where gravity does actually appear to run in reverse!
Gravity Hill is the subject of urban legend and supernatural speculation. Join us as we see for ourselves if the reports of objects apparently rolling uphill are true.
Gravity Hill can be difficult to find in the suburbs south of Harrisburg, as there is no sign and nothing to indicate that it anything more than an ordinary road. The mystery spot is a section of Pleasant View Rd. where it intersects with Wyndamere Rd. (Rt. 177), 1.2 miles west of Rt. 83 exit 35. To investigate the purported oddity, we parked at the stop sign on Pleasant View Rd. at 40.15317, -76.83978. This is at least a two-person job (better with three), as you will need someone to lookout for traffic. Both roads are active thoroughfares, and Wyndamere Rd. was particularly busy with traffic zipping by.
To our eyes, Pleasant View Rd. clearly slopes downhill to intersect with Wyndamere Rd. We turned on the hazard lights, put the vehicle in neutral, took our foot off of the break and then – immediately, the vehicle rolled away from the stop sign – UPHILL! It was not a slow crawl, but we moved rapidly in the “wrong” direction. So much so, that after a few seconds, we had to apply the brakes to slow down (or up?).
We parked at a convenient pull-off near the “top” of the hill (no doubt used for this purpose) to investigate more closely on foot. We walked “down” to the stop sign and walked “up” Pleasant View Rd. It was slightly disorienting as the feeling of our weight and balance told us the opposite of our eyes conveyed. Up was down and down was up!
Of course, we weren’t actually moving against gravity; Gravity Hill is an optical illusion. Urban legends abound to “explain” gravity hill, and maybe they’re a fun way to freak out friends and family. Most of the myths involve the restless spirits of people killed in crashes here, pushing vehicles away from the intersection to spare them from the same fate. The most popular of these is that a truck barreling down Wyndamere Rd. collided with a school bus that either pulled out not seeing the truck or lost control, killing the students on board. The ages of the students vary according to the version of the story; some say they were children, others that they were the football team. In any case some people have been known to put flour on the road and on their vehicles in an attempt to capture the ghostly handprints of the ill-fated passengers.
Gravity Hill is located where Pleasant View Rd. intersects with Wyndamere Rd. (Rt. 177), at 40.15317, -76.83978. See the Google Earth excerpt below:
Gravity Hill was a fun adventure, and highly recommended to freak out your friends and family. The optical illusion, both in a vehicle and on foot, created an eerie slight disorientation. It unequivocally did appear to our eyes that we were going against gravity!
To know before you go: Be careful and watch for traffic on both roads. Wyndamere Rd. is a busy road with fast-moving traffic. Be sure to have people with you to serve as lookouts.
Be sure to check out our other adventures.
