I was sceptic. No way. I had to experience to believe it. Many of you may already know about it an done it - going back up a hill with no power and the engine turned off. It's out in the Hanging Rock area in Victoria. Unbelievable to me at any rate. Use one of those gee-pee-esses gysmos and key in "STRAW LANE". The area this event happens is on the downside of a hill,there's a bit of a pull-over area on the left and on the right is a farm gate. It's about 1 klm or so from the cross road behind you. A friend was directing me so it was easy for me to find.I was following their car. They pulled over to the left and pointed to the spot on the road. Turn your engine off,put the gears in neutral.Slowly creep down to the spot.You will feel the reverse pull. Somebody did walk back up the hill to wave a handkerchief at any approaching vehicles if one happened to come over the hill. You could hop out of your car and just steer it back up the hill. What a great funniest home videos it would be eh! Vehicle going back up a hill with no driver! Me,I reckon it must be something to do with earth magnetism or something alien!
There was a documentary about this effect made about 20 years ago that i can still remember. While it seems impossible the road is heading down hill. The topography of the side of the road and the surrounding area is what makes it seem cars roll uphill. The physics of it all is exactly the same and can be demonstrated when watching old cowboy movies and the wheels of the horse drawn wagons seem to be rotating in the reverse direction of travel.
Apparently there are a few places that give the same illusion. I remember seeing a show on telly years ago that showed a place called "gravity hill" in America. As for the wagon wheels in old cowboy movies, that is a stroboscopic effect due to the frame rate of the movie camera. Very early movies were shot in less than 20 frames per second (fps), so around 18 - 20 still picture were taken each second. When played back, depending on the speed of the wheel, the spokes would move slightly in relation to each other in each frame, giving the effect of moving slowly forward, backwards or even standing still. Later they used 24fps (i think it was) which made the action look smoother. Another interesting phenomenon were subliminal images. That's when they slip a single frame of an unrelated image into the film sequence. Because the persistence of the eye is supposedly around 1/30 of a second, all you really noticed was a slight flicker, but it was enough to register in the brain. There is a story (how true I don't know) that Coka Cola did this many years ago in a movie and during the break the sales of Coke were greatly increased. The practice is illegal now though. I just did a quick Google on subliminal advertising and it may have been an ad for popcorn, not Coke. Hmmm i think i have digressed a bit far from the OP
We were in Sth Aust in 2011, and there is one called Magnetic Hill near Orroroo in Sth Aust.
Park your vehicle, turn off, release the hand brake and the vehicle seems to be drawn backwards towards the giant magnet that is on the side of the road.
Being that it is an optical illusion, you do get a odd feeling when it happens. We took a video of it, and it does look like you are rolling uphill.
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Alcohol is not the answer. It only makes you forget the question.
I can remember this soon after I got my licence. Appeared on This Day Tonight or similar show(no really, I never saw a show called This Day Tonight, I just remember my Mother talking about it) or some show like that at a later date.
A group of us jumped in the old Corona, 60's model, with enough alcohol and other things to to make an enjoyable camping trip and headed out towards Mt Macedon. One bright spark said he knew where these purple mushrooms where.
The short answer was, we found the road and had a ball until we realised that the car was rolling "uphill" with all of us standing there watching it! We had all taken turns at sitting behind the wheel, until someone decided they wanted to see it from outside the car. Lucky for me, it is not much of a hill.
Uhm, I was at Uni at the time. Seriously funny if you were there!
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Never growing old, just getting dusty around the edges.
Been there about a month ago and it appears to run up hill. When you get out and walk you feel like you are walking down hill and yet you are walking to the top of the hill. It disappears over the rise. it is on the way the the Remembrance Cross on the top of the hill. A truly great site not to be missed.
Regards Brian
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11 Mtr house Boat based at Mannum hoping to travel up the Murray as far as I can get then drift back again
We went to the Magnetic Hill near Orroroo SA - camper trailer on the back - and it definitely felt like we were going backwards up the hill!!! Mistifying - even if some people have a logical explanation for it - still fascinating!!!
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jules "Love is good for the human being!!" (Ben, aged 10)
