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Gravity Hill

 

One time when I was still in middle school, I spent the night at a friend's house. Her dad suggested we should go up to a place called Gravity Hill. It was only a road and off the road, there was a slaughter house. After we drove up, the dad put his car in neutral and we faced up the hill. All of a sudden, we starting rolling and I was convinced the dad was joking and moving the car. But when I asked him, he pressed the gas and the engine reved but we kept rolling slowly.

After it ended, the dad drove back to where it started. But before he put the car in neutral, we got out and put baby powder all over the back of the car. Then we got back in and started rolling again. Thankfully it was really dark so we knew when another car was coming.

Then after the rolling stopped, we pulled over to the side and got out of the car. We took out flashlights and looked at the back. What I remember seeing was seriously creepy, there were shapes that looked like hand-prints over the powder. We ended up videotaping what we saw and went back home.

A few days later, I decided to look up where we went and the story behind that road was that there had been a school bus crash. Children died and the rumor was that the rolling was the children pushing the car to keep you from the same fate. Creepy Huh?

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Erica, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

jljayne729 (5 posts)
 
4 weeks ago (2024-11-16)
To ownacar:

You mention gravity being messed up. Here is a possible physical (and very scary) reason for that:

Allisongabrielle pointed out that there are deep mines and "bottomless pits" in the area. Since gravity is caused by mass, such gigantic sinkholes would certainly affect the direction of gravity. If you're standing near the edge of a very large and deep sinkhole, then the direction of gravity will not be exactly vertical, but will rather point slightly away from the sinkhole. If this deviation in gravity is great enough, then cars will certainly roll in that direction. Even if it's slightly uphill. This is completely natural and physical and has nothing to do with the supernatural or paranormal.

The really scary thing about this is that it would take a mighty big sinkhole (or underground hollow region) to produce a gravitational deviation large enough to move a car. Not sure whether the mines/sinkholes that you already see are large enough, but if not, then there might be more and larger hollow regions underground that you don't see. These gigantic hollow regions could be enough to change the direction of gravity enough to move a car. If such a hollow region collapses, then people living over it will tumble down, down, down (perhaps miles or even tens or hundreds of miles) into the gigantic sinkhole. Yes, the natural/physical can sometimes be a lot more scary than the supernatural/paranormal!
allisongabrielle (1 posts)
+1
12 years ago (2013-02-22)
Hi, the place is called Antioch California. I was born and raised there and I've heard stories all my life about it. My mom and uncle told stories of when they could explore the mines freely and of holes that were so deep that when people had fallen into them, they were never heard to have hit the bottom, and so wide that you could drive a car into them. There were land bridges across them and they would run back and forth over these bottomless pits. Today, thankfully, it's a natural preserve and the mines are off limits except for the tours.

The area consists of a long windy road through towering foothills, the road is where Gravity Hill is located. When you reach the mines it is made up of caverns, mine shafts, some old houses that now serve as historic and ranger stations, the Rose Hill Cemetery, and the land where once stood the towns of Stewartville, Somersville, West Hartley, Judsonville and Nortonville. All of this lies at the base of Mt. Diablo.

Sarah Norton was the daughter of the founder of Nortonville. She was a bright, caring woman who would become a midwife and the only medic for the area. She assisted in the births of all of the babies born there and planted a mahogany bush for each one, which you can still walk through. Tragically, plagues struck and began killing mostly the babies, children and elderly. Not knowing what was happening, the people saw Sarah as the only common denominator so they linked her to the deaths branding her a witch. They banished her from the area.

As Sarah left, heartbroken and angry, she swore a curse on the towns and rode away in a horse driven carriage. The weather was stormy and lightning and thunder struck, scaring the horses. They tumbled down a steep hillside, killing Sarah Norton. Her spirit never left and has been seen and heard from ever since.

...And that's the history of the White Witch... One of many incredible accounts from the Black Diamond Mines.
In_All_Honesty (4 posts)
+1
16 years ago (2009-04-14)
I read about this haunting on other websites and it seems interesting... Whether its real or not, it's really interesting!

In All Honesty 😉
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-09-24)
First of all, the reason that the car rolls up hill is exactly why they call it Gravity Hill. The hill itself is an optical illusion. When you put the car in neutral, you think you should be rolling backwards, but you roll forwards, which gives the appearance that you're being pushed uphill while in actuality you're on a downhill incline so subtle that you can't see it.

I've heard all sorts of variations of reasons why this happens (soldiers, children, lovers in a car accident, etc.) but the truth of the matter is that again, this is an optical illusion. To debunk this urban legend, you can take a carpenter's level or any other kind of liquid level gauge and it will tell you that you are actually on a downhill incline.

As for the handprints, I'm not really sure about that. It could look that way because of the inadequate lighting, it could be what you all expected/wanted to see, or it could be made up. It could be real for all I know. I really don't know for sure, but most if not all of the Gravity Hill locations which are all throughout the US have been debunked as optical illusions. A friend of mine told me she had done it but that she had only experienced the rolling and not the handprints. I'm going to remain skeptical about this one. 🤔
givemeaname (1 stories) (34 posts)
+1
16 years ago (2008-07-27)
i heard a different story that... This may be something else but my friend tried some type of gravity hill and she told me it was moving because soldiers had died there and they used to push tanks up the hill. So the soldiers think that your car is a tank and they are pushing it up the hill. That is just one story but I'm not sure if its true or not
FilmGrad07 (1 posts)
+1
16 years ago (2008-06-24)
I just joined this site because I live in the area that this is talking about. I grew up in Walnut Creek and often went to this area. I felt compelled to testify to the truth and validity of this claim. It is 30 miles east of SF in the Bay Area near Pleasant Hill, Concord, Pittsburg Walnut Creek etc. There have been mining towns in those hills for hundreds of years and there are tons of true ghost stories tied to the area.

In the immidiate area of within 10 miles of this site is a haunted slaughterhouse, an area known as "The Gates of Hell", a haunted black diamond mine, a ghostly "white witch" and an honest to god living militant cult who shoots local youths with salt that tresspass for dares. I have links to the evidence of all of these claims including Gravity Hill... These local legends are well known and documented, so if they are "legends" they go back several generations, I'm 25 and my grandfather's know about these locations (the one's that go back to the mining towns) so I think there's a bigger picture to the paranormal activity in the area.

http://www.myufo.com/2006/03/haunted_places_in_california.html

http://www.weekendsherpa.com/newsletter/freak.out/59
-------------------------
http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/gatesofhell/

http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/gatesofhell/page2.html
-----------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtLHqecf08A

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=haunted+gravity+hill&search_type=&aq=f

---------------
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060818113424AAbBtQz

http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/ca/rose_hills.cfm

That's all links to further support my claims and knowledge of the history of this area. There are many ghosts and many legends of haunted tales from within TEN miles of the gravity hill this person is talking about. I swear it as truth, I'll answer any questions and give directions if anyone is interested on going, I did a documentary on local urban legends in film school that has since been lost. Maybe someone else should do another more thorough job... But, I know this story to be true as it is told here and told elsewhere exactly the same over and over to Jr high and High School kids from all around the East Bay region.
BornToBeWiccan (4 stories) (11 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-11-28)
thats near sonoma state university right? In wittier I think? Near a ranch called ? San antonio or something right? I don't know I have been there a few times with friends it is actually pretty cool I have heared the story where there was a bus of kids going on a field trip and the bus broke down they were waiting in the road and a drunk truck driver came and hit them my friend thinks it's some sort of alien force field lmfao 😕 🤔 😆
ownacar (1 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-07-03)
Are you talking about the place between Antioch, Ca and Clayton, Ca? Cause if you are it's not true. The slaughter house is a burnt down grain house and Gravity hill is called Gravity hill because the gravity in that area is all messed up. Go there in the day time and your car will still roll up the hill. And I have done it on a skate board and I didn't feel any kids hands on my butt! :) Still creepy at night time. Oh, and don't go out there anymore, because the guy that owns the golf course across the street also owns the "slaughter house" and he drives by there all the time and press trepassing charges.
Shane (13 stories) (1258 posts)
 
17 years ago (2007-06-28)
I have to say this is the first I have heard of this incident in California. I have hear numerous reports about the same incident happening in Texas I believe down near San Antonio. That envolved a bus load of childeren that were killed by a train. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

Peace, Love, and Luck be with you.
Martin (602 posts) mod
 
17 years ago (2007-06-28)
I've read many times about this place, it sounds like a very popular haunted area. Many people have also provided scientific explanations for these phenomenons, such as a slight terrain inclination and bushes that look like child hands when brushed against a dirty car. It could be really haunted too.

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