The Mystery Spot

[amietron]

SANTA CRUZ — No one can explain the strange power of the Mystery Spot. Some say a UFO is buried there beneath the redwoods. Others say underground magma wreaks havoc with the gravity.

But there’s something about the Santa Cruz County attraction that keeps sucking in busloads of tourists.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/August/15/local/stories/01local.htm

has anybody been to the mystery spot before? :wink:

[Faithless]

Funny. I didn't even bother looking for your Mystery Spot on my, what seems like, annual trip to the Boardwalk.

How's this work for an explanation?

http://www.sandlotscience.com/MysterySpots/MysterySpots.htm

They also need to spiffy it up a bit.

[moJo]

i have, years ago. i don't think i was too impressed by it, though...

[A.R.A.M.]

I grew up in Santa Cruz but never bothered to go. It was always the dorks from over the hill who went to touristy places like that in Santa Cruz.

[hooligan]

You know what? I thought I was going to find this thread in sex and health. : P Interesting though .

[truMp]

doesnt look too amusing.

[ellsworth81]

so is there absolutely no phenomenon at the mystery spot???

[Faithless]

so is there absolutely no phenomenon at the mystery spot???
Other than how people to continue to be attracted to them? :rolleyes:

The dime a dozen aspect.

Nearly every state has a Mystery Spot or a Gravity Hill... (http://www.americanprofile.com/issues/20040822/20040822_4124.asp)
one of those attractions where physics seems disinterested, gravity appears apathetic, water runs uphill, you stand and sit and lean at impossible angles, that sort of thing.
.
Tourist Spots: Amusements respond to changing tastes (http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/August/15/local/stories/01local.htm)
Sentinel staff writer
SANTA CRUZ — No one can explain the strange power of the Mystery Spot. Some say a UFO is buried there beneath the redwoods. Others say underground magma wreaks havoc with the gravity.

But there’s something about the Santa Cruz County attraction that keeps sucking in busloads of tourists.

In this redwood-lined vortex, rubber balls and tubes of Chapstick roll uphill, short people get taller and wallets empty out in the knickknack shop.

This low-tech draw resists the laws of economic gravity that have plagued almost all of the county’s commercial attractions since World War II — a slump worsened by a soft nationwide tourist economy since 2001.

The rule is this: Unless amusement centers and roadside oddities make constant changes, they wind up forgotten, bankrupt or having to move somewhere else.

The pastel animatronic dinosaurs of The Lost World in Scotts Valley, for example, did not evolve and were doomed to extinction. So were three wax museums in the county and two other attractions in Scotts Valley: a forest of curiously shaped "circus trees" and Santa’s Village, an M&M-colored theme park where fairy-tale characters cavorted through a landscape of winding trails, gumdrops and gingerbread.

"You have to be a step ahead of what is current to make it in the entertainment business. ... Look at how Disneyland has changed," said Nancy Davis, who used to be a "replacement elf" at Santa’s Village and now works on the staff of Capitola’s Art and Cultural Commission.

Though the Mystery Spot, which opened in 1940, might be a bit more extraordinary than its onetime counterparts, its owner admits that he’s had to embrace new kinds of marketing to survive.

The same goes for other longtime attractions that have lured both out-of-town visitors and local residents, like the nearly century-old Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the 41-year-old Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton.

Visiting the Spot
During a recent visit by the Sentinel, the Mystery Spot was its same old self, with subtle differences.

The grounds were more spick-and-span than they were 10 years ago. The "prize-winning dahlias" looked perky. And the tour guides seemed a little younger and hipper.

Shannon Bonnot, a 22-year-old Cabrillo College student and Mystery Spot guide, worked hard to sell this product to a younger crowd by playing up the silly fun of the experience.

"When I show you something horribly mediocre," he said, "that’s your cue to say, ‘Oooh! ahhhhh!"

Bonnot had an easy rapport, winning over most of the crowd while dealing amiably with two young grouches who loudly proclaimed their disbelief.

Asked to explain the "mystery," he casually mentioned the ozone layer, and some sort of problem with "the Earth’s magma spinning the wrong way."

It’s safe to say that no one bought Bonnot’s explanations; but then again, no one seemed to care.

The thousands that pay the $5 to enter the Mystery Spot each year are drawn through what owner Christopher Smith said is a combination of low- and high-tech marketing.

The popular lemon-colored bumper stickers — nearly impossible to remove — combined with old-style graphics and carnival-barker come-ons have been reproduced on the Internet and now reach a worldwide audience.

Smith says that changing with the times is a must, even if it’s not so obvious to the public.

"It really is the impingement of the modern world on old-fashioned businesses," Smith said. "You need to make incremental changes. If you go on doing business the same way forever, that’s a dinosaur approach. And it’ll end up making you go out of business."
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