Pictured: Spook Hill in Florida – Courtesy: JennLShoots – Shutterstock
The Sunshine State is home to several creepy sights, such as graves where the devil is known to steal beer, a section of Interstate 4 that is said to be haunted, and even the most haunted restaurant in the nation.
However, you can verify the legends for yourself at “Spook Hill.”
This hill is located in Lake Wales near the same-named elementary school on 5th Street.
Spook Hill is classified as a “gravity hill,” which is a location where gravity seems to operate backward, according to city officials. Your car will appear to roll upwards rather than downhill if you park it alongside the road in neutral.
State records about the street go all the way back to the 1950s, indicating that it has been a popular tourist destination for many years.
These days, a legend about Spook Hill is written on a sign nearby, telling the story of how a large alligator once attacked a Native American tribe near Lake Wales, many years ago.
The sign says, “The huge swampy depression nearby was created in a final battle that claimed the lives of the gator and the town’s great warrior chief.”
Later on, even though the nearby Army trail seemed to go downhill, pioneers traveling along it discovered that their horses were having difficulty getting past the foot of a ridge. They called the region Spook Hill as a result.
The sign poses the question, “Is it the gator seeking revenge, or the chief protecting his land?”
Another mythology about the hill originates from Barney’s Tavern, a Lake Wales restaurant that is no longer in operation.
In 1956, the eatery distributed leaflets that told the tale of “Captain Gimme Sarsaparilla,” a pirate who is said to have chosen to retire to Lake Wales in 1511 in order to pursue a career as a whale fisherman. Teniente Vanilla, Sarsaparilla’s dependable companion, joined him.
The leaflet said that Sarsparilla “reposes in Davy Jones’ locker at the bottom of North Lake Wailes,” and that Vanilla was buried at the base of Spook Hill upon his passing.
Many years later, a guy parked his automobile just over Vanilla’s chest along Spook Hill. According to tradition, Sarsaparilla’s soul then “arose from the depths of the lake” to force the car back up the hill and away from his deceased friend’s final resting place.
It is recommended that visitors test out the experience for themselves. They can accomplish this by letting their automobile drift backward, shifting into neutral, and stopping on the white line.
In October, News 6 went to Spook Hill to investigate the legend.
It looked from the interior of the car like it was really rolling upward. Yet, the optical illusion was captured on camera by a camera positioned alongside the road.
Guss Wilder, a computer scientist, clarified in a 1991 Skeptical Inquirer article that the illusion is only effective when driving directly into the slope.
The claimed “low point” is clearly higher than the road behind it when viewed from any angle other than the official approach road, according to Wilder’s writing. “A significant percentage of the guests never get out of their cars to assess the situation appropriately and leave with puzzled expressions on their faces.”
It’s undeniable that the street has a lot of history, regardless of whether the ghosts of gators and pirates haunt it or if it’s just a trick of the light.
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Born and raised in South Florida, Krystal is a recent graduate from the University of Miami with professional writing experience at the collegiate and national news outlet levels. She’s a foodie who loves all things travel, the beach, & visiting new places throughout Florida.