On Saturday night we went over to our friends Jon and Mindy's for dinner and fun. They made a wonderful dinner, we had wonderful conversation, and tons of laughs. After dinner Jon was eager to tell us of an urban legend of which he had heard. It went a little something like this:

Many years ago, on a cold, frosty morning, a school bus full of kids was across railroad tracks (railroad tracks are an important part of many urban legends it seems).  As it crossed, it stalled on the tracks.  A train was coming and all the bus needed was a little momentum to cross the tracks and continue downhill, clear of the train.  However, before it could, the train hit the bus, killing everybody inside.  Now, legend has it, if you stop just after the tracks and put your car in neutral, then, instead of going downhill, the children will drag you back up the hill onto the tracks.  If you put baby powder on your trunk you can even see their hands grabbing your car!

Well, this story was intriguing. We had a good laugh, then Jon asked if we wanted to go to Gravity Hill and try it out. Jon and Mindy had gone a little while back and said that it really did happen. So, we all jumped into the car and headed out to the middle of the country to find this "gravity hill." After about 30 minutes Jon pulls onto this litte dirt road out in the middle of nowhere and right in front of us were train tracks. Well the legend was a little off because you have to go about 1/4 mile past the train tracks to actually reach the hill. 

Once we reached the "bottom" of this hill, we put the car in neutral and coasted "up" the hill.  If one were to use logic, one would know that you are actually going downhill; however, some sort of optical illusion is at work and it looks like you are coasting uphill at a pretty impressive speed.  It even works if you get out and run.  Your feet can telling that you are running downhill, but it looks as if you are running uphill. It was a really cool experience. To the people in the farmhouse across the field, we probably looked ridiculous. There we were driving a little while, putting the car in neutral and backing it up again. It went on for about 15-20 minutes, driving back and forth. We can't wait to go on our next adventure with Jon and Mindy. 

Here is another take on the urban legend.