Editing Oregon Vortex

{{Short description|Roadside attraction in Gold Hill, Oregon, US}}
{{about|the location in the U.S. state of Oregon|the 1970 rock music festival|Vortex I}}

{{Infobox park
| name           = The Oregon Vortex
| photo          = Entering the Oregon Vortex (6275492718).jpg
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| nearest_city   = [[Gold Hill, Oregon|Gold Hill]], [[Oregon]] U.S.
| coords         =  {{coord|42.4931|-123.0851|display=inline,title}}
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The '''Oregon Vortex''' is a [[roadside attraction]] that opened to tourists in 1930,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_vortex_house_of_mystery_/#.XoDNT3JRWUk|title=Oregon Vortex (House of Mystery)|website=oregonencyclopedia.org|access-date=2020-03-29}}</ref> located on Sardine Creek<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oregon Vortex|url=http://www.oregonvortex.com/|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Oregon Vortex}}</ref> in [[Gold Hill, Oregon|Gold Hill]], [[Oregon]], in the [[United States]]. It consists of a number of interesting effects, which are [[gravity hill]] [[optical illusion]]s, but which the attraction's proprietors propose are the result of [[paranormal]] properties of the area.<ref>{{cite book|title=Haunted Places: The National Directory : A Guidebook to Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations|author=Hauck, Dennis|publisher=Penguin|year=1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/hauntedplacesnat00hauc_0/page/344 344]|isbn=978-0-14200-234-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hauntedplacesnat00hauc_0/page/344}}</ref>

== Background ==
Local legend supposedly states that prior to any construction in the area, Native Americans in the area referred to the site as a "forbidden" land, and travelers passing through would often find their horses refusing to go through the area.<ref>{{cite book|title=Haunted Oregon: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Beaver State|author=Weeks, Andy|pages=59–61|publisher=Stackpole Books}}</ref>

The story goes that a gold assay office was built in the area in 1904 by the Old Grey Eagle Mining Company, which slid from its foundation in the early tens, coming to rest at an odd angle. However the building conforms to other purpose-built distorting rooms or "crazy houses" such as at the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot. In 1914, the outpost and assay house were rediscovered by a prospector named William McCollugh. McCollugh convinced his friend, geologist and engineer John Litster to come to the US from his birth place in [[Alva, Clackmannanshire|Alva]], [[Scotland]]. Litster says he researched the paranormal phenomena of the so-called 165-foot magnet radius.<ref name=":0" />

When the very similar [[Mystery Spot]] was created in Santa Cruz, California in 1939, Litster sued for copyright violations, but withdrew the suit when it was pointed out that he claimed the Oregon Vortex was a natural phenomenon.

When Litster died in 1959, his wife sold the Oregon Vortex to Ernie and Irene Cooper. The Coopers' daughter Maria and grandson Mark kept the attraction open since then, making it one of Oregon's oldest examples of roadside americana.<ref name=":0" />

Odd angles create an illusion of objects seemingly rolling uphill. The same effect can be seen in The [[Montana]] Vortex and house of mystery, [[Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania's]] [[Laurel Caverns]], North Carolina’s Mystery Hill, and at [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]], [[California]]'s Mystery Spot. Two UC Berkeley researchers  studied the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot and published their conclusions in Psychological Science in 1999. They proposed a framework called "orientation framing" which describes how the brain's visual processing uses spatial frames of reference. They noted similar illusions including the [[Ponzo illusion]], the [[Zöllner illusion]], the [[Poggendorff illusion|Poggendorf]] and Wündt-Hering illusions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shimamura|first=Arthur P.|last2=Prinzmetal|first2=William|date=1 November 1999|title=The Mystery spot Illusion and Its Relation to Other Visual Illusions|journal=Psychological Science|volume=10|issue=6|pages=501–507|doi=10.1111/1467-9280.00196}}</ref> James Randi, magician and illusionist, also described the Oregon Vortex (House of Mystery) as an optical illusion in 1998 using photography and mathematics to describe the illusion.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oregon Vortex (House of Mystery)|url=https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_vortex_house_of_mystery_/|access-date=2020-07-02|website=oregonencyclopedia.org}}</ref> Russ Donnelly, professor emeritus of physics at the University of Oregon visited the Oregon Vortex in 1966 and was convinced it was some sort of optical illusion. Owner Maria Cooper agreed with Donnelly that what people are seeing inside the House of Mystery is an optical illusion but insisted something else was happening outside the house that makes people's height appear to grow and shrink depending on their location.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Penn State WebAccess Secure Login|url=https://webaccess.psu.edu/?cosign-scripts.libraries.psu.edu&https://scripts.libraries.psu.edu/scripts/ezproxyauth.php?url=ezp.2aHR0cHM6Ly9pbmZvd2ViLm5ld3NiYW5rLmNvbS9hcHBzL25ld3MvZG9jdW1lbnQtdmlldz9wPUFXTkImdD1wdWJuYW1lOkhDQkYhSG91c3RvbitDaHJvbmljbGUrJTI1MjhUWCUyNTI5JnNvcnQ9WU1EX2RhdGU6RCZmbGQtYmFzZS0wPWFsbHRleHQmbWF4cmVzdWx0cz0yMCZ2YWwtYmFzZS0wPU9yZWdvbiUyMFZvcnRleCZkb2NyZWY9bmV3cy8xMDE3OEVFMTczNUEwQUU5|access-date=2020-07-03|website=webaccess.psu.edu}}</ref>   

Oregon Vortex is also famous for "height change" as the apparent relative height of two people varies, depending on where each stands.<ref>[http://www.oregonvortex.com/photographs-northend.htm Oregon Vortex official website.] Retrieved December 2008.</ref> The explanation of the strange phenomena is that they are caused by optical illusions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-vortex-offers-spooky-mystery-all/|title=Oregon Vortex Offers A Spooky Mystery For All|last=Baskas|first=Harriet Baskas By Harriet|website=www.opb.org|language=en|access-date=2020-03-29|archive-date=2015-03-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324233434/https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-vortex-offers-spooky-mystery-all/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Distorted backgrounds that induce a [[forced perspective]], as with an [[Ames room]].<ref>[http://www.randi.org/jr/101003.html Oregon No-Vortex] Retrieved December 2008.</ref>  The Oregon site also exhibits phenomena similar to those perceived by visitors at the mystery spot located outside St. Ignace in the upper peninsula of Michigan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4240|title=Mystery Spots|website=Skeptoid|access-date=2020-03-29}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
* The site was investigated on a second season episode of the [[SyFy]] [[reality show]] ''[[Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files]]'', and although there seemed to be a small debate between the show's investigators over the "height change" phenomenon, they ultimately concluded that overall, all of the effects demonstrated were optical illusions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2012/06/fact_or_faked_paranormal_files.html|work=Oregon Live|title='Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files' investigates Oregon Vortex: Optical illusions or unexplained mysteries?|author=Butler, Grant|date=June 20, 2012|access-date=January 22, 2016}}</ref>
* The Oregon Vortex was featured in a 1999 episode of [[The X-Files|X-Files]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thatoregonlife.com/2016/06/oregon-vortex-one-strangest-places-earth/|title=The Oregon Vortex is One of the Strangest Places On Earth|last=Willford|first=Tyler|date=2016-06-22|website=That Oregon Life|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-29}}</ref>
* The attraction is the inspiration for the Mystery Shack, a [[tourist trap]] and the main setting for the [[Disney Channel]] (later [[Disney XD]]) original series ''[[Gravity Falls]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2012/06/inspired_by_boring_ore_its_tru.html|title='Gravity Falls': Inspired by Boring, Ore.? It's true|last=Owen|first=Rob|date=2012-06-14|language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-16}}</ref>
* Mentioned in Season 3 Episode 11 of Supernatural in relation to the mystery spot being investigated and alongside The Bermuda Triangle
* Visited in Season 15 Episode 1 of ''[[Ghost Adventures]]'' "Golden Ghost Town" prior to the overnight investigation in [[Golden, Oregon|Golden]]. Whilst there, Zak and Aaron witness a [[broom]] being perfectly balanced by the tip of its brush.
* Mentioned in Stranger Than Science by Frank Edwards using glass balls as an example.
* Mentioned in Supernatural by Sam Winchester in Season 3 Episode 11 "Mystery Spot.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Oregon}}
*[http://www.oregonvortex.com/ Oregon Vortex], Official website
*[http://www.syfy.com/factorfaked/ SyFy Channel - Fact Or Faked: Paranormal Files] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214191420/http://www.syfy.com/factorfaked/ |date=2014-12-14 }}
*[https://oregoniansforscienceandreason.org/investigation/oregon-vortex.html Oregonians for Science and Reason - Investigation (with pictures illustrating illusions and an animated Ponzo demonstration)]
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E4DD133AF93AA2575AC0A9659C8B63&pagewanted=all New York Times Travel Section Article]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101221015711/http://thecabinet.com/darkdestinations/location.php?sub_id=dark_destinations&letter=o&location_id=the_oregon_vortex Dark Destinations - The Oregon Vortex]

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Jackson County, Oregon]]
[[Category:Gravity hills]]
[[Category:Optical illusions]]
[[Category:Roadside attractions in Oregon]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Jackson County, Oregon]]