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All the United States Michigan St. Ignace St. Ignace Mystery Spot

St. Ignace Mystery Spot

Strange physical sensations and optical contradictions keep visitors coming back for more.

St. Ignace, Michigan

Added By
Nick Jackson
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About

While skeptics are quick to write off the effects seen at mystery spots scattered all over the United States, this doesn't make them any less fun, and tourists continue to visit. Granted, the heavy advertising outside and hokey feeling that these spots inspire make it a bit easy to dismiss them as tourist traps, (which of course they are) but none of this takes away from the bizarre and delightful feeling of letting ones brain be hijacked by a perceptual con-artist.

The story: According to the St. Ignace Mystery Spot, in the early 1950s a few surveyors were exploring Michigan's Upper Peninsula one day when they realized that none of their equipment was working properly. The problems, they discovered after some testing, were only apparently in a circle about 300 feet in diameter. Behold: a mystery spot!

Over the years, thousands of visitors have stopped at the Mystery Spot to experience a place where "gravity does strange things" (or more accurately, your brain does strange things as it tries to make sense of contradictory input) and tall people appear to be shorter than they do outside of the spot. These optical contradictions and odd physical sensations keep people coming back for more. It is also said that the Mystery Spot make people feel queasy and light-headed if they stay within the spots boundaries for too long.

Capitalizing on the tourist attraction, the owners of the spot have installed other attractions. Now, visitors to the Mystery Spot can also take a guided tour, play miniature golf, explore a maze built in the woods, or take a ride down a zip line.

The site was voted Michigan's number one unusual attraction by the readers of Michigan Living magazine.

Related Tags

Intriguing Environs Mystery Spots And Gravity Hills Ecosystems

Know Before You Go

Located 5 miles west of St. Ignace and the Mackinac Bridge on Hwy. US-2. The Mystery spot is open May through October.

Community Contributors

Added By

nbj914

Edited By

Tourist07, infinitylimitedcorp, deannatrusty

  • Tourist07
  • infinitylimitedcorp
  • deannatrusty

Published

October 3, 2010

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Sources
  • Trip Advisor: Mystery Spot: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g42671-d623709-Reviews-Mystery_Spot-Saint_Ignace_Michigan.html
  • Wikipedia: Mystery Spot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Spot
  • Yelp: Mystery Spot: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mystery-spot-saint-ignace
  • Roadside America: Mystery Spots: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/SCIspots.html
St. Ignace Mystery Spot
150 Martin Lake Road
St. Ignace, Michigan, 49781
United States
45.875804, -84.808028
Visit Website
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Nearby Places

Lehto’s Pasties

St. Ignace, Michigan

miles away

The Mackinac Bridge

Mackinac County, Michigan

miles away

The Wacky Taxidermy & Miniatures Museum

Mackinaw City, Michigan

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Michigan

Michigan

United States

Places 271
Stories 28

Nearby Places

Lehto’s Pasties

St. Ignace, Michigan

miles away

The Mackinac Bridge

Mackinac County, Michigan

miles away

The Wacky Taxidermy & Miniatures Museum

Mackinaw City, Michigan

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Michigan

Michigan

United States

Places 271
Stories 28

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12 Bewildering Hills Where Gravity Seems to Work in Reverse

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By Molly McBride Jacobson

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