| Some debates are everlasting: since the dawn of time, | | | | an odd angle, although this claim has been disputed. |
| people have tried to establish whether paranormal | | | | Visitors to the house assume that its foundations are |
| activity exists in the world. This burning passion for the | | | | normal, and thus the events that occur in it seem to |
| unexplained has been enshrined in popular culture: from | | | | have somehow sidestepped gravity. Yet there are |
| the Twilight Zone to The X Files, we have seen alien | | | | fatal flaws in this argument: John Litser, a former |
| and unearthly events being dissected from all sorts of | | | | owner of the property who died in 1959, apparently |
| angles, but we have still reached no firm conclusions | | | | carried out detailed tests and investigations on the |
| about their origins. However, there are actual sites of | | | | activities in the Oregon Vortex, and allegedly burned his |
| so-called paranormal activity where evidence seems | | | | findings, screaming, "The world is not ready for this." |
| so irrefutable that even the most die-hard sceptics are | | | | Some of these notes survive, however, and are sold in |
| tested. One of these sites is Oregon's House of | | | | pamphlets at the House of Mystery gift shop: in them |
| Mystery.The House of Mystery is a roadside attraction | | | | he argues the existence of an actual vortex in the |
| in Gold Hill, Oregon, located to the north west of the | | | | region, which affects a circular area measuring 165 |
| town of Medford. The house itself was built in 1904 by | | | | feet, 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Proven vortex or not, |
| the Old Grey Eagle Mining Company. First used as a | | | | however, the House of Mystery provides the perfect |
| gold assay office and then for tool storage, it is | | | | forum to demonstrate its quirks and abnormalities to a |
| situated in the famous Oregon Vortex, a region so | | | | wide audience.The Oregon Vortex is only one among |
| well-known for its paranormal qualities that it was | | | | a variety of mystery spots in the world. As well as the |
| featured in an episode of The X Files in 1999. The | | | | Bermuda Triangle, perhaps the most legendary |
| Oregon Vortex is renowned for its unnatural events: it | | | | example, other mystery spots include Pennsylvania's |
| is said that the laws of physics are temporarily | | | | Laurel Caverns, also known as Gravity Hill, California's |
| abandoned in the area, which first opened to visitors in | | | | Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, and the Mystery Vortex |
| 1939. Objects are said to defy laws of gravity, brooms | | | | in Hungry Horse, Montana. These sites of paranormal |
| stand vertically unsupported, balls can roll uphill and the | | | | activity are certainly best appreciated in comparison |
| laws of perspective appear dramatically altered. Some | | | | with one another; a tour of America's mystery spots, |
| visitors even claim to find relief from backache in the | | | | for instance, would be an ideal holiday for the aspiring |
| Vortex, and its powers are said to be strongest when | | | | mystery solver. By joining a hotel honours rewards |
| the moon is full.Yet sceptics have found natural | | | | scheme with wide benefits, such as Hilton Honours, this |
| reasons for this so-called paranormal activity. Some | | | | multi-stop travel can still be value for money, and you |
| critics say that when the House of Mystery was a | | | | can extend your mystery solving impulse to all corners |
| gold assay office, it slid from its foundations, settling at | | | | of the country. |