The Mystery Spot was really the primary destination for this journey. Odie read about it on Roadside America and had to see it. I had seen the bumper stickers around and was curious what all the commotion was about. Melissa had been to another Mystery Spot with her family when she was younger and remembered it to be expensive. It turned out to be only $5 per person, but they must be making a fair amount to afford this custom license plate.

So the way it works is that you pay for your tickets, and then you have to wait about 45 minutes for your tour to start. That’s just enough time to walk around the gift shop, convince yourself that you need to have a Mystery Spot magnet or that your brother would love a Mystery Spot t-shirt, and then sit outside pondering the mysteries of this particular spot. See Melissa and Odie pondering.

The tour starts with this sign explaining the origins of the Mystery Spot. Actually, our tour started with the guide telling us not to read the sign because she was going to tell us everything it said on it. I wanted to make sure she was telling us the truth, so I took a picture for future reference. [Click picture for enlargement]

There are supposedly some crazy effects at this spot, like people growing taller and shorter and feeling like the center of the spot is pushing you away. The center of the spot happens to be at the top of a hill, so you might confuse this special force for gravity, but don’t be misled! It’s all very mysterious.

The main attraction at the Mystery Spot is a tool shed originally built at the top of the hill, but mysteriously slid down until getting stuck on some trees. One can only wonder what would have happened to this shed if those trees weren’t there.

Inside the shed, you’re invited to take mysterious pictures of your suddenly mysterious friends acting in mysterious ways. Oops, ‘Mysterious Ways’ is the name of a U2 song. Hmm, I could change that statement, but I’ve got a good rhythm going with the ‘mysterious’ theme. I’ll take my chances with a potentially mysterious lawsuit. Anyway, here are two examples of these mysterious deeds.

I really didn’t feel very mysterious at the time, since the hill was on a slant and I was really standing straight up, but now that I look at the evidence, it does seem mysterious. More of a mystery to me is why Odie looks so evil in that picture.

After performing other mysterious stunts, we left the Spot. They assured us that the effects weren’t permanent, but I’m not so sure. Melissa had trouble even sitting shortly after leaving the Spot’s “Radius of Mystery.”

And Odie and I felt some strange effects also. Look at this picture from before we entered the Mystery Spot.

Now compare to after our visit.

Those bumper stickers we hold were complimentary. Mysterious indeed.