Yesterday, set off to uncover one of Los Banos’ best kept secret (second only to the location of Yamashita’s treasure): the much-revered Secret of the Magnetic Hill.

We promised to be as empirical and as skeptical (Scully) as we could be. First, we used a level to determine if there is indeed an incline. There is one – going opposite the direction of the perceived slope. In other words, the slope looked like it was going down, when in fact it was going the opposite direction by about 5 degrees, explaining the “magnetic” properties.

Then, we set out to determine how this optical illusion came about: we walked up and down the incline and noticed that the trees, the grass, and the fence, even the roadline, were all following the slope in its unnatural direction (against the incline), therefore completing the illusion that the hill is actually sloped downwards. All this naturally-occuring (except for the fence) elements conspiring to create the “Secret” is quite extraordinary.

Before all this, I do remember taking several friends on the Hill: “Can we go now. This is freaking me out.” And, “Do that again! Do that again!” And, “Now you’re scary.”

Everyone should try it once. Drive your car to the foot of the slope (marked by a sign that says, Magnetic Hill, Stop Here) put your gear in neutral, and watch the Hill pull you up. Natural or not, it is freaky.