Ask anyone who has lived in Wisconsin for a while where you can go to see water run uphill and chairs balance on two legs and without hesitating you’ll hear the words: The Wonder Spot.
The Wonder Spot is just that–a quiet, contemplative spot nestled away from the mega-resorts and water parks that call the area between Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells home. It has stood out from its noisy neighbors for years, but now the piece of Wisconsin’s history has a date with a bulldozer.
According to local news reports, The Wonder Spot’s owner has sold the iconic attraction to the village of Lake Delton for $300,000. The village intends to tear the cabin down and build a road through the crevice where the family-oriented tourist attraction has stood since the 1950s.
An Internet website lists The Wonder Spot as one of 21 so-called “mystery spots.” (Others on the list include: Florida’s Spook Hill and Michigan’s Mystery Hill.) The one thing these places have in common is that gravity doesn’t work in them. Visitors who tour the attractions seem to grow smaller, stand crooked and can barely walk.
Surf the World Wide Web and you’ll see review after review of The Wonder Spot. Some call it “wonderfully goofy.” While others describe the spot as a “scientific conundrum – where the laws of nature have gone awry.”
The sign placed at the base of The Wonder Spot’s ravine says it was discovered on June 16, 1948. It goes on to read: “People who enter the spot won’t see correctly, stand erect or feel quite normal … in fact, on the cabin site the laws of natural gravity seem to be repealed.”
Wisconsin’s “Wonder Spot” sits just off Highway 12, between Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells in the south-central portion of the state. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, the corridor between the two cities is packed with water parks, giant resorts, museums, hotels and restaurants. Tucked away from the touristy glitz and glamour, The Wonder Spot itself is a plain, unceremonious gift shop at the top of a ravine and a well-worn cabin built into the slope.
No date has been given for the start of the demolition, so if you have the chance to visit I would suggest doing so immediately. According to news reports, curators from the Wisconsin Historical Society plan to make a trip there soon to salvage as many souvenirs from the spot as possible before the cabin is razed. The museum is planning to create an exhibit dedicated to “The Wonder Spot.”
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