With a population around 170,000, the city of Burlington in Ontario has enough features and commerce to keep most people entertained. There are places to go for those who love the arts, sports fans of all type, outdoor enthusiasts, and live production fans. But, Burlington also has a certain appeal for those who enjoy "weird" phenomena; it is the location of one of only a handful of naturally occurring magnetic hills in Canada.
What is a magnetic hill?
Magnetic hills occur all over the world. The weird thing about these hills is that when your car is parked in certain areas, it will appear as though it is being "pulled" uphill when in neutral. Water along the sides of the roads where this magnetic effect is observed will also look as though it is running uphill.
Magnetic hills and the feeling that one is being pulled uphill is a kick for sensation seekers, but like many such appealing attractions (like professional wrestling) magnetic hills are really only an optical illusion perceived by the person in the vehicle. They come about when the horizon has been completely or mostly obscured; slopes are thus difficult to judge. The slopes of a magnetic hill are often quite slight, and although they are actually gradual downhill slopes they appear to angle upwards just slightly.
Magnetic hills may also be referred to as gravity hills, mystery hills, or gravity roads. Wherever they occur, people seem to enjoy the sensation of seeming to be pulled uphill in their vehicle by no force other than gravity.
Burlington's magnetic hill
As with many local legends, the magnetic hill of Burlington started out mainly as rumour carried by several townspeople. While most residents had heard of the phenomenon, not many had actually tried it out for themselves, and thus few knew where the precise location of the hill was. Magnetic hills, as you may have guessed from the above description, may only be experienced at very specific locations, and no one who had experienced Burlington's had yet mapped it.
This all changed in 1985, when the local paper published a story on the road where the magnetic hill became famous. It was located on the road that led to the Burlington dump, today known as King Road.
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