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From: gary@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (gary w buchholz)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Weird Gravitational effects at Lake Delton Wisconsin
Message-ID: <974@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 13-Aug-85 17:02:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: sphinx.974
Posted: Tue Aug 13 17:02:06 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Aug-85 14:42:19 EDT
Organization: U. Chicago - Computation Center
Lines: 79


In the past I've heard about some places in Michigan and Wisconsin
where one can experience some weird gravitational phenomenon.  A few
days ago on my way back from a camping trip in Wisconsin I had the
opportunity to visit such a site at Lake Delton.

Many people I have told this to have told me that what I saw there and
what I experienced there was "faked" and I am open to that possibility.
But, in all honesty I must say that I do not find their "alternate
explanation" convincing.

I will not go into detail about all the demonstrations that were
performed there but will address a single one that cannot be easily
explained by any "trickery" or optical illusion.

The site is the side of a very small valley.  A "platform" (originally
the site of a cabin) is built midway up the side.  The peculiar thing
is that while standing on the platform (or in the area generally) one
feels a (gravitational) "pull" towards the opposite side of the valley
(approx 400 feet away) such that one must stand at an angle in order to
stand upright.

Now here is where people interject and say that the "pull" and the
angle of incline at which one must stand to remain upright is due to
the floor of the platform that appears to be level is in fact not
level and this is how the "illusion" of the abnormal gravitational
field is produced.

The problem with this explanation is the experimental fact (I tried
this) that one cannot walk a straight line across the platform parallel
to the side of the hill.  The problem is that the "pull" (here I will
not imply a cause) is *significantly* non-uniform.  That is, when one
walks across the floor one is walking at an angle and the angle at
which one must position ones body in order to stand upright changes as
a function of where one is located on the floor.

Put simply, the reason why one cannot walk a straight line across the
floor is because as one moves to the opposite end one always finds that
that the angle correction to remain upright is always different and
this results in an erratic path across the floor as one is constantly
finding that one has either over corrected or under corrected for the
next position to be taken.

The explanation given by these people who run the demonstration is that
there is a meteorite embedded in the opposite side of the hill and the
mass is such that the gravitational field in the area is severely
distorted.

The explanation given by my friends(?) is that I'm "nuts" and that I've
been taken in by an illusion.

I worked out the physics of this and the mass of the meteorite would
have to be on the order of 10**11 tons of extremely high density - too
high for "normal" matter.

I don't find the "illusion" theory convincing either - I was there and
it was more that I felt than what I saw that convinced me.

The nonuniformity of the effects is hard to explain by "illusion" (ie
confusion as to what "level" is resulting in pseudo forces) and
somewhat difficult to explain by the meteorite theory (unless the
meteorite has a density approaching the density of a black hole).

So, I'm looking for some help in explaining this phenomenon.  The
scientific community has known about this site since 1942 and
supposedly (according to the people who own the site) there was an
investigation around 1942 or later by some people at the U of Wisc. at
Madison.

If anyone out there knows of these sites and/or can explain it I'd
appreciate it.  If anyone at U of W at Madison is reading this the
research was done by the geology dept.  Given that Lake Delton is so
close to the University I'd expect some of the academic/scientific
community to know about this site.  Can anyone out there glean some
information on this site at Lake Delton regarding these anomalous
gravitational effects... or have I been taken in by a guy selling
"snake oil".

  Gary