LEGGETT, Calif. — If you are looking for a textbook example of an odd roadside attraction, Confusion Hill in California's northern redwood forest is it. Pass through the gift shop and into the Gravity House and you will find yourself in a crooked shack on the side of a hill.
Strange forces of gravity present all sorts of anomalies in here. Golf balls roll uphill, people lean at odd angles, and getting out of the seats inside is nearly impossible.
Owner Carolyn Campbell has been giving tours of the place since 1997 and still can’t explain what’s going on here.
“That’s true! I don’t know how to explain it,” says Campbell.
Confusion Hill was discovered by George Hudson in 1949. After WWII, he visited two other gravity-defying places: the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz and the Oregon Vortex.
George became obsessed with places that defy the laws of nature and after years of searching he found a place in along Highway 101 where the trees were deformed.
“The tree is twisted, and I think it’s from something in the ground,” says Campbell, looking up at one of the many towering giants that surround her attraction.
There’s never been any scientific study on the property, but the visual evidence is pretty puzzling. Depending on where you stand, you might just grow a few inches and if you are lucky you may spot one of the rare, elusive chipalope that are advertised on the sign out front.
Campbell says its kind of a confusing story how the half antelope half chipmunk animals ended up here.
“All of a sudden there was this storm. There were these antelope and boom! All of a sudden, chipalope,” says Campbell.
For some, Campbell's story is a little hard to believe, but in all fairness, she says her late husband, Doug Campbell, used to tell the story much better.
“Oh yes! He came up with all the stories. He put so much of himself into this place.”
Doug passed away in 2018 but when he and Carolyn bought the place in 1997, they worked hard to bring Confusion Hill out of disrepair and save lot of the historic attractions, like the 80-year-old Redwood Shoe House and —according to Ripley's Believe It or Not — the world’s tallest freestanding redwood chainsaw carving.
“It’s 40-feet tall,” says Campbell.
You don’t have to understand everything at Confusion Hill, in fact that’s the point. It’s ok to be perplexed and laugh a little.
