A reader contacted us yesterday clamouring for the inclusion of a story on a "mystery spot" on Lake George, New York. He found the mention of this apparent anomaly on another website and thought we should investigate it.
Thank you, reader, and we mean it.
Time-space anomalies are indeed what we like the most. Well, at any rate we like the subject enough to maintain this blog about them.
We are presently nowhere near Lake George or its mysterious spots, but in this WWW-age some investigation can be conducted via the internet.
But first, read the story, by a Dr. Seymour O'Life, plucked (gratefully, needless to say) from the very same website where our reader found it.
After you have read it - preferably ALOUD - perhaps you will venture a guess about the conclusions to which our brief investigation led us.
A number of years ago, while at a round table discussion of Acoustical Anomalies and Decibel Equations in Munich, I had the good fortune to met Professor Gregory Mauch. Mauch is well known for his radical theories on Atomic Distillation and the accompanying Gravitational Tempest. But during dinner he told me of a spot in New York State that the known laws of spatial time and acoustics did not apply.
“Balderdash,” I exclaimed!
Mauch smiled and poured another tequila.
He insisted that not only had he heard of such a place, but could give me the exact location. I was all inebriated ears. After telling me the coordinates, and I did the calculations, I realized that not only was this place in New York, but actually in downtown Lake George. I was stunned. This past year, following the tipsy bar napkin scribblings of Professor Mauch, the I went in search of this amazing spot. And, believe it or not, found it.
How could we miss? Walking up to the spot I saw a compass cut into the ground. A huge circle, it was obvious where one was to stand. Being the brave guy that I am, I told my friend to walk into the center first.
“Do you feel anything strange?” I asked. “If you do, get the hell out of there.”
“I don’t feel anything—wait, holy s%$t!, she blurted. “Come in here. You gotta hear this!”Now, where would you start your armchair investigation if you were us?
I walked into the center and asked her what she’d heard, then I heard it as well. A glorious echo filled my ears. I yelled at the top of my lungs. A huge echo returned. Those standing outside the circle just heard my voice. The mysterious echo could only be heard from the center of the ring. How wonderful. Professor Mauch was right. Son of a gun!
I have done some research, but no one in Lake George is talking about this spot. Local Indian legend says that it was the spot that an ancient god called Katchalototail had appeared at a long time ago and since then his wisdom still echoes around the lake. Indian gods, spatial displacement, weird acoustics...whatever causes this strange ringing reverberating sound, it is pretty amazing.
So if your ever in the Lake George area, take a walk to the Mystery Spot. To find it you just have to head to where Canada Street and Million Dollar Beach come together. Walk east, along the lakeside of Million Dollar, for about a hundred feet or so and turn into the left, where the small stone wall offers a view of the lake. Look on the ground and you’ll see a giant ring that has a compass etched into it.
Walk to the center and start yelling your head off. –Dr. Seymour O’Life
Perhaps by trying to find out more about the erudite, tequila-drinking Dr. Mauch?
Or the no less erudite, whimsically spelling Dr. Seymour O'Life himself?
Perhaps you would try to gather more information about said round-table discussion in Munich?
Surely, at the very least, you would investigate the mythical life and times of that endearingly named god, Katchalototail?
If you're from the area of Lake George, or are planning to visit it, by all means try and find as many mystery spots as you can - and if you'd like to, you are welcome to report about them here.
Even if you don't find any mystery spots, you will find plenty of beauty spots there, and that should be enough to feed the same sacred flame of wonder.
Meanwhile you can enjoy this story as a little joke, written with obvious talent and sense of humour.
We did. ;)
4 comments:
Hopefully, you do more research on other topics than you did on this one. When you get done laughing, the biggest laugh of all will be on you since I've been to the Mystery Spot and it makes an echo exactly like advertised.
Dear reader,
echoes are a wonderful thing.
They are hardly "mysterious" in any way, however, and they certainly don't violate any laws of - and I quote - "spatial time" (or acoustics, for that matter).
Enjoy this little piece of cleverly written satire for what it is.
Clever satire is becoming scarce.
As is the talent to appreciate it.
I visited the Lake George mystery spot two days ago. When I arrived, I found another person testing it by speaking in a conversational tone. He said he heard the echo.
I approached the spot while talking quietly to myself. When I got to the middle, I heard the echo. By echo, I mean the kind of sound you hear in an acoustically live room like a tiled bathroom. However, I would not expect to hear as much of an "echo" while speaking at such a low volume in a bathroom as I heard at the Lake George spot.
I asked my wife to try it, and she could not produce the effect for herself. In demonstrating it to her, I was able to step in and out of the magic spot repeatedly and reliably.
For me, the effect was produced only when I was in a very particular spot at the center, and it was produced more reliably (but not exclusively) when I was facing east than when I was facing west. As i adjusted my position, it was a yes or no thing re hearing the echo or not. There was no variation on the "strength" of the echo.
To be clear, the effect was like a fuzzing or prolongation of the sound of my voice, not a repetition of my sounds.
My wife could not hear the echos I produced, even with her head right up against mine. Neither could I record the effect on my iPhone.
I know what I heard, and I know what it sounded like, but I am not sure what it was. Obviously, it was not an actual echo. Echo is not the mechanism of the effect. But the effect is real.
Thank you so much for stopping by and posting about your experience, Al.
Sorry for the loooong time it took us to "approve" your comment. (As you can imagine nobody was actually checking for comments, and non-moderation is impossible due to spam.)
I definitely believe that the echo effect is real, no doubt about that.
Nature is a neverending source of wonder. ;)
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