Spook Hill

Spook Hill
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Spook Hill, looking north
Location in Florida Show map of Florida Location in United States Show map of the United States
Location	North Wales Dr. between Burns Ave. and Spook Hill Elementary Lake Wales, Florida
Coordinates	27°54′43″N81°34′55″W / 27.912°N 81.582°W / 27.912; -81.582
Built	1960
NRHP reference No.	100003585
Added to NRHP	April 5, 2019

Spook Hill is a gravity hill, an optical illusion in Lake Wales, Florida, where cars appear to roll up the spooky hill.

Spook Hill is located on the Lake Wales Ridge, a geologically significant range of sand and limestone hills, which were islands from two to three million years ago, when sea levels were much higher than at present.

The attraction is adjacent to Spook Hill Elementary School, which adopted Casper the Friendly Ghost as their school mascot. The attraction is also close to the Bok Tower.

Spook Hill received national media attention when an article about it appeared on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on October 25, 1990, and it was featured in a segment on CBS Morning News with Charles Osgood on November 5, 1990. ^[1] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. ^[2]

Spook Hill in Lake Wales, Florida. One of central Florida's lesser known and older attractions.

See also

• List of gravity hills
• According to local lore, a Native American chief once battled a giant alligator on this hill; both died in the struggle, and their spirits are said to cause cars to roll uphill ^[3] . Another tale, spread by a 1950s Lake Wales pamphlet, claims that two retired pirates were buried here and their ghosts push the cars uphill as a prank ^[3] .

References

1. Tampa Bay Skeptics: Do cars really roll up Spook Hill?
2. Calise, Gabrielle (25 October 2021). "Florida's Spook Hill defies gravity. What's the secret of the thrill?". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
3. "Why do cars roll uphill at Spook Hill? Legends & science explain the thrill of Lake Wales' gravity hill". FOX 13 News. 2022-10-31. Retrieved 2025-07-28.

External links

Media related to Spook Hill at Wikimedia Commons

• Magnetic Hill International: Spook Hill
• Roadside America – Spook Hill, Lake Wales, Florida
• Tampa Bay Skeptics: Do cars really roll up Spook Hill?
• Spook Hill at About.com
• The myth explained