Since 1952, the southern approach to the Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton, Wisconsin, tourist mecca has been guarded by The Wonder Spot, one of many mystery spots scattered across America. Discovered in 1948, The Spot is nestled in the woods south of the lake, conveniently only about a half-block off of Hwy 12. Its powers were strongest in The Wonder House, a clapboard shack "where the laws of natural gravity seem to be repealed," according to The Wonder Spot's brochure.

Now the attraction is no more. In early January 2007, owner Bill Carney sold the property to the town, which wants to build a frontage road along the busy highway. "There were a lot of accidents," Bill told us -- well, of course there would be, Bill, in a place where the laws of natural gravity seem to be repealed!

Carney, who worked at The Wonder Spot for 30 years, thought that the strangest thing that he had ever seen at The Spot was a woman scattering the ashes of her dead mother. Was she expecting, perhaps, that something unnatural would happen? Carney couldn't say.

We asked: given the accidents that have already occurred, isn't the town worried that cars on the new Frontage Road will go haywire while driving over The Spot?

"You'd have to get their comment on that." [01/13/2007]

November 26, 2009