Salt Lake City, Utah: Gravity Hill

Gravity Hill is an optical illusion. Because of the way the road sits next to the mountain, it looks like it's going "down" into the canyon, but that section is actually going uphill. So it looks like you're rolling uphill. And I have no idea where the "Emo" story came from. I lived in Utah for 48 years and I never heard anything about "Emo." Must be a story someone made up recently. Sorry to burst bubbles, but that's the rest of the story.

Emo's grave is actually unrelated to this gravity phenomenon. The story I have heard involves some sort of tractor accident where the man driving up the hill was unable to get up it and ended up falling to his death, so the idea is that he is trying to guide you up the hill.

We tried but could not confirm that it works. Now that traffic is one way in the wrong direction and it appears to get lots of traffic (at least when we were there), we found it impossible to try it as described. Perhaps an early morning attempt and maybe a spotter at the street entrance and it could be done.

Gravity Hill is a few blocks north by northeast of the Utah state capitol. As you drive north on the little road (I think it's called Canyon or Capitol) you are driving down into a canyon. You come to a point where another road leaves the main road and veers uphill to the left. Stay on the main road another 100 feet and keep driving down into the canyon. Stop, put it in neutral, and you'll coast back uphill out of the canyon. Big free thrill. Supposedly some hard luck fellow named "Emo" is buried in the area. His grave glows blue at midnight, and his ghost warps gravity to cause cars to roll uphill. Some high schooler told me where Emo's Grave is, but I couldn't find it.