Mysterious Moving Tombstone - Marion, Ohio
Posted by: 
Mr. 0
N 40° 34.667 W 083° 07.209
17T E 320552 N 4494048
The Merchant family grave located in the Marion Cemetery (Open sunrise to sunset only). This has been features in Ripley's Believe it or Not, and still has no single explanation.
Waymark Code: WM461N
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 07/12/2008
Views: 90
To most people this appears to be a normal monument with a blemish on the round portion on top. This monument is actually 2 separate pieces. It's is a 5,200 pound solid granite ball placed on top of a granite base. Now the "blemish" shown there is not actually a blemish at all. It's actually unpolished because this spot is set as the bottom of the ball, and because it would normally never be seen, it saved them some time keeping it unpolished.
The ball is actually moving and nobody knows why. It is too heavy to be moved by a person, and there are no scratch marks to indicate that it is being turned by a group of people, or a machine. When it was first discovered the family who erected the monument brought the erecting crew back to the site to reset the ball. It was not long before the ball began it's now continuous movement.
There have been many speculations, but there is no single, concrete, scientific explanation for this to happen. In 1929 it was featured in Ripley's Believe It Or Not and the monument soon gained international recognition.
There are theories abound on this one. Some people think that there is a pocket of air or water trapped under the ball that allows it to move easily. Some believe that natural vibrations in the ground, such as seismic activity, are to blame. Others have explained that the ball is heated unevenly causing uneven expansion and contraction in the ball. Then there are those who just believe it's haunted.
The Marion Cemetery is open sunrise to sunset, seven days per week, throughout the year. No admission, of course, for either the cemetery of the Merchant ball.