If the Oregon Vortex was invented to make a buck, its masterminds put it in the wrong place. Not much tourist traffic goes through the mountains east of Gold Hill. Even the local Indians didn't get back here much, but when they did, they refused to enter the Vortex. It was "forbidden ground" -- very spooky.
Trees really do grow in corkscrews here, brooms stand on end, tennis balls roll uphill, people seem to grow or shrink depending on where they stand. Could the Oregon Vortex be the most disturbed spot in America?
The Vortex is also home to the world's first Mystery Spot shack, a dilapidated mine office that slid down a hillside over 100 years ago. Its first owner, John Litster, originally called his attraction "House of Mystery" because he thought its weird phenomena were limited to the shack (He later regretted this, as copycat shacks at "Uncanny Canyon" and "Confusion Hill" would suck away his business).
Litster ran the Oregon Vortex from 1930 until his death in 1959. By his own count, he performed thousands of experiments at the Vortex to try to unlock its mysteries, publishing some of his findings in a pamphlet that's still for sale in its gift shop. His wife, not as enamored of the weirdness as her husband, sold the Vortex to another Mom and Pop operation shortly after Litster's death. Their descendants have kept it open ever since.