thejockspot the mystery of the electric brae
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STRANGE SCOTLAND
There is a place about 20 miles from where i live in Ayr called Croy brae(a brae is a hill in scotland) where if you stop your car and take the brakes off your car will slowly climb to the top of the hill , this spot has been a matter of interest for many years and in the early 19th century people started calling it The Electric brae, believing that it was an electric force that was pulling the cars uphill , it was later discovered that infact that the way the land lies makes it look like a car is going uphill and that it is actualy an optical illusion. roadsigns were made to mark the spot but alot of these were stolen,so a cairn was erected with these words
."The ELECTRIC BRAE", known locally as CROY BRAE. This runs the quarter mile [400 m] from the bend overlooking Croy railway viaduct in the west (286 feet [87.17 m] Above Ordnance Datum) to the wooded Craigencroy Glen (303 feet [92.35 m] above A.O.D.) to the east. Whilst there is this slope of 1 in 86 upwards from the bend at the Glen, the configuration of the land on either side of the road provides an optical illusion making it look as if the slope is going the other way. Therefore, a stationary car on the road with the brakes off will appear to move slowly uphill. The term 'Electric Brae' dates from a time when it was incorrectly thought to be a phenomenon caused by electric or magnetic attraction within the Brae.
more strange stories from scotland coming soon.....jimmy
are there any weird and wonderful stories where you come from?????
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There is a hill like that near Canandaigua Lake in Western New York. My great-Aunt and Uncle had a cottage on the lake and I remember when we were kids my Uncle would talk the hill on which a car would roll up rather than down. He and my Father took us to it a couple of times and each time we did seem to roll backward up the hill a few feet when the car was in neutral and the brake off. No one could ever explain why this happened.
Apparently this happens at several places. I grew up in Florida, hearing about such a hill there. When I moved to Texas, there was another such story in Texas. Surely, by now some team of experts has investigated the sites and compared notes. Too many locals know about these thing for them to have been easily contrived. Great Hub!!!
I know it's been well documented about the electrc brae being an optical illusion,but there's something that I've been wondering about for years that maybe someone could answer. I 'm an American who used to live in Irvine many years ago and would sometimes take a ride to show my visiting friends this unusal hill which was nearby. After we did things like watching a ball roll up hill & have the car apparently roll uphill, I would go farther down the road towards culzean castle. We would go down to the beach ,get out of the car ,look to our right and see where we've just came from. Oddly enough, by standing by the water's edge,where it is flat,and looking over at electric brae you can clearly see that that there is an incline which is exactly contrary to what experts say is an optical illusion. Has anyone else ever noticed this?
hi roger thanks for your comment,i haven't seen the brae from there but next time i am up that way i will make sure that i do,but any time i have seen the brae it has always appeared to me as an incline too, everyone i know says the same i have never heard of anyone saying otherwise apart from the so called scientists.....jimmy
Very interesting article. I love to hear about these unique happenings.
Very interesting indeed. Do you have some pictures?
Unbelievable! How we can trust our senses after this?
Used to ride there with my mates when we were kids. Fell of ma bike a couple of times trying to get it to sit real still.
As an add on and I dont want to step on any toes here so if this post is out of line then someone just shoot me a message and I will fix it.
I Live in West Virginia now, I was asked to do a presentation on Scotland, that I am now teaching to 3rd through 5th Grade here. Its a 3 part class but the main part and I guess the most entertaining is the slideshow.
I have posted the slideshow on my website if anyone wants to go see 274 pictures of Scotland
heres the adress
Ta Rab, i will take a look .....jimmy
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An investigation into customer satisfaction levels in the budget accommodation sector in Scotland: a case study of backpacker tourists and the Scottish ... [An article from: Tourism Management]
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gredmondson says:
3 years ago
This reminds me of Confusion Hill on Highway 101 between Santa Rosa and Eureka.