Posted on 04/23/2003 5:41:23 AM PDT by MalcolmS
Really? My family visited Florida when I was 8, and I still have more vivid memories of Cypress Gardens than Disneyworld. I had a blast; it rained hard all day, and I didn't care.
Indian Legend
After the Seminoles left the Cherokee nation, they settled in Central Florida away from the white man's lodges to the North. One legendary chief settled on the lake which is now known as Lake Wailes. Here he had all the advantages of a high campsite on a lake which offered fresh water and good fishing. It was also close to Iron Mountain which, as the highest point in Florida, was sacred to the Indians' Sun God.
The chief, Cufcowellax, and his people were happy for several years, but then one day a huge bull alligator moved into the lake and began to harass the tribe. Soon it began nightly raids on the village, and the tribe lived in terror of this evil spirit that inhabited their lake.
The legend says that Cufcowellax was a chief of great physical prowess and courage. He had great stature among his people both as a warrior and as a ruler. When he saw his people in constant fear, the chief, fearing for their safety, set out to conquer the evil spirit. His tribal shaman and elders placed him under the protection of the Great Spirit and he began his search.
Though many suns came and went, he could not catch the 'gator. Finally one morning he came upon the 'gator on the northwest shore as it dragged another night's victim into the lake.
The legend says the chief battled the 'gator on land and water for a moon, and then suddenly the great thrashing stopped, and the water of the lake turned red.
The tribe watched the surface of the lake in fearful anticipation. With great joy they saw their chief rise from the water. In the midst of their celebration they saw something else. The great battle had made a smaller lake near the big one. When the chief died, he was buried on the shore of the little lake, Ticowa, and the place became sacred to the Indians.
Discovery of Spook Hill
The Indians lost their camping grounds to the encroaching white settlers. Circuit riders carrying mail between the coasts used the old trail around Lake Ticowa until they discovered that their horses were laboring downhill. It was they who first called the place Spook Hill.
Some forty years later as the area developed, the citrus industry grew. Soon the hills around Lake Ticowa were covered with citrus groves. Workers driving their wagons around the lake were startled to find their mule teams struggling downhill with a load.
Years later the road was paved and residents found their cars would roll uphill by themselves. Others came to test this phenomenon, and it soon became a major attraction for visitors.
As I said before, $34.95 to watch water skiers may have had something to do with it.
Long story short - the surroundings outside of the Bok Tower Sanctuary and Gardens - constitute the town of "Mountain Lake" which was one of the very first gated communities in the entire US. There's a lot of "old money" there - the people who bought property there in the early 1900's were the tycoons and the "robber barons" like the Rockefellers, etc. My dad still maintains his locksmithing business and regularly services locks on the estate homes, so he gets paid with checks written on all the NY & Chicago high-powered banks ;-).
Cheap Thrill On A Hill
Do cars roll uphill on their own? In the serene town of Lake Wales, a phenomenon of this sort is an everyday occurrence. In fact, cars that appear to defy gravity are as common a sight as a pair of overalls in the small farming and mining community.
On any given Saturday as many as 30 cars an hour show up to witness the magic of Spook Hill. Thrill seekers of the bizarre take their place on an officially painted line at the bottom of the haunted hill, place their cars in neutral and begin a gradual decent upward.
Lake Wales is unique in that of all the Florida towns, it actually has a hill and even more so that they have one of such mystical proportion. In celebration they have respectfully dressed up their asphalt apparition with cut out letters suspended on wires that spell out its name.
Residents knew there was no place to go but up with their marvel. Every town needs a claim to fame and nothing generates business in a nondescript little community quite like intrigue. The Wall Street Journal once called Spook Hill the "piney pitstop of the paranormal."
According to legend, Spook Hill gave rise back in the days when the Seminole Indian Chief Cufcowellax led his tribe into battle against a giant alligator that terrorized the town. The battle went on for months and created a depression along with a lake in the landscape, next to which, the body of the fallen chief was buried. Mail carriers years later realized that their horses struggled when walking down the hill. The horses exerted the kind of effort they normally used going uphill. It's ok if you don't remember any of this later. They have it all painted on a sign at the bottom of the hill.
More than one visitor has placed a carpenter's level near the hill's halfway point and found an upward slope. Students of geology at USF in Tampa insist it is all just an illusion and that you are actually going down hill. As with any oddity in nature there are always skeptics and the town is more than happy to oblige in the haunting of imaginations.
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