"Many years ago an Indian village on Lake Wales was plagued by raids of a huge gator. The Chief, a great warrior, killed the gator in a battle that created a small lake. The chief was buried on the north side. Pioneer mail riders first discovered their horses laboring down hill, thus naming it "Spook Hill." When the road was paved, cars coasted up hill. Is this the gator seeking revenge, or the chief still trying to protect his land?"

Spook Hill goes back long before there were interstates connecting the major cities. The time when road-side attraction were king and life was a lot more simple.

Indians did populate the area at one time, but whether or not a chief ever lost his life in an epic battle to the death with a gator is unclear.

The best we can come up with is this legend started out in the black community (seriously, no joke). A gentleman parked his car there and went to fish in the nearby lake. He must have forgot to put it in park because when he turned around his card was rolling on it's own.

The story circulated in the black community for years before, true to form, white people got a hold of it and made it their own. The roads were eventually paved and amusement parks like Disney World & cypress Gardens were built close by. As an attempt to grab a little bit of tourism the city made it into a roadside attraction. They even have little brown signs all over the Historic area of Lake Whales pointing you in the right direction.

In fact, the town was so desperate to grab it's piece of the tourism pie, they even named the school that sits on the property adjacent to the hill, Spook Hill Elementary and named Casper the friendly ghost as their mascot.

It was early in the morning when I first arrived at Spook Hill. I got to observe one of the most beautiful sunrises over the lake (about 1 mile south of the actual location), and was excited about the possibility of actually defying gravity with my full ton pick up.

The hill itself was not hard to find. Just follow the brown signs that point you in the right direction and don't stop until you see it...or, just do a search for it on google and copy the directions. Now in all the pictures I have seen of this hill, it looks pretty big, and you wonder as you stand at the base of it next to the sign, "How is this going to work? That's a really steep hill!" I pulled out my level and verified that the hill before me was indeed going up.

I then read the sign, that gives you a brief history of the legend, that's worded a little confusingly, and instructions on where to park and what to do.

"Stop car on white line, place in neutral and let it roll back."

So in reality, the big hill that is featured in all the pictures behind the infamous sign, IS NOT the hill you defy gravity with.

If you look at the diagram to the right, you will see the white line they tell you to stop on.

A) The starting point. Notice it is slightly up the big hill.

B) Most people who hear this legend and see the pictures think this is the hill you roll up, however this is incorrect.

C) As the sign says you 'roll back', in the direction of the arrow.

I had to re-read the sign about 5 or 6 times because I thought I had to be missing something, but unfortunately no. I was doing it the right way. My truck did in fact roll backwards about 15 feet, but what do you expect when you put it in neutral on the slope of a larger hill. The momentum of a vehicle going down a hill will of course keep you rolling over a much small hill... more like a bump.

I will admit I was slightly disappointed there wasn't more to this. Despite what I think Spook Hill was a huge attraction for people. They would come from near and far to challenge the Gator or meet the ghost of an Indian Chief.

Times were simpler back then I guess and unfortunately due to progress and interstates, Spook Hill is quickly becoming another dead roadside attraction.