One of the newsgroups we monitor has a lot of discussion about "Gravity Hill" in Altadena.  Someone was stopped by a carful of young people looking for this spooky place — where you put your car in neutral and it’s pulled uphill.  Others report cars coming by the neighborhood at night, pulling this maneuver, and U-turning to try it again.

Here’s how it works, according to one resident of Loma Alta Drive:

Drive your car to the top of Loma Alta Drive, before the bridge over Rubio Canyon.

Near the top…..stop your car in front of the gate on the chain link fence, when you look toward the flood control basin.

Stop your car.  Put it in neutral.  Release the foot brake and parking break.

Look at the fence and the gate.  You’ll notice the car is moving backwards, but will look and feel like it’s moving forward.  It should look like you’re going backwards UPHILL.

As with most spooky things, it’s better at night.

Yes, it’s an optical illusion — and we haven’t tried it yet — but we await your reports and fine tuning on how to maximize the experience.