It may seem like just another roadside attraction, but Confusion Hill is on the verge of gaining a more specialized status.
The tourist draw near Mendocino County's northern border is under consideration for designation as a California Point of Historical Interest, a status its owners hope will keep the kitschy tourist attraction alive.
"It can't hurt," said Doug Campbell, who owns and runs Confusion Hill with his wife Carol.
They've been worried that the newly completed bridges that shunt Highway 101 around Confusion Hill - built to avoid chronic mudslides - would further harm a business hit hard by the economic recession. A highway sign would be erected near the offramp to Confusion Hill if it is awarded the historical designation at the next meeting of the state Historical Resources Commission.
Confusion Hill's Gravity House - a hillside structure that creates gravity-defying visual illusions - was built in 1949, a time when Americans increasingly were buying new cars and taking advantage of improved and new highways following World War II.
A narrow-gauge railroad, just over a mile long, was added in 1954. It carries visitors up a mountain, through a redwood tree and to a display of historical logging equipment.
The gravity house, 80 miles north of Ukiah, was built by George Hudson, who was inspired by other roadside oddities such as the Vortex in Oregon where tennis balls seem to roll uphill and brooms stand on end.
He searched for his own mystery spot, then built the gravity house to create the illusions, Doug Campbell said.
People look and feel as though they need to lean to stay upright inside the gravity house, and water in a trough appears to run uphill.
"People have complained it makes them sick. They come back looking as though they just stepped off a ship," Campbell said.
He likes to say he doesn't know whether it's a naturally occurring event or man-made. "But I tell you, every time I go up to the house, I feel a pull," Campbell said.
It's one of many so-called mystery roadside attractions in the United States, most conveniently located along well-traveled roads. But Confusion Hill warrants historic interest status, according to a letter of support from the Mendocino County Historical Society.
"We feel the Confusion Hill attraction is representative of the post WWII era which had numerous roadside attractions of interest to the traveling public of that era," the letter states.
This is the second time Campbell, who has owned Confusion Hill for a decade - has applied for the designation. The first time, it went nowhere.
This time, he has the support of staff to the state Historical Resources Commission. Confusion Hill "meets the registration requirements as a California point of historical interest because it is the only example of a gravity house theme park in the local area of Mendocino County," the staff report states. It also remains essentially unchanged from when it was constructed, the report states.
The item will appear on the commission's Jan. 29 consent calendar, which normally means it will be approved without discussion unless someone asks that it be removed because the issue is controversial, department historian William Burg said Thursday.
"It looks like we're getting it. So hooray," Campbell said.
Interested parties may submit letters to the commission before the meeting or speak at the meeting.
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