In 1666, physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree when he saw an apple fall to the ground. This simple event got him thinking about why objects always fall downwards, rather than sideways or upwards, and it eventually led to him developing the law of universal gravitation. But while Newton’s research was a leap forward for science, there are actually a few unusual places around the world that seem to defy gravity—from towers that look like they’re about to topple over to hills where objects roll upwards.

Naneghat Reverse Waterfall // India

The idea of a reverse waterfall feels like something from a fantasy book, but there’s actually a real one in Naneghat—a mountain pass in India’s Western Ghats range that was once an ancient trade route. Thanks to the strong winds that blow in from the Konkan coast, the water that should pour over the edge of the plateau is instead pushed upwards into the air. The surreal gravity-defying phenomenon is best seen during monsoon season—which runs from July to September—when there’s plenty of water flowing for the winds to interact with.

Although Naneghat is the most famous example of this fantastical sight because of how often it occurs, it can happen to any waterfall given the right conditions. Waterfalls in Utah and Scotland have also been temporarily reversed due to high winds.

Montreal Tower // Canada

The scale of Olympic parks is always impressive, but Montreal Olympic Park takes things to another level—literally. Looming over the stadium is a 541-foot-tall tower that leans over at a 45-degree angle—making it the tallest man-made leaning tower in the world. Although it looks like it could topple over at any moment, the tower actually helps to hold up the stadium’s roof via suspension cables.

Originally called Olympic Tower but now known as Montreal Tower, the structure was initially planned to be a training space for athletes, but it wasn’t completed until 1987—11 years after Montreal hosted the Summer Olympic Games. The vast majority of the building then sat vacant for the next three decades, with only a few of the upper levels being used as observation decks.

The impressive tower was then converted into an office space between 2015 and 2019. Much of the building was covered in concrete panels so that athletes could train without the sun streaming through windows and getting in their eyes, but most of those were replaced with glass to create a more pleasant environment for the office workers. 

Electric Brae // Scotland

On the west coast of Scotland, there’s a section of road a quarter mile long that seems to defy gravity. If a driver puts their car into neutral and takes their foot off the brake, the vehicle will bizarrely appear to roll uphill. Although officially called Croy Brae (brae means hill or slope in Scots), the road has become known as the Electric Brae because it was originally thought that the strange phenomenon was caused by some kind of electrical pull.

But the truth is that it’s actually an optical illusion. Although it looks like the road slopes up towards the sea, that end of the road is actually 17 feet lower than the seemingly higher inland section of the asphalt. It’s the surrounding landscape that gives the impression that the slope tilts in the opposite direction.

Optical illusions are the explanation behind all so-called gravity hills, including other famous spots such as Magnetic Hill in India and Mount Aragats in Armenia.

Golden Rock // Myanmar

A curious object sits on the summit of Mount Kyaiktiyo in Myanmar: a massive golden boulder that looks ready to tip over the edge at any second. Known as both the Golden Rock and Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, it looks precariously perched, but it’s been balanced there for more than 2,500 years. 

Legend has it that the Golden Rock is balanced on a strand of Buddha’s hair, and it’s long been a Buddhist pilgrimage site. Although the rock’s balancing act isn’t artificial (its center of gravity keeps it rooted firmly in place), its golden color is. Men who visit the pagoda are allowed to add gold leaf to its surface, but sadly women aren’t allowed to participate for religious reasons.

The Mystery Spot // California

In the towering redwood forests just north of Santa Cruz is an area said to be gravitationally anomalous. Within a circle measuring 150 feet in diameter, objects roll uphill, and people are able to stand at impossible angles.

The area was discovered by surveyors in 1939 and by the start of 1940, the land’s buyer, George Prather, had opened it to the public as The Mystery Spot. A special cabin was also built to emphasize the strange physics of the place. “A lot of people feel very nauseous, lightheaded, dizzy and a little bit woozy,” said Aidan Lucero, a Mystery Spot tour guide. “Once they enter the cabin, some people have extreme vertigo.”

There are a variety of outlandish suggestions for what causes the gravitational weirdness, including a magma vortex, a buried alien spacecraft, and biocosmic radiation. But skeptics have a simpler explanation: it’s all just optical illusions.

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