History & local legend
Near Lewisberry, Pleasant View Road meets Wyndamere Road, Route 177, at the site known as Gravity Hill. The surrounding landscape makes the road appear to slope toward the junction, yet visitors describe vehicles rolling backward away from it. The apparent reversal is an optical illusion, but local folklore offers a more personal explanation.
In the best-known version, a school bus crashed at the intersection and its young passengers died. Their spirits now push cars away from the danger. Some tellings make the children a football team; others include a tradition of dusting a car with flour to look for small handprints afterward.
A writer for Hemlock State Explorer tested the slope and reported rolling backward quickly enough to apply the brakes within seconds.
Sources
- Hemlock State Explorer, firsthand vehicle test, GPS coordinates, school-bus and football-team versions, and flour tradition
- Jim Cheney, Uncovering PA, family visit, optical illusion and local story specific to Pleasant View Road
- Roadside America, independent visitor accounts at Pleasant View Road and PA 177
