Copyright The Oregonian
Fans of the animated series “Gravity Falls” and its creator Alex Hirsch who are planning a road trip to Oregon’s real-life House of Mystery need to hold off until 2027. The Oregon Vortex, the roadside attraction Hirsch visited near Gold Hill, is not scheduled to reopen until then. March rainstorms pummeled the lopsided structure that looks like the Mystery Shack in the Disney Channel show. And rainwater rushed through Sardine Creek and under the gift shop that serves as the only way in and out of the property off exit 43 on south-bound Interstate 5. A video posted on the Oregon Vortex’s Facebook page shows flooding in the gift shop, a century-old log structure that bridges Sardine Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River. Complicating the restoration project: Work around the creek can only take place between June and mid-September to protect spawning wild salmon. The Oregon Vortex’s owner Maria Cooper said the estimate to restore the gift shop and protect the creek is $150,000. Cooper said completed excavation, debris clearing and other repair work to the House of Mystery and grounds have already cost $50,000. She posted an image of the $10,000 bill she received to remove four feet of gravel from the creek and outside attractions. No revenue from admission or gift shop sales is coming in while the property is closed. The Oregon Vortex is typically open March through November. Insurance is not covering the weather-caused damage, Cooper said Wednesday. In the nearly 70 years Cooper’s family has owned the Oregon Vortex — one of the state’s oldest and best-known roadside attractions — they’ve never experienced this level of devastation, she said. A GoFundMe plea is seeking $200,000 in donations to restore the gift shop and help pay for completed work at 4303 Sardine Creek L Fork Road. “The House of Mystery at the Oregon Vortex needs desperate help,” wrote Veronica Visser of Gold Hill, who organized the online fundraising campaign in August. Since then, $555 has been pledged. “The hazardous flood earlier this year caused more destruction than we realized,” Visser wrote. “The insurance policy will not cover any of these emergency repairs” because it’s not normal for the area to flood, she said, and ”we’ve exhausted our finances.” Cooper said Wednesday she hopes people share the GoFundMe link. “Anything would help,” she said. Visitors need to know the Oregon Vortex is closed until at least March 2027, she added. “We get lots of people from around the world,” she said. In 2013, Hirsch visited and posed in front of the House of Mystery with “Gravity Falls” scriptwriters, an experience that later inspired the episode “Roadside Attraction.” During the pandemic lockdown in 2020, Hirsch asked his social media followers to support a GoFundMe campaign for Confusion Hill, a Northern California roadside attraction that also inspired the Mystery Shack. Collectively, his fans raised the requested $9,000. An episode of the Travel Channel’s paranormal and reality television series “Ghost Adventures” was filmed at the Oregon Vortex, where a 165-foot magnet radius is said to bend light, defy gravity and alter mass. Musicians in the White Stripes’ tour bus and “Pretty in Pink” actor James Spader dropped into the Oregon Vortex, said Cooper. Fans of “Gravity Falls” characters have also visited in search of the fictional Oregon town. “Dipper Pines” is voiced by actor Jason Ritter (son of John Ritter of “Three’s Company” and grandson of singing cowboy star Tex Ritter). “Wendy” is performed by Linda Cardellini and “Lazy Susan” is Jennifer Coolidge. History of the House of Mystery Long before March rainstorms battered the House of Mystery, the shelter’s floor was crooked, missing windows left gaps in the walls and the pitched roof was lopsided. The skeletal shelter, however, was a big draw at the Oregon Vortex. The distorted structure demonstrates what some claim is the property’s 165-foot magnet radius, causing people to lean toward magnetic north. However, scientists attribute the visual effect to a gravity hill optical illusion caused by the uneven terrain. Misleading visual cues in natural and built environments can cause straight objects to appear uneven and uphill surfaces to look as if they are sloping downward. “There is no way to prove any of this right now with current technology, but bring a level and a camera,” said Cooper, who describes the property as a “spherical field of force, half above the ground and half below the ground.” The House of Mystery was an assay office and tool shed built in 1904 by the Old Grey Eagle Mining Company, which used it until mining ceased in 1911. The poorly built shed, which slid off its foundation and landed on an angle, was discovered in 1914 by prospector William McCollugh, according to the Oregon Historical Society’s online encyclopedia. McCollugh persuaded Scottish geologist and mining engineer John Litster to research the site that animals refuse to enter. Litster’s findings are documented in “Notes and Data Relative to the Phenomenon at the Area of the House of Mystery in 1944.” Litster conducted experiments on the land and opened the Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery to the public in 1930. After Litster’s death in 1959, his wife, Mildred, sold the Oregon Vortex to Irene and Ernie Cooper, whose daughter Maria Cooper continues as the owner.
