Is The Magnetic Hill of Ladakh Really Magnetic?

It’s an every traveller’s dream to visit Ladakh. The travellers also love their experience at the Magnetic Hill on their way to Ladakh. Many people may be familiar about the mysterious Magnetic Hill located in Leh in Ladakh, India. This mystery happens on a small stretch of road located about 30 kilometres from Leh towards Kargil. On this place, the road seems like you are going uphill. If you turn your engine off and let your vehicle stay in neutral, it slowly gains momentum and start moving on its own. People get amazed by this experience and believe that they are being pulled by the hill’s magnetic force.

There is also a highway sign that says “The phenomenon that defies gravity. Park your vehicle in the box marked with paint on the road and experience the wonder”. In reality, the hill doesn’t possess any such magnetic effect that’s pulling your vehicle. It is just a mere optical illusion.

The objects and the vehicles may seem to roll uphill defying gravity when they are in fact rolling downhill. Here, a very slight downhill appears to be an uphill slope. Why it appears that way can be attributed to obstructed horizon, either completely or mostly. Our eyes and minds are used to using the horizon as a reliable reference to be able to tell if a slope is straight or if it is slant. Without the horizon, we will not be able to tell for sure. If the horizon is obstructed, our minds get confused and can often perceive things to be horizontal or vertical when they are not. This illusion is like that of Moon Illusion where the moon appears to be larger on the horizon.

There are many such mistakenly characterized Gravity Hills all over the world. Several roads that appear to be going uphill while the slant is downhill. There are rivers that appear to defy gravity and flows uphill which is again an optical illusion because the water is in fact flowing downhill. Tulsishyam in Gujarat, Electric Brae in Scotland and Gansu in China are some of the examples of such places. The same concept of illusion applies to the magnetic hill in Ladakh.

Here the hills in front of our eyes deceive our mind and makes us believe that we are going up. So, when you visit the Magnetic Hill in Ladakh, don’t be fooled by thinking that your vehicle is being pulled up by the magnetic effect of the hill. But be amazed by how your mind is fooled by believing something which is just an effect of optical illusion.